Open letter to Foreign Secretary to challenge 80% cuts to UK WASH ODA budget
On 28th April, UK government plans to cut international aid on water, sanitation and hygiene by 80% were leaked via an article in the Telegraph. On the same day, NGOs working on the frontline of global water and climate crisis were informed that UK Aid Direct funding for previously agreed programmes was to be axed.
With members of the UK Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Network, Water Witness and WaterAid are mobilising to demand an immediate reversal of these unethical and damaging decisions, including via this open letter to the Foreign Secretary.
These cuts lay bare the human tragedy of the political decision by the UK government to cut aid from 0.7 to 0.5 % of GDP. As set out in our letter, such draconian cuts during the global pandemic are a dereliction of our moral obligations and represent a clear strategic misstep which is wholly incompatible with the UK government's claim to global leadership on health, girls’ education, inclusive growth, and the climate emergency. If enacted they will condemn millions of people to ill-health and extreme vulnerability to climate change. Women and girls in particular will remain locked into a life of drudgery and limited opportunity. A staggering 10 million people will be denied access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene this year alone.
Within 2 hours, fifty-three of the world’s leading NGOs, academics and water experts signed our letter . They demand a reversal of these cuts, the development of a progressive UK strategy to tackle the global water crisis, and that the UK government - and Secretary of State - show genuine leadership which reflects the importance of universal access to safe WASH for a global future of shared health, security, resilience and prosperity.
To add your voice, to oppose these shameful cuts and to demand a fairer water future please fill in the form below.
The following response has been received from Wendy Morton on behalf of FCDO: Response
The full list of signatories is detailed below:
Wendy Harrison, CEO, SCI Foundation
Tim Wainwright, CEO, WaterAid
Christine Allen, Director, CAFOD
Nick Hepworth, Executive Director, Water Witness International
Danny Sriskandarajah, Chief Executive, Oxfam GB
Chris Roles, CEO, AGE INTERNATIONAL
Siobhan Walsh, CEO, GOAL
Nigel Harris, CEO, Tearfund
Simon O'Connell, CEO, SNV
Laurie Lee, CEO, Care International UK
Tum Kazunga, CEO, Habitat for Humanity Great Britain
Sarah Roberts, C,EO Practical Action
Monowara Gani, CEO, Doctors Worldwide
Girish Menon, CEO, STIR Education
Alexandra Angulo, Executive Director, Mercy Corps
Darren Cormack, CEO, Mines Advisory Group
Hyejoung Yang, Director, Good Neighbours UK
Andrew Jowett, OBE, CEO, Build It International
Danny Harvey, Executive Director, Concern Worldwide (UK)
Jean-Michel Grand, Executive Director, Action Against Hunger UK
Dr Joel C. Gill, Executive Director, Geology for Global Development
Claire O’Shea, Head ,Hub Cymru Africa
Prof. Melissa Leach, Director, Institute of Development Studies University of Sussex
Prof. Lee Bosher, Water Engineering and Development Centre University of Loughborough
Prof. Barbara Evans, Chair of Public Health Engineering, University of Leeds
Al-Hassan Adam, Coordinator, End Water Poverty
Theresa Baird, Senior Programme Manager, CBM UK
Professor Nick Plant, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation, University of Leeds
Prof. Richard Carter, Director, Richard Carter and Associates Ltd.
Harold Lockwood, Director, Aguaconsult
Dr. Guy Howard, Global Challenges Research, Chair in Environmental and Infrastructure Resilience University of Bristol
Bruce Lankford, Emeritus Professor, University of East Anglia
Will Tillett, Global Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) Advisor, United Purpose
Professor Claire Heffernan, Professor, London International Development Centre
Scott McCready, Chief Strategy Officer, Alliance For Water Stewardship
Brian Reed, Expert trainer in water, sanitation and hygiene
Ruhil Iyer, Research Officer Sanitation Learning Hub, IDS
Prof. Declan Conway, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics
Rebecca Scott, Lecturer in Public Health Engineering, WEDC, Loughborough University
Nathanial Mason Research Associate ODI
Dr Paul Hutchings, Lecturer in Water,
Sanitation and Health Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Leeds
Dr Pippa Scott, Partner and Principal Consultant, Integrated Sanitation Solutions for Urban Development
Prof. James Ebdon, Professor of Environmental Microbiology, University of Brighton
Prof. Roger Few, Professorial Research Fellow in Environment, Risk and Development University of East Anglia
Dr Naho Mirumachi, Reader in Environmental Politics, King's College London
Dr Shilpi Srivastava, Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies,
Jamie Myers, Sanitation Learning Hub, Institute of Development Studies
Dr Neil Munro, Senior Lecturer, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow
Henry Northover, WASH Policy Expert
Professor Lyla Mehta, Institute of Development Studies
Mimi Coultas, Research Officer, Sanitation Learning Hub, Institute of Development Studies
Elaine Merce, communications and networking officer, sanitation Learning Hub, Institute of Development Studies
Prof. Chad Statton, Professor of Resource Economics and Policy University of the West of England
Ellen Waters, Director of Development, Doctors of the World UK
Dr Oluwasola Afolabi, Engineering for Development Research Fellow, Loughborough University
Daanish Mustafa, Professor of Critical Geography, Kings College London
Tracy Morse, University of Strathclyde
Joris Gort, PhD Candidate in Geography, King's College London
Esther Shaw
Rod Shaw, Conference Manager, Water Engineering and Development Centre, Loughborough University
Tom Stakes, CTO, Blue Tap
Innocent Tumwebaze, Research Associate - Water supply, sanitation and community engagement, Loughborough University
Martha Cossham
Peter McIntyre, IRC (Wash) Associate
Cor Dietvorst, Information Manager, IRC WASH
Benjamin Harris, Independent WASH Consultant
Eve Mackinnon, Water consultant, Itad
Laurence Carvalho, Professor, Freshwater Restoration & Sustainability
Tanvi Nagpal, Director, IDEV Program, SAIS-Johns Hopkins University
Joseph Thompson, WASH Consultant
Isabella Montgomery, CBSA
DONALD ANDREW BROWN, Director - Iwel Ltd.
Kristofer Chan, Post-doctoral Researcher, Department of Geography, King's College London
Goufrane Mansour, Wash consultant
Mark Jacobs, Managing Director, SEED Madagascar
Patrick Moriarty, CEO, IRC
Sam Canavan
Shah Nasir Khisro, Executive Director, Integrated Regional Support Program
Steven Csete
Clinton Ezeigwe, Campaign Manager / Christian Fellowship and Care Foundation
Morgan Rogers, Trustee, Water Witness
Laurence Rankin, Trustee, Water Witness
Aaron Kalala, National focal point of Sanitation and Water for All in DRC, Civil Society department
APAA Congo, association Paysanne pour l'Autosuffisance Alimentaire
Jane Catford, Reader in Ecology, King's College London
Marina Korzenevica, post-doctoral researcher, University of Oxford
Naomi Oates, PhD Researcher, University of Sheffield
Partha S. Kuntal, Program Coordinator, DORP, Bangladesh
Amita Bahkta, Freelance WASH Consultant
Stephen Lavalah, Founder & Executive Director, Youth Exploring Solutions
Susie Goodall, WEDC, Loughborough University
James McGill, WASH Development Specialist / Eglise Evangelique de la Republique du Niger (EERN)
Clarissa Brocklehurst, Adjunct Professor, Water Institute, University of North Carolina
Shona Jenkins, PhD candidate - University of Edinburgh
Victor Koreyo, Executive Director/Abraham's Children Foundation
Dr. Bismark Dwumfour-Asare, Senior Lecturer, Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development, Ghana
Louisa Gosling, Chair of the Rural Water Supply Network
F H Mughal, WASH Specialist, Karachi, Pakistan
Jonathan Pease, International Hydraulics Project manger - SGI
Elena Tiffert-Vaughan, Roving Senior Programme Manager, WaterAid UK
Olivier Mills, Senior Director, Global Services, CAWST, Centre for Affordable Water & Sanitation
Stanislas BINELI, Secrétaire Général , Alternatives Durables pour le Développement (ADD) Cameroon
Simon Lawson, WASH & C4D Consulant with UNICEF
Adrian Denyer, Independent WASH Consultant
Andy Narracott, WASH Consultant, Finding Impact
Will Douglas
Susan Watts, Water and sanitation consultant (retired)
Geraint Burrows, CEO, Groundwater Relief
Christophe Caens, Public health specialist in humanitarian contexts, Coordinator of WaSH activities
Sutton Ian, Director, Ian Sutton Ltd
Ben Kirley
Pamela White, Senior Manager, FCG Finish Consulting Group
Rachel Bentley, CEO and Co-founder, Children on the Edge