Yesterday, on the final day of official business before the House of Commons rises for the summer recess, the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, paid a visit to the Government’s development department and after meeting the Secretary of State outlined its vision for international development.

Mr Clegg, who will represent the UK at the UN MDG Summit in September, has seemingly made it a personal mission to champion the goals both in Government and internationally and outlined a new departmental reform plan to ensure the UK achieves all of its MDG commitments.

Most notably, the plan includes a pledge to put women at the "front and centre" of delivered aid with a new emphasis on girls’ education and family planning, but the plans also sets out two important deadlines:

The Government should publish its 'Malaria Evidence Paper and Business Plan' detailing how the Department will spend up to £500m per year on fighting malaria by December, and in March 2011 publish “specific DFID MDG objectives” to honour the UK's international commitments.

Furthermore, a review into the ‘effectiveness’ of Bilateral and Multilateral Aid should be completed by February 2011, in time for the first full budget of the coalition government although the departmental budget enjoys the unique status of being ‘ringfenced’.

The launch of an Independent Aid Watchdog, as previously announced by Andrew Mitchell, is pencilled in for June 2011, and DFID aim to begin publishing full information on all new DFID projects over £500 from January, according to the plan.

The DFID Structural Reform Plan identifies six key priorities, which read as follows:

1. International Commitments:
   Honour the UK’s commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on overseas aid from 2013 and enshrine this commitment in law.
   
   
2. Value for Money:
   Developing more results-based aid and cash on delivery contracts.
   
   
3. Wealth Creation:
   Developing new projects on property rights, investment and microfinance.
   
   
4. Afghanistan, Pakistan, conflict and stabilisation:
   Improve the join-up and performance of British development policy in conflict countries, with particular focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
   
   
5. Role of Women:
   New programmes to get more girls into primary and secondary education; to promote economic empowerment of women and pilot new approaches to eliminate violence against women.
   
   
6. Climate Change:
   Help poor countries to take part in international climate change negotiations.

“We must stand firm by our commitments to help the poorest people in the world,” Mr Clegg said at the announcement. “Economic times are tough, and no-one is suffering more than those already living in poverty.”

“Our decision to ring fence the aid budget is not only morally right but in our national interest – having a knock-on effect on security, migration and trade. This government will be a champion for development. The UK can lead the world in its work to combat poverty.”