International Development

Debate between Baroness Jenkin of Kennington and Baroness Verma

Monday 11th July 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, the noble Lord will be aware that our programmes put women and girls at the heart of being able to access education, healthcare and maternity health. This is not about individual budgets but about programmes being delivered and making sure that part and parcel of our delivery is access to family planning.

[Baroness Jenkin of Kennington]

My Lords, can my noble friend confirm that aid is most successful when targeted, science-based, practical and measurable?

[Baroness Verma]

My noble friend is absolutely right, and that is why we have a relentless focus on results and achieving value for money. I would like to give two examples. Every year, nearly 2 million children die from vaccine-preventable diseases, so I am proud that this Government have pledged to vaccinate more than 80 million children over the next five years. Of course, she is also right that it is through education and research, and through ensuring that our aid is delivered in a focused and targeted way, that we will be able to receive the sort of results that we are looking for, and I hope that we will succeed.

International Widows Day

Debate between Baroness Jenkin of Kennington and Baroness Verma

Wednesday 15th June 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

The noble Baroness has made some absolutely valid points; in fact, she has answered her own question for me. The noble Baroness is absolutely right. That is why, through DfID, the FCO and the MoD, we try to work to ensure that there is full representation through all our programmes and that in all we are doing the presence of women is visible. We are of course aware that there are places where that is much more difficult, but we will continue to work with Governments to ensure that, through our support, they are able to do that.

[Baroness Jenkin of Kennington]

My Lords, what steps are the Government taking to encourage, support and increase the political participation of women in the Arab spring?

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, that follows on very neatly from the question from the Benches opposite. We remain concerned that women seem not to be present in the negotiations and at the forefront of political life, whereas they were very present during the revolution and demonstrations. DfID and FCO have committed to more than £110 million over four years to support political and economic reform across the region. Our department will be looking at how gender will be represented there.