Department for International Development
The Department for International Development is the United Kingdom’s development assistance agency with a remit to promote sustainable welfare and combat poverty. Public World has contributed both to its policy development and to DFID projects in the field.
Currently (2013) we are leading a research project into the effectiveness of donors pooling their funds to strengthen basic services in fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS).
Earlier, DFID commissioned Public World to conduct desk research into the extent to which labour standards are included in the public procurement policies and practices of European Union countries, with a view to informing review of DFID’s approach. You can download our report.
In the field, we worked with Adam Smith International (ASI) on what an independent review called an “exemplary project” to support artisanal diamond miners and regulatory reform of mining in Sierra Leone. Our role, in part of the project specifically praised by the review, included support to the United Mineworkers Union.
We also worked on a DFID-funded project in Tanzania, again with ASI, to support the restructuring of the country’s National Insurance Corporation (NIC). Our role was to facilitate dialogue between the state-owned enterprise’s workers’ union and the government about redeployment, retraining and severance terms, including access to small business start-up capital.