Integrating diplomacy and development: How does the Foreign Office set itself up for success? 

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Five years on from the merger of the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development, this is a pivotal moment for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The government is managing the reduction in the international aid budget, the department is undergoing a major restructuring, and its permanent secretary was sacked by the prime minister.    

With fewer resources, evolving security threats and diplomatic challenges, the government should be seizing this moment to integrate diplomacy and development.  

Recent research from the HALO Trust and the Eleanor Crook Foundation has shown how modern conflict is increasingly interconnected with challenges such as food security and malnutrition – and that unless these and other pressures are addressed in a genuinely joined‑up way, the UK risks operating in siloes. 

But how joined up is diplomacy and development, and can the department both retain its leadership role in international development and protect the UK’s national interest?  

How should the Foreign Office approach these challenges when staff numbers are falling and its budget is shrinking? What principles should guide the merged department through this time of change? And what is the government’s overall approach to UK foreign policy and development and how is it seeking to achieve it aims?

Drawing on the IfG’s existing and ongoing research and commentary on the FCDO and its predecessors, and a series of previous successful events on similar themes, this event explored these questions and more with an expert panel featuring:

• Major General James Cowan CBE DSO, Chief Executive Officer of the HALO Trust
• Stefan Dercon, Professor of Economic Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government
• Ben Judah, Writer, and Visiting Fellow at Chatham House
• Dame Emily Thornberry MP, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee

This event was chaired by Hannah Keenan, Associate Director at the Institute for Government and there were opening remarks from Gemma Tumelty, Director of UK Advocacy at the Eleanor Crook Foundation.

We would like to thank the HALO Trust and the Eleanor Crook Foundation for kindly supporting this event.

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