Lessons from the rise and fall of the Department for International Development

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From its creation in 1997 to its merger with the Foreign Office in 2020, the Department for International Development (DfID) managed an annual budget of nearly £200 billion and played a global leadership role in reducing poverty. While DfID also had to deal with high-profile failures and public criticism, sustained political support from Labour, coalition and Conservative governments helped the department to achieve a record of delivery during its 23-year existence. 

A new book, The Rise and Fall of the Department for International Development, will be published in October. Sir Mark Lowcock, the book's co-author with Ranil Dissanayake, joins an expert panel at the Institute for Government to discuss what we can learn from DfID's history, with a particular focus on building the institution, how to maintain civil service capability, targeting resources and developing ways to measure value for money – with essential lessons for the new Labour government and what other departments can learn from DfID's focus on delivery.

Joining Sir Mark Lowcock on the panel are:

• Sarah Champion MP, Chair of the International Development Select Committee
• Andrew Mitchell MP, Shadow Foreign Secretary and former Secretary of State for International Development

The panel will be chaired by Alex Thomas, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.

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