The country’s assistance watchdog has cautioned governments that a “Brits only” recruitment approach for top United Kingdom development positions has resulted in a “loss of experts” and added to chronic staff shortages.
With “governance, good health, humanitarian, and food and agriculture” being the most hit areas, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office continues to employ 120 fewer experts compared to the exodus that followed the 2020 dismantling of the separate assistance department DFID, according to the report.
The Independent Committee for Aid Impact connected the employee shortage to the choice to make FCDO, which absorbed DFID, a “reserved” department, meaning that only U.K. citizens can be nominated to top U.K.-based jobs, in its annual report, which was released on September 13.
“One of DFID’s biggest advantages was that it was able to recruit top researchers internationally from around the globe, and this was significantly impaired by the merger,” according to ICAI’s assessment.
Bond, the network of U.K. assistance NGOs, has harshly condemned the strategy and notified Devex that it is impeding FCDO’s attempts to “rebuild capacity” following the “rushed merger.”
Gideon Rabinowitz, Bond’s policy and advocacy director, warned that a “Brits-only” recruitment strategy “narrows the scope of expertise and damages the U.K.’s reputation as a worldwide partner in international development.”
Additionally, it thwarts attempts to enlist the assistance of experts from low- and middle-income nations who may aid in fostering regional ownership within its collaborations.
It is “laughable,” according to Sarah Champion, chair of the International Development Committee of the U.K. Parliament, to attempt to implement foreign and development policy “without individuals from the countries you’re doing it to.”
“Banning non-nationals is proving counterproductive and at odds with the FCDO’s own commitments to inclusion, equity, and diversity within the organization’s workforce as well as throughout the aid sector,”
The caution follows FCDO’s written parliamentary response in which it was disclosed that the expense of temporary employees increased by almost double in the space of two years, from £25.7 million in 2020–21 to £49.1 million in 2022–23.
The government spends a lot of money on consultants who are unable to perform the highly specialized expert duties expected of them and who leave behind all of their institutional knowledge and skills.