Fundamental reforms are urgently needed at the Government-owned investment company which is supposed to reduce global poverty, Christian Aid says today.
The charity is also backing MPs' call for independent evaluation of CDC Group plc, the former Commonwealth Development Corporation, whose official purpose is to reduce poverty by supporting private sector development.
Christian Aid's warning follows an investigation by Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, which found a remarkable lack of evidence about CDC's impact on poverty. Committee Chairman Edward Leigh says today (Thursday 30 April): 'We need to know...how effective it is at reducing poverty and so far there is limited evidence.'
Christian Aid Policy Manager Alex Cobham says: 'CDC is owned by the Department for International Development, which exists to reduce global poverty, and yet it appears to have neglected to check on how CDC is affecting poor people's lives. Both organisations' central purpose is to tackle poverty and yet that urgent, important task appears to be an afterthought to development of the private sector.'
Christian Aid believes that if CDC is to retain any credibility, then it must systematically gather, independently audit and then publicly report on its impacts on poverty, workers' conditions, climate change and other key indicators of success. Christian Aid also strongly supports the Public Accounts Committee's call for an independent evaluation of CDC's impact.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Larry Dinger (L), Charge dÂ’Affaires of the Yangon-based US embassy, hands over rice to a beneficiary at the World Food Programme (WFP) food distribution camp in Gaw Tu Wai Chaung, Labutta ...
