International Development, Department for

UK government department with responsibility for promoting international development and the reduction of poverty and for managing the UK's programme of assistance to poorer countries. It superseded the Overseas Development Administration in 1997. The secretary of state for international development from 2007 is Douglas Alexander.

The department works with other governments, businesses, and organizations such as the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN), and the World Bank. It is committed to an internationally agreed target to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, and to the provision of basic healthcare and universal access to primary education, by 2015. The majority of the department's assistance is focused on the poorest countries in sub‐Saharan Africa and Asia, but it is also working to eliminate poverty in certain Eastern European countries. In June 2001 the DFID pledged £200 million to the world health fund.