Press Release
3 July 2007
Shahid Malik to lead on combating poverty in Asia: New ministers' appointments confirmed
Shahid Malik MP, the UK Government’s first Muslim Minister, joins the new ministerial team at the Department for International Development (DFID) with responsibility for DFID’s work in South, Central and East Asia, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America.
Mr Malik, appointed as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, will also support ministerial colleagues on DFID’s work in India, Afghanistan, the Middle East (for example, aid for Palestinians), and conflict resolution issues. He will also lead on the department’s work with faith groups and unions; he will manage DFID’s funding partnerships with the top UK aid agencies such as Oxfam, Christian Aid, Islamic Relief, WWF and VSO; and he will help promote development awareness through the Development Awareness Fund grants.
Commenting, Mr Malik said:
“This is an important time to be driving forward the development agenda and I am thrilled to be joining the ministerial team at the Department for International Development.
“DFID has made a real difference to people’s lives in the developing world, especially Asia, where fewer people are living on the poverty line, where more children are in school, and when disaster has struck – such as the Pakistan and Gujarat earthquakes and the Boxing Day Tsunami – lives have been saved.
“Most people enter politics to change the world; I am profoundly privileged that I will now play my part in a department whose mission is nothing less than changing the world.
“The challenge to make poverty history is immense – there’s much to be done - but I am up for the challenge.”
Shahid Malik is the Member of Parliament for Dewsbury, was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Jim Knight as Minister of State at the Department for Education and Skills and served on the Home Affairs Select Committee and the Environmental Audit Committee. He held a number of roles prior to entering Parliament, including Commissioner to the Northern Ireland Equality Commission, Commissioner for Racial Equality and Vice-Chair of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UK.
Douglas Alexander, the newly appointed Secretary of State for International Development, will lead the new ministerial team. Alongside Mr Malik, DFID’s ministers are Shriti Vadera, who will lead on Africa, development finance, and health and education policies, and the Trade Minister Gareth Thomas who will also lead on climate change and water policies.
Notes to Editors
1. Asia facts: two-thirds of the world’s poorest people live in Asia and 800 million people there live on less than a dollar a day. Examples of progress being made: in Pakistan, the numbers of people living below the poverty line has decreased from over a third of people to less than a quarter; in India less than 10% of children in India are now out of school; and in Nepal access to immunisation and vitamin A has helped reduce the child mortality rate by 7.9% per annum. DFID provided £54 million towards humanitarian efforts following the Pakistan earthquake in 2005 and has provided £70 million to help with reconstruction efforts.
2. DFID’s work in Europe covers a wide area from the Western Balkans (focused on Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania) to Central Asia where DFID is working in Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic. DFID funds work in Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia. And in Russia DFID works closely with the Russian authorities and other donors on a range of development policy issues, notably on HIV and AIDS.
3. Although the Caribbean, Central and South America are relatively advanced regions, they still face persistent poverty which is why DFID is helping the region to reduce the number of people living on less than $1 a day, to deal with maternal mortality in Latin America, and gender equality and HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean.
4. DFID’s work with civil society organisations includes: providing funding to the top 26 UK aid agencies and NGOs; funding projects through the Civil Society Challenge Fund that helps poor people to campaign to their governments for their rights and delivery of services (for example, fishing and land rights); and funding grass-roots development awareness projects in the UK through the Development Awareness Fund.
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