DFID China

30th Floor
South Tower
Kerry Centre
1 Guang Hua Lu
Beijing 100020
Telephone: (0086) (0)10 8529 6882 ext. 2001
Fax: (0086) (0)10 8529 6002/3/4/5
Email: enquiry@dfid.gov.uk
Website: www.dfid.gov.uk

Key Messages

• For the last 20 years, China's economy has grown at an annual rate of around 10% in real terms. Between 1981 and 2004, the numbers of people living on less than $1/day fell from 634  to 135 million. Without China's contribution, the world would have had no chance of meeting the poverty target of the Millennium Development Goals. China’s per capita income is now around $2,000. In 1979, it was just $210.
• However, the absolute numbers of poor people remain large. In 2004, the number of people living on less than $1/day was estimated at 135 million, or around 10% of the population. Almost 500 million people live on less than $2/day, and they remain vulnerable to falling back into poverty, especially if they become ill. Poverty is increasingly concentrated amongst ethnic minorities, the elderly and people with disabilities.   
• China faces many challenges, including increasing access for the poor to basic services like education, health and water; dealing with growing inequality and social exclusion; and managing increased environmental degradation and water scarcity.  
• The speed and scale of China's growth is having an impact on poverty reduction outside of China's borders. China is now an influential player on international development issues. 

International and DFID inputs 

• DFID's programme in 2007/08 will be GBP 33.4 million. Funds are provided entirely on grant terms. 
• Foreign aid forms a very small part of China's overall resources. As a percentage of GDP, development assistance accounts for less than 0.1%. The main donors are the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (both with annual programmes of around $1.5 billion) and Japan (technical assistance of around $100 million and soft loans of around $1.1 billion). Japan has announced that it will stop providing yen loans to China from 2008.

DFID's focus 

• We are building a deepening relationship with China on international development issues, in line with the 8th MDG, which aims to "develop a global partnership for development"  Our main focus is on China's relations with Africa; aid harmonisation and effectiveness; facilitating learning from China's own experience in poverty reduction; and with the already existing UK/China dialogues on sustainable development,  climate change and energy security. A main feature of this dialogue is that it has to be a joint agenda  - other parts of DFID, and other Government departments including DEFRA, the FCO, No 10 and the Cabinet Office. 
• We work with China's own domestic programmes on basic education, HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis control, health systems reform and water and sanitation. These are areas where China faces particular challenges, and where DFID has a comparative advantage by virtue of its previous experience in these sectors in China. We work largely with the World Bank in implementing programmes. 
• We expect to phase out this bilateral work by 2011.

Overview/Progress on MDGs

• MDG1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger - certain to achieve
• MDG2 Achieve universal primary education - may also achieve
• MDG3 Promote gender equality and empower women - may also achieve
• MDG4 Reduce child mortality - will be difficult to achieve
• MDG5 Improve maternal health - likely to achieve
• MDG6 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases - will be difficult to achieve
• MDG7 Ensure environmental sustainability - will be difficult to achieve

Examples of Outcomes

• DFID and Chinese partners in Ministries of Commerce, Foreign Affairs and Finance and in the development banks hold 6-monthly high-level discussions on a range of international development issues.  DFID has committed GBP 4 million to supporting this dialogue.  This will be used to support research, analysis and capacity building to encourage greater collaboration between China, the UK and the international community to support growth and poverty reduction particularly in Africa.
• DFID, along with other UK government departments, is engaged in a high-level dialogue between the UK and China on sustainable development. This covers four themes: sustainable consumption and production, natural resources management, sustainable urban communities, and  governance for sustainable development, with more than 30 projects involving twenty Chinese and UK Ministries and Agencies.  DFID is also engaged with the UK - China discussions on climate change and energy security.  DFID is co-funding with the UK Department of Environment a project looking at adaptation of Chinese agriculture to climate change nationally and particularly in Ningxia, and is working with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, among others, to promote clean and renewable energy development.
• DFID has committed GBP 25 million to a World Bank project that will improve quality and increase access to education in 112 counties in five provinces with a total school-age population of 2.4 million.
• DFID has committed GBP 27 million to a World Bank project on TB control which covers 16 provinces and a total population of 688 million. The project has helped to increase the proportion of TB patients who are correctly diagnosed to over 70% and has helped achieve cure rates at over 85% of patients who receive treatment.
• DFID's two new basic education projects totalling GBP 33 million will improve quality and increase access to education for more than 5 million disadvantaged children, particularly girls from ethnic minorities, in five provinces over the next five years. These projects are building on the valuable lessons learned in Gansu province over the last six years, many of which have now been taken up in national policy.
• DFID has committed over GBP 55 million to HIV and AIDS work in China since 2000. This includes a new GBP 30 million commitment to work in China with the Global Fund for HIV and AIDS projects.  DFID projects have successfully piloted harm reduction techniques, including ways to reduce needle -sharing and increase condom use, which have now been taken up in national policies and plans.
• DFID has committed over GBP 31 million to strengthen China's health system so that more poor people can benefit from basic health services. We support increased immunisation and attendance at births by skilled health personnel. DFID projects have piloted medical insurance and financing schemes to enable poor people to access health care, and the lessons are now being reflected in national policies.
• DFID has committed GBP 22 million to a World Bank project which will improve  income generation opportunities, basic rural infrastructure, health, and education for around 1.4 million poor people in Sichuan, Guangxi and Yunnan.
• DFID is helping to improve water security through better water resource management and better delivery of water and sanitation services  through current and planned commitments of more than GBP 35 million. Key successes include the introduction of Water User Associations  which have now been adopted in national policy.  DFID’s planned new rural water project is focusing on better integration of water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion services to achieve better health outcomes for 800,000 people, and provide replicable models that can be scaled up across China.
• DFID China is on the Board of Trustees of the China International Poverty Reduction Centre, with the aim of facilitating learning from China's experience to other developing countries.