The world's poorest women and girls risk being biggest losers in DfID merger

The department is a world leader in programmes based on gender equality. The government must show this will continue

News that the Department for International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are to merge raised many questions about the UK's commitment to supporting the world's poorest people. A key question for us is how the new department will support women and girls.

For more than 20 years, UK aid has saved and transformed the lives of women and girls in some of the world's poorest countries. In the past five years, 10 million women and girls have received humanitarian assistance and more than 6 million girls have been able to access quality education. Upwards of 25m has been invested to prevent violence against women and girls through the government's What Works programme, and a further 67m committed.