UK axes £45m education programme for women and girls after two years

The British government has scrapped a flagship higher education programme, Strengthening Higher Education for Female Empowerment (SHEFE), only two years after it was announced by the previous Conservative administration. The scheme, with a £45m budget, aimed to improve access to higher education for 1 million students across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) confirmed the tender has been withdrawn. The move comes despite Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper stating in May that women and girls are a priority for the department.

Bambos Charalambous, the Labour MP chairing the all-party parliamentary group on global education, expressed alarm, suggesting the programme was axed due to aid cuts. He noted that such partnerships can transform lives and urged thinking on how to rebuild from the cuts.

The programme was designed partly because girls with higher education are up to six times less likely to marry as children and less likely to experience partner violence. Women with advanced education also earn more.

Earlier this year, the FCDO cancelled the tender for its Education for All programme in South Sudan, worth £150m, which aimed to support education for girls and children with disabilities. Last year, education work was cut in Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe, and the FCDO Girls' Education Department lost 51% of its funding.

A spokesperson for Bond, a UK network for international development organisations, warned that cuts to programmes supporting women and girls threaten to reverse progress on gender-based violence and equality. They urged the foreign secretary to uphold her commitment to women and girls.

According to UNICEF analysis, international aid to education is projected to fall by $3.2bn (£2.4bn) by 2026, a 24% drop. An estimated 6 million more children risk being out of school by year-end.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced last year that the UK aid budget would be cut from 0.5% to 0.3% of gross national income by 2027, the lowest level on record. An FCDO spokesperson said the cuts are to fund increased defence spending, while protecting funding to tackle violence against women and girls this year.