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UK withdraws tender for SHEFE programme that sought to keep 1 million girls in higher education across three regions
The Apex Times

THE APEX TIMES

International/The Apex Times/Jul 4, 4:19 AM EDT

UK withdraws tender for SHEFE programme that sought to keep 1 million girls in higher education across three regions

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office says the Strengthening higher education for female empowerment project was pulled after UK aid cuts, ending a scheme unveiled only two years ago.

3 min readEditor-approved Apex article

The UK government has withdrawn the tender for a higher-education programme aimed at helping keep 1 million girls in school across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, ending the scheme after roughly two years. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said the decision followed reductions to aid funding, according to reporting published July 4 by The Guardian.

The programme, titled Strengthening higher education for female empowerment (SHEFE), was announced with a £45 million budget and was designed to expand access to higher education for students worldwide. It was intended to support outcomes tied to girls’ continued participation in education and to reduce barriers that can lead to early marriage or exposure to violence.

According to the report, the tender has now been withdrawn, with the FCDO providing the basis for the move as part of broader aid cut measures. The change means the programme, which had been positioned as a flagship effort, will not proceed in its planned form.

The timing has drawn criticism from lawmakers with oversight roles in global education. Bambos Charalambous, the Labour MP who chairs an all-party parliamentary group on global education, said he was concerned that a “flagship” programme appears to have been scrapped because of the aid cuts, and he urged efforts to build back projects after funding reductions.

The report also described public messaging from senior officials at the FCDO earlier in the year. In May, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper stressed that women and girls are a priority for the department and said she was “determined to work across borders to ensure women’s safety is a worldwide priority,” framing the issue as a global one rather than a domestic responsibility.

Backers of programmes like SHEFE typically argue that improving access to education can help reduce social and economic pressures on girls and young women. The report cited claims, including that girls benefiting from higher education are less likely to marry as children and may face lower risk of partner violence, while further education can be associated with higher earnings.

The government action raises immediate questions about how existing or partner arrangements will be handled and what happens to planned beneficiaries in the countries and institutions that would have been involved. The FCDO’s withdrawal of the tender indicates the programme will not move forward on the timetable set out when it was announced, leaving beneficiaries and implementing partners without the expected funding path.

International development watchdogs and clinicians have repeatedly warned that cuts to aid can produce downstream risks in health and education, though the Guardian report itself focused on the SHEFE decision and the political response to it. Further details on any replacement programme, re-scoping of objectives, or transition funding were not included in the cited reporting, according to the information available in the coverage.

Why It Matters

  • The decision affects planned education support for girls across multiple regions, with the tender withdrawal indicating the project will not proceed as originally designed.
  • The timing highlights how quickly aid policy changes can overturn programmes announced as priorities, with only a short gap between launch and cancellation.
  • The move is likely to increase scrutiny of how UK development targets for women and girls are translated into funded, deliverable projects.
  • Withdrawals tied to aid reductions can force universities and partner institutions to adjust staffing and course planning on short notice, potentially disrupting education pipelines.

Sources

Key Facts

  • The UK government has withdrawn the tender for the Strengthening higher education for female empowerment (SHEFE) programme.
  • The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) linked the withdrawal to UK aid cuts, ending the scheme after about two years.
  • SHEFE was announced with a £45 million budget.
  • The programme was aimed at improving access to higher education and keeping 1 million girls in school across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
  • A senior UK official, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, previously said women and girls are a priority for the FCDO and that safety for women should be treated as a worldwide goal.
  • Labour MP Bambos Charalambous, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on global education, said he was alarmed the programme appears to have been scrapped because of aid cuts.