Difference between revisions of "Adam Smith International"

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'''Adam Smith International''' (ASI) is the consulting arm of the conservative [[think tank]], the [[Adam Smith Institute]]. While some web-based resources describe the two as entirely separate, [[Valerie Amos|Baroness Amos]] described Adam Smith International as "affiliated" but financially independent in 2004:
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{{short description|'''Consulting arm affiliated with the Adam Smith Institute; major UK aid and CSSF contractor, notably for Syrian Free Syria Police / AJACS and moderate-armed-opposition support'''}}
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:Adam Smith International Limited, which is the consultancy arm of the institute, is a separate organisation. It is affiliated to the institute as a self-financing commercial organisation.<ref>Baroness Amos, [http://yourdemocracy.newstatesman.com/parliament/adam-smith-institute-dfid-contracts/HAN11255383 Adam Smith Institute: DfID Contracts], Lords Debates - 13 January 2004, acc 23 May 2010</ref>
 
  
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On its website ASI calls itself "a leading independent international development consultancy, based in London with a registered office in Delhi and major project offices located in developing and transitional countries worldwide." Its aim is to apply its professional and consulting skills "towards improving the quality of life for the citizens of countries facing economic, political and social change or uncertainty".
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{{Infobox organization
 +
| name = Adam Smith International
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| other_names = ASI
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| type = Private company / international development consultancy
 +
| founded =
 +
| status = Active
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| headquarters = Westminster Tower, 3 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SP
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| industry = International development; stabilisation; governance; privatisation; security-sector support
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| services = Programme design and delivery in fragile states; fund management; public-administration reform; strategic communications
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| key_people = [[Peter Young]] (International Director); [[William Morrison]]; [[David Storer]]; [[Malcolm Rifkind|Sir Malcolm Rifkind]] (board)
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| website = adamsmithinternational.com
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| remarks = Affiliated (self-financing) with the Adam Smith Institute; major CSSF/FCDO recipient; implementer of AJACS / Free Syria Police and bidder for moderate-armed-opposition support
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}}
  
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It adds that its core expertise lies in the fields of government and enterprise/utility reform and in a range of closely related critical support areas, notably policy communications and labour reform. We are developing our expertise in the education and social development fields to build upon our existing track record in these sectors.<ref>Adam Smith International - Who we are [http://www.adamsmithinternational.com/who.html]</ref>
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'''[[Adam Smith International]]''' (ASI) is the consulting arm of the conservative [[think tank]] the [[Adam Smith Institute]]. While some web-based resources describe the two as entirely separate, [[Valerie Amos|Baroness Amos]] described Adam Smith International as “affiliated” but financially independent in 2004:
  
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ASI says it:  
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:Adam Smith International Limited, which is the consultancy arm of the institute, is a separate organisation. It is affiliated to the institute as a self-financing commercial organisation.<ref name="Amos">Baroness Amos, [http://yourdemocracy.newstatesman.com/parliament/adam-smith-institute-dfid-contracts/HAN11255383 Adam Smith Institute: DfID Contracts], Lords Debates, 13 January 2004.</ref>
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:has an unrivalled record of delivering results in complex and highly political environments on behalf of donors including DFID and the FCO. For example, we mobilised at short notice to set up from scratch a Prime Minister's Office and Cabinet Office in Iraq and have been providing public administration reform assistance ever since. In Afghanistan we are developing and supporting counter narcotics institutions at both central and provincial levels. In Palestine we established the new Prime Minister's Office and Cabinet Office and now run DFID's long-term programme of public administration reform within the Palestinian Authority, as well as having run the unit supporting Palestinian negotiators on behalf of 5 bilateral donors since 1999. In Liberia we are managing a civil service reform programme for DFID and in Sierra Leone are taking executive control of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, seeking to turn it into an effective revenue-generating agency.<ref>stabilisationunit.gov.uk - Adam Smith International [http://www.stabilisationunit.gov.uk/resources/frameworks/6%20ASI%20input%20for%20SU%20brochure%2008-01-21.doc]</ref>
 
  
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==Relationship with Adam Smith Institute==
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On its website ASI calls itself “a leading independent international development consultancy, based in London with a registered office in Delhi and major project offices located in developing and transitional countries worldwide.” Its aim is to apply its professional and consulting skills “towards improving the quality of life for the citizens of countries facing economic, political and social change or uncertainty.” It states that its core expertise lies in government and enterprise/utility reform and related areas, notably policy communications and labour reform, and that it is developing expertise in education and social development. Company number 02732176.<ref name="ASIWho">Adam Smith International, “Who we are,” adamsmithinternational.com (archived).</ref>
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While some web-based resources describe the free market think tank the [[Adam Smith Institute]] and Adam Smith International as entirely separate, [[Valerie Amos|Baroness Amos]] described Adam Smith International as "affiliated" but financially independent in 2004:
 
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:Adam Smith International Limited, which is the consultancy arm of the institute, is a separate organisation. It is affiliated to the institute as a self-financing commercial organisation.<ref>Baroness Amos, [http://yourdemocracy.newstatesman.com/parliament/adam-smith-institute-dfid-contracts/HAN11255383 Adam Smith Institute: DfID Contracts], Lords Debates - 13 January 2004, acc 23 May 2010</ref>
 
  
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Baroness Amos's attempt at clarification came in answer to a question to the government in the House of Lords from [[Baroness Northover]], as to:
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ASI says it “has an unrivalled record of delivering results in complex and highly political environments on behalf of donors including DFID and the FCO. For example, we mobilised at short notice to set up from scratch a Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Office in Iraq and have been providing public administration reform assistance ever since. In Afghanistan we are developing and supporting counter narcotics institutions at both central and provincial levels. In Palestine we established the new Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Office and now run DFID’s long-term programme of public administration reform within the Palestinian Authority, as well as having run the unit supporting Palestinian negotiators on behalf of 5 bilateral donors since 1999. In Liberia we are managing a civil service reform programme for DFID and in Sierra Leone are taking executive control of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, seeking to turn it into an effective revenue-generating agency.”<ref name="SU">Stabilisation Unit brochure, Adam Smith International input, 2008.</ref>
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:What criteria they considered before giving the Adam Smith Institute £7.6 million in aid money last year for consultancy work?
 
  
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Baroness Amos defended the grant as follows:
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== Relationship with Adam Smith Institute ==
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:the [[Department for International Development]] awarded three contracts to the Adam Smith Institute worth a total of £7.7 million in the past financial year. Each was awarded following open international competition on the basis of published evaluation criteria.<ref>Baroness Amos, [http://yourdemocracy.newstatesman.com/parliament/adam-smith-institute-dfid-contracts/HAN11255383 Adam Smith Institute: DfID Contracts], Lords Debates - 13 January 2004, acc 23 May 2010</ref>
 
  
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==Controversies/issues==
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Baroness Amos’s clarification came in answer to a question from [[Baroness Northover]] about the criteria used before giving the Adam Smith Institute £7.6 million in aid money for consultancy work. Amos replied that DFID had awarded three contracts to the Adam Smith Institute worth a total of £7.7 million in the past financial year, each following open international competition.<ref name="Amos" />
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A failed water privatisation deal in Tanzania has caused criticism as "many western companies are accused of profiting from the poor and raising prices above what they can afford". In this particular case, Adam Smith International, sister organisation of the free market UK think tank Adam Smith Institute, is accused of having spent the money provided by the Department for International Development in order to provide advice to the Tanzanian government for a £250,000 video clip promoting privatisation.<ref>The Guardian - May 25, 2005 - Aid to Africa: Flagship water privatisation fails in Tanzania: UK firm's contract cancelled amid row over supply -  Accessed 18/03/2008</ref>
 
  
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The British government is accused of being at least partly responsible for the failure of this project. "The Department for International Development (...) handed £273,000 of British taxpayers' aid money to British consultancy firm Adam Smith International for glossy public relations materials, including the pop song, to persuade a sceptical public of the benefits of the sell-off."<ref>Morning Star - April 17, 2007 - Britain - British water firm sues Tanzania - Accessed 18/03/2008</ref>
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== Syria: AJACS / Free Syria Police and moderate armed opposition ==
  
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==ASI projects and the DFID==
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ASI implemented the Access to Justice and Community Support (AJACS) programme under the [[Conflict, Stability and Security Fund]], providing training, equipment, vehicles and salaries to the Free Syria Police in opposition-controlled areas (Idlib, Aleppo, Eastern Ghouta and others). Declassified UK, drawing on CSSF documents, reports that the UK provided at least £8 million over four years; funding ended in September 2018.
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Projects ASI has worked on include:
 
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*A project for the [[World Bank]] on "a review of Rwanda’s essential utilities (roads, telecoms, water, gas, electricity, etc.), an assessment of the current levels of access to these utilities and a series of recommendations for involving the private sector to increase the efficiency of their delivery."<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20060623041640/http://www.adamsmithinternational.com/case_rw.html Case Studies: Rwanda], Adam Smith International website, version placed in web archive Jun 23 2006, accessed in web archive 7 Sept 2009</ref>
 
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*Advising the government of Rwanda on the privatisation of the Pfunda tea factory which was sold to a UK based tea trading company, LAB International.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20060623041640/http://www.adamsmithinternational.com/case_rw.html Case Studies: Rwanda], Adam Smith International website, version placed in web archive Jun 23 2006, accessed in web archive 7 Sept 2009</ref>
 
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* In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in 1998, ASI established "a semi-autonomous body known as the Implementation Secretariat (IS)" which "was given the responsibility of reviewing the status of 87 state-owned enterprises and cooperative societies." On its website, ASI states that "to date, more than fifty enterprises and cooperatives have been privatised, disinvested, closed or restructured, creating over US$110m of revenue for the Government of Andhra Pradesh and making fiscal savings of over $300m."<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20060623041718/http://www.adamsmithinternational.com/case_ap.html Case studies: Andhra Pradesh – Reform with a Human Face], Adam Smith International website, version placed in web archive Jun 23 2006, accessed in web archive 9 Sept 2009</ref>
 
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*In Ghana since 1999, ASI has been working on a project funded by the UK’s [[Department for International Development]] (DfID) DFID to develop proposals on water supply issues. DfID asked ASI has to help a government regulatory body to develop a pro-poor regulatory social policy that will result in universal access to affordable water.
 
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*In January 2004, ASI hosted a major international conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh, with assistance once more from DfID, promoting its preferred free trade policies including canvassing a [[South Asia Free Trade Area]] (SAFTA) and the repeal of the "highly restrictive" Multi-Fibre Arrangement on textiles.
 
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*In Iraq, with DfID funding, ASI is working on a project to "assist three vital Iraqi ministries (Finance; Planning & Development Coordination; Municipalities & Public Works) in building emergency capacity for the immediate provision of vital services. ASI is involved in laying the foundations for long-term reform".<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20060623041530/http://www.adamsmithinternational.com/case_ir.html Case Studies: Iraq: Building a New Civil Service], Adam Smith International website, version placed in web archive Jun 23 2006, accessed in web archive 9 Sept 2009</ref>
 
  
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===UK government contracts===
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In December 2017 BBC Panorama broadcast “Jihadis You Pay For,” alleging that a portion of funds reached groups including Nour al-Din al-Zinki and that there were links between Free Syria Police stations and courts associated with Jabhat al-Nusra. The programme and reporting in The Times cited internal ASI documents warning that a percentage of police salaries was being handed over to armed groups. ASI described the allegations as “entirely inaccurate and misleading.” The FCO suspended ASI’s Syria projects. Subsequent internal and third-party reviews, summarised in a ministerial letter of January 2018, concluded that the allegations were either untrue, misleading or had been dealt with appropriately at the time, and that there was no evidence HMG or ASI had acted inappropriately. The project resumed in early 2018. Parliamentary answers confirmed DFID funding of two ASI Syria programmes (Taallum and the Assistance Coordination Unit) totalling £1,167,613 in 2017/18.<ref name="Declassified">Declassified UK, [https://www.declassifieduk.org/revealed-the-uk-has-spent-350-million-promoting-regime-change-in-syria Revealed: The UK has spent £350-million promoting regime change in Syria], 20 July 2021.</ref><ref name="Parliament">UK Parliament, Written question HL4023, answered 20 December 2017.</ref><ref name="Panorama">BBC Panorama, “Jihadis You Pay For,” December 2017.</ref>
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In January 2004, House of Commons hearings revealed the following funding for international operations:
 
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<table border="1" bgcolor="white" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" width="80%" align="center">
 
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<tr valign="top" bgcolor="goldenrod">
 
  
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<th>Year</th>
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A leaked 2016 CSSF invitation-to-tender response from Adam Smith International (ITT 1145, “CSSF: Support to Moderate Armed Opposition,” Syria/Jordan) shows the company bidding, in consortium with Pilgrims Group, KBR UK, OAKAS Ltd and GlenGulf International Ltd, for work training and equipping moderate armed opposition elements in southern Syria. The bid emphasises prior experience on the Tamkeen (Empowering Local Initiatives) project and contribution to indicators on community–armed-group relations. This sits within the broader CSSF effort, reported by The Guardian in 2016, to provide strategic communications and media operations support to the moderate armed opposition.<ref name="LeakedBid">Adam Smith International, CSSF: Support to Moderate Armed Opposition (ITT 1145), June 2016 (leaked document).</ref><ref name="Guardian">Ian Cobain et al., [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/03/how-britain-funds-the-propaganda-war-against-isis-in-syria How Britain funds the ‘propaganda war’ against Isis in Syria] ''The Guardian'', 3 May 2016.</ref>
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<th>Project title</th>
 
−
<th>Current value (&pound;) (original contract value plus cost of any increases or extensions)</th>
 
−
<th>Country</th>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
== Other major programmes ==
−
<td>1999</td>
 
−
<td>PR Unit Support for Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSRC)</td>
 
−
<td align="right">430,625</td>
 
−
<td align="center">Tanzania</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
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<tr valign="top">
+
- '''Somalia Stability Fund III''': In 2023 the FCDO awarded ASI a contract (value up to £180 million over six years, extendable) as Fund Manager.
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<td>1999</td>
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- '''Jordan''': CSSF contracts including a £2.25 million Security Governance Fund (2023–2025) and work on the 3T (Tackling Transnational Threats) Programme.
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<td>Privatisation Project Phase 3 and 4 Managing Consultant</td>
+
- '''Broader portfolio''': Contemporaneous reporting noted more than £500 million in British aid contracts in the five years preceding the 2017 Panorama programme. The company faced earlier criticism over fake testimonials, leading to a temporary ban on new government contracts in 2017.
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<td align="right">1,718,736</td>
 
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<td align="center">Guyana</td>
 
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</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
== Earlier projects and DFID work ==
−
<td>1999</td>
 
−
<td>Privatisation Agency Support Project Consultancy</td>
 
−
<td align="right">560,752</td>
 
−
<td align="center">Zimbabwe</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
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<tr valign="top">
+
Projects ASI has worked on include:
−
<td>1999</td>
 
−
<td>Technical Assistance for Public Enterprise Reform in Orissa</td>
 
−
<td align="right">3,667,571</td>
 
−
<td align="center">India</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
−
 
 
−
<tr valign="top">
 
−
<td>1999</td>
 
−
<td>Assistance to the Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department</td>
 
−
<td align="right">9,131,555</td>
 
−
<td align="center">West Bank and Gaza</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
−
 
 
−
<tr valign="top">
 
−
<td>1999</td>
 
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<td>Additional Support to the Privatisation Board</td>
 
−
<td align="right">106,241</td>
 
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<td align="center">Bangladesh</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
−
 
 
−
<tr valign="top">
 
−
<td>1999</td>
 
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<td>UK-Ireland Privatisation and Regulation Study Tour</td>
 
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<td align="right">11,145</td>
 
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<td align="center">Tanzania</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
−
 
 
−
<tr valign="top">
 
−
<td>1999</td>
 
−
<td>Medium Term Programme of Capacity Building for PURC</td>
 
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<td align="right">1,559,960</td>
 
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<td align="center">Ghana</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
−
 
 
−
<tr valign="top">
 
−
<td>1999</td>
 
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<td>Initital Support to the Budgetary Processes of the Government of Macedonia</td>
 
−
<td align="right">44,315</td>
 
−
<td align="center">Macedonia</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
−
 
 
−
<tr valign="top">
 
−
<td>2000</td>
 
−
<td>Rehabilitation of Cyclone Damaged Lift Irrigation Points in Orissa</td>
 
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<td align="right">1,296,327</td>
 
−
<td align="center">India</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
−
 
 
−
<tr valign="top">
 
−
<td>2000</td>
 
−
<td>Seminar on Export Credits and Developing Countries</td>
 
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<td align="right">102,594</td>
 
−
<td align="center">United Kingdom</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
−
 
 
−
<tr valign="top">
 
−
<td>2000</td>
 
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<td>Lead Adviser to Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSCR)</td>
 
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<td align="right">229,966</td>
 
−
<td align="center">Tanzania</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
* A World Bank review of Rwanda’s essential utilities and recommendations for private-sector involvement.
−
<td>2000</td>
+
* Advising the government of Rwanda on the privatisation of the Pfunda tea factory (sold to LAB International).
−
<td>Russia Trade Policy Project</td>
+
* In Andhra Pradesh (from 1998), establishing an Implementation Secretariat that reviewed 87 state-owned enterprises; more than fifty were privatised, disinvested, closed or restructured.
−
<td align="right">1,199,986</td>
+
* In Ghana (from 1999), DFID-funded work on pro-poor water-supply regulation.
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<td align="center">Russia</td>
+
* In January 2004, hosting a major conference in Dhaka promoting a South Asia Free Trade Area and repeal of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement.
−
</tr>
+
* In Iraq, DFID-funded work assisting the Ministries of Finance, Planning & Development Coordination, and Municipalities & Public Works in building emergency capacity and laying foundations for long-term reform.<ref name="Archive">Adam Smith International website case studies, web archive June 2006.</ref>
  
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<tr valign="top">
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=== UK government contracts (House of Commons, January 2004) ===
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<td>2001</td>
 
−
<td>Conference on Disinvestment</td>
 
−
<td align="right">70,000</td>
 
−
<td align="center">India</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
{| class="wikitable"
−
<td>2001</td>
+
! Year !! Project title !! Current value (£) !! Country
−
<td>Support for Public Sector Undertaking Reforms &amp; Social Safety Net in Madhya Pradesh</td>
+
|-
−
<td align="right">80,000</td>
+
| 1999 || PR Unit Support for Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSRC) || 430,625 || Tanzania
−
<td align="center">India</td>
+
|-
−
</tr>
+
| 1999 || Privatisation Project Phase 3 and 4 Managing Consultant || 1,718,736 || Guyana
 +
|-
 +
| 1999 || Privatisation Agency Support Project Consultancy || 560,752 || Zimbabwe
 +
|-
 +
| 1999 || Technical Assistance for Public Enterprise Reform in Orissa || 3,667,571 || India
 +
|-
 +
| 1999 || Assistance to the Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department || 9,131,555 || West Bank and Gaza
 +
|-
 +
| 1999 || Additional Support to the Privatisation Board || 106,241 || Bangladesh
 +
|-
 +
| 1999 || UK-Ireland Privatisation and Regulation Study Tour || 11,145 || Tanzania
 +
|-
 +
| 1999 || Medium Term Programme of Capacity Building for PURC || 1,559,960 || Ghana
 +
|-
 +
| 1999 || Initial Support to the Budgetary Processes of the Government of Macedonia || 44,315 || Macedonia
 +
|-
 +
| 2000 || Rehabilitation of Cyclone Damaged Lift Irrigation Points in Orissa || 1,296,327 || India
 +
|-
 +
| 2000 || Seminar on Export Credits and Developing Countries || 102,594 || United Kingdom
 +
|-
 +
| 2000 || Lead Adviser to Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSCR) || 229,966 || Tanzania
 +
|-
 +
| 2000 || Russia Trade Policy Project || 1,199,986 || Russia
 +
|-
 +
| 2001 || Conference on Disinvestment || 70,000 || India
 +
|-
 +
| 2001 || Support for Public Sector Undertaking Reforms & Social Safety Net in Madhya Pradesh || 80,000 || India
 +
|-
 +
| 2001 || PSCR: Water Privatisation and Regulation Study Tour || 54,924 || Tanzania
 +
|-
 +
| 2001 || Communications Film for Department of Disinvestment || 89,500 || India
 +
|-
 +
| 2001 || Consultants for Standards, Technical Regulatory Barriers Programme || 92,870 || Global
 +
|-
 +
| 2002 || Trade Training for DFID Staff || 20,075 || United Kingdom
 +
|-
 +
| 2002 || Pilot Training and Capacity Building in International Watercourse Law || 151,008 || Kyrgyz Republic
 +
|-
 +
| 2002 || Trade Training for DFID Staff-Bangkok || 32,328 || United Kingdom
 +
|-
 +
| 2002 || Support for Capacity-building in the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank || 3,277,815 || Afghanistan
 +
|-
 +
| 2003 || Support Services for Public Enterprise Restructuring in South Africa || 6,363,435 || South Africa
 +
|-
 +
| 2003 || Support to Water Sector Regulation by PURC-Ghana || 1,079,100 || Ghana
 +
|-
 +
| 2003 || Andhra Pradesh Economic Restructuring Programme-Public Enterprise Reforms, Phase II || 416,435 || India
 +
|-
 +
| 2003 || Economic Support within 1st Military Division HQ Basra || 55,510 || Iraq
 +
|-
 +
| 2003 || Economic Development within 1st Military Division HQ Basra || 119,848 || Iraq
 +
|-
 +
| 2003 || Support to the Office of the Prime Minister and to the Cabinet Office || 100,400 || West Bank and Gaza
 +
|-
 +
| 2003 || ITD-DFID Staff Training || 288,685 || Global
 +
|-
 +
| 2003 || Asia Trade Consultancy || 44,200 || United Kingdom
 +
|-
 +
| 2003 || International Lawyer within 1st Military Division HQ Basra || 131,868 || Iraq
 +
|-
 +
| 2003 || Economic Support to Coalition Provisional Authority South (CPAS) || 111,255 || Iraq
 +
|-
 +
| 2003 || Secondment of Negotiations Support Staff to the Office of Prime Minister || 75,800 || West Bank and Gaza
 +
|-
 +
| 2003 || Legal Adviser within Coalition Provisional Authority South (CPAS) || 72,925 || Iraq
 +
|}
  
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<tr valign="top">
+
Source: House of Commons, International Development: Adam Smith Institute, 26 January 2004.<ref name="HC2004">[http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/vo040126/text/40126w03.htm International Development: Adam Smith Institute], UK Parliamentary Transcript, 26 January 2004.</ref>
−
<td>2001</td>
 
−
<td>PSCR: Water Privatisation and Regulation Study Tour</td>
 
−
<td align="right">54,924</td>
 
−
<td align="center">Tanzania</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
== The Palestinian Negotiating Unit ==
−
<td>2001</td>
 
−
<td>Communications Film for Department of Disinvestment</td>
 
−
<td align="right">89,500</td>
 
−
<td align="center">India</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
Most official and semi-official Palestinian organisations depend on foreign funding. The key Negotiations Support Unit (NSU), set up in 1999 to give legal, communications and policy advice to the [[Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department]], was funded indirectly by the British government via ASI from its inception. The unit was disbanded by Palestinian President [[Mahmoud Abbas]] in February 2011 after three employees leaked around 1,600 secret documents to Al Jazeera.<ref name="Reuters">Mohammed Assadi and Crispian Balmer, [http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/palestinian-peace-negotiation-unit-disbanded/ Palestinian peace negotiation unit disbanded], Reuters Alertnet, 14 February 2011.</ref>
−
<td>2001</td>
 
−
<td>Consultants for Standards, Technical Regulatory Barriers Programme</td>
 
−
<td align="right">92,870</td>
 
−
<td align="center">Global (non project specific)</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
A 2008 Stabilisation Unit brochure states: “ASI has been providing support to the Palestinian Authority (PA) for over a decade. Since 1999 we have assisted the PLO in preparing negotiation positions across a range of issues, from allocation and management of natural resources to complex refugees and borders issues. This project has provided Palestinian negotiators with access to high quality professional support which has transformed the nature of the negotiating process with Israel. ASI is also implementing DFID’s public administration reform programme…”<ref name="SU" />
−
<td>2002</td>
 
−
<td>Trade Training for DFID Staff</td>
 
−
<td align="right">20,075</td>
 
−
<td align="center">United Kingdom</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
Khaled Amayreh has written critically of the NSU’s performance and of ASI’s role, noting that the unit received tens of millions of dollars while, in his view, doing little to strengthen Palestinian negotiators, and that ASI is a for-profit organisation receiving a cut of donor funds earmarked for the Palestinians. An anonymous former associate of the NSU has similarly described the structural problem of a for-profit intermediary whose interests are aligned with continued donor funding rather than with independent Palestinian positions.<ref name="Amayreh">Khaled Amayreh, “Empty heads and full pockets,” Al Ahram Weekly, Issue 874, 6 December 2007.</ref>
−
<td>2002</td>
 
−
<td>Pilot Training and Capacity Building in International Watercourse Law</td>
 
−
<td align="right">151,008</td>
 
−
<td align="center">Kyrgyz Republic</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
== Controversies / issues ==
−
<td>2002</td>
 
−
<td>Trade Training for DFID Staff-Bangkok</td>
 
−
<td align="right">32,328</td>
 
−
<td align="center">United Kingdom</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
=== Water privatisation (Tanzania and Sierra Leone) ===
−
<td>2002</td>
 
−
<td>Support for Capacity-building in the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank</td>
 
−
<td align="right">3,277,815</td>
 
−
<td align="center">Afghanistan</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
A failed water-privatisation deal in Tanzania attracted criticism. ASI was accused of having spent DFID money on a £250,000 video clip promoting privatisation. The Guardian reported that DFID handed £273,000 to ASI for glossy public-relations materials, including a pop song, to persuade a sceptical public of the benefits of the sell-off. The contractor (Biwater) was later asked to leave by the Tanzanian government.<ref name="GuardianWater">John Vidal, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2005/may/25/uk.world Flagship water privatisation fails in Tanzania], The Guardian, 25 May 2005.</ref>
−
<td>2003</td>
 
−
<td>Support Services for Public Enterprise Restructuring in South Africa</td>
 
−
<td align="right">6,363,435</td>
 
−
<td align="center">South Africa, Republic of</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
In Sierra Leone, UK ministers were accused of spending aid money on a public-relations campaign to promote water privatisation. The World Development Movement criticised DFID for paying international consultants both to advise on privatisation and to run a propaganda campaign to counter public resistance. ASI was among the firms under consideration.<ref name="BBCWater">BBC News, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4197854.stm ‘UK aid cash funds PR campaign’], 30 August 2005.</ref>
−
<td>2003</td>
 
−
<td>Support to Water Sector Regulation by PURC-Ghana</td>
 
−
<td align="right">1,079,100</td>
 
−
<td align="center">Ghana</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
=== Fake testimonials and temporary ban ===
−
<td>2003</td>
 
−
<td>Andhra Pradesh Economic Restructuring Programme-Public Enterprise Reforms, Phase II</td>
 
−
<td align="right">416,435</td>
 
−
<td align="center">India</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
In 2017 ASI was exposed for orchestrating fake testimonials in an effort to mislead MPs and was temporarily banned from new government contracts.
−
<td>2003</td>
 
−
<td>Economic Support within 1st Military Division HQ Basra.</td>
 
−
<td align="right">55,510</td>
 
−
<td align="center">Iraq</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
== Personnel ==
−
<td>2003</td>
 
−
<td>Economic Development within 1st Military Division HQ Basra.</td>
 
−
<td align="right">119,848</td>
 
−
<td align="center">Iraq</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
=== Staff ===
−
<td>2003</td>
 
−
<td>Support to the Office of the Prime Minister and to the Cabinet Office.</td>
 
−
<td align="right">100,400</td>
 
−
<td align="center">West Bank and Gaza</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
* [[Roger Usher]] – Managing Director
−
<td>2003</td>
+
* [[Phil Madden]] – Finance Director
−
<td>ITD-DFID Staff Training</td>
+
* [[William Morrison]] – Director
−
<td align="right">288,685</td>
+
* [[David Storer]] – Director
−
<td align="center">Global (non project specific)</td>
+
* [[Peter Young]] – International Director
−
</tr>
+
* [[Amitabh Shrivastava]] – Director of Economic Reform Practice, former International Director
 +
* [[Andrew Ros]] – Finance Director
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
=== Board ===
−
<td>2003</td>
 
−
<td>Asia Trade Consultancy</td>
 
−
<td align="right">44,200</td>
 
−
<td align="center">United Kingdom</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
* [[Malcolm Rifkind|Sir Malcolm Rifkind]]
−
<td>2003</td>
 
−
<td>International Lawyer within 1st Military Division HQ Basra.</td>
 
−
<td align="right">131,868</td>
 
−
<td align="center">Iraq</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
== Funding ==
−
<td>2003</td>
 
−
<td>Economic Support to Coalition Provisional Authority South (CPAS)</td>
 
−
<td align="right">111,255</td>
 
−
<td align="center">Iraq</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
Adam Smith International is funded by its clients and international aid agencies, principally the UK government’s Department for International Development / FCDO and the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund.
−
<td>2003</td>
 
−
<td>Secondment of Negotiations Support Staff to the Office of Prime Minister.</td>
 
−
<td align="right">75,800</td>
 
−
<td align="center">West Bank and Gaza</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
  
−
<tr valign="top">
+
== Clients ==
−
<td>2003
 
−
</td>
 
−
<td>Legal Adviser within Coalition Provisional Authority South (CPAS)</td>
 
−
<td align="right">72,925</td>
 
−
<td align="center">Iraq</td>
 
−
</tr>
 
−
<tr>
 
−
<th colspan="4" bgcolor="goldenrod" align="left" style="font-size:10pt">Source<ref>[http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/vo040126/text/40126w03.htm International Development: Adam Smith Institute], UK Parliamentary Transcript, 26 Jan 2004.</ref></th>
 
−
</tr>
 
−
</table>
 
  
−
==The Palestinian Negotiating Unit==
+
Rwanda, Andhra Pradesh, Ghana, Bangladesh, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Syria, Somalia, Jordan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and others.
  
−
Most official and semi-official Palestinian organizations depend on foreign funding, and the key Negotiations Support Unit (NSU) which was set up in 1999 to give legal, communications and policy advice to the [[Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department]] was funded indirectly by the British government via ASI from its inception. The unit was disbanded by Palestinian President [[Mahmoud Abbas]] in February 2011 after it emerged that three of its employees had leaked around 1600 secret documents to [[Al Jazeera]]. <ref>Mohammed Assadi and Crispian Balmer, [http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/palestinian-peace-negotiation-unit-disbanded/ Palestinian peace negotiation unit disbanded], Reuters Alertnet, 14 February 2011, accessed 24 February 2011.</ref>
+
== Affiliations ==
  
−
A 2008 [[Stabilisation Unit]] brochure gives an overview of ASI's work under the heading 'Building capacity in the Palestinian Authority':
+
Adam Smith International is “a commercial enterprise affiliated to the right-wing free-market think tank, the Adam Smith Institute.”<ref name="Independent">The Independent, 16 May 2005.</ref>
−
:ASI has been providing support to the Palestinian Authority (PA) for over a decade. Since 1999 we have assisted the PLO in preparing negotiation positions across a range of issues, from allocation and management of natural resources to complex refugees and borders issues. This project has provided Palestinian negotiators with access to high quality professional support which has transformed the nature of the negotiating process with Israel.  ASI is also implementing DFID’s public administration reform programme, which aims to enable the PA to provide more efficient, transparent and fiscally sustainable service delivery commensurate with the standards of a modern democratic state. <ref>Stabilisation Unit[http://www.stabilisationunit.gov.uk/resources/frameworks/6%20ASI%20input%20for%20SU%20brochure%2008-01-21.doc Adam Smith International]</ref>
 
  
−
Khaled Amayreh, an eminent Palestinian journalist, writes:
+
== Contact details ==
−
: Palestinian mediocrity, or even incompetence, in negotiations with Israel, is not imputed to lack of financial and human resources. The main reason may well lie in corruption at the highest levels and virtual absence of accountability.  The PLO Negotiations Affairs Department (NAD) has at its disposal the services of the Negotiations Support Unit (NSU), which has received tens of million of dollars of funds, but has done very little to make Palestinian negotiators better equipped to face their Israeli counterparts.<br>Just take a look at the document formulated jointly between Israel and the PA at the last minute at the Annapolis conference. This document, which the NSU helped formulate, was completely void of any call for ending the manifestly criminal blockade of Gaza, the removal of Israeli checkpoints and roadblocks in the West Bank or release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli dungeons and detention camps. Moreover, not a word was mentioned about freezing Israeli settlement expansions. The NSU is funded and effectively controlled by the '''Adam Smith Institute''' (ASI), a think-tank based in London which is vulnerable to pressure from pro- Israeli circles. For example, two years ago, the ASI forced the NSU to fire two highly-qualified Palestinian-American lawyers, Michael Tarazi and Diana Butto, for going too far in defending Palestinian rights, especially during TV debates with Israeli spokesmen. According to inside sources, one of the persons who pushed for firing the two Palestinian-American lawyers is Glenn Robinson, the author or co-author of the controversial RAND project "The Arc: A Formal Structure for a Palestinian State". Eventually, Tarazi and Butto were accused by pro-Israeli lobbyists, including some British MPs, of hindering the development of the Palestinian Ministry of Information and of not ensuring sufficient coordination with the PLO. Of course, these accusations were merely red herrings.<br>ASI defines itself as the UK's leading innovator of practical market economic policies. The institute's main focus is on reforming governments and state enterprises in order to promote choice, competition, and user-focus. It works through research, reports, conferences, advice and media debate.  Since 1999, ASI relegated nearly $50 million to the Ramallah-based NSU despite the fact that NSU staff and employees were sitting in their homes, doing nothing, since the peace process was paralysed.<br>A British diplomat based in Israel explained why the British government, which pays the lion's share of the NSU budget, and other donors, continued to pay all these millions to the ASI and NSU, despite the international boycott of the Palestinians from March 2006 to June 2007. "We were hoping that negotiations would be resumed anytime."  But, the main problem lies with the Palestinian Authority itself and its relations with the NSU, mostly based on cronyism and nepotism. The author sought to contact the NSU in Ramallah, but received a hostile response. One lady told me "why don't you go and negotiate with Israel. Maybe you could do a better job."<ref>Khaled Amayreh, [http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/print/2007/874/re61.htm Empty heads and full pockets], Al Ahram Weekly, Issue 874, 6 December 2007.  Note that the Palestinian authority and Israel have tried on various occasions to silence Amayreh.  Sometimes Amayreh's articles appear in the Al Ahram Weekly home page only to be removed afterwards.</ref>
 
  
−
Observations from a Palestinian who for some time was associated with the NUS (email dated 11 December 2007)<ref>The person who wrote the information below did not wish to be identified because he still lives in the occupied territories</ref>:
+
Adam Smith International 
−
<blockquote style="background-color:beige;border:1pt solid Darkgoldenrod;padding:1%">
+
Westminster Tower 
−
Regarding ASI, I cannot say that they vetoed Palestinian positions when I was there - that was not the problem. The problem is that ASI is a FOR PROFIT organization that runs the NSU. It received funds from the donors (remember, this is money that is earmarked for the Palestinians) and ASI receives a cut of these funds. When [...] the donors decide that they do not want a certain activity to be carried out, it is not in ASI's interest to go against the dictates of the donors because doing so will mean that its funds (and profits) will be diminished.<br>[...] When the donors determined that they did not want the NSU to be engaged in public communications activities (owing to pressure from the pro-Israel lobby), it was not in ASI's interest to come to our defence or to demand otherwise. Why?  Because coming to our defence would mean the potential for ASI's funds and profits to be diminished if they are seen as going against the will of the donors.  ASI feared that the entire project would be cut by the donors if they took a principled stance against the donors.<br>[...] I did see direct donor interference as regarded the communications work that was done.  They also expressed their discontent regarding the work that we did on the Wall (the ICJ ruling).<br>Again, the problem is that Palestinian national interests are subject to the will of "for profit" organizations. If negotiations are so vital to Palestinian national interests, I am not sure why the PLO allows outside organizations to either (a) control our negotiations or (b) make profit off of our negotiations.</blockquote>
+
3 Albert Embankment  
 +
London SE1 7SP  
 +
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7735 6660  
 +
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7793 0090  
 +
Email: Mailbox AT AdamSmithInternational.com  
 +
Web: http://www.adamsmithinternational.com/
  
−
==Think tank's water bank rankles==
+
== See also ==
  
−
DfID paid ASI "more than £500,000 to provide advice to the Tanzanian government," with over half that amount spent on a video extolling the benefits of water privatisation, The Guardian reported in May 2005. "Our old industries are dry like crops and privatisation brings the rain," was one statement in the video.<ref>John Vidal, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2005/may/25/uk.world Flagship water privatisation fails in Tanzania], The Guardian, 25 May 2005, accessed 9 Sept 2006</ref>
+
* [[Adam Smith Institute]]
 +
* [[Conflict, Stability and Security Fund]]
 +
* [[White Helmets]]
 +
* [[Incostrat]]
 +
* [[ARK Group]]
 +
* [[Mayday Rescue]]
 +
* [[Free Syria Police]]
 +
* [[Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department]]
  
−
"UK ministers have been accused of spending British aid money on a public relations campaign to promote water privatisation in Sierra Leone," reported BBC News in August 2005. [[Vicky Cann]], of the organization [[World Development Movement]], criticized the British Department for International Development (DfID), saying, "In the poorest country of the world, which is still recovering from a decade long bitter civil war, DfID is not only going to pay international consultants to advise on how to privatise water ... but they will also pay for a propaganda campaign to run alongside it to counter public resistance. Is this really the best use of UK aid money – UK tax-payers’ money – that DfID can come up with? As far as we are concerned this is definitely immoral; the legal advice that we have is that it could well be illegal too."<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4197854.stm 'UK aid cash funds PR campaign'], BBC News, 30 Aug 2005, accessed 9 Sept 2009</ref><ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20060305193220/http://www.wdm.org.uk/news/presrel/current/sierraleone.htm DfID fund PR campaign for failed policy in world's poorest country], World Development Movement press release, 30 Aug 2005, accessed Sept 9 2009</ref> The eight firms under consideration for the contract included ASI and [[PricewaterhouseCoopers]].<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20060305193220/http://www.wdm.org.uk/news/presrel/current/sierraleone.htm DfID fund PR campaign for failed policy in world's poorest country], World Development Movement press release, 30 Aug 2005, accessed Sept 9 2009</ref>
+
== External links ==
  
−
In May, a similar water privatization scheme in Tanzania that DfID paid Adam Smith International £273,000 to promote collapsed "after the contractor, [[Biwater]], was asked to leave by the government."<ref>Julian Glover, [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/development/story/0,15709,1558761,00.html Row over aid money for consultants], The Guardian, 30 Aug 2005, accessed 9 Sept 2009</ref><ref>John Vidal, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/hearafrica05/story/0,15756,1491600,00.html Flagship water privatisation fails in Tanzania: UK firm's contract cancelled amid row over supply]", The Guardian,  May 25, 2005, accessed 9 Sept 2009</ref>
+
* [https://www.declassifieduk.org/revealed-the-uk-has-spent-350-million-promoting-regime-change-in-syria Declassified UK, July 2021]
−
 
+
* [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/03/how-britain-funds-the-propaganda-war-against-isis-in-syria Guardian, May 2016]
−
==Personnel==
+
* BBC Panorama, “Jihadis You Pay For,” December 2017
−
===Staff===
+
* UK Parliament, HL4023 (December 2017) and ministerial letter on Panorama allegations (January 2018)
−
*[[Roger Usher]] - Managing Director
+
* Leaked CSSF bid: Support to Moderate Armed Opposition (ITT 1145, 2016)
−
*[[Phil Madden]] - Finance Director
+
* House of Commons, International Development: Adam Smith Institute, 26 January 2004
−
*[[William Morrison]] - Director
 
−
*[[David Storer]] - Director
 
−
*[[Peter Young]] - International Director
 
−
*[[Amitabh Shrivastava]] - Director of Economic Reform Practice, former International Director 
 
−
*[[Andrew Ros|Andrew Ros]] - Finance Director
 
−
 
 
−
===Board===
 
−
*[[Malcolm Rifkind|Sir Malcolm Rifkind]]
 
−
 
 
−
==Funding==
 
−
Adam Smith International is funded by its clients and international aid agencies, such as the UK government's [[Department for International Development]].
 
−
 
 
−
It is a company registered in the UK: Company Number 02732176 <ref>[http://opencorporates.com/companies/uk/02732176 Adam Smith International] </ref>
 
−
 
 
−
==Clients==
 
−
*Rwanda
 
−
*Andhra Pradesh
 
−
*Ghana
 
−
*Bangladesh
 
−
*Iraq
 
−
*Afghanistan
 
−
 
 
−
==Affiliations==
 
−
Adam Smith International is "a commercial enterprise affiliated to the right-wing free-market think tank, the Adam Smith Institute". <ref>The Independent - May 16, 2005 - India's Suicide Epidemic is blamed on the British - Accessed 18/3/2008</ref><ref>PR Week (UK) - September 9, 2005 - Public Sector: Consultancy rebuts Sierra Leone criticism - Accessed 18/3/2008</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
==Contact details==
 
−
Adam Smith International <br>
 
−
Westminster Tower<br>
 
−
3 Albert Embankment<br>
 
−
London SE1 7SP<br>
 
−
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7735 6660<br>
 
−
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7793 0090<br>
 
−
Email: Mailbox AT AdamSmithInternational.com <br>
 
−
Web:http://www.adamsmithinternational.com/
 
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
 
<references/>
 
<references/>
 +
 +
[[Category:Propaganda|Adam Smith International]]
 +
[[Category:Syria|Adam Smith International]]
 +
[[Category:UK|Adam Smith International]]
 +
[[Category:Think tanks|Adam Smith International]]

Revision as of 20:19, 10 October 2026

Consulting arm affiliated with the Adam Smith Institute; major UK aid and CSSF contractor, notably for Syrian Free Syria Police / AJACS and moderate-armed-opposition support


Adam Smith International

Type Private company / international development consultancy
Status Active
Headquarters Westminster Tower, 3 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SP
Services Programme design and delivery in fragile states; fund management; public-administration reform; strategic communications
Key people Peter Young (International Director); William Morrison; David Storer; Sir Malcolm Rifkind (board)
Website adamsmithinternational.com
Remarks Affiliated (self-financing) with the Adam Smith Institute; major CSSF/FCDO recipient; implementer of AJACS / Free Syria Police and bidder for moderate-armed-opposition support


Adam Smith International (ASI) is the consulting arm of the conservative think tank the Adam Smith Institute. While some web-based resources describe the two as entirely separate, Baroness Amos described Adam Smith International as “affiliated” but financially independent in 2004:

Adam Smith International Limited, which is the consultancy arm of the institute, is a separate organisation. It is affiliated to the institute as a self-financing commercial organisation.[1]

On its website ASI calls itself “a leading independent international development consultancy, based in London with a registered office in Delhi and major project offices located in developing and transitional countries worldwide.” Its aim is to apply its professional and consulting skills “towards improving the quality of life for the citizens of countries facing economic, political and social change or uncertainty.” It states that its core expertise lies in government and enterprise/utility reform and related areas, notably policy communications and labour reform, and that it is developing expertise in education and social development. Company number 02732176.[2]

ASI says it “has an unrivalled record of delivering results in complex and highly political environments on behalf of donors including DFID and the FCO. For example, we mobilised at short notice to set up from scratch a Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Office in Iraq and have been providing public administration reform assistance ever since. In Afghanistan we are developing and supporting counter narcotics institutions at both central and provincial levels. In Palestine we established the new Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Office and now run DFID’s long-term programme of public administration reform within the Palestinian Authority, as well as having run the unit supporting Palestinian negotiators on behalf of 5 bilateral donors since 1999. In Liberia we are managing a civil service reform programme for DFID and in Sierra Leone are taking executive control of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, seeking to turn it into an effective revenue-generating agency.”[3]

Relationship with Adam Smith Institute

Baroness Amos’s clarification came in answer to a question from Baroness Northover about the criteria used before giving the Adam Smith Institute £7.6 million in aid money for consultancy work. Amos replied that DFID had awarded three contracts to the Adam Smith Institute worth a total of £7.7 million in the past financial year, each following open international competition.[1]

Syria: AJACS / Free Syria Police and moderate armed opposition

ASI implemented the Access to Justice and Community Support (AJACS) programme under the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, providing training, equipment, vehicles and salaries to the Free Syria Police in opposition-controlled areas (Idlib, Aleppo, Eastern Ghouta and others). Declassified UK, drawing on CSSF documents, reports that the UK provided at least £8 million over four years; funding ended in September 2018.

In December 2017 BBC Panorama broadcast “Jihadis You Pay For,” alleging that a portion of funds reached groups including Nour al-Din al-Zinki and that there were links between Free Syria Police stations and courts associated with Jabhat al-Nusra. The programme and reporting in The Times cited internal ASI documents warning that a percentage of police salaries was being handed over to armed groups. ASI described the allegations as “entirely inaccurate and misleading.” The FCO suspended ASI’s Syria projects. Subsequent internal and third-party reviews, summarised in a ministerial letter of January 2018, concluded that the allegations were either untrue, misleading or had been dealt with appropriately at the time, and that there was no evidence HMG or ASI had acted inappropriately. The project resumed in early 2018. Parliamentary answers confirmed DFID funding of two ASI Syria programmes (Taallum and the Assistance Coordination Unit) totalling £1,167,613 in 2017/18.[4][5][6]

A leaked 2016 CSSF invitation-to-tender response from Adam Smith International (ITT 1145, “CSSF: Support to Moderate Armed Opposition,” Syria/Jordan) shows the company bidding, in consortium with Pilgrims Group, KBR UK, OAKAS Ltd and GlenGulf International Ltd, for work training and equipping moderate armed opposition elements in southern Syria. The bid emphasises prior experience on the Tamkeen (Empowering Local Initiatives) project and contribution to indicators on community–armed-group relations. This sits within the broader CSSF effort, reported by The Guardian in 2016, to provide strategic communications and media operations support to the moderate armed opposition.[7][8]

Other major programmes

- Somalia Stability Fund III: In 2023 the FCDO awarded ASI a contract (value up to £180 million over six years, extendable) as Fund Manager. - Jordan: CSSF contracts including a £2.25 million Security Governance Fund (2023–2025) and work on the 3T (Tackling Transnational Threats) Programme. - Broader portfolio: Contemporaneous reporting noted more than £500 million in British aid contracts in the five years preceding the 2017 Panorama programme. The company faced earlier criticism over fake testimonials, leading to a temporary ban on new government contracts in 2017.

Earlier projects and DFID work

Projects ASI has worked on include:

  • A World Bank review of Rwanda’s essential utilities and recommendations for private-sector involvement.
  • Advising the government of Rwanda on the privatisation of the Pfunda tea factory (sold to LAB International).
  • In Andhra Pradesh (from 1998), establishing an Implementation Secretariat that reviewed 87 state-owned enterprises; more than fifty were privatised, disinvested, closed or restructured.
  • In Ghana (from 1999), DFID-funded work on pro-poor water-supply regulation.
  • In January 2004, hosting a major conference in Dhaka promoting a South Asia Free Trade Area and repeal of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement.
  • In Iraq, DFID-funded work assisting the Ministries of Finance, Planning & Development Coordination, and Municipalities & Public Works in building emergency capacity and laying foundations for long-term reform.[9]

UK government contracts (House of Commons, January 2004)

Year Project title Current value (£) Country
1999 PR Unit Support for Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSRC) 430,625 Tanzania
1999 Privatisation Project Phase 3 and 4 Managing Consultant 1,718,736 Guyana
1999 Privatisation Agency Support Project Consultancy 560,752 Zimbabwe
1999 Technical Assistance for Public Enterprise Reform in Orissa 3,667,571 India
1999 Assistance to the Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department 9,131,555 West Bank and Gaza
1999 Additional Support to the Privatisation Board 106,241 Bangladesh
1999 UK-Ireland Privatisation and Regulation Study Tour 11,145 Tanzania
1999 Medium Term Programme of Capacity Building for PURC 1,559,960 Ghana
1999 Initial Support to the Budgetary Processes of the Government of Macedonia 44,315 Macedonia
2000 Rehabilitation of Cyclone Damaged Lift Irrigation Points in Orissa 1,296,327 India
2000 Seminar on Export Credits and Developing Countries 102,594 United Kingdom
2000 Lead Adviser to Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSCR) 229,966 Tanzania
2000 Russia Trade Policy Project 1,199,986 Russia
2001 Conference on Disinvestment 70,000 India
2001 Support for Public Sector Undertaking Reforms & Social Safety Net in Madhya Pradesh 80,000 India
2001 PSCR: Water Privatisation and Regulation Study Tour 54,924 Tanzania
2001 Communications Film for Department of Disinvestment 89,500 India
2001 Consultants for Standards, Technical Regulatory Barriers Programme 92,870 Global
2002 Trade Training for DFID Staff 20,075 United Kingdom
2002 Pilot Training and Capacity Building in International Watercourse Law 151,008 Kyrgyz Republic
2002 Trade Training for DFID Staff-Bangkok 32,328 United Kingdom
2002 Support for Capacity-building in the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank 3,277,815 Afghanistan
2003 Support Services for Public Enterprise Restructuring in South Africa 6,363,435 South Africa
2003 Support to Water Sector Regulation by PURC-Ghana 1,079,100 Ghana
2003 Andhra Pradesh Economic Restructuring Programme-Public Enterprise Reforms, Phase II 416,435 India
2003 Economic Support within 1st Military Division HQ Basra 55,510 Iraq
2003 Economic Development within 1st Military Division HQ Basra 119,848 Iraq
2003 Support to the Office of the Prime Minister and to the Cabinet Office 100,400 West Bank and Gaza
2003 ITD-DFID Staff Training 288,685 Global
2003 Asia Trade Consultancy 44,200 United Kingdom
2003 International Lawyer within 1st Military Division HQ Basra 131,868 Iraq
2003 Economic Support to Coalition Provisional Authority South (CPAS) 111,255 Iraq
2003 Secondment of Negotiations Support Staff to the Office of Prime Minister 75,800 West Bank and Gaza
2003 Legal Adviser within Coalition Provisional Authority South (CPAS) 72,925 Iraq

Source: House of Commons, International Development: Adam Smith Institute, 26 January 2004.[10]

The Palestinian Negotiating Unit

Most official and semi-official Palestinian organisations depend on foreign funding. The key Negotiations Support Unit (NSU), set up in 1999 to give legal, communications and policy advice to the Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department, was funded indirectly by the British government via ASI from its inception. The unit was disbanded by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in February 2011 after three employees leaked around 1,600 secret documents to Al Jazeera.[11]

A 2008 Stabilisation Unit brochure states: “ASI has been providing support to the Palestinian Authority (PA) for over a decade. Since 1999 we have assisted the PLO in preparing negotiation positions across a range of issues, from allocation and management of natural resources to complex refugees and borders issues. This project has provided Palestinian negotiators with access to high quality professional support which has transformed the nature of the negotiating process with Israel. ASI is also implementing DFID’s public administration reform programme…”[3]

Khaled Amayreh has written critically of the NSU’s performance and of ASI’s role, noting that the unit received tens of millions of dollars while, in his view, doing little to strengthen Palestinian negotiators, and that ASI is a for-profit organisation receiving a cut of donor funds earmarked for the Palestinians. An anonymous former associate of the NSU has similarly described the structural problem of a for-profit intermediary whose interests are aligned with continued donor funding rather than with independent Palestinian positions.[12]

Controversies / issues

Water privatisation (Tanzania and Sierra Leone)

A failed water-privatisation deal in Tanzania attracted criticism. ASI was accused of having spent DFID money on a £250,000 video clip promoting privatisation. The Guardian reported that DFID handed £273,000 to ASI for glossy public-relations materials, including a pop song, to persuade a sceptical public of the benefits of the sell-off. The contractor (Biwater) was later asked to leave by the Tanzanian government.[13]

In Sierra Leone, UK ministers were accused of spending aid money on a public-relations campaign to promote water privatisation. The World Development Movement criticised DFID for paying international consultants both to advise on privatisation and to run a propaganda campaign to counter public resistance. ASI was among the firms under consideration.[14]

Fake testimonials and temporary ban

In 2017 ASI was exposed for orchestrating fake testimonials in an effort to mislead MPs and was temporarily banned from new government contracts.

Personnel

Staff

Board

Funding

Adam Smith International is funded by its clients and international aid agencies, principally the UK government’s Department for International Development / FCDO and the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund.

Clients

Rwanda, Andhra Pradesh, Ghana, Bangladesh, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Syria, Somalia, Jordan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and others.

Affiliations

Adam Smith International is “a commercial enterprise affiliated to the right-wing free-market think tank, the Adam Smith Institute.”[15]

Contact details

Adam Smith International Westminster Tower 3 Albert Embankment London SE1 7SP Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7735 6660 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7793 0090 Email: Mailbox AT AdamSmithInternational.com Web: http://www.adamsmithinternational.com/

See also

External links

  • Declassified UK, July 2021
  • Guardian, May 2016
  • BBC Panorama, “Jihadis You Pay For,” December 2017
  • UK Parliament, HL4023 (December 2017) and ministerial letter on Panorama allegations (January 2018)
  • Leaked CSSF bid: Support to Moderate Armed Opposition (ITT 1145, 2016)
  • House of Commons, International Development: Adam Smith Institute, 26 January 2004

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Baroness Amos, Adam Smith Institute: DfID Contracts, Lords Debates, 13 January 2004.
  2. ↑ Adam Smith International, “Who we are,” adamsmithinternational.com (archived).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Stabilisation Unit brochure, Adam Smith International input, 2008.
  4. ↑ Declassified UK, Revealed: The UK has spent £350-million promoting regime change in Syria, 20 July 2021.
  5. ↑ UK Parliament, Written question HL4023, answered 20 December 2017.
  6. ↑ BBC Panorama, “Jihadis You Pay For,” December 2017.
  7. ↑ Adam Smith International, CSSF: Support to Moderate Armed Opposition (ITT 1145), June 2016 (leaked document).
  8. ↑ Ian Cobain et al., How Britain funds the ‘propaganda war’ against Isis in Syria The Guardian, 3 May 2016.
  9. ↑ Adam Smith International website case studies, web archive June 2006.
  10. ↑ International Development: Adam Smith Institute, UK Parliamentary Transcript, 26 January 2004.
  11. ↑ Mohammed Assadi and Crispian Balmer, Palestinian peace negotiation unit disbanded, Reuters Alertnet, 14 February 2011.
  12. ↑ Khaled Amayreh, “Empty heads and full pockets,” Al Ahram Weekly, Issue 874, 6 December 2007.
  13. ↑ John Vidal, Flagship water privatisation fails in Tanzania, The Guardian, 25 May 2005.
  14. ↑ BBC News, ‘UK aid cash funds PR campaign’, 30 August 2005.
  15. ↑ The Independent, 16 May 2005.
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