Fundraising giant Sport Relief has secured match funding from the government for its work in African slums.

The Department for International Development has pledged the match-funding for the fundraising campaign as part of UK Aid, an initiative launched last summer which sees the government match international development fundraising campaigns pound-for-pound. The first such of these match fund offers raised £1.7m for Save the Children.

Sport Relief donors will not be able to ring-fence their donations for the charity’s work in African slums, but the DfID match funding instead will apply when Sport Relief allocates grants for work in this area.

Secretary of state for international development, Andrew Mitchell, said: "The slums that Sport Relief is targeting are home to some of the largest groups of the poorest people in the whole of Africa. The British public has repeatedly shown its generosity when it comes to supporting the charity's life-changing work. We're matching that support pound for pound with the aim of helping Sport Relief bring safe water, improved health and education to over one million people this year."

The last Sport Relief, in 2010, raised £44.2m – a significant increase on the 2008 fundraising total of £28.5m. The charity expects one million people to take part in the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile this year. Sport Relief will be held between 23 March and 25 March this month.