WIREDGOV

Funding will support work with vulnerable communities to continue.

Work to support civic society links between Scotland and Malawi will be strengthened with additional funding from the Scottish Government, Scotland’s International Development Minister Humza Yousaf announced today.

The Scottish Government will award £137,000 to support the Malawi Scotland Partnership (MaSP) to continue its work to inspire, facilitate and strengthen existing and new civil society links between Malawi and Scotland. The funding will secure the future of MaSP until at least 2017.

Mr Yousaf announced the funding ahead of a meeting today (Tuesday) with Dr George Chaponda, Malawi’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

The Joint Permanent Commission on Cooperation (JPCC) between the Scottish Government and the Government of Malawi will take place in Edinburgh today and is the eighth to happen since both governments signed a historic Cooperation Agreement in 2005.

Speaking before the meeting, Mr Yousaf said:

“Dr Chaponda’s visit signals a very important opportunity to further strengthen the special and enduring relationship Scotland and Malawi have enjoyed for many decades – a relationship that is of paramount important to us.

“This week Dr Chaponda will be shown the affection Scotland has for our relationship with Malawi, and the considerable energy and commitment we are prepared to put into nurturing and strengthening it.

“I am pleased to underline that commitment today with the announcement of a further £137,000 to support the Malawi Scotland Partnership to continue its vital work.

“This award builds on the £192,000 this government has provided over the last three years through the Scotland Malawi Partnership – MaSP’s sister-organisation here in Scotland - to establish MaSP in Lilongwe and kick-start its important work to support vulnerable, isolated and impoverished communities in Malawi.

“Through this award, and the 43 projects we are currently supporting through the Malawi Development Programme, the people of Scotland are helping people in Malawi to access potentially life-changing projects to better their lives and the lives of their families.”

David Hope-Jones, Principal Officer of the Scotland Malawi Partnership, said:

“Scotland and Malawi have a long and proud friendship together dating back to Dr David Livingstone more than 156 years ago. Today, almost 200,000 Malawians have active links with Scotland and more than 2 million Malawians directly benefit each year from a Scottish connection. 

“Over the past four years the Malawi Scotland Partnership (MaSP) has had a huge impact across Malawi, bringing together hundreds of NGOs, churches, schools, universities, hospitals and community groups together, each of which have their own links with Scotland, offering support and coordination of effort. It has given a strong Malawi-owned and Malawi-led voice in the bilateral relationship and allowed Scotland to listen and learn from our partners across Malawi.

“This has greatly strengthened our unique national effort with Malawi, increasing the impact we are having and re-balancing the relationship from one with ‘donors’ on one side and ‘recipients’ on the other, to one of equal partners working together for mutual benefit. Ours is now a two-way dignified partnership in which both sides contribute and both sides benefit.

“The Scottish Government should be praised for its far-sighted investment in this sort of dignified partnership which values the role civic society, at both sides of the partnership, can and does play in challenging poverty and the cry for basic human dignity.”

Notes To Editors

Background  

In 2012 the Scottish Government awarded a grant of £192,473 to the SMP/MaSP to advance the development of vulnerable, isolated and impoverished communities in Malawi by inspiring, facilitating and strengthening existing and new civil society links with Scotland, through advocacy, capacity building and coordination of effort. By creating a coordinating hub for Malawian organisations linked with Scotland, the project will provide advocacy, training and capacity-building, resulting in less duplication, more sharing of relevant skills and experience and the establishment of a resource base which will enable vulnerable and isolated communities to be better equipped to counter poverty. Today’s announcement of an additional £137,000 over the next two years will secure the immediate future of MaSP’s operations. 

Last year, almost 200,000 Malawians and 94,000 Scots were actively involved in links between the two countries with at least 2 million Malawians benefiting from the bilateral partnership. More than 250 Scottish schools have established relationships with schools in Malawi, there is engagement through the health service, between our Parliaments, academic institutions, and hundreds of church and other civil society groups.