Scotland Malawi Partnership
The final item of business this morning is a members' business debate on motion S2M-5725, in the name of Karen Gillon, on Malawi. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament welcomes the partnership that has been established between Scotland and Malawi and, in particular, the historic co-operation agreement signed by the Scottish Executive and the Government of Malawi; congratulates the wide range of schools, churches and civic organisations in Clydesdale that are involved in joint work with similar groups in Malawi, and believes that MSPs should sign up to the Scotland Malawi Partnership's pledge in advance of the election to ensure that this mutually beneficial partnership continues.
I begin by declaring my interest as co-chair of the cross-party group on Malawi in the Parliament. I thank the many members from throughout the chamber who have signed the motion and enabled us to bring the matter to the Parliament. It is my pleasure to open the debate and I welcome those from civic Scotland who will be joining us for it.
As members know, I, along with many others in the Parliament, have had the privilege of visiting Malawi twice. I have also had the pleasure of hosting colleagues from Malawi in my constituency.
As the election approaches, there are many demands on us as individuals and on the parties that we represent. By urging us to sign the pledge lodged by the Scotland Malawi Partnership, the motion attempts to ensure that our new partnership with Malawi does not lose out during the election campaign and is built on during the next session of Parliament.
In Malawi, the pledge has been signed by politicians, church leaders, business leaders, academics and representatives of the media and non-governmental organisations. They have been joined by their counterparts here in Scotland and by many individuals the length and breadth of the country, not to mention throughout the United Kingdom, Germany, Hong Kong, South Africa and Egypt.
Signing the pledge, the Right Rev Alan McDonald, the moderator of the Church of Scotland, said:
"I am proud to sign the pledge to continue working to develop relations between Scotland and Malawi, for the betterment of both countries in a genuine partnership.
It says a lot about Scotland that we lost no time after devolution in looking beyond our own shores and reaffirming our historic links with Malawi in particular. Throughout Scotland, communities are responding with imagination and generosity to the leadership which has been offered by the Executive and the Parliament. Everyone who has become involved tells me that they have gained far more than they could ever give to this remarkable partnership.
These have been important beginnings, but there is much more to be done. It is my hope that, in the years to come, we will all continue to find creative and inspiring ways to build on the foundation which has been laid."
Those are strong sentiments and they reflect my experience both of my time in Malawi and of the work that I have been involved in since I came back.
In Clydesdale, many events have taken place and numerous relationships have been built. I will mention just a few of them. Many primary schools, including Carnwath and Glengowan primary schools, have twinned with schools in the Zomba district of Malawi. The children's curriculum includes a planned programme of events to teach them about life in each other's countries. They share experiences and learn what it is to be a global citizen. Children in Scotland learn what fair trade means to young people in Malawi and what it can mean to us here in Scotland.
Carluke rotary club is sponsoring an ambassadorial scholar to come to Scotland to learn more about community development so that, when they return to Malawi, they can put more into the community from which they come. The whole community in Stonehouse came together to twin with the community in Mulanje and develop sustainable projects of mutual benefit. Members might remember the young people from the target youth project, some of whom hosted the danceathon last year, at which some of us danced more than others. They have formed a link with a similar project in Nkata Bay in Malawi. In that project, young people who are perhaps not in education, employment or training are joining with their counterparts in Malawi, sharing experiences, working together and supporting each other.
As I visit groups and communities throughout my constituency, I find that they are proud of the steps that we are taking and that they want us to continue. I must give a small mention to the community in Jedburgh, from where I come. It has been working very hard. Recently, it raised £1,600 to put a well into a village in Malawi and help the village to become more sustainable.
This week, we again have visitors from Malawi. The Royal College of Nursing is hosting a visit from—and beginning a partnership with—the National Association of Nurses of Malawi. All of us who have been involved with Malawi understand the importance of supporting its work to train and retain its health care staff. The partnership between the RCN and the national health workers support group of Malawi will begin to develop that relationship. They are supporting nurses and developing their lobbying and advocacy skills so that they can work more effectively with the Malawian Government to share experiences and build training.
Many members will be aware of the recent BBC programme on Scotland and Malawi. I have no intention of getting involved in the pros and cons of how the Scottish Executive funding has been used. There will always be people who have been disappointed and there will always be criticism to be made. What disappointed me most about the programme was that it focused so much on the negative, rather than the positive, aspects of our relationship with Malawi.
We—as a country and as individuals—benefit from the relationship, and Malawi will benefit. It is a partnership. It is not about us doing something for them. We are working together in a genuine partnership. I have been to Malawi. No one can tell me that the partnership is not worth fighting for and developing. Dr Charles Mwansambo from Lilongwe said:
"Malawi looks at Scotland as a very close friend indeed because of the help we have received in the past and also the close historic ties that we have. Being a Scottish trained paediatrician, I know there is a lot Scotland can offer Malawi and vice versa."
We must strive to make that work in the future.
I urge colleagues to sign the pledge so that we can—throughout the parties, in a non-partisan way—continue to develop our mutually beneficial relationship with Malawi in the months and years ahead. We will all benefit but, most important, the people in Malawi who do not know where their next meal is coming from will begin to have a better life. If we can play a part in that, we should all be proud of doing so.
I thank Karen Gillon for managing to fit in the debate before the end of the session because the subject is important, as is keeping the connection and the partnership with Malawi.
When I was nine, I visited the Livingstone memorial at Blantyre for the first time. At that time, I never thought that I would visit Malawi. To do so was a mind-boggling experience and a privilege.
I have vivid memories of very good main roads in Malawi from north to south and from east to west, but immediately we went off those roads we were on dirt tracks, although this is the 21st century. When I close my eyes, I can visualise people in various coloured garments walking along the edges of roads—walking, walking, walking. People in Malawi walk everywhere. They seem to have energy—more than people in Scotland—although food is sometimes lacking.
Malawi seemed very much like Scotland. The scenery was like that of Scotland's west coast, as was the rain.
The visit made me realise that we need roads. Immediately we went off the main roads, we were on dirt tracks. If people have no roads or water supply, nothing can be done for schools or hospitals.
People in Malawi have difficulty accessing hospitals and education. Children walk, on average, one and a half hours to school and back again and they do not have breakfast clubs. They have voracious appetites for education. It was wonderful to see them, even when there were 200 in a class, which would really push some of our teachers.
The smoke from burning wood fuel was everywhere. It was even in the grounds of Mulanje hospital, because people who go there to look after friends who are patients cook on site and are in charge of the food.
This is the 21st century, but in Mulanje hospital clothes are washed by hand in big concrete tubs. Despite that, the hospital's standards of medicine and cleanliness were superb. I take my hat off to the staff, who fight to maintain standards. I was amazed. I heard stories before I went to Malawi, but seeing the reality was another matter.
If someone is lucky, they can walk to hospital. If they are very lucky, they will have a bicycle ambulance. Members can imagine that a bicycle ambulance bumps over the roads and that if someone has a painful problem they will be very sore and sick by the time they reach the hospital.
Another of my memories is of seeing in an operating theatre in Bottom hospital an operating table that looked like a flimsy ironing board. Gosh, they could do with equipment.
I know from visiting universities and hospitals that they need journals. They need a register of the great deal of work that is done in Malawi. We recently met people from Malawi who mentioned that. Much is done out there, but no record of it is kept or co-ordinated. Hospitals and churches help, people give their time to help and NGOs help, but not even the NGOs' work is co-ordinated. That is sad. If anything can be done to establish a register of the work that is done there, which is great and should continue, we should do it, because we need a register. I was surprised that the Church of Scotland, whose congregations spend about £100,000 a year, does not have a register for that.
Malawi is an old friend. We should look after old friends and continue to do so.
I commend Karen Gillon for her motion and congratulate her on securing the debate, which is on a subject that is dear to her heart and to many of us around the chamber. With several other members, I was part of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association delegation that visited Malawi just over a year ago. My memory of that visit is fresh, as Dr Jean Turner's obviously is. I say honestly that that trip was one highlight of my parliamentary career to date.
The motion refers to the Scotland Malawi Partnership's pledge, which has been circulated. I am pleased to say that I have signed that pledge and that I have encouraged other members of the Scottish Parliament to sign it. I have also circulated it to Conservative party candidates, many of whom will join me on these benches after 3 May. I hope that they are signing up to it and that they will be committed to supporting the Scottish Executive's work in Malawi when they come to the Parliament.
I recognise that some people are concerned about the role that the Scottish Executive plays in Malawi. Some will say that international development is a reserved matter for Westminster. As a general rule, that view is correct. If the Scottish Executive were to launch a hugely ambitious international development programme in an attempt to take over the ground that is currently occupied by the Department for International Development, which is the responsibility of Westminster, that would be a legitimate cause for concern, but the relationship that the Executive and the Parliament have forged with Malawi is not at all in that league. The Executive has made a total commitment of £3 million a year to promote links with Malawi, which is one ten thousandth of the Executive's annual budget of £30 billion a year. I do not regard that sum or proportion as outrageous. It is entirely reasonable and proper that a devolved Parliament such as the Scottish Parliament and a devolved Executive should seek to build links with other small countries around the world, especially places such as Malawi. Scotland has historic links with Malawi that go back hundreds of years, to the times of the early Scottish missionaries.
Karen Gillon referred to the "Frontline Scotland" programme on Malawi. I did not see it, but I have heard enough about its contents to concern me. I accept that free countries and open societies such as ours need journalists who are prepared to question what Governments do. In particular, journalists are needed who are prepared to question how taxpayers' money is being spent. However, my experience of the many Scottish voluntary organisations and charities that work in Malawi is that, far from wasting money on administration, they run extremely lean organisations. Virtually every penny that is raised is spent on the front line. It would be a tragedy if the programme that was shown on the BBC affected the flow of cash into organisations that do exceptionally important work in Malawi. I appreciate that people who make television programmes want people to watch them and that they want to generate headlines, but the media have a responsibility and an obligation to act in a reasonable and responsible way. I am concerned that the "Frontline Scotland" programme crossed the line.
The relationship between Scotland and Malawi is important, and I want us to develop it and build on it. We in Scotland and the Parliament should be proud of it.
I commend Karen Gillon for lodging the motion and—perhaps more important—for all her work on developing links.
I congratulate Karen Gillon on securing the debate and declare my interest as one of the two co-conveners of the Scottish Parliament cross-party group on Malawi.
I begin by underlining the importance of partnerships. It has been said that the relationship between Scotland and Malawi goes back many years—to long before the Parliament and the Executive existed. Over the years, that relationship has been kept alive largely by civic organisations in Scotland, and by churches in particular, which have taken a lead role in developing relationships. The relationship is worthy and greatly valued—I know that from personal experience as a member of the first group that went to Malawi several years ago, which met organisations there that work in partnership with organisations in Scotland, and as a result of visiting organisations in Scotland that have partners in Malawi.
I was involved in the discussions about the Scotland branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association's idea of an outward visit at some point and where it should be to. I do not think that we could have imagined that we would reach a co-operation agreement between Scotland and the Malawian Government, which is testament to the views of all members of the Scottish Parliament and the value we place on looking outward to other nations, particularly those with which we have a strong relationship.
To those who criticise the idea of this type of partnership, I say that in a new century with a new Parliament and Scottish Government, it is appropriate that we should cement such partnerships at a national level as many of our civic organisations have done over the years. I recognise that, during the past 18 months to two years of the co-operation agreement, the Executive's international development policy has focused on developing partnerships and considering how they can be expanded. The phase has been worthwhile and I and my party have supported it.
Like Murdo Fraser, I missed the "Frontline Scotland" report, although I have heard much about it. During the next session of Parliament there will be issues about greater parliamentary scrutiny of the co-operation agreement and how it is progressing, and about ensuring that it delivers what is intended and that it is as effective as possible.
The Scotland Malawi Partnership takes a lead on co-ordinating work across the civic organisations in Scotland and working with partners in Malawi. I am more than happy to support the pledge, as is the Scottish National Party, and I urge all parties and all election candidates to sign up to it.
At times, I get the feeling that no matter where I go I will come across an organisation or individual who is involved in some partnership with Malawi. Only recently, I had a meeting with the minister from Erskine parish church in Falkirk and the minister for Haggs parish church just outside Falkirk. They emphasised the importance to their parishes of the relationships that they have developed over the years.
In the coming years, after the co-operation agreement has served its purpose and the relationship between the CPA branches has come to its natural conclusion, it will be the sustainable relationships between our civic organisations, churches, individuals and schools that will continue. We should encourage the next session of Parliament to continue to develop that.
I thank Karen Gillon for lodging the motion. As I was with her on the cross-party delegation to Malawi, I know how strong her commitment is.
I will speak about the work of the CPA Scotland branch, of which I am an executive member. The theme of respecting difference and promoting understanding, which is this year's Commonwealth day theme, is apt. It lies at the heart of the CPA's work, promoting knowledge and understanding of parliamentary democracy and working towards better governance everywhere in the Commonwealth.
I had the privilege of leading the cross-party CPA delegation in February 2006, with Karen Gillon, Murdo Fraser and Mark Ruskell, all of whom are here today. It is fair to say that every MSP found it a life-changing visit because, in spite of the great problems the people of Malawi face—poverty, AIDS, lack of basic amenities such as water and lack of essential services—their warmth shone through powerfully.
In July 2006, Margaret Neal and I revisited Malawi to undertake a scoping exercise in which we asked MPs and support staff how CPA Scotland might support them in their training and development programme. Because of that visit, even stronger links have been made. We were delighted to secure £75,000 from the CPA's executive body and, more recently, to get support from the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body to endorse a technical assistance programme based on our report.
The report contained three key themes: strengthening the capacity of the parliamentary secretariat, including the revision of its standing orders; supporting the speaker of the assembly in the creation of a parliamentary corporate body, including subsequent support to that body; and training and building the capacity of the national assembly members and parliamentary staff.
The report recommended that the Parliamentary Services Commission undertake a study visit to the Scottish Parliament. That happened last month. The overall purpose of the study visit was for the five commissioners to examine the Scottish Parliament's system of institutional management. The visit's objectives included looking at the Parliamentary Bureau and how parliamentary business is organised; learning as much as possible about the working of the corporate body; gaining an in-depth understanding of the management structures that are in place to support the clerk and chief executive; and meeting members and officials of the Audit Committee, the Finance Committee, the Procedures Committee and the Standards and Public Appointments Committee, to enable the commissioners to understand the roles of those committees and to gain a deeper understanding of parliamentary oversight, ethical governance and how the committee system operates in the Scottish Parliament.
More than 40 meetings were arranged and a number of them involved representatives of several organisations. I hope that I have given members some idea of the breadth of opportunity the delegation was afforded to acquire information about and knowledge of the Scottish system. I was pleased when I met the delegates to hear at first hand that they thought the visit was very useful and that they would take back parts of what they had learned to the National Assembly of Malawi. While the delegation was here, the parliamentary service commissioner expressed interest in developing further the pairing and twinning of members after the election. Through the cross-party group on Malawi, Karen Gillon has played an important part in laying the foundations for MSPs and MPs to be twinned and to work together.
Since the CPA became involved in the Scottish Executive programme, links established through existing ties have grown stronger in churches, schools and many other organisations. Long may that continue, because the MPs and people of Malawi need all the support we can give them.
I join other members in thanking Karen Gillon for securing this lunch time debate. All of us who have been to Malawi, including the minister, have been deeply inspired and affected by our visits. One of my overriding impressions of Malawi, after my visit, was that in many ways it is a fantastic place to live—the spirit of the people is incredible. I was also left with the impression that it is a frightening place to live, because there is a very thin safety net for citizens of the country. There is an urgent need to improve public services, especially education and health. It should be clear to us all that the only way to achieve that in the long term is to have a period of sustained and sustainable economic growth in Malawi. I am pleased that, through the partnership agreement, the Executive is focusing on delivering growth.
It is clear that Malawians have a huge capacity for economic growth. Each year, the average Malawian emits in greenhouse gases the equivalent of what individuals in this country produce every two and a half days. Malawians are well within their ecological limits—in many ways, Malawi's emissions need to rise as ours decrease. We need to give Malawi room to breathe and to develop its economy.
A crucial element of economic growth on which we in the Scottish Parliament can focus is fair trade. There is growing consensus on the role that public procurement can play in that regard. I am pleased that the Executive recently funded development work on fair trade in Malawi, which is significant. When I travelled around Malawi, I noticed the difference between producers such as the Kasinthula sugar producers in the south, who produce the little white sachets of sugar that we get in the Parliament canteen, and the coffee producers in the north, who do not get the fair trade premium. Through that premium, the sugar producers were enabled to put electricity into their homes and to stock drugs in their local medical centres—things that the coffee producers were unable, unfortunately, to do in their communities.
However, positive changes are happening even in the coffee-producing areas. Women are coming together to form workers' co-operatives and processing initiatives are starting up. The coffee producers whom we visited in the north are tantalisingly close to engaging in the fair trade supply chain, getting premiums and bringing wealth into their communities. I am pleased that the Executive is supporting a programme that will enable those producers to get involved in the fair trade supply chain for the United Kingdom, to access distributors and retailers based in this country and to get into dialogue about how we can supply fair trade products here.
In answer to the "Frontline Scotland" accusations, I think that we need to spend some of the money in Scotland to set up trade fairs here and get Malawians to meet retailers and distributors in Scotland so that they can establish the trading relationships that in the long term will bring real economic development and wealth to Malawi. There is a multiplier effect in using our public spending to develop the Malawian economy in the best possible way. The impact of our doing that will be substantial.
Let us consider what Cafédirect has achieved in the Rungwa area of Tanzania in recent years. Over three years, it has invested the fair trade premium in local schools development, setting up 140 new schools in the district. That is a prize that we have to help the Malawians to grasp: stable public services and a vibrant economy. We can do it through the great international partnership that we have between Governments, Parliaments and our civic societies.
I add my congratulations to Karen Gillon on securing the debate. I have listened with great interest to the experiences that she and other colleagues have outlined, many of which they have shared with me in the past year or so.
I have been interested to hear the information supplied by members about the activities in their constituencies and about their particular interests in Malawi. I welcome the cross-party support that has been shown not just today but throughout the time of our collective work on Malawi. It is one of the strengths of the work we are doing.
I know from my visits to constituencies around Scotland that there is a genuine willingness throughout Scotland to become involved in the work with Malawi to improve health, education and long-term sustainable economic development.
As has been said on more than one occasion in the chamber, no one who visits Malawi comes back unaffected by the experience. The experience is not just of a country stricken by poverty and the devastating effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, but of a country with a truly warm-hearted people who have a deep appreciation of Scotland and our historical links. They are a people who are willing to work in partnership to improve their situation and eager to exchange new ideas.
In March 2005, the Scottish Executive published its international development policy, which outlined our aims and strategy for engaging with developing countries. Building on that, it became clear in discussions with ministers, officials and those involved on the ground in Malawi that the themes of education, health and civil society needed to be widened and that a stronger emphasis was required on governance and sustainable economic development in order that we could help to meet the specific circumstances faced by Malawi.
As a direct result, we saw the signing of a co-operation agreement between our two countries. It is not a sterile document; it has tangible aims and aspirations as to how we will work together. Ministers and officials have worked in partnership with Malawian counterparts and agreed a more detailed action plan that provides clear, focused direction on what will be delivered and who will be involved.
The aims are not simply what we think Malawi needs; they have been identified by the people of Malawi as their priorities and where they see Scotland having something to offer and being able to make an impact.
The action plan is not set in stone. It will be and is reviewed and revised regularly to ensure that it is still fit for purpose and developed to meet new and emerging needs. Again, that will be done in discussion and consultation with our colleagues in Malawi as well as with key stakeholders in Scotland.
The Executive's work in Malawi is supported by the international development fund. Initially, it was a commitment of £3 million per year for three years, but we were pleased to be able to announce last September that the fund had been increased by 50 per cent to £4.5 million per year for the remaining two years. I thank Murdo Fraser for his support, and I hope that, given his comments, that 50 per cent increase does not diminish it—I am sure that it does not.
Since the fund was set up in 2005, some 58 projects have been awarded more than £7.7 million, and a total of 35 projects based in Malawi have been awarded more than £5.25 million. As is often the case, it is not the amount that is spent but how it is spent that makes the difference. That is why all the support provided through the international development fund—whether through the main grant or through the small grant schemes—must fit strict criteria and must clearly meet the needs and aims that the people of Malawi have identified.
I do not want to talk too much about the "Frontline Scotland" programme other than to say, in response to the points that colleagues have made, that I, too, was particularly disappointed by the programme's tone and the coverage it gave the issue. None of our international aid budget is spent on administration—administration costs are met from the Executive's central budget—and the amount that we spend on administration does not equate to anything like a third of the budget that we have identified, as the programme claimed. The figure is closer to 7 per cent.
As Mark Ruskell correctly pointed out, of course some of the money that we put into assisting Malawi will be spent in this country, not least because many of the goods and other items that are needed to support Malawi are not available in that country and have to be sourced here.
The role of the Government is only part of the story. Our links with Malawi go deeper than those between our countries' Governments. As we have heard throughout the debate, schools, churches, church groups and other civic organisations are active and keen to work together. That is a highly encouraging sign that the time is right to renew and reaffirm our links with Malawi.
From Shetland to Dumfries and Galloway, individuals and groups are working in their own way to make a difference and to keep Malawi at the forefront of our minds. That is why we have adopted a sector-wide approach and why, in addition to working closely with the Department for International Development and the Malawian Government to offer practical advice and support, we are brokering partnerships between Scottish institutions and their Malawian counterparts.
For example, in health we have funded Scottish midwives to train 140 clinical nurses and doctors and 12 instructors. Karen Gillon correctly identified the work that the RCN is doing in partnership with the nurses organisation in Malawi. That, too, is an Executive-funded project. Through the University of Strathclyde's Malawi millennium project, the Executive supports the Chikwawa district hospital to provide equipment, to strengthen facilities and to offer environmental health training and basic child and maternal health training for village health assistants. We have supported Adam Smith College to prioritise ways in which Scottish colleges can work with Malawi to strengthen the role of vocational education and training in its education system. A project that is being run by the Scotland Malawi Partnership to facilitate the exchange of skills and knowledge at higher education level has also received our support.
On governance, we have been working with the respective ombudsman offices on a programme of collaboration, which includes the promotion of human rights, the provision of services for vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups, computerised casework management and website development, and a programme of staff information exchange.
Through education, we can help not only to improve literacy rates and the general level of education, but to influence directly the thinking of future generations on, and their approach to, dealing with health issues and the prevention of disease. We can provide a broader understanding of sustainable economic development and help to establish sustainable, thriving and healthier communities.
An example of such work is our provision of assistance to Mzuzu secondary school, which is running an environmental project based on fish farming that teaches children in the school how to make the best use of their local resources.
Would the minister like to comment on the good work that the University of Stirling's aquaculture department is doing with Mzuzu University, which will culminate in the setting up of fish processing and capacity building in that community? She might be about to come on to that.
Sylvia Jackson has made the point about that project—her intervention was timely.
The work that is being done in Mzuzu secondary school will help children to feed themselves and provide resources to sell so that they can support their families. The school is sharing its experience and expertise with another 10 schools in the area and two villages. That has the potential to benefit more than 15,000 people. The school, which is now a centre for excellence in education, ecological and environmental engagement and citizenship, is hoping to link with a Scottish school, to share its experience. School children in Scotland will benefit directly from the knowledge and expertise of pupils in Malawi in what will be a true example of partnership and information exchange and a blueprint for the future.
We know from our figures that school links have grown from around five two years ago to more than 70—the number continues to increase, which is borne out by members' testimonies to the work in their constituencies. Links range from the informal exchange of experiences between pen-friends to more direct involvement. For example, Stenhouse primary school has developed a leadership programme that will be delivered to senior teachers in the north of Malawi and cascaded by those teachers in their home areas. That course of continuous professional development will help to fill the professional development gap for teachers in Malawi.
Organisations such as the Scotland Malawi Partnership have been active in drawing together people with an interest in Malawi and providing a forum in which groups and individuals can exchange ideas and formulate new ways of working together. The partnership has been instrumental in the development of the Scotland-Malawi business group, which I hope will provide advice and support to the business community in Malawi to help it develop and become sustainable, so that it can be a key driver in the economy.
The Scotland Malawi Partnership's online pledge, which is mentioned in the motion, calls on MSPs and others
"to continue working to develop relations between Scotland and Malawi, for the betterment of both countries in a genuine partnership."
Like Karen Gillon, I urge members who have not yet supported the pledge to give serious consideration to doing so. I sincerely thank the partnership for the initiative.
We had in mind organisations and links such as I have described when we established the small grants scheme, which is part of the international development fund. I was pleased today to announce funding in excess of £260,000 to Scottish community organisations, schools and universities. The money will go to projects such as the Malawi trade school appeal, which aims to support the Samaritan Trust and provide tools and training for young people, to prepare them for work so that they can have independent and economically rewarding lives. Such projects are small but have the potential to have a big impact.
Through innovative approaches by groups and individuals, we in Scotland can make a big difference to people's lives in Malawi. Scotland has much to offer in skills and knowledge and its people are genuinely willing to become involved. Our commitment to Malawi is long term. By working in partnership, we can all help to build a better and more sustainable future.
Meeting suspended until 14:15.
On resuming—