GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP:
SCOTLAND’S INTERNATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT SRATEGY
Cover: Mulanje Massif, Malawi
Credit: Kieran Dodds

Copyright

© Crown copyright, 2016

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk.

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at www.gov.scot

Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at
The Scottish Government
St Andrew’s House
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

First published by the Scottish Government, December 2016
ISBN: 978-1-78652-668-7 (web only)

E-book in EPUB format first published by the Scottish Government, December 2016
ISBN: 978-1-78652-669-4 (EPUB)

E-book in MOBI format first published by the Scottish Government, December 2016
ISBN: 978-1-78652-670-0 (MOBI)

Published by the Scottish Government, December 2016

Produced for the Scottish Government by APS Group Scotland, 21 Tennant Street, Edinburgh EH6 5NA
PPDAS85348 (12/16)

Black Lechwe, Bangweulu Wetlands, Zambia
Credit: Kieran Dodds

Ministerial Foreword

Dr Alasdair Allan MSP Minister for International Development and EuropeInternational development is a key part of Scotland’s global contribution within the international community. It encompasses our core values, historical and contemporary, of fairness and equality. It is about Scotland acting as a good global citizen. We are the inheritors of that tradition; it is who we are today; and it is who we want our next generation to be.

I believe that we have a distinctive development contribution to make, through focusing Scotland’s expertise, being innovative and employing our unique partnership approach, for global good.

Like millions of others around the world, I am proud of Scotland.

I am proud of its rich history of looking outwards, and its ethos of “the Common Weal”, sharing wealth for common good. Scotland also has a strong history of valuing universal free education and health. The foundations for our core values today were equally laid down by philosophers like Adam Smith, who said in the Wealth of Nations: “no society can be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable”. We hear a clear echo of our traditional values in the social, economic and environmental elements of the UN Global Goals.

I am proud too that today we remain a nation that believes in equality and fairness, where visitors are welcomed and we create sustainable opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish. Our values continue to provide a voice for humanity, tolerance, compassion and progressiveness, as part of an interlinked, global community. As the First Minister said in announcing Scotland’s commitment to the Global Goals: “Scotland cannot act with credibility overseas if we are blind to inequality here at home. And our ambitions for a Fairer Scotland are undermined without global action to tackle poverty, promote prosperity and to tackle climate change.”

In the same way that we are the inheritors of a tradition of global citizenship, I want to inspire our communities and young people to realise their own role and to be a force for good in the wider world. Education is a key component of this. So too is the example we set our young people – I am continually humbled that the people of Scotland continue to give generously to charity, even in times of economic difficulty, and for that too we should rightly be proud.

Scotland can play a unique role in finding solutions to the common challenges facing our world, through sharing our expertise in areas such as human rights, health, education, social enterprise, renewable energy, climate change, and water management as part of our Hydro Nation programme.

As a small country, we are also better able to take advantage of informal networks and opportunities for collaboration, and to share learning. This enables collective action and a partnership approach – the network of connections Scotland and Malawi have built up since the time of David Livingstone is an excellent example of this and an invaluable tool for development. This partnership approach to international development has attracted attention globally and is, we believe, unprecedented in world terms.

Collaboration in terms of the strong cross-party support for international development in the Scottish Parliament has also been a feature underpinning the Scottish Government’s international development work since 2005. I would like to take this opportunity to recognise and thank Parliamentarians across all Scottish political parties, as well as the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, for that support and collaborative approach to date.

Partnership and collaboration will continue to be the foundation for our future development work as we build upon our existing bilateral partnerships with Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda and Pakistan, working across borders to address the shared challenges our world faces, in pursuit of the Global Goals.

But we should also continue to aim higher. It is recognised that small countries like Scotland can, overall, have a disproportionally positive impact on developing countries. Scotland has a key role in providing ethical leadership on issues such as equality, sustainable development, climate justice and fair trade. The Beyond Aid agenda is a key part of this.

We share a duty – individually and collectively – to consider in our everyday decisions and behaviours the impact of our choices for sustainable development, in Scotland and on developing countries. Let us all, make good, fair and equitable choices for global good.

Dr Alasdair Allan MSP

Minister for International Development and Europe

Introduction

Global Citizenship: Scotland's International Development Strategy stems from the public consultation on the future shape of the Scottish Government's international development work which took place from 24 February until 20 May 2016. This International Development Strategy (IDS) sits within, and is aligned with, wider well-developed Scottish Government policy frameworks (see Annex).

Scotland's International Framework sets the direction for Scotland's international activity. In our increasingly interconnected world, Scotland has an important place. It is our ambition to cooperate globally through relationships and partnerships, supporting our international partners towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (hereafter referred to as the Global Goals). This IDS responds to the Global Goals, fits within our International Framework, and outlines the approach we will take between now and 2030 to help reduce global poverty and promote sustainable development and human rights. It sets out the priorities which will contribute to Scotland's ongoing ambition to be a good global citizen, continuing to make distinctive contributions in addressing global challenges.

In 2005, the Governments of Scotland and Malawi signed the Cooperation Agreement, a framework to enable both countries to work together to deliver a number of international development projects in Malawi. Since the expansion of the programme to include other countries in 2008, the Scottish Government's international development policy has become an internationally praised model of delivering development work, based on partnership and collaboration.

This IDS builds upon our successes since 2005, preserving the best aspects of our work to date with a commitment to fundamentally embed the Global Goals. It explains what we wish to achieve, the spirit inherent in Scotland's approach to tackling poverty and inequality, and how the national and international dimensions are inextricably interlinked:

Our Vision is that Scotland's IDS contributes to the fight against global poverty, inequality, injustice and promotes sustainable development by embedding the Global Goals in all that we do.

Our Priorities in pursuit of Our Vision are to encourage new and historic relationships; empower our partner countries; engage the people of Scotland; and enhance our global citizenship.

Our Partner Countries are Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda and Pakistan. The first 3 countries will form our sub-Saharan African project base and there will be a strong emphasis on education in Pakistan.

Our Ways of Working involves investing our International Development Fund (IDF); utilising Scottish expertise; collaborating with others; and promoting the Beyond Aid agenda.

This IDS replaces our 2008 International Development Policy document.

Our Vision

Embedding the Global Goals, Scotland will contribute to sustainable development and the fight against poverty, injustice and inequality internationally.

Scotland's First Minister pledged to implement the Global Goals and made a dual commitment to tackle poverty and inequality at home in Scotland and to help developing countries to grow in a fair and sustainable manner:

"The national and international dimensions to poverty and inequality…are interlinked…"

"Scotland cannot act with credibility overseas, if we are blind to inequality here at home. And our ambitions for a fairer Scotland are undermined without global action to tackle poverty."

Our commitment to contribute internationally to the Global Goals must reflect and mirror our domestic aims and ambitions for Scotland.

This includes building our economy; tackling poverty and inequality; providing quality healthcare and education; promoting affordable and clean energy; and ensuring a sustainable environment. We want to play our part in contributing to the development of our partner countries and their achievement of the Global Goals.

Our development work will have at its core, and as a primary focus, the interests of our partner countries and their people. We will also embed human rights in all our development work. We believe that this dual approach is vital in achieving the spirit of global citizenship and solidarity with developing countries.

Our Priorities

Encourage new and historic relationships

By harnessing Scotland's historical and contemporary links to the developing world in our programmes, which will support Scotland's "living" and "breathing" international development engagement.

By strengthening partnerships between Scotland and our partner countries, through our governments; universities and colleges; institutions; public and private sectors; civil society; and communities.

By supporting the principles of effective partnership including: equality of relations between partners; engagement and participation at all levels and within all sectors of society; good governance and accountability.

Empower our partner countries

Through development work which will be needs-led, respecting of human rights and guided by national priorities, capacities and levels of development.

Through our in-country programmes which will focus Scotland's expertise to provide a distinctive development contribution, maximise impact, promote democratic values, and enable skills and capacity strengthening in-country.

Through our partnership approach which will unleash a multiplier effect, thus empowering communities to effect change and work towards sustainable development.

Engage the people of Scotland

To build upon Scotland's history as an outward-facing, humanitarian nation to boost domestic support for international development.

To enable individuals, communities (including diasporas) and professions to realise their own potential to help to achieve development outcomes.

To raise awareness of our international development work including through networking organisations.

Enhance our global citizenship

By keeping good global citizenship at the very heart of our international development work for the "Common Weal", an old Scots term meaning the collective wellbeing of all humanity.

By taking a holistic "do no harm" approach to sustainable development, recognising that Scotland and the modern world are interdependent and our choices and actions may have repercussions for people and communities locally, nationally and internationally.

By inspiring communities and young people to realise their role as good global citizens in the wider world, passing on the baton to the next generation.

Our Partner Countries

David Livingstone
Credit: © National Museums of Scotland

Our international development work will be focused on where we can make a real difference and most impact in relation to our budget.

We recognise that development need, and the ability to meet that need, must be the key starting point for any international development cooperation. For our partnership approach to development, connections with our partner countries are also important, from relationships going back over 150 years to those established in the 21st century.

To this end, we will build upon our existing bilateral partnerships with four countries to deliver our international development programme:

Malawi, Zambia and Rwanda will form the Scottish Government's sub-Saharan African project base which will enable us to foster learning across borders by all involved; and

Pakistan, where there will be a strong ongoing emphasis on education, through scholarships and collaboration with key Scottish educational agencies.

Malawi

Scotland has special and historical links with Malawi, stretching back over 150 years to Dr David Livingstone and the Scottish missionaries. The vision of partnership, and the network of people-to-people links, remain firmly embedded in Scotland's relationship with Malawi today. It formed the basis for the Scottish Government's formal 2005 Cooperation Agreement with the Government of Malawi, signed by Scotland's First Minister and the President of Malawi.

Zambia

Scotland also has a long and historical connection to Zambia, again through Dr Livingstone and Scottish missionaries – Dr Livingstone's heart is buried there. We will seek to build upon Scotland's historical relationship with Zambia and its people, and further support Zambia to achieve the Global Goals. In order to maximise our impact in a large country, we will focus on specific regions in Zambia.

Rwanda

Scotland has a contemporary relationship with Rwanda, with alliances having been built and cemented over the last 20 years to support and promote activities between the two countries, particularly in education and economic development. We will commit to contribute to Rwanda's ongoing social and economic development towards its achievement of the Global Goals.

Pakistan

Scotland today is home to a large and vibrant Pakistani diaspora, many of whom maintain close links with communities there. The community's contribution to Scotland – culturally, economically and socially – is significant. We will continue to contribute to Scotland's existing bilateral relationship with Pakistan, with a strong, ongoing emphasis on education through scholarships, and collaboration with key Scottish educational agencies focused on education system improvement.

Scottish Government & British Council Scholarship recipient in Pakistan
Credit: British Council Pakistan

Our Ways Of Working

Investing our International Development Fund

Barber Shop, southern Malawi
Credit: Karen Smith at MEGA, Malawi

The International Development Fund (IDF) is determined by Scottish Ministers in the context of spending reviews and is subject to Scottish Parliament approval and scrutiny.

We will endeavour to improve the effectiveness of the IDF to provide best value. In order to safeguard valuable taxpayer funds, we are committed to appropriate planning, robust management and effective monitoring and reporting of the IDF. We will also retain our existing policy of not providing direct funding to the governments of our partner countries. Our IDF will be distributed to ensure optimum outcomes, both for those people living in our partner countries, as well as the Scottish taxpayer.

In order to invest our IDF strategically and in line with good development practice we will develop and maintain three separate funding streams:

Development Assistance, Capacity Strengthening and Investment, to achieve Our Vision and implement Our Priorities.

Our three funding streams:

1. Development assistance: we believe that development assistance continues to play a key role in promoting the welfare and economic development of our partner countries. We will continue to fund development initiatives in our partner countries, through a range of organisations. Funding will be allocated principally through a competitive challenge fund model. Development assistance will be provided through the following mechanisms:

Our Malawi Development Programme, Zambia Development Programme and Rwanda Development Programme – we will continue to fund a main development programme in each of these partner countries;

Our Small Grants Programme – we will continue to fund our Small Grants Programme, keeping it under review to make any improvements deemed necessary, including possible changes to its geographic focus;

Our support for civil society in Scotland – we will continue to support civil society in Scotland, including through networking organisations, to engage in, and build domestic support and understanding of, international development. We will also continue to support and promote Scotland’s contribution to Fair Trade.

2. Capacity strengthening: we believe that development partnerships can also be realised through peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing on key areas of mutual interest, through which both institutions can strengthen their knowledge, harness expertise, skills and capacity and empower their people. We will seek to match and enable support where a need for particular institutional assistance and skills sharing has been identified by a partner country. We will support partnership links between institutions in Scotland and our partner countries and between institutions within our partner countries. We will support the tackling of shared global challenges. To strengthen capacity, we will also promote and assist targeted skills sharing from relevant sectors and provide scholarships through:

Our Malawi Development Programme, Zambia Development Programme and Rwanda Development Programme;

Our Pakistan Development Programme – the refreshed Pakistan Engagement Strategy outlines four key areas of collaboration between Scotland and Pakistan: Trade, Investment & Enterprise; Energy & Water; Education & Skills; and Culture & Heritage. Through our capacity strengthening funding stream we will support the education and skills strand of the Pakistan Engagement Plan, through dedicated scholarships and collaboration with key Scottish educational agencies focused on education system improvement; and

Our support for global citizenship in Scotland – building on Scotland’s strong track record of global citizenship education and learning for sustainability, we will consider funding opportunities for Scottish organisations which support young people to volunteer in our partner countries.

3. Investment: we believe that trade and investment is important, as is the role of the private sector, in supporting our partner countries as they move beyond aid in developing sustainable economic growth, as follows:

We will support trade and investment to promote economic development of Malawi, Zambia and Rwanda in line with wider government policies in those countries.

We will also seek to help Scottish social enterprises expand internationally and help those partner countries realise the benefits of the social enterprise model.

Match funding: we will also consider opportunities for match funding initiatives in our partner countries for all three funding streams, dependent upon the availability of funds at the time, which support our agreed development priorities for that country.

Longer partnerships: we will consider how we might better secure and support longer term partnerships for all three funding streams.

Funding in addition to the International Development Fund:

Humanitarian Aid Fund: the Scottish Government recognises the significant contribution that Scotland already makes to international crises through the work of DFID, NGOs and individuals in Scotland. However, Scottish Ministers may wish to respond to international humanitarian crises in recognition of Scotland’s role as a good global citizen. This response will primarily be delivered via a separate Humanitarian Aid Fund. Additionally, where there is an immediate humanitarian need within our partner countries we will consider on a case-by-case basis support from the IDF.

Climate Justice Fund: launched in 2012, this fund aims to lessen the impacts of climate change on some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people and deliver equitable global development in our Sub-Saharan Africa partner countries.

Utilising Scottish expertise

A key tenet of our IDS is to harness existing Scottish and in-country expertise in key areas that could benefit global development. Our international development programme has built upon and shared globally many of the things that Scotland does best. In doing so we will not seek to export Scottish institutions or ideas, but rather to offer the best of our skills and knowledge where it is of tangible use to our partners. We also want to harness and encourage the best of local expertise and skills in our partner countries.

We will not restrict under our Strategy the thematic areas of development activity in our partner countries, in recognition that the Global Goals are indivisible and cross-cutting in nature. Our development work will therefore look at how best to align our national expertise in support of the agreed priorities of our partner countries.

Areas of Scottish expertise that we know have the potential to contribute to the achievement of the Global Goals include:

Health (particularly in higher education capacity strengthening, mental health, and non-communicable disease)

Education (particularly in higher education, and inspection and quality improvement)

Sustainable Economic Development (particularly in financial management)

Renewable Energy

Governance (particularly democratic engagement and Parliamentary activity)

Water Governance and Management (where as part of our Hydro Nation programme we will build on the firm foundation of support to date in Malawi for water governance and management initiatives)

Climate change and climate justice

Programmatic implementation of the Global Goals, which the Scottish Government will undertake through the National Performance Framework

This expertise may be found across a range of sectors in Scotland: registered charities; our academic sector; our public bodies and health service; and in the private sector, including social enterprises.

Collaborating with others

Our approach to international development is one of working in “partnerships of equals” with others, both within Scotland and with our partner countries. In particular, we have developed a unique development partnership model with Malawi through the civil society links between our two countries. The approach is people-led, which we consider key to learning and building on our successes in international development. We believe this “bottom up” and “partnerships of equals” approach to international development is a particular Scottish strength in addressing the shared challenges that our world faces.

Therefore, and in line with the One Scotland Approach, we recognise that achieving success depends on collaborative working and collective action.

Partner Countries

We will work with our partner countries’ Governments to best align our work in support of the agreed priorities:

The Malawi Cooperation Agreement and Malawi Development Programme will contribute to the priorities identified by the Government of Malawi.

The programmes in Zambia and Rwanda will be outlined in our in-country plans. We will consider how, through each of the funding streams, Scotland can best contribute to meeting the priorities identified by our partner countries.

Our international development work in Pakistan will be articulated through supporting the education and skills strand of our Pakistan Engagement Strategy. We want to help to foster an equal partnership, one which reflects Pakistan’s own priorities to raise standards of education.

Civil Society

We value the role civil society plays as an agent of effective change and accountability, in particular for the poorest and most vulnerable communities. Through their work and knowledge they can advocate on global issues – helping to raise awareness amongst decision-makers in Scotland and harnessing support from the people of Scotland.

We will continue to collaborate effectively with communities (including diasporas) and civil society organisations both large and small, in Scotland and our partner countries, to improve our development work, promote and protect human rights and sustainable development, and maximise our development fund.

Principles such as empowerment, equality and social justice are common to many civil society organisations, and are congruent with their aims to reduce poverty and inequality and promote social justice globally. We will encourage and support the role of civil society in developing networks, sharing knowledge and providing a collective voice in both Scotland and our partner countries.

Other Governments and Donors

We aim to make a distinctive development contribution through focusing Scotland’s expertise, being innovative and employing our partnership approach. In doing so, however, in line with good development practice, and to enable an overall joined-up approach between donors, we aim to work collaboratively with other funders.

We value our close relationship with the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), particularly in Malawi. This relationship will continue to be important as we expand our development programmes in Zambia and Rwanda.

We will continue to look to, and learn from, other countries and their national development agencies, including other small countries akin to Scotland, to work together to enhance what we do and promote the Global Goals.

Through a collaborative approach with other funders, whether national development agencies, subscription lotteries, philanthropic organisations or individuals, we may: partner in match funding initiatives; implement joint programmes through pooled funding initiatives; and expand or ensure the scaling up of our funded initiatives by other funders.

In our partnership work we want to encourage multi-stakeholder partnerships to harness a range of expertise, knowledge and resources, including public-private and civil society partnerships which support the achievement of the Global Goals.

Rwandan women, beneficiaries of Tearfund project
Credit: Chris Hoskins/Tearfund

Promoting the Beyond Aid agenda

The Beyond Aid agenda takes a holistic approach to sustainable development, requiring all – government, local government, public bodies, private sector, communities and individuals – to adapt their behaviour in support of the Global Goals.

Scottish Government

For our part, we are committed to integrating the principles and priorities of this IDS into our broader policy agenda for global good. We recognise that development assistance and other initiatives funded under the IDF are one part of international development work and that some of the greater benefits to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable can be brought about through policy changes. A large variety of development challenges need to be addressed outside the traditional development cooperation sphere.

To this end we will focus on three elements as part of a stepwise approach:

ensuring different Scottish Government policies work in synergy with our development policy;

eliminating policy incoherence which can undermine or hamper development progress; and

identifying other Scottish Government policies which can contribute positively to development outcomes and impact.

We will continue to work across Ministerial portfolios to support international aims and identify other policies which can contribute positively to development outcomes. This will include (but is not limited to):

International Trade and Investment

Education

Migration Policy

Climate Justice

Climate Change

Water Governance and Management

In addition to our contribution to inclusive and sustainable development for developing countries through our Trade and Investment Strategy, we are committed to Scotland continuing to be a fair trade nation.

Outwith Government

We will also promote the Beyond Aid agenda outwith government to consider sustainable development and the impact on developing countries in particular, in everyday decisions and behaviours around social, economic and environmental choices. We will do this by encouraging and supporting Scottish public bodies, our private sector, communities and individuals to embrace the Beyond Aid agenda.

Tearfund Project, Karonga, Malawi
Credit: Tearfund

Annex

POLICY CONTEXT

Our Strategy is aligned with wider Scottish Government policies, including:

Scotland’s International Outlook: International Framework

Scotland’s International Framework sets the direction for Scotland’s international activity and takes forward one of the key priorities of Scotland’s Economic Strategy – internationalisation. Our international development work fully supports this priority, and reflects a key pillar of the Economic Strategy of tackling inequality, a goal shared by all nations who are committed to the UN Global Goals.

One Scotland Approach

The One Scotland approach recognises that achieving success depends on collaborative working and collective action. We will work in partnership with others – in Scotland and with partners overseas – to fully realise our international potential and secure our international objectives.

National Performance Framework

The Scottish Government’s National Performance Framework ensures that Government and Public Service create a more successful country with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth.

Scottish National Action Plan on Human Rights (SNAP)

Being a good global citizen necessitates setting an example through domestic policy. We are committed to creating a modern, inclusive Scotland which protects, respects and realises human rights. We expect all states to comply with international and human rights law and condemn human rights abuses wherever they occur.

Education Scotland’s International Strategy

Education Scotland’s International Strategy affirms our commitment to prepare today’s learners for a global future; commits to work closely and in partnership with other key organisations; as well as provide appropriate targeted educational support in our partner countries – Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda and Pakistan.

Trade and Investment Strategy, and Internationalising Social Enterprise

Scotland’s Trade and Investment Strategy 2016-21 aims not just to improve Scotland’s trade and investment performance, but also to contribute to inclusive and sustainable development elsewhere – especially in developing countries. This is further set out in Internationalising Social Enterprise – A Strategy for Scotland which articulates the vision of social enterprise which supports international development.

UN Sustainable Energy For All – Scotland’s Contribution

Launched in 2011 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) initiative aims to mobilise collective action to bring access to modern sustainable energy services for all by 2030. Describing renewable energy as “the golden thread that connects development, social inclusion and environmental protection”, Ban Ki-moon invited Scotland’s involvement. UN SE4All – Scotland’s Contribution sets out some of what we have achieved to date and what we intend to do in pursuit of Global Goal 7.

Climate Justice

Our Climate Justice policy recognises that the poor and vulnerable at home and overseas are the first to be affected by climate change, and will suffer the worst, yet have done little or nothing to cause the problem. Climate Justice puts people at the heart of decisions on equitable global sustainable development, and aims to build trust between developing and developed nations.

Fishermen in Bangweulu Wetlands, Zambia
Credit: Kieran Dodds