International Development 2019-2020: contribution report

Chapter 2: International Development Fund

2.1 Introduction

At the forefront of our International Development work is our annual £10M International Development Fund (IDF). The fund’s main aim is to support and empower our partner countries via three funding streams. For an overview of the funding spend see Annex 1.

• Stream 1: International Development Assistance (up to 75% ~ £7.5m)
• Stream 2: Capacity strengthening (up to 20% ~ £2m)
• Stream 3: Investment (up to 5% ~ £500k)

Stream 1 is delivered through our development programmes in our partner countries Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia and through the Small Grants programmes. We also match fund other initiatives in our partner countries, including Comic Relief’s “Levelling the Field” (Girls Leadership through Sport) in Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia.

This funding stream further supports civil society in Scotland through our core-funded bodies: Scotland-Malawi Partnership, Malawi-Scotland Partnership, Scottish Fair Trade Forum and Scotland’s International Development Alliance; and Scotland’s Development Education Centres (DECs).

Stream 2 is targeted at harnessing Scottish expertise to support capacity strengthening by sharing professional skills through volunteering and institutional links. The NHS Scotland Global Citizenship Programme is a key component under this stream.

In Pakistan we continue to support education through scholarships for women and children run by the British Council Pakistan.

Stream 3 supports trade and investment to promote the economic development of Malawi, Zambia and Rwanda in line with wider government policies in those countries. More information can be found here.

In the next section we will look at a selection of projects currently supported by the development programmes and capacity strengthening funding streams. This is followed by a short overview of the small grants programme. We start however with a case study of a project closer to home:

Case study

Toilet twinning with Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia

In 2020 we successfully twinned Scottish Government toilets through the Toilet Twinning initiative. This is a water and sanitation initiative, by the iNGO “Toilet Twinning” (part of Tearfund). It encourages people in the UK to give a £60 donation to ‘twin’ their toilet with a latrine in a developing country. Individual donors receive a Toilet Twinning certificate that shows the toilet they are twinned with, along with its GPS coordinates so they can see their twin on Google Maps.

Funding by the Scottish Government enabled the twinning of 167 toilets across 30 Scottish Government buildings with toilets in Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia. This allowed us to harness the enthusiasm of Scottish Government staff themselves as good global citizens, who started to fund raise locally to twin their own toilets.

Some of the toilets from the Scottish Government estate include:

• The most northerly toilet on the estate, in Lerwick 
• Visitors toilets in Bute House
• Marine Scotland’s Shieldaig field station
• Transport Scotland’s Buchanan House

2.2 Malawi Development Programme

Under our Malawi Development Programme 2018-23, more than £11 million is being provided to support projects in Malawi focused on health, education, economic development, civic governance and renewable energy, delivered between Scottish based organisations and their Malawian partners. Below we provide a short summary of all the projects that received funding in 2019 and 2020, and include a selection of case studies to illustrate projects’ impact. More information on all of the projects can be found here and the mid-year reports can be accessed here.

Health: Water Aid improves the health of mothers and children through better sanitation and access to safe water in healthcare facilities and childhood development centres; St John Scotland improves maternal, newborn and child health by providing health education and access to critical health services; Edinburgh University builds on a previous partnership to deliver a same day cervical cancer ‘screen and treat’ programme, and roll-out of that work in Northern, Central and Southern Regions; Glasgow University’s MalDent Project focused on establishing an undergraduate dental degree programme with the University of Malawi.

Education: Global Concerns Trust provides tools and training tom improve the livelihoods of disabled men and women in Malawi; Mary’s Meals provides school feeding to vulnerable children in primary and Early Childhood Development centres in southern Malawi; and Sense Scotland promotes equal access to education in Malawi North.

Renewable Energy: Strathclyde University works towards rural energy access through social enterprise and decentralisation (EASE) through the deployment of appropriate renewable energy infrastructure and service provision under sustainable social business models and decentralised energy strategies.

Civic Governance: Chance for Change supports the Malawi Government in enabling access to justice, and humane child-welfare based treatment for children in conflict with the law in Malawi.

Sustainable Development: Challenges Worldwide works to strengthen farmer owned Crop Value Addition Centres while creating rural sustainable business models and wealth for smallholder farmers.

A further three initiatives in Malawi work on strengthening capacity: Police Scotland provides a programme of specialist training with the Malawian (and Zambian) police force for tackling gender-based violence, improving child protection and supporting governance; The Blantyre to Blantyre project, a collaborative clinical research project between the University of Glasgow, the College of Medicine in Blantyre and the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust; and the Social Enterprise Academy for ongoing support for the new Social Enterprise Academy Malawi, to join the global networks of SEAs.

Case study

Deliver life to Mothers, Girls and Children in the Southern Region of Malawi – WaterAid

This project aims at improving health outcomes for women, adolescent girls and children under five living in the low income rural and peri-urban areas of Malawi through increased access to sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in their communities, Health Care Facilities (HCFs), and Early Childhood Development Centres (ECDCs). The project is in line with Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being; and 6: Clean Water and Sanitation.

Goals reached by the project in 2019-2020 were:

• 899 men, 1,106 women, 861 boys, 992 girls and 773 children under five gained access to safe water from 12 boreholes constructed in 12 villages
• 123 women and 88 men were trained to monitor the construction of community boreholes, which are drilled in 20 communities
• 18 child friendly sanitation facilities have been constructed in three early childhood development centres (ECDCs)
• 49 health workers were trained in infection prevention and control to implement facility improvement plans. Training in 2020 integrated COVID-19 requirements

One of the villages earmarked to benefit from a borehole was Mkolimbo village in Chikewo, where Synodia is one of the community hygiene volunteers. She explains: “What prompted me to become a volunteer was lack of hygiene and sanitation in my village (…) Many households did not have a toilet. They either shared one toilet amongst many family members or used the nearby bushes. It was chaotic.”

Volunteering can be difficult as Synodia points out because every volunteer needs to plan their time effectively and around their own work, for example Synodia also works in farming and is a secretary in the community village bank. However, Synodia sees that her efforts have paid off: “Every household has a decent toilet and a tippy tap. I can testify that people are using these tippy taps. This setup ensures that once an individual is exiting the toilet, he or she can wash their hands with soap.” Moreover “the people from both this village and other villages where I work, are also having clean households and have adopted food hygiene practices.”

For Synodia it was “an honour and a duty to serve my community”. She felt that she “needed to do something for my community so that people would not be getting sick all the time and that children are able to find themselves in a classroom and not in a hospital bed.”

Case study

Rural Energy Access through Social Enterprise and Decentralisation (EASE) 

– University of Strathclyde, United Purpose and Community Energy Malawi (CEM)

The EASE project works to address energy poverty in marginalised communities by developing sustainable social business models and delivers on the national policy regarding energy access and decentralisation. It aims to deploy: two solar PV microgrids with linked ‘satellite’ kiosks; three solar PV energy hubs; and establish Malawi’s first District Energy Officers in Dedza and Balaka region to undertake a range of capacity building activities to improve the environment for energy projects. This project supports SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy.

The project addresses the challenges of energy access in Malawi, where less than 12% of the population have access to electricity. Decentralised solar microgrids offer a low carbon and reliable source of electricity in areas unlikely to receive a grid connection. In 2020 the first microgrid was installed, bringing stable, low carbon electricity to sixty customers for domestic and commercial use. A village energy committee and local site agents provide local management with oversight by United Purpose. It is the first of its kind in Malawi. More information is available here.

Pharaoh Kambiri attended training delivered by Community Energy Malawi: “After attending the training on mainstreaming energy in the village area, I felt duty-bound to sensitize the people in my area on renewable energy and I got a positive response. This prompted me to liaise with CEM as availability of lanterns in our area was a great challenge. CEM linked me with an energy player based in Lilongwe so I was able to act as their agent. Members from my community are now able to buy lanterns from my house so availability is no longer an issue here in TA Kachenga!”

Case study

Blantyre Blantyre Research Facility

– University of Glasgow and College of Medicine University of Malawi

The aim of this project is to establish and deploy a clinical laboratory facility at the College of Medicine (COM) in Blantyre, Malawi. This will enhance ongoing collaborations, develop a research evidence-base, deliver training programmes on medical interventions and policies in key areas of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and their interface with infectious diseases (IDs – especially TB & Malaria). This brings to bear internationally renowned expertise in NCDs and IDs to focus on national health priorities. This project contributes to SDGs 3: Good Health and Well-being; 4: Quality Education; and 17: Partnerships for the Goals. In the longer term, as the lab becomes self-sustaining and meets its further objective to become a regional centre of excellence, it will contribute to SDG 9: Industry Innovation and Infrastructure. Click here to see a short video on the project.

The Blantyre Blantyre laboratory has contributed to many other projects and funding opportunities from various agencies across Malawi and expanded the College of Medicine’s ability to collaborate. The strong and expanding links and partnerships established through the project has brought direct support for a variety of Malawian charities, hospitals and projects. Examples of opportunities include:

Partnership with the Dean of Global Engagement (Africa and Middle East) at the University of Glasgow.

Additional funding in collaboration with Malawi based scientific partners, as well as from the Global Challenges Research Fund.

Research partnerships with Malawi University Science Technology and Malaria Alert Centre.

• 9 annual (fully funded) places for Malawian doctors on the Diploma in Tropical Medicine run by the University of Glasgow
• University of Glasgow and Malawian Partnership on training for:
  – MALBOP for early career scientists in immunology and parasitology
  – FEMEng network to support female engineering students to deliver workshops and promote STEM education in Malawi
• The lab working with EmPowered FinTech to investigate harnessing solar power to provide its energy needs from renewable sources

2.3 Rwanda Development Programme

Under our Rwanda Development Programme 2017-22 there are seven projects, totalling £8,776,334, supported by the Scottish Government. Below we provide a short summary of all the projects that received funding in 2019 and 2020, and include case studies to illustrate projects’ impact. More information on all of the projects can be found here, and the end of year reports here.

Health: Oxfam Scotland delivers the Claiming Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights in Rwanda initiative, to facilitate attitudinal change, institutional capacity building and the empowerment of women to ensure that women in targeted districts can enjoy equal rights and live free from discrimination and violence; Water Aid works to improve health and sanitation in communities and schools of Nyamagabe district – addressing sanitation and hygiene with particular emphasis on women, girls, disabled people and elderly.

Education: University of Aberdeen fosters a social practice approach to adult literacies in Western Rwanda, that can be managed and delivered by local institutions in order to support people’s livelihood through poverty reduction and inclusive socio-economic development.

Sustainable Economic Development: CBM implements SaveAbility which is focused on the socio-economic empowerment of persons with disabilities; Opportunity International strengthens livelihoods in Northern and Eastern Rwanda and poor rural households in Western and Southern Rwanda by supporting smallholders with agricultural training as well as access to credit and financial services; Tearfund delivers a Sustainable Economic and Agricultural Development project, contributing towards poverty reduction through increasing alternative income generation activities and improving financial literacy and climate smart agriculture techniques to improve productivity and food security; and Challenges Worldwide works to promote sustainable economic development through building the capacity of Rwandan coffee cooperatives and community members.

The Social Enterprise Academy also works in Rwanda on Strengthening Capacity, funded under the second stream of the IDF. It aims to form a partnership to establish an SEA in Kigali. This will join a franchise of world-wide SEAs, connecting to the SEA in Scotland and on a regional basis, with Zambia and Malawi in the SSA circle (also funded by Scottish Government), along with South Africa.

Case study

Claiming Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights in Rwanda

– Oxfam and Rwanda Interfaith Council on Health

Claiming Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (CSRHR) aims at increasing awareness for positive change in social attitudes and cultural norms that discriminate women in targeted communities. It is building the capacities of health care providers at Isange One Stop Centres and empowering victims of sexual and gender based violence (GBV). The project specifically targets 1,000 victims of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV); 120 health care providers; 2,000 agents of change and 15,000 indirect beneficiaries in 6 districts. The project supports SDGs 3: Good Health and Well-being and 5: Gender Equality.

Key milestone are:

• 300 couples in conflict were engaged in community dialogue on SRHR, family conflict resolution and prevention of GBV. 92 couples committed to share the knowledge gained with their communities
• 300 SGBV victims were trained with on SRHR, GBV prevention, entrepreneurship, and on saving and lending for their socio-economic reintegration, and 150 victims of SGBV were enrolled in vocational training courses
• 12 story telling sessions across the six districts for victims to share personal stories. Victims also received psychosocial support from hospital psychologists

One of the girls reached by the project is Nadia (not her real name). At 17, Nadia was raped and became pregnant. Nadia did not report the rape to Isange one-stop center (IOSC) at the time fearing stigma and harassment by family members. As Nadia explains “Before getting pregnant, I had dreams for myself, I was studying at high school, I had dreams of working in a Bank; however, my dream did not include giving birth to a child,”

“In nine months, everything changed for me (…) [I] would starting crying for nothing. I lost sleep, all night I was asking myself why it happened to me”. After giving birth, IOSC put Nadia in contact with the Rwanda Interfaith Council on Health (RICH) and the “Claiming Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights in Rwanda” project. “Under this project, I got a chance to return to school (…) I am learning tailoring and catching up quickly with my confidence. (…) [I] meet other victims; I made new friends who went through the same traumatic challenges as me. We have formed small supporting groups to help each other in saving but also to better know each other. Oxfam in partnership with RICH have provided us with various training sessions including motherhood skills, financial literacy, saving, and entrepreneurship” The project also brings together victims and their parents, an important element for the victim’s social reintegration and wellbeing. Nadia explains: “After my parents attended Project training, my family reintegration went smoothly with family starting to accommodate me and my son. My family is supportive, my parents are helping me to raise my son.”

Case study

Fostering SPAAL for Improving People’s Quality of Life in Western Rwanda

 – University of Aberdeen and Institute of Policy Analysis and Research Rwanda

This project fosters a social practice approach to adult literacies (SPAALs), to be managed and delivered by local institutions to improve people’s quality of life. Adult literacies tutors in Rwanda are currently untrained, with classes taking place in churches or in the open air with few resources with which to teach students. The project is testing a postgraduate programme for ‘trainers of literacies tutors’ and is training 15 trainers who will, in turn, train around 200 community literacies tutors. Training the social practice approach enables community tutors to improve how they teach adult learners and to encourage students to work together to solve problems and generate ideas to improve their lives. The project supports SDGs 1: No Poverty; 2: Zero Hunger; 3: Good Health and Well-being; and 4: Quality Education.

“The method we used to use for teaching adult literacy did not work well. The social practices approach works much better and we are able to help learners develop skills and start income-generating projects such as rearing domestic animals such as rabbits and goats. My class has even purchased a cow. The learners are committed to working together to improve their quality of life.” (Iyakaremye Canisius).

“When we use the social practices approach, we let adult learners discuss their problems and come up with ideas as to how they can help themselves to overcome them. They share their ideas and discuss together under my guidance and come to decisions about what their main problems are. Then they discuss what they can do. They decided to have a mutual fund (savings club) and to use the money they saved to purchase pigs and rabbits to rear and to buy seeds so they can have kitchen gardens and give their families a balanced diet.” (Nyiraguhirwa Agathe).

Case study

Sustainable Economic and Agricultural Development Project (SEAD)

– Tearfund Scotland, Tearfund Rwanda, AEE and Moucecore

The SEAD project works in 207 villages in 4 districts of Southern Province and aims to support some of the poorest and most vulnerable in those communities to improve their agricultural productivity and diversify their income and economic opportunities.

Using the self-help group (SHG) model, beneficiaries are improving their financial literacy and engaging in income generation. They are also being supported to develop agricultural skills and to employ climate smart techniques to improve yields, mitigate the effects of climate change and become involved in value added activities, thus increasing income from crops. The project supports the SDGs 1: No Poverty; 2: Zero Hunger; 8: Decent work and Economic Growth; and 10: Reduced inequalities.

MUKANSANGA Marie Chantal used to work in other people’s field. When she heard that the project aims to address poverty issues, she joined. She explains: “I talked to my husband and I decided to give it a try; I started saving from my daily wage to contribute weekly to our group meetings. When the group savings had increased enough to give loans, I was the first to get [one]. (…) I used the loan to buy Sorghum, processed it and made sorghum local beer, which I sold, and I made a profit. From the accumulated profits, I bought a piece of land and 2 piglets to provide manure for our garden; we now produce our own food and the pigs will soon produce piglets.”

“My perspective towards life has totally changed. In the past I would wake up wondering whether I will get a daily wage for my family to survive on, now I sleep planning how (…) to increase my income”

KANYAMIBWA Vincent, shared a similar story: “I had no land, and for many rural residents, land is the source of livelihood”. Vincent joined the programme, and received training “I decided to use the knowledge and information I got at entrepreneurship [training] and took a loan. With that money, I bought bananas to make banana juice. I made a profit every week. After paying back the loan, I took a second loan, which I used to rent farm land and I planted passion fruits. At harvest, I sold the fruits and [used some of the profits] to buy a cow. After buying the cow, my land yields more produce. Where I used to plant 5kgs and harvest 6, I currently harvest 50kgs.”

2.4 Zambia Development Programme

Under our Zambia Development Programme 2017-22 there are six projects, totalling £6,289,536, being supported by the Scottish Government. Below we provide a short summary of all the projects that received funding in 2019 and 2020, and include case studies to illustrate projects’ impact. More information on all of the projects can be found here, and the end of year reports here.

Health: CBM delivers the PrevENT project, providing community ear and hearing care and rehabilitation of disabling hearing loss; whilst First Aid Africa continues to deliver the Big First Aid Project Scotland, using ground-breaking technology to increase the ability to respond to emergencies, while training the next generation of life savers.

Education: Open University works on the Zambian Education School-based Training (ZEST) project to improve the quality of primary school teaching and learning in Central Province. This helps implement the Ministry of General Education’s teacher development strategy.

Sustainable Economic Development: SCIAF empowers resource-poor rural communities in Central Province by strengthening income security, fostering well-being of women and promoting renewable energy use; Christian Aid works to support and harness the potential of small-scale farmers; and Gaia Education builds the capacity of Zambian youth in three districts in Central Province to lead on sustainable food, livelihood security and conservation action via Zambian Youth for Conservation, Agriculture and Livelihood Action (ZYCALA).

There are a further eight initiatives working in Zambia on strengthening capacity, funded under the second stream of the IDF: Heriot-Watt University provides scholarships for women to study an online MBA programme; Police Scotland works with the Zambia Police Force to tackle gender-based violence, improve child protection, and support governance; the Social Enterprise Academy supports BongoHive in Zambia, to connect with a franchise of world-wide SEAs (including one in Scotland); and the Sustainable Organic Agriculture Project provides training at the Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre.

In relation to health capacity: the Scottish Ambulance Service supports the development of Emergency Medical Care and improved patient care; NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Blood Transfusion are developing their partnership in Central Province to build health capacity; and Kids ORare refurbishing a paediatric theatre and offer training in the University Teaching Hospital

Case study

PrevENT: Community ear and hearing care and rehabilitation of disabling hearing loss 

– CBM UK and Beit Cure Hospital

This project contributes towards the strengthening of community and primary health care systems by providing access to quality ear and hearing healthcare in the three districts of Chibombo, Kapiri Mposhi and Kabwe in Central Province. By increasing the number of trained community health workers, nurses, clinicians and audiologists in ear and hearing care, the project improves the quality of life for people who have a hearing impairment or are at risk of acquiring a hearing impairment. This project contributes towards SDGs 3: Good Health and Well-Being; 4: Quality Education; 5: Gender equality; and 10: Reduced Inequalities.

Disabling hearing loss in Zambia is a cause and  consequence of poverty and an under-recognised consequence of major diseases, including HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, meningitis, maternal complications and childhood illnesses. Adults with hearing loss often face unemployment, communication barriers which affect relationships and reduced access to information and services, further risking health and socio-economic problems. This project is training and equipping a total of 105 nurses and clinicians, 12 audiology assistants and 240 community health assistants across Central Province. It also aims to ensures greater sensitisation in communities of the importance of ear and hearing care and to raise awareness of outreach clinics and school-screenings, to facilitate better screening, treatment and referrals.

Elfreda Whitty, CBM UK’s Programme Manager, travelled to Zambia in October 2019 and made the following observations:

“During the visit, I was able to speak to some of the current trainee nurses and clinical officers who used the outreach clinic to put into practice their training (…) One of the students told me that before his training, he had noticed that many people had challenges with ears but he did not have an otoscope to screen or diagnose them. They tried to use their phone light, which wasn’t effective. Following his training, he now felt much more confident to make a diagnosis and crucially treat – for example in the removal of a foreign body or to treat an infection.”

Case study

Zambia Education School-based Training (ZEST)

– The Open University and World Vision Zambia

Zambian Education School-based Training (ZEST) is collaboratively designed and implemented by the Zambian Ministry of General Education (MoGE), World Vision Zambia and The Open University. The project is co-designing and testing a school-based continuing professional development programme and focuses on strengthening the existing School Programme of In-Service for the Term (SPRINT). Now underway in the three Central Province districts of Chisamba, Kabwe and Mumbwa, this project supports SDG 4: Quality Education.

Praxina is Chisamba District Education Standards Officer.

Praxina observed: “When we go out monitoring there are quite a number of changes that we observed. For instance, when teachers were doing their preparations and had challenges with certain topics, instead of consulting others, they’d skip such topics. But now they consult each other, wherever they have a challenge, they consult a fellow teacher and they plan together the best way to handle such a topic.”

As a Grade 1 teacher at Nkwashi Primary School in Kabwe, Nyawa has been part of a project, which helped her as a teacher to undertake some research before preparing her lessons and also given her ideas about using local resources to create imaginative and useful teaching and learning aids. These techniques are helping her learners with their reading and writing skills: “My learners are breaking through in reading; they can read sounds, syllables and even some short stories.”

“There’s a big difference since using these new approaches. We make sure that in each lesson we use different approaches.” She now uses a wide range of approaches – songs, games, questioning, group and pairwork – focused on including all the learners in her class. This helps her devise extra support for learners who are having some challenges.

Case study

Zambia Youth for Conservation, Agriculture and Livelihood Action (ZYCALA) 

– Gaia Education, WWF Zambia and YEFI

The project is building the capacity of 420 local youth leaders to become active and effective ‘change agents’ in youth-led campaigning on social and environmental issues, sustainable income generation and food security. The youth change agents are reaching 150,000 youth to raise awareness of innovative social and natural systems management through ecosystems regeneration and advocacy campaigns. The project contributes to several SDGs, 1: No Poverty; 2: Zero Hunger; 4: Quality Education; 8: Decent work and Economic Growth; 10: Reduced Inequalities; 13: Climate Action; and 15: Life on Land.

Young people have been empowered through training in sustainable organic agriculture practices which positioned them to access the food they produce and develop ways to utilise it. Brian Mwelwa, of ZYCALA, says he has gained important skills through this training: “I did not know what chicken 

manure was, all I knew was fertiliser, but when ZYCALA came it opened my mind to different and better methods of farming like a key unlocks a lock”. Another youth, Prisca says that beekeeping has influenced how young people now view the environment. “Beekeeping has made us value forests and the importance of conserving trees as well as how important trees are to beekeeping”. This has reduced the plans to cut down trees for firewood charcoal production, which contributes to deforestation.

Purity Chisenga has been part of a Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) savings group. These saving groups have contributed to bridging the gender gap in the most rural communities and has promoted active participation for all. Purity feels delighted to be able to have the chances that she once thought were only open to men. She is now able to have an equal share of savings and to think of her future.

2.5 Small grants

The Small Grants Programme, administered by the Corra Foundation, is a pilot programme, which provides up to £500,000 per annum to small Scottish-based NGOs. In 2019-20 the Programme provided £468,435 to 18 organisations.

The Programme had been piloted since 2012, with only minor changes each year discussed in advance with the Scottish sector. In 2018 it was deemed appropriate to independently review the programme Therefore in 2019, new grants were restricted to one year ‘feasibility grants’ and ‘capacity building grants’ whilst the review was undertaken in 2019/20. The review of the Programme commissioned by the Scottish Government was completed by independent consultants and can be read here. To take stock of the outcomes of the review report and to consider the new reality of COVID-19 the Small Grants Programme was closed for the year 2020.

Projects supported in 2019-2020

• The Turing Trust: providing digital skills to 9,000 Malawian girls
• Children’s Medical Care Malawi (CMCM): upskilling of tutors to provide essential paediatric emergency care training to 900 nursing students
• Seed for Life: scaling up of a sustainable food programme in Bemvu, Malawi
• International Resources and Recycling Institute (IRRI): providing solar powered lighting and basic phone charging systems to five off-grid primary schools in Malawi
• Leprosy in Utale Village Plus (LUV+): providing income generation support for nine communities of persons affected by leprosy in Zambia and Malawi
• Friends of Chitambo: supporting further development of emergency response services in Chitambo District, central Zambia
• STEKA Skills: feasibility study to determine whether the Dialogue Groups to empower young Malawians can be replicated and extended into a self-sustaining social enterprise
• The Isaro Network: feasibility study to assess food insecurity in the Makera watershed area, South Rwanda
• Charity Education International (CEI): feasibility study to explore solar energy as an alternative source of electricity supply for Uttar Bangla University College in Bangladesh
• World Orthopaedic Concern (WOC): feasibility study to map the trauma patient journey in six regions of Northern Malawi
• Renew: feasibility study to assess and pilot two livelihood approaches for widows/children of deceased park rangers in the Democratic Republic of Congo
• Lake Victoria Disability Centre Scotland (LVDCS): capacity building for LVDCS (Scotland) and LVDC (Tanzania) to further develop safeguarding policies and procedures
• Youth Economic Justice (YEJ): building in-country partner’s technical capacity for delivering innovative financial inclusion programmes for women who have experienced violence in Myanmar
• YES! Tanzania: capacity building for YES! Tanzania and partner Umoja Tanzania to improve Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) and safeguarding arrangements
• Zambia Therapeutic Art (ZTA): capacity building for ZTA on communication, and partner/stakeholders on MEL, professional training and safeguarding
• Diverse Talent: capacity building in a number of areas for both Diverse Talent and their in-country partner, the Mukutasha Foundation in Zambia
• Just Wheels UK: capacity building to strengthen organisational policies, management processes and governance towards establishing a formal partner organisation, Just Wheels Tanzania
• Bethesda Khanko International (BKI): capacity building for BKI’s Trustees in a range of governance areas in India
• Projects supported in 2020-2021
• Smileawi: feasibility study to support Smileawi, Malawian stakeholders and Bridge2Aid to test the model of ‘task shifting’ basic training for emergency dentistry to Malawi’s existing network of Medical Assistants
• Wasteaid: feasibility study to support Wasteaid and ICCM to assess the capacity building needs of different groups of local stakeholders to tackle waste management in north and south Malawi
• Kilcheran: feasibility study to support Kilcheran and Kho&Kalashi to test the results and establishment of mobile vocational skills training centres (“Labs”)
• Lake Victoria Disability Centre Scotland (LVDCS): feasibility study to trial a mobile clinic to treat club foot in the Mara region of Tanzania and assess different outreach strategies to best reach babies and adults with this disability
• St Francis Hospital Zambia Twinning Partnership with NHS Borders SCIO: capacity building to undertake an impact review to inform subsequent work to develop internal Standard Operating Procedures for project selection, planning and MEL
• On Call Africa: capacity building to improve monitoring and evaluation systems, via an app to aid for data collection use by the Community Health Workers
• Zambia Therapeutic Art: capacity building, of an informal Therapeutic Art Trainers centred in Lusaka, into a standalone and self-sustaining organisation
• International Voluntary Service: capacity building to produce effective digital tools for training, communications, partner relationship management and MEL
• Africa on the Ball: capacity building to develop evaluating and strengthening skills and resources in fundraising, governance, and monitoring & evaluation
• Charity Education International: capacity building to improve student and staff attendance and morale through the introduction of new monitoring and award systems and the delivery of motivational training

Case study

Solar powered lighting and phone charging systems for five primary schools in Malawi, leading to improved learning outcomes and teacher retention

– International Resource and Recycling Institute

The aim of the project is to improve learning outcomes by installing Solar PV lightning systems, therefore enabling students to study at night. Part of the financial model to support the project involved setting up phone charging services to support members of the community who would bring their electronic gadgets and devices for charging at a reasonable fee. This will generate the funds needed for maintenance of the system and the eventual replacement of the battery at a later stage.

School Energy Committees have been established and given training on how to successfully maintain and take care of these installations. An additional revenue has been generated in two schools in the form of barbershops. With a positive response from the community and the students, plans are underway to introduce the barber services in the remaining schools.

At Chamasowa Primary School, enrolment of students increased by over 70% after the PV Solar System installation and subsequent community sensitisation. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has temporarily disrupted these activities and momentum, when the schools reopened all five showed eagerness to continue using the solar powered lights for educating students at night, because students have to catch up on lost time due to COVID-19 closure.

Case study

Mobile Craft “Maker Labs” Feasibility Study – Kilcheran

This feasibility study assesses the need and the logistics of carrying out ‘Maker Labs’ which are mobile training camps on traditional embroidery and craft skills for women living in remote villages of the Chitral valley in North Pakistan. The study consulted communities and established sustainable community development forums with crafts communities, gathered logistical data on the viability of mobile training in the villages. 688 participants (93% women) were interviewed by a trained team from Kilcheran’s in-country partner, the Kho & Kalashi (K&K) women’s co-operative.

The data evidenced clear motivation to develop craft work, with 85% of respondents wanting to generate income from crafting and 99% interested in collaborating with K&K on marketing. The study also gathered photographic evidence and has established a database of crafts, a valuable future reference tool for start/end points in terms of quality and finishing, and also as a resource bank for cultural heritage.

The survey has confirmed the value and viability of the mobile ‘Make Labs’ and fed the development of a business plan. The information gathered has also provided for the formulation of 10 vocational courses tailored to the communities assessed, the launch of 3-month live-in residencies at the K&K Mahraka Centre, and the preparation of a digital toolkit of pre-recorded video training courses to be used by community facilitators for outreach training in their villages. Links with Scottish designers and product developers to support market access will be arranged through a digital ‘Fusion’ portal.

The survey responses also identified widespread community concerns about disengaged and unemployed youth, and this has led to plans to conduct Make Labs training with teenage boys and girls through partnerships with community-based schools in selected villages.