Contribution to international development: report 2021 to 2023

Portfolio Overview: Why, Where and How Do We Work?

The Scottish Government established its international development footprint in 2005, with the agreement of the UK Government, with a £3 million international development fund focused on Malawi. Over the last 19 years, both the programme and our funding streams have evolved, including through: a significant uplift in the annual International Development Fund from 2008 onwards and expansion of the programme beyond our first partner country of Malawi; the introduction in 2012 and subsequent trebling of our world-first Climate Justice Fund; and a new dedicated humanitarian aid funding stream since 2017.

The Scottish Government’s international development work remains a key part of Scotland’s global contribution within the international community. It is about Scotland acting as a good global citizen, realising our core values – historical and contemporary – of fairness and equality. Scotland has a distinctive development contribution to make to global public good through its expertise, innovation and unique partnership approach. That contribution within the international community is more important than ever in 2024 in continuing to respond to global need, including in delivering on our commitment to our partner countries.

Scottish Government international development activities are mainly focused within our four development partner countries: Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda, and Pakistan, to which Scotland has historical and contemporary connections. The Scottish explorer Dr Livingstone campaigned against slavery in Malawi and Zambia, and these historical connections remain strong. The Scottish Government has been a development partner with Rwanda for more than 15 years, with connections at their strongest through educational institution linkages. Equally, there are strong contemporary links between Scotland and Pakistan, including our large Pakistani community in Scotland.

Our climate justice programme works mainly in the same countries but, within that programme, our loss and damage programming is more widely distributed across the Global South.

Finally, our humanitarian emergency assistance during 2021-23 covers a wider geographic spread, its purpose being to provide effective assistance to reduce the threat to life and wellbeing of populations facing a humanitarian emergency.

In terms of how we work, the majority of our development finance has always been awarded competitively, but we also have traditionally always funded some initiatives on a non-competitive basis. Our investment and funding models are covered in Chapter 1.

In terms of sectors, during the period of this Report, our development contribution has been focused on activities targeting equalities, education, health, sustainable economic development, renewable energy, climate justice, water, humanitarian, and global citizenship. As a result, this extended Report explores each of those thematic areas of Scottish Government international activity through dedicated sectoral Chapters.

Chapter 11 looks ahead, exploring in detail the outcomes of our 2021 Review of our approach to international development in particular, and outlining the steps taken over the period of this Report in the design of our programmes for 2023/24 onwards.

In that regard, the Scottish Government has committed, since 2021, to take a strategic approach in its new programming that, at its core, is driven by our new International Development Principles. These include implementing partner country-led development, equalising power, and the advancement of equality, reaffirmed by our new policy position to take a feminist approach to international relations. An aligned and focused sectoral approach also maximises Scottish expertise for the global good and ensures that all components of Scottish Government international development work, from health to humanitarian, operate efficiently in delivering positive outcomes for our partner countries, within the framework of the UN SDGs.

The financial year 2023-24 therefore served as a period of transition and change in terms of our International Development Fund investment, where initiatives within our new health, inclusive education and equalities programmes started to come on-stream alongside our traditional and existing programmes, while the latter approached completion.