What is the SNP doing for international development?

We place great importance on Scotland being a good global citizen. This means playing our part in tackling global challenges including poverty, injustice and inequality.

It is clear that COVID-19 will remain a threat for some time to come, and we must therefore step up our global contribution.

We will increase the International Development Fund from £10 million to £15 million and commit to increases in line with inflation.

We will continue support for tackling global emergencies through the Humanitarian Emergency Fund.

Scotland was the first country in the world to launch a dedicated Climate Justice Fund. Those in the global south have done least to cause climate and ecological change and yet are most likely to be impacted first. This is not fair. That is why, in the year of COP26, and in a critical moment for global climate ambition, we will double our Climate Justice Fund to £24 million over four years.

We will establish a £500,000 International Development Women and Girls Empowerment Fund targeted at helping women and girls, particularly in terms of accessing education, in our partner countries of Malawi, Zambia and Rwanda.

To build on the successful model of the Scottish Global Health Co-ordination Unit we will establish a Global Renewable Centre, working with partner countries in the Global South to exchange knowledge and research in renewable technologies, to support the development of sustainable energy.

We will also create new peer to peer partnerships between Scotland’s Centres of Expertise for Climate Change, Waters & Flooding and organisations in the Global South, sharing expertise and data towards tackling these shared challenges.