The latest news from Scotland's International Development Alliance

Newsletter April 2020

Funding Updates | Events | Vacancies | Member Services

HEADLINES

COVID-19 makes global, sustainable development more important than ever

As the Coronavirus pandemic spreads across the globe, the sheer scale of the unfolding crisis is becoming increasingly clear. Staggering global inequality is only likely to grow, and the most marginalised and vulnerable across the world will be impacted at new levels not yet fully understood.

At the Alliance, we think it is therefore more important than ever to re-commit to our long term vision for a sustainable, prosperous future for all as we navigate these difficult times.

2020 Alliance Annual Conference moved to December

In light of the ever-evolving situation around COVID-19, the Alliance has taken the decision to move its planned September annual conference to December 2020.

We are also keeping the Climate Crisis as our overarching theme, in full knowledge that the prolonged socio-economic effects of this global pandemic will require us all to re-think how we approach climate action going forward.

Find out more

Scottish Government Small Grants awarded

We are pleased to announce that the Scottish Government’s Small Grants Programme will go ahead in 2020 as planned. More than £140,000 is being provided to support 10 Scottish-based organisations, with grants including funding for feasibility studies that could lead to further work and capacity building efforts to strengthen the organisations and their overseas partners.

Glasgow Climate Summit COP26 postponed

At the start of April, it was announced that a decision had been taken, jointly by the UNFCCC COP Bureau with the UK and Italy, to delay COP26. It said new dates for the conference would be decided in due course. Currently, it seems there are no plans to move COP26 from Glasgow.

There is no doubt that this decision was absolutely necessary due to the massive impacts of COVID-19, but the need for us to take action on the climate crisis remains as urgent as ever and here at the Alliance we remain committed to our COP26 Strategy.

Fair trade in Scotland must be much more than a consumer label

Martin Rhodes, Chief Executive at Scottish Fair Trade Forum, writes about the newly published independent review of Fair Trade in Scotland.

The report highlights that we need a renewed commitment to Fair Trade in Scotland in order to deliver on our aspirations of being a good global citizen.

Youth-led solutions to a 75,000 tonne per year problem

Single-use plastic continues to be a huge problem in Malawi.

Andrew Dickie, Project Officer for the Malawi-Scotland Partnership and 2050 Climate Group’s joint ‘Malawi Climate Leaders Project’ writes about why young leaders are at the heart of its solution.