14:35:48 From Michael Beresford - Zambesi Mission : Good afternoon, I am Mike Beresford from Zambesi Mission. Moni 14:36:09 From Clara Nanchinga : Good evening. This is Natasha Mbengo from the Department of Disaster Management Affairs 14:36:37 From David Hope-Jones : David Hope-Jones, SMP CEO here. 14:36:48 From Christine Campbell : Good afternoon, Christine Campbell from University of Edinburgh and MALSCOT cervical screening project. 14:37:03 From The Scotland Malawi Partnership : Good afternoon everyone, Jade Stein, Media and Communications Officer, Scotland Malawi Partnership. Please feel free to tag us and the Malawi Scotland Partnership today on Twitter (and of course, in the future) @ScotlandMalawi and @malawiscotland or use #ScotlandMalawiPartnership https://twitter.com/ScotlandMalawi and https://twitter.com/MalawiScotland Warm wishes, Jade. 14:37:06 From Ruth Groves : Good afternoon everyone. I'm Ruth Groves from The Kerusso Trust. 14:37:10 From William Liabunya Malawi : William Liabunya, CEO EGENCO Malawi LTD 14:37:10 From Stuart Brown : Hello, Stuart from the staff team of the Scotland Malawi Partnership 14:37:18 From Kingsley Lupande : I am Kingsley Lupande, Medic Malawi Consultant 14:37:30 From The Scotland Malawi Partnership : Alan Laverock, finance officer at SMP; and trustee of Bananabox Trust 14:38:04 From mgwaza : Hi, this is Moses Gwaza Senior Public Relations Officer - EGENCO, Malawi. 14:38:34 From Precious Mafunga : Precious Mafunga, 14:38:48 From Aston : Aston Mulwafu, Head of Disaster Management from Malawi Red Cross Society 14:39:24 From Stella : Hello Stslla Masangano CEO Malawi Scotland Partnership best regards 14:39:29 From Hilda Singo : Hilda Singo, EGENCO Director of Finance 14:40:15 From Chifundo Zingunde : Chifundo Zingunde-Malawi Scotland Partnership 14:44:50 From Chinsisi Kazuwa : chinsisi Kazuwa, Malawi Climate Leaders Project Officer - MaSP 14:56:26 From Tassie Avril : Tassie Mtika- Malawi Scotland Partnership 14:57:22 From Linda Dembo MaSP : please post your comments and questions here from the 2 presenters 15:19:43 From Mavuto Bamusi : QUESTION: First let me commend the government departments for the commendable work despite the challenges from the ravaging cyclones. 15:22:27 From Mavuto Bamusi : Q: What additional accountability measures have been put in place to ensure value for money in the funds being mobilized? This covers both public funds and also monies from private or NGO funders. 15:24:32 From Precious Mafunga : Question. Natasha I would like to know what response has been given to school going girls and boys in the most affected areas? I have noted that this has not been mentioned despite having evidence on the ground that some students have lost their learning materials due to the same devastating impacts of cyclone Ana and Gombe due to destruction of the habitats. 15:28:47 From Niall McCumesty : https://www.gov.scot/policies/international-development/2020-covid-19-review/ 15:32:35 From Niall McCumesty : https://www.gov.scot/news/disaster-relief-for-malawi/ 15:33:36 From David Hope-Jones : Great to have this strong contribution of £400,000 (about 400 million Kwacha) from the Scottish Government, which is additional to the Scottish Government’s existing Malawi Development Programme. 15:36:34 From David Hope-Jones : Questions [Speakers feel free to answer in chatbox if not time in the agenda]: (1) What are the food security implications of Storm Ana for the coming year? (2) What can be done to build preparedness at a community level before the next major cyclone? 15:36:45 From Michael Beresford - Zambesi Mission : I have two questions: firstly, what do the speakers in Malawi think would be best to focus on to improve resilience in future? Secondly, I wonder how the Scottish Gov could work through the members of the SMP and the MSP for disaster relief in future. Many have the community contacts to make sure that the support gets directly through to our partners. Also it seems odd that we are a member organisation, but when a major incident comes in we work with a single big organisation. I have nothing against the Red Cross, they do great work. 15:37:35 From Noel Banda to The Scotland Malawi Partnership(Direct Message) : I will soon be exiting zoom to joining using Phone is late here at the office. 15:38:52 From The Scotland Malawi Partnership to Noel Banda(Direct Message) : Hi Noel, thanks for letting us know. I'll be sure to let you back in! Thanks, Jade. 15:39:16 From Noel Banda to The Scotland Malawi Partnership(Direct Message) : thanks 15:39:42 From Tasha Boardman-Treacy : In relation to the question about accountability measures, any Scottish Government funding undergoes rigorous monitoring and evaluation procedures. We are committed to transparency. We publish online all Reports from projects that we fund. And since 2018 we have published an annual Contribution to International Development Report that takes a holistic look at a wide cross-section of Scottish Government international development activity, and presents it within the context of the UN Global Goals. 15:50:17 From Joanna Keating : Re question on SG funding: we're allocating public money, and have to ensure due diligence on orgs that we fund. In a fast moving situation like Storm Ana, we fund via existing partners who we have a funding relationship with already. We are not able to run a competitive funding round for an incident like this, to assess bids and to make awards. As Tasha/Niall set out, we discussed with the Govt of Malawi how we might best direct that level of support (£400k), and the Red Cross Malawi was already on the ground and a key partner of the Govt Emergency Response Plan. Through our funding we were able to lend our (Scot Govt) support to the Govt of Malawi's own plan. We separately core fund SMP to support its civil society members, and that includes helping them fundraise and raise awareness, so we provide support to wider civil society through our funding of SMP, MaSP, the Alliance etc. Hopefully that then leads to public support for a wider range of appeals by smaller orgs 15:57:18 From Joanna Keating : Not sure if there is some confusion re orgs/roles. But just in case, re this point raised - "Also it seems odd that we are a member organisation, but when a major incident comes in we work with a single big organisation.". Not sure if this is a criticism of SMP? But the SMP and SG are totally separate. SMP is a civil society membership networking org, funded by the Scottish Government. This £400k under discussion was funding from the Scottish Government to support the Government of Malawi in its Storm Ana response. Not money raised by SMP to dispense between its members. Hope that helps if any confusion has crept in here. 16:00:41 From Michael Beresford - Zambesi Mission : Thank you Joanna, that's helpful, there is no criticism intended. But I guess those in the SMP who are working on the ground feel frustrated that we can't get any government support for the emergency relief initiatives that we are trying to run. Is there any way that this can be considered in future? Perhaps organisations could be pre-approved? 16:03:13 From Precious Mafunga : Thanks to Julius for the information. As a country we really need to be proactive than reactive to disaster. The bill aught to tabled and passed as soon as possible 16:05:35 From Precious Mafunga : Moses from EGENCO, does EGENCO has any plans to use uranium or coal to generate electricity than this hydro since its prone to weather changes as we are talking about cyclones 16:09:05 From Prisca Chisala : many thanks to Scottish Government ( among other partiners we are working with) for their support to Malawian affected populations through the IFRC launched Appeal for Malawi Red Cross Society 16:12:55 From Joanna Keating : @Michael - the key point is that we support communities as fast as possible. The Red Cross will achieve that, and were recommended to us by the Govt of Malawi. So delivery on the ground is key, and hopefully everyone will feel that this is most important. Its the same amount of money that is spent, regardless of which orgs its routed through. Specifically on Emergency Funding, we consult our own HEF for the expert advice of those operating in the field so the views of Scottish NGO humanitarian experts did influence our funding decision. 16:13:14 From Michael Beresford - Zambesi Mission : Thank you everyone, we have had some very interesting and informative presentations 16:13:19 From David Hope-Jones : Thanks to all the brilliant speakers. Really useful 16:13:25 From Michael Beresford - Zambesi Mission : My questionnaire has gone! 16:13:40 From Michael Beresford - Zambesi Mission : Can it be reissued please?