Governance Forum

The SMP’s Governance Forum reconvened on 17^th January 2019 with an extended meeting sharing information about past and present governance partnerships, and mapping out principles and priorities for future work.

The afternoon succeeded in:

(1) Sharing information and learning from past and present governance collaborations between Scotland and Malawi.

(2) Reflecting on the recent Malawi and Scotland: Together for Sustainable Development conference in Lilongwe, which saw governance strengthening as a key priority for the next chapter of cooperation.

(3) Discussing the NGO (Amendment) Bill which is currently with the Malawi National Assembly and which has triggered significant concern from civil society.

(4) Looking forwards to the May 2019 tripartite elections, discussing challenges and opportunities.

(5) Exploring opportunities and discuss next steps in cross-sectoral governance collaboration.

The meeting brought together key stakeholders across civil society, government and parliament, with presentations and updates from:

• Dr Gerhard Anders, University of Edinburgh, who spoke about his DFID-funded studies with Malawi looking at governance and corruption.
  
  
• Susan Dalgety, Active Learning Centre, who spoke about past work with the Women’s Caucus in Malawi and with female councillors.
  
  
• Judith Turbyne, Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) who spoke about their work with the NGO Board.
  
  
• Sir Andrew Cubie who spoke about the 2016 and 2018 governance events he spoke at in Malawi.
  
  
• Margaret Neal , Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Scotland Branch who spoke about the CPA’s work with Malawi National Assembly and MSP-MP twinning.
  
  
• Natasha Fox, Westminster Foundation for Democracy who spoke about the SNP Group’s WFD-funded work with the Women’s Caucus.
  
  
• Fiona Talcott, formerly of SCVO who spoke about SCVO’s previous partnership with CONGOMA.

Also represented at the meeting were the Church of Scotland, SCIAF, Christian Aid, the Scottish Government, the Mamie Martin Fund, the Soko Fund, the University of Malawi, EMMS international, Scottish Malawi Appeal, IVS, the Malawi Hon. Consul, the 2050 Group, MaSP and the University of Edinburgh

Following a proposal from Malawi, a Malawi-Scotland Governance Working Group of key stakeholders will be developed, which will work through 2019 to develop a cross-sectoral proposal for continued bilateral governance collaboration to 2030.

Further details and updates will be posted on this page in the coming weeks.