British High Commissioner to Malawi Champions Collaborative Approach

In the SMP’s first meeting with the British High Commissioner to Malawi this week in Edinburgh, Leigh Stubblefield impressed with her breadth of knowledge, engagement with key issues, candour and interest in collaborating with civil society.

Previously the Deputy High Commissioner in Kenya and following a career in UK Gov’s Department for International Development, Ms Stubblefield began her role in Malawi in January. Having been DFID’s Livelihoods Advisor in Lilongwe for three years from 2003, she was alert to what had changed and what has not in Malawi.

The High Commissioner had a first roundtable meeting with SMP Trustees on Wednesday morning in Edinburgh City Chambers and on Zoom, chaired by the SMP’s Senior Vice Chair, Susan Dalgety. Speaking from Blantyre Malawi, SMP Chair Prof Jeremy Bagg gave a brief overview of the Scotland Malawi Partnership. Leigh volunteered that the SMP is unique and a valuable resource upon which she is very keen to draw. Discussion followed on a range of topics including aid cuts, debt, international loans and foreign exchange, productive income-generating sectors, mining and mineral assets, education, policing and protection of vulnerable groups, the climate emergency, energy and food security. SMP Co-Vice Chair, Dr Yonah Matemba offered closing remarks.

The High Commissioner was also very open in the subsequent 90-minute hybrid meeting with SMP Members, Friends of the SMP and Malawi Scotland Partnership (MaSP) Members. Opened by the SMP’s Communications & Engagement Lead, Nasim Vadalia and chaired by John Wyllie, SMP Co-Vice Chair, Ms Stubblefield showed in-depth knowledge of and referenced active engagement in a broad range of issues in support of the efforts of the Government of Malawi and others.

Whilst her own wide-ranging expertise was clear throughout, Leigh joked that the level of questioning was ‘like being on Mastermind’ and also invited valuable online contributions from Deputy High Commissioner Ben Nicholson who spoke from Lilongwe. In her summing up, SMP Trustee Prof Tracy Morse paid tribute to the broad range of topics with which the Commissioner had engaged at high level including health, forestry, agriculture, water, mining, climate, economics, governance, energy, education and “everything in-between.”

The High Commissioner’s predecessors established a positive tradition of at least annual meetings with SMP members, with dialogue between the High Commission and Scotland-Malawi civil society characterised by its openness and sense of being ‘in it together’. Leigh Stubblefield is clearly in the vanguard of this approach and of collaborative, two-way sharing of lessons learned.

This event was for Members/Friends of the SMP & of the Malawi Scotland Partnership. Keen to be part of the Conversation? The SMP has different ways to Get Involved.