International Interest in Scotland-Malawi Links

The Scotland-Malawi relationship featured in an international conference in Germany last week on Subnational Diplomacy. The Academy of International Affairs in Bonn, invited SMP CEO Stuart Brown to join its Summer Academy and to be part of a panel on the Scotland-Malawi model.

AIA Fellows: Scot, Stuart MacDonald and Malawian, Chisomo Banda collaborated with Facilitator, Andy Paice and Stuart to share information about Scotland-Malawi links and the climate crisis views and priorities of young people in Malawi and Scotland. The pre-conference engagement with young learners in Scotland was co-ordinated by the SMP’s Education lead, Ian Mitchell (aka Mitch). We are grateful to the staff and students of Alloa Academy, Beath High School, Bell Baxter High School, Largs Academy and Fortrose Academy.

Andy introduced the panel session to Polis - a free, online digital democracy platform created by the Computational Democracy Project to help communities explore complex questions together, in a way that promotes mutual understanding rather than polarisation. It showed instances of 97% consensus between participants from Scotland and Malawi on statements such as:

· “We need to trust more in renewable energy sources like wind, solar and hydro power”
· “We should use reusable water bottles and encourage others to use them”
· “Climate change is an international problem that affects everyone so we need to work together”

The Academy of International Affairs offers a range of interesting Fellowship opportunities.

Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/dN5n5N8Y