MaSP & SMP experience First Minister to be Moved by Malawi

Some of the Members, Directors and Staff of the Malawi Scotland Partnership (MaSP) and of the SMP had the chance to speak with the First Minister whilst he was in Malawi. These occasions included: a reception at the official residence in Lilongwe of the British High Commissioner in Malawi, a tree-planting ceremony and church service at St Michael and All Angels, Blantyre, conversation over Mzuzu coffee and tea in Grace Bandawe Conference Centre Blantyre, a visit to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the Blantyre-to-Blantyre lab, meeting with the leaders, MalDent dental graduates and students at KUHeS and an investment roundtable at Mandala House. As reported in last week’s newsletter, the First Minister met Malawi’s President H.E Prof Arthur Peter Mutharika on Monday 20 October.

The SMP’s CEO, Stuart Brown was present at a number of the meetings in Malawi and commented:

“It has been really valuable that John Swinney has kept his promise to visit Malawi as First Minister and has had first-hand experience of the country and its people, visiting to cement the 20-year relationship, initiated by Jack McConnell in 2005.

Many people have asked: “did the First Minster get Malawi?” My sense is that he absolutely did, as so many Scots have. He seemed to really appreciate and connect with the people he met, recognised and was moved by the scale of need that Malawi faces, volunteered that he sees how interconnected the challenges are and cross cutting the interventions need to be and spoke of the ways that we in Scotland learn from our friends in Malawi.

This week in Holyrood, the First Minister has pledged his commitment to ongoing funding for partner countries in the Global South. The further proof will be in sustained, long-term Scottish Government funding that responds to Malawi’s priorities. I hope it also makes the most of the multiplier effect, taking a distinctive approach of relatively small investment in Scotland’s unique civic society, people-to-people links with Malawi, yielding impactful results.

We greatly value the Cross-Party support for links with Malawi, through the commitment of MSPs in Holyrood’s Malawi Cross-Party Group, which reflects the powerful people-to-people, village-to-village, community-to-community links with Malawi which are thriving throughout Scotland.”