The Scottish Government is hosting a series of focus groups aimed at hearing the views of stakeholders with an interest in Global Solidarity. These sessions will run throughout July, and the SG ask that individuals attend one session only, to allow as broad a range of voices as possible to contribute.
The dates for each session are below – please click on an individual date to be taken to the booking page:
Event description:
Supporting global solidarity (also known as global citizenship) in Scotland has remained a key focus for the Scottish Government’s International Development Programme and we continue to support Scotland’s civil society through a range of means.
Currently almost £800,000pa from our International Development Fund is allocated to core funding a range of civil society networking bodies to support global citizenship in Scotland and our partner countries:
- £356,914pa to support wider civil society in Scotland, split between 2 organisations: Scotland’s International Development Alliance (£194,487pa) and the Scottish Fair Trade Forum (£162,427pa); and a further
- £372,018pa specifically to support civil society links between Scotland and Malawi, split between 2 other organisations: the Scotland Malawi Partnership (£242,536pa) and its sister organisation the Malawi Scotland Partnership (£129,482pa).
- We also provide extra ad hoc funding to these organisations, out with their core costs, to support important areas such as safeguarding.
Additionally, during the course of our pilot Small Grants Programme we also provided support to small charities and grassroots organisations for capacity building. Following an independent Review of the Small Grants pilot programme (International Small Grants Programme: review, published October 2020), it was decided and announced in March 2021 that the pilot Programme would not continue.
In his letter of 1 March 2022 to the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee, the Minister stated “we continue to place great value on the role of civil society in Scotland, and the appetite for global citizenship in our local communities, staff in our public bodies including NHS Scotland, and private sector companies too. This is all a key part in how Scotland contributes globally to the UN Sustainable Goals, with the recognition of all countries as these Goals were agreed in 2014 that the journey to achieve them would involve “Governments as well as Parliaments, the UN system and other international institutions, local authorities, indigenous peoples, civil society, business and the private sector, the scientific and academic community – and all people”
In light of that, the Minister for International Development has indicated that he would be keen to hear thoughts on how we can support and engage with civil society following the closure of the Small Grants programme with a view to future more impactful programming. We are therefore running a series of focus groups throughout July to hear the view of interested parties. We respectfully ask that individuals attend one session only, to allow as broad a range of voices as possible to contribute. We are particularly keen to ensure attendance from groups that might otherwise be under-represented.