The entire team at Scotland’s International Development Alliance wishes our community a happy and peaceful festive season, and shares our heartfelt thanks to all of those who have engaged with our offerings and events over the last year.
We will be operating a skeleton staff team over the festive period, so if you have any urgent enquiries, please contact admin@intdevalliance.scot.
If you’d like to catch up on what we’ve been up to in 2022, read on!
In January, we published our 2021 Annual Review, which you can read here.
In February, with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, we began working to consider how best to support our members and others doing spontaneous humanitarian work in areas affected by war and conflict.
March was a busy month for us; we hosted our first hybrid networking event, Strengthening Global Partnerships, at the Royal Scots Club in Edinburgh, with Minister for International Development Neil Gray MSP speaking. This event pioneered our new commitment to providing an online alternative to our offerings, as well as brought in virtual speakers from across the globe to provide crucial perspective and expertise. We also hosted the CPG on International Development, looking towards a Wellbeing and Sustainable Development Bill, before launching a new draft discussion paper exploring the future of Scottish Government International Development programming.
In May, we held a virtual event Understanding practical steps to shifting the power, active anti-racism and decolonisation, with a fantastic range of speakers such as Lena Bheeroo, Danny Sriskandarajah, Hamimu Masudi and more. This was our most highly attended virtual event ever, and clearly demonstrated the importance of these conversations within the sector and within our membership. We also launched our groundbreaking report which offered a blueprint for world-leading legislation on wellbeing and sustainable development.
June took us to Glasgow, where we hosted a session at SCVO The Gathering, exploring the need for a Wellbeing and Sustainable Development Bill. It also saw us bid farewell to longstanding Alliance team member, Deputy CEO Lewis Ryder-Jones, and welcome two new members to the team, Louise Davies and Hannah Clyne. We also published a report looking at the need for a new Global Solidarity Strategy, as well as held a members workshop exploring leadership, governance and what makes a good trustee. Lastly, we hosted the CPG on International Development looking at ways for Scottish global development programming to evolve.
In August, we collaborated with our friends at Stop Climate Chaos Scotland and SCVO to host a virtual workshop exploring how to Communicate the Climate Crisis, and launched our upcoming conference.
September was a busy month, with lots of build up to our first hybrid annual conference, taking place online and at the beautiful Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh. Global Citizenship in a Challenging World brought together over 250 delegates from across the sector, as well as a wide range of experts, organisers and leaders for a day of fascinating discussions and learning.
In October, we kept up the pace and hosted a number of virtual and in-person workshops, from partnering with Peace Direct for a workshop exploring their groundbreaking report ‘Time to Decolonise Aid’, to a hugely popular hybrid event led by Tracy Kajumba, looking at power and partnerships, as well as a workshop with Marie McQuade looking at finance and funding. We also hosted the CPG on International Development looking at debt justice in Zambia and beyond.
In November, we had the pleasure of working with CEO of Full Colour, Srabani Sen, who spoke with Alliance trustee Sam Ross about the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion. , and followed the progress from COP27 closely. We also held a fascinating workshop for members looking at how to decolonise monitoring and evaluation.
Now that we’re here in December, we are looking ahead to what 2023 brings for the Alliance and the sector at large. We recently held a roundtable discussion with Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP, who spoke about the need for a shift in public opinion surrounding global assistance, and can see that as one of the larger challenges to face in the next year as the cost of living crisis continues.
The Alliance team is working hard to ensure that we continue to provide services and offerings that support, empower and educate our members on the crucial issues facing the global development community, and we look forward to seeing you all throughout 2023.