Scottish Catholic Observer

The barrage of correspondence urgently called on his government to save the lives of thousands of people and improve the future for hundreds of communities in some of the world’s poorest countries by maintaining Scotland’s £9 million international aid budget.

Thanks to the huge number of messages from the public, the government was left in no doubt of the strength of public feeling and its budget to help combat global poverty was secured for the next financial year.

Supporters of the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund understand that, in addition to providing direct help to communities in need, it is necessary to tackle the root causes of poverty. The most effective way of doing this is through campaigning and mobilising public support. The decisions and actions of politicians, businesses, and global players such as the EU and International Monetary Fund have a huge impact on the lives of people living in developing countries.

Each of these powerful groups responds to public pressure and that is why it is so important that we work together and campaign for positive change in the world. As previous SCIAF campaigns have proven, even the simplest of actions can have a significant impact when thousands of people work together.

This Lent, SCIAF is urging our supporters to call for the party which forms the next Scottish Government after the elections on May 5 to ensure that global poverty, climate change and fair trade are firmly on the political agenda.

SCIAF wants Scottish politicians to keep their promises to the poor by protecting the international aid budget, implementing Scotland’s world-leading climate change act, and ensuring that government spending is fair trade—making Scotland one of the world’s first fair trade nations.

Protect the aid budget

Right now, almost one billion people around the world are going to bed hungry every night; that is one in six of the world’s population. Whist global poverty continues to be a huge problem, there are simple political changes that could be made in countries like Scotland that could give more people a real chance to work their way out of poverty.

Scotland’s £9 million aid budget has saved and changed lives around the world. We have seen how it has helped people work their way out of poverty, and Scots are rightly proud of this commitment which means we can be there when disasters hit, like the Haiti earthquake, and support long-term sustainable development in countries like Zambia and Malawi. But support like this is most effective when it is secure and predictable. So whilst the aid budget has been protected for now, we need to ensure that the next parliament keeps this commitment. We are therefore calling on all of Scotland’s parties to commit to maintaining or increasing the current aid budget over the lifetime of the next parliament.

Protecting this vital budget from future cuts will help to ensure that some of the poorest people in the world are given the urgent help they need, and are not further penalised for a financial crisis they did not create. Secure funding over the coming years can help more people in Haiti to rebuild their homes, and train more farmers in Zambia in agricultural methods that could make sure their families don’t go hungry in the future.

Implementing the Climate Change Act

The last decade has seen a number of devastating natural disasters—many of them climate-related—which have affected almost 300 million people. The vast majority of the people affected were living in developing countries, where climate change is already pushing poor communities further into poverty due to the disruption to farming from erratic weather patterns, or the destruction of property and livelihoods.

As a wealthy industrialised nation whose economic development was largely based on the burning of fossil fuels we have an historic responsibility for creating problematic climate change and a moral duty to address the issue and help people who are suffering the consequences.

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act is the first piece of legislation that commits a country to doing what UN scientists agree is necessary to avoid catastrophic climate change. However, this world-leading piece of legislation will only ever be effective if it is implemented.

That is why SCIAF is calling on the next Scottish Government to take the action needed to change policies across the board to reduce Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions by 42 per cent by 2020, and provide the additional finance urgently needed to help those who are already facing the worst impacts of climate change.

Make Scotland a Fair Trade Nation

Buying fair trade changes lives around the world. When farmers can secure a decent price for their produce they are able to earn a reasonable income and provide for themselves and their families.

Unfortunately, the power and influence of large multinational corporations mean that they are able to force local producers into selling their produce for a fraction of the price it takes them to grow it. Heavily subsidised produce from Western countries is also be ‘dumped’ onto markets in developing countries, further undermining the interests of small-scale farmers.

To help address these problems fair trade products enable consumers to ensure that poor farmers get a fair price for their products. The Scottish Government is Scotland’s biggest consumer, spending around £9 billion per year on goods and services across the public sector—from coffee on sale in the Parliament to raw materials for NHS supplies. By applying fair trade policies to this spending, many more thousands of farmers in developing countries will be empowered to work their own way out of poverty.

You really can make a difference

We have seen how simple campaign actions can influence big political decisions which affect the lives of the poorest people all over the world.

This Lent, we are asking you to take part in our Wee Vote, Big Change campaign, and make a real difference again. With the Scottish Parliament election on May 5, now is the time to secure commitments from the political parties to protect the aid budget, implement the world-leading climate change act, and ensure government spending is fair trade.

– Simply email all your constituency candidates at the click of a mouse! You can go to www.sciaf.org.uk, click on the Wee Vote, Big Change button, enter in your postcode, and join our Wee Vote, Big Change campaign

– Alternatively, you can fill in a Wee Vote, Big Change campaign postcard. Just call SCIAF on 0141 354 5555 or email [email protected] and we will post one to you