Our moral duty both at home and abroad

TWENTY years ago, my Labour predecessor Jack McConnell set up what is now the Scottish Government International Development Programme.

- JOHN SWINNEY

It was at the height of the Make Poverty History campaign. And there was an overwhelming sense around the world that global poverty which had its epicentre in Africa - had to be addressed once and for all.

Jack McConnell gave a lead in Scotland, allocating funding to establish a programme to tackle poverty and inequality in Malawi - a country with which Scotland has had a deep relationship for over 150 years, rooted in the lifework of David Livingstone.

That programme has been sustained and expanded by the SNP Government ever since.

Last week, I travelled to Zambia and I am now just about to leave Malawi, to see first-hand some of the projects the Scottish Government is currently funding.