Policy and Advocacy

As the only membership body that inclusively champions international development in Scotland, we have an important role to play in terms of policy and advocacy. 

Convening conversations, dialogue and connections with decision-makers

We broker connections between our members and decision-makers, creating ways for members to connect directly with decision makers both in Scotland and beyond.

We organise  quarterly meetings with the Scottish Government and the Scottish Minister for International Development. 

We also provide the secretariat for the Cross Party Group (CPG) on International Development at Holyrood, and convene meetings for our members with political party leaders across the political spectrum. You can find details all upcoming meetings and notes from previous meetings under the events tab above. Or email Lewis for more information.

At UK level, we maintain important relationships with the Department for International Development (DfID), and its ministerial team, the International Development Committee at the House of Commons,  MPs and shadow spokespersons on International Development from different political parties.

Members should keep an eye on our events page for opportunities to engage with decision-makers at both Scotland and UK level.

Maintaining a collective voice on issues related to International Development

We ask all our members to adhere to a values statement that shapes our collective voice on the overarching importance of international development and on distinct policy areas that affect international development. 

Two policy areas our members tell us are of prime importance currently are:

• to work with governments to embed principles of ‘policy coherence for sustainable development’ (PCSD) within policy formulation
• and, to ensure commitment by governments and the broader public to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Scotland, the UK and internationally by 2030.

We have established a policy sub-group of our board to take these main issues forward. The group is called the Alliance Policy Committee. Agendas and minutes of all meetings are published here.

The group is meant to be flexible and open, so input to future agendas is welcomed by all members.  Get in touch if you wish to get involved or would like more information.

We also facilitate collaborative responses to relevant Scottish and UK government consultations and provide briefings for relevant debates in the Scottish Parliament.

Working with governments

We believe we have a responsibility to our members to work with governments, helping to inform their policy decisions, to support and promote them, and when appropriate, to challenge them.

We encouraged individual responses to the Scottish Government’s International Development Strategy consultation in 2016 and also worked with members to formulate a collaborative response.  We will continue to facilitate our members’ input into the delivery of the International Development Strategy launched in December 2016.

We also meet and correspond with the Secretary of State of International Development and officials at the UK Department for International Development to draw on the distinctive attributes of the Scottish international sector in delivering UK aid policy. 

Since 2018, we have also taken a leading role in the SDG Network Scotland's working group on SDG implementation in Scotland, helping to shape a Scottish Supplementary Review of SDG implementation in Scotland.

We believe that productive dialogue, for the benefit of our members, is only possible if built on good working relationships at both political and civil service level.  Establishing and maintaining these relationships is an important part of our objectives.

Get in touch for more information.

Sharing stories

Our policy and advocacy work relies on our ability to identify and promote the extremely important work done by our members and their partners.  Making sure both decision-makers and the wider public understand the value of international development is fundamental to helping us realise our vision of a Scotland committed to creating a fairer world, free from poverty, injustice and environmental threats.  Have a story to share? Get in touch