Scotland’s Place in Building a Just World

New NIDOS report sets out recommendations for Scotland’s international development policy.
 
Ahead of next year’s referendum on the constitutional future of Scotland, NIDOS members have come together to produce a report aimed at ensuring Scotland’s role in the world is part of the debate.

Scotland’s impact on the world is not limited to its international development and aid policies and, while neither NIDOS nor its members advocate any particular outcome of the referendum, it is important that discussions on the kind of Scotland we want to live in are placed within a global context. How Scottish companies operate internationally, the consumer choices Scots make and a whole range of government policies, including energy, climate and procurement, all have a major global impact.
 
The report, Scotland’s Place in Building a Just World, proposes a framework for international development policy in Scotland based on the principle of policy coherence: the concept that all government departments and policies should act coherently to comply with and contribute to the goal of equitable and sustainable global development.
 
Within this framework, the report sets out a series of policy recommendations related to different areas of focus of poverty reduction: the economy and financial systems, trade and procurement, finance for development, climate justice, access to resources, and global education. It also highlights who would be responsible for their delivery under the different potential post-referendum constitutional scenarios. While taking no position on which outcome would be preferable, it does strongly advocate the values that should be at the heart of any future Scottish Government’s policy, and that a coherent approach to ensuring that Scotland’s global impact is one that would contribute to tackling the root causes of global poverty, and to ensuring that people can access their human rights.