Overseas aid scheme 'worthwhile'

Aid efforts have built on historical links with Malawi

The first minister has said Scotland will not be diverted from its overseas aid programme by criticism that it is too little to make a difference.

It comes after BBC Scotland revealed that nearly a third of the £2m spent on the Scottish Executive's Malawi programme has gone on running costs.

Jack McConnell was speaking at a reception in the Scottish Parliament for the charity Oxfam.

Oxfam warned much more needed to be done to address endemic poverty.

Mr McConnell said: "Devolved Scotland should never become insular. Throughout our history we have looked beyond our borders.

Sadly, the depth of poverty in Malawi demands a much greater financial commitment from Scotland Judith Robertson Oxfam Scotland

"I am determined that we will continue to support Scots helping those elsewhere in the world who are in desperate need."

He added that the executive's International Development Fund had backed 58 projects providing education, health services and other assistance - with Oxfam's work to help the victims of HIV and Aids victims in Malawi among the programmes supported.

The Scottish Executive set up an international development policy in 2005 - the year Scotland hosted the G8 summit - pledging up to £12m, with a particular focus on Malawi.

But despite the aid Scotland gives the southern African nation, 65% of its people still live below the poverty line and 40% try to survive on an income of less than 15p a day.

Aids orphans

Life expectancy has been dropping in Malawi, from 43 in 1996 to 39 in 2000 and some 70,000 people there die every year from Aids-related diseases, with 65,000 children becoming Aids orphans every year.

Judith Robertson, head of Oxfam in Scotland, said: "Sadly, the depth of poverty in Malawi demands a much greater financial commitment from Scotland to really make a difference to the lives of ordinary Malawians."

And speaking from the African country, the aid agency's Sanjay Awasthi said: "The financial support for Malawi from Scotland is very welcome but we are asking Scottish politicians to raise their game as much, much more needs to be done to truly reverse the endemic poverty here."