This session will be the culmination of discussions that have taken place throughout this conference over the past 3 days.

Transcription

1 Thank you Mr Speaker for that wonderful introduction. I am delighted to be here today alongside such an esteemed panel and with an audience which is so knowledgeable and engaged in the matters we are rightly highlighting today. This session will be the culmination of discussions that have taken place throughout this conference over the past 3 days. I do hope these conversations have been both stimulating and illuminating. Perhaps more importantly I hope your exchanges have helped you all to form a sense of renewal of purpose; to ask yourselves how we can make a contribution, however large or small, towards the Millennium Development Goal targets for We are living in challenging times, which for many of us are currently the cause of great worry and uncertainty. I realise how hard it is for some of us to see beyond these issues and the borders that define them. However, one thing remains certain, and that is that we can all make some form of contribution. It is on that issue I have been asked to speak to you today. What role, do I think, Parliamentarians can play as advocates for global development. I must start by saying that, quite clearly, I am not a politician. My background to these issues may be quite different to your own, so, I want to tell you something about my journey so far. In November of 2003, I was invited to take part in a special concert held in Cape Town, South Africa, to celebrate and publicise the launch of Nelson Mandela's HIV AIDS Foundation, somewhat poignantly entitled after his former prison identity number The following day, all the artists were invited to join Mandela for a press conference to be held in Robben Island prison, the place of his incarceration for the most part of 27 years. As we gathered together in the exercise yard in front of his former prison cell, facing a sizeable assemblage of international press and photographers, we were about to witness a speech that was to have such a personal impact and influence upon me, that it would kick start the journey of activism and advocacy I've been passionately working on ever since. Mandela spoke about the HIV AIDS pandemic, as it was affecting the entire nation of South Africa, especially with regard to women and children, describing the situation as a literal "genocide". A term carrying such resonance and weight, that it can never be used lightly. People could not access 1

2 treatment on the scale that was needed, and as a result, thousands of lives were being wiped out on a daily basis. IN 2003, 17 MILLION PEOPLE HAD ALREADY DIED OF HIV RELATED CAUSES. TODAY THE DEATH TOLL STANDS AT AROUND 30 MILLION. Mandela's words had shaken me, and woken me up. My first challenge was to try to find out what I could actually do to be effective, but the more questions I asked, the more elusive the answers became. Like dipping into a giant can of worms, there seemed to be no end to the complexity that lay between enquiry and a clearly practical and sustainable response. Political systems and their policies, health care systems and their policies, pharmaceutical companies and their policies, human behaviour with its related idiosyncrasies, gender inequality, violence and abuse of women and girls, stigma and fear, lack of education, lack of income, lack of information, lack of funding, lack of interest poverty, poverty, poverty That s the can of worms. Despite all the advancements of the post industrialist/ technological revolution, we appear to have lost our way in terms of a shared sense of global rights, human values and responsibility. As a result we have become impoverished in an entirely different kind of way. Leaving the Western comfort zone to visit people and places in developing countries gives you an opportunity to reframe your references, and re-quantify your values. This is a tremendous gift. It a privilege to be able to witness things personally. When you begin to realise that the resources you have consumed and taken for granted on a daily basis are unavailable and unimaginable to billions of others, you start to see things very differently. My work as a campaigner has given me an opportunity to witness so many things at first hand. If you're going to be a campaigner, your imperative must be to clearly identify which platform you're going to stand on and represent. I realised that my main passion is identified and aligned with the rights of women and children. I am a woman and a mother and that gives me a connection. THERE ARE APPROXIMATELY 14 MILLION ORPHANED CHILDREN IN AFRICA, MANY OF THEIR PARENTS DIED THROUGH AIDS RELATED CAUSES. 2

3 As I mentioned earlier I am not a politician but I have, however, been trying as hard as I can to play my part through campaigning on HIV/AIDS - whether that has been through my own SING Campaign since it was set up 4 years ago today, or in my work with other key organisations in the field. Some of you may not know that I am an ambassador for the UN and Oxfam as well as other organisations who do good work in this area. Through my campaigning work I have realised the prime importance of engagement with politicians - Your role here today is crucial - You are the people the public looks towards to provide the leadership. You have a platform to articulate the issues and you have the ability to persuade and to influence your fellow politicians, the public and the media. And you have the power to create transformative change. For me, it helps just to dig that tiny bit deeper and look at what the Goals actually mean in the context of straightforward, everyday issues: every day we could be improving access to education; every day we could be promoting equality and empowering women; every day we could be working to reduce fundamental inequalities in our health and life chances; and every day we could be striving to improve the ways in which we use the environment that surrounds us. All these things matter to you as politicians at a domestic level, as well as on an international stage. Given the range of countries the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association represents, these issues will play in different ways, in each of your respective countries. There are 54 countries, representing 175 national, state, provincial and territorial Parliaments, with over 17,000 Parliamentarians. Collectively, you have political responsibility for over a quarter of the world s population. The challenge to you all, as torchbearers of the issues from this week, is to do whatever you can to further these goals in your own jurisdiction. Personally speaking, I have been delighted to work with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in the Scottish Parliament, since 2010, as their special envoy. And I look forward to 3

4 working in that role for some time to come. Scottish people have a tradition of standing up for human rights and justice. I think those core principles are just one reason why I feel so strongly about the types of issues being discussed here this week. And already through my induction to CPA affairs, I can provide you today with some examples of where I have found that support and co-operation can make day-to-day differences within a country. I knew that many people living in Scotland had strong links with friends in Malawi and was quick to discover how the historical relationship between Malawi and Scotland has evolved in recent times. The combined efforts of many across Scotland, such as civic society organisations, schools, the Scottish Government, faith groups and many others has helped to bring Malawi to the attention of the Scottish public. It has stimulated interest across the country in a unique way. The aim is clear - to draw together that broad range of support, to provide a true partnership that can benefit both countries. At a parliamentary level, since February 2005, the CPA in Scotland and the National Assembly of Malawi has enjoyed a unique and sustained relationship. This is a relationship that will clearly stand the test of time. In my role as special envoy, I was very fortunate to visit Malawi in person, earlier this year, with the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. I was able to see at first-hand various projects set up by the people of Scotland and Malawi. I m afraid I don t have time in this slot to take you through the whole visit, but I wonder if I can briefly just pick out two examples. At Bwaila hospital, which I had heard had previously been described as nightmarish, I was able to see a wonderful transformation. With assistance from people in Scotland, it had re-opened in July 2010, with a modernised maternity facility. The results were phenomenal. Many of the babies we saw that day would not have survived back in In fact, with 17,000 admissions already in that year, the hospital had so far only experienced 20 deaths. That same figure back in 2005 was a truly revolutionary change. 4

5 I was also privileged to visit Phuti primary school and see how the Scottish based charity, Mary s Meals has been providing the simplest of solutions to two of our most chronic global issues - access to a regular food supply and to universal education. In Malawi, as with other HIV/AIDS beset countries, there is a high drop-out rate at schools. This is due to sickness, and the rate of HIV/AIDS in both pupils and dependent parents. Mary s Meals provides one meal a day, within schools to help counter this hunger and keep kids in school. This has a two-fold purpose kids can t learn if they are hungry. It is a growing charity now supplying 500,000 meals a day around the world. It s humbling to think that for less than US$10 dollars a year, anyone can help support a child through Mary s Meals for an entire year. Just two stories but both, in their own way, are contributing enormously to the challenges you been discussing this week issues such as child mortality, maternal health and living with HIV/AIDS. I was asked to discuss the topic of what role Parliamentarians can play as advocates for global development. That is indeed a weighty subject. But, perhaps I can leave you with just one practical suggestion. I'm asking each of you to set out your own target to build from the work of the conference this week, so that, in less than 2 years from now, when you meet for your annual conference in South Africa, you will be able to report back what you have managed to achieve. Your own roots and principles will be the bedrock of why you are here in attendance this week. We are all citizens of the world, and we all have our part to play in looking after it and the welfare of all those in it. The Millennium Goals simply set us all a framework. But it is for you, as politicians, to face the continuing and never-ending challenge of how you can effectively respond. It is for you to define and implement how you can play your part in our global development, however large, however small. I ve witnessed this year how the CPA can be a partner in helping with transformational change in Malawi. Let today be an inspiration and start for many more positive examples on the road to meeting the Millennium Goals in

6 As Nelson Mandela has said.."it's in your hands". And it really is..in your hands. Thank you. 6