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