Autumn Conference 2023

The Liberal Democrats in International Development (LDID) Autumn Conference held on the 24th of September had an excellent turnout, drawing LDID members and representatives from various organisations to Bournemouth for a series of insightful panel discussions. The three panels focused on key themes such as “Securing a Better Future Through Education”,  “De-mining: Unlocking Opportunities for Development and Food Security” and  “Midpoint Reflections on the Sustainable Development Goals”. The overarching discussions centered around International Development Policy and the potential opportunities presented by next year’s general election. 

Sponsored by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and Send My Friend To School, the first panel discussion was moderated by Myles Wickstead from LDID. The conversation featured Kate Adams, Michelle (The National Youth Leader for GPE), Lord Jeremy Purvis as a Parliamentary representative, Rebekah Lucking from Send my Friend to School and their two youth school champions.

Startling facts were presented by Kate, emphasising the urgent need for action against the educational crisis; ‘more than a quarter of a billion children are excluded from education’, ‘the educational crisis touches upon each of the 17 SDG’s’ and ‘the probability of conflict more than doubles in countries with twice the levels of educational inequality’.

Michelle followed on by sharing her experiences of Education and how without it her journey to becoming a barrister would never have been possible. Michelle emphasised that education should be seen as an investment, not as a global cost. The question was then turned to Lord Jeremy Purvis on how he can make education a priority. Jeremy reflected on a letter he had recently written to Andrew Mitchell (UK Development Minister) urging the UK to bring ODA (official development assistance) back to 0.7% with a significant funding focus on educational partners such as GPE and Education Cannot Wait. Jeremy also expressed that a new department solely focussed on International Development within Government would be beneficial. 

It was highlighted that Education is one of the most powerful tools for achieving the SDG’s by the two youth champions from Send my Friend to School. They expressed how they wanted children in the global south to have the same opportunities for a quality education as they had experienced. The conversation was closed with remarks about how essential educational funding for the global south is, and how if nothing is done the devastating effects will range from chronic crisis’s to mass conflict and the further exacerbation of conflict climate change. 

Thanks to the sponsorship of the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and The Halo Trust we followed with a discussion on “De-mining: Unlocking Opportunities for Development and Food Security”.  Chaired by Peter Jones (RUSI) and Richard Foord MP, Lord Jonny Oates, Lizzie Humphreys from MAG, Chris Loughran (The HALO Trust) and Llewelyn Jones (MAG). The panel examined the role demining has in saving lives, recovering from conflict and unlocking opportunities for development.

Jonny Oates’s explained that from his experience at United Against Malnutrition and Hunger he has seen a connection between landmines and the opportunity cost for development; war torn land and the threat of explosives causes significant food insecurity. The inaccessible land could be used for agricultural development.

Reflections were given from Richard Foord, having spent a significant amount time on a UN peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, a place which has been impacted by landmines and unexploded ordnance for the last two decades. He explained that this has had significant impacts to communities trying to rebuild post-conflict.

Lizzie talked about the need to build upon public support of these issues. This panel discussion was closed by drawing upon Llewynn’s experiences of mines in a range of international contexts including Cambodia where he currently overseas MAG’s Asia-Pacific programmes.

Our final discussion of the afternoon was supported by Bond International and the Coalition for Global Prosperity. Paul Abernethy (Bond) chaired the panel; introducing the SDG’s as the only globally-agreed framework on sustainable development. Paul suggested that we, as the UK, have a pinnacle role in the delivery just as much we did in their establishment back in 2015. Lilei Chow, (Save the Children and Senior Advisor on the SDG’s) having just returned from the SDG summit in New York emphasised the midpoint reflections on the SDG’s were sobering, suggesting that we are severely off track, yet not all hope is lost.

The derailing of the SDG’s can be attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the global inflation crisis. Lord Jeremy Purvis contributed to this exclaiming that Liberal Democrats are proudly committed to the SDG’s and that they will shape the upcoming general elections manifesto. 0.7% is the commitment along with poverty focussed aid, turning away from development funding being utilised in house.

The evening was followed with a drinks reception which was kindly supported by Action Against Malnutrition and Hunger. This reception facilitated a space where members could reflect on the discussions from earlier on in the day.  We are grateful for the ongoing support from all of the sponsoring organisations and thank you to all of those who attended.