The next item on our agenda this afternoon is a statement by the Minister for Social Justice on Wales and Africa, and I call on the Minister to make her statement. Jane Hutt.

Llywydd, Wales is an outward-looking nation, and we will always strive to be globally responsible. Our Wales and Africa programme is an important demonstration of that.

This year, we are celebrating 15 years of the Wales and Africa programme, which continues to adapt to challenges and opportunities. It has a prominent place in our international strategy launched in 2020. In this statement, I will focus on two of the biggest challenges we are facing—COVID-19 and the climate emergency—and how the Wales and Africa programme is responding.

The pandemic has left an enormous amount of devastation and loss in its wake—and it's not over yet. Many African countries are still in the eye of the storm, with COVID cases and repeated waves of infection sweeping through communities. Vaccination rates in sub-Saharan Africa average only 6 per cent. Truly none of us is safe until all of us are safe.

Vaccine inequity is the biggest obstacle stopping the world emerging from this pandemic. Although the vaccine distribution is not devolved, the First Minister has urged the UK Government to accelerate the supply of vaccines to the developing world, and, in particular, to places with strong links to Wales such as Uganda, Namibia and Lesotho. And I make that call again today, Llywydd. Here in the UK, millions of doses will be thrown away, even when with better planning they could be used in sub-Saharan Africa, as the People's Vaccine Alliance has identified. Whilst we can't send vaccines ourselves, as a Government, there is important work we can support, and this is why, over the last two years, the Welsh Government has made available an extra £2.5 million for Welsh organisations to work in partnership with many countries in Africa to fight against COVID.

Vaccine hesitancy and lack of awareness, lack of oxygen, PPE and the training to use it properly—all of these are areas of concern. This is why I am proud we have been able to support a number of different projects with this extra funding. One example is Cardiff-based United Purpose, which has been providing a rapid emergency response to COVID in Nigeria, the Gambia, Senegal and Guinea, reaching over 4 million of the poorest people in the world. Thanks to this work, clean sanitation areas are being provided, vaccine awareness is being raised, and people who have lost their entire livelihoods as a result of COVID are getting training in other ways to support themselves.

Another example is Teams4U. They've been doing excellent work in Uganda, improving sanitation and menstrual provision in health centres and schools, and ensuring hot running water is being plumbed into health centres, which is critical for treating patients effectively and safely.

The Phoenix Project is a remarkable project with Cardiff University and the University of Namibia, working in partnership to roll out a vaccination promotion programme in Namibia in the most disadvantaged communities, and then delivering the vaccination programme itself, saving many lives. The Phoenix Project was also recently awarded a grant to support Namibia to ensure better oxygen supplies are in the right places, at the right time, with training also being delivered to hundreds of nurses and doctors to manage those oxygen supplies.

Similarly, we also provided a grant to the Partnerships Overseas Networking Trust, or PONT, who are working in partnership with the Mbale Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda, to buy essential PPE, equipment and oxygen generators. Of course, it's not just by providing funding that we can demonstrate our commitment to supporting countries where it's most needed. The recent donation to Namibia of surplus equipment and lateral flow tests has helped with its third wave of COVID.

With COP26 taking place in Glasgow, I also want to highlight the ongoing work our support for tree-planting programmes plays in tackling climate change. Our partner projects work to alleviate poverty and support climate change adaptation and mitigation. I'm delighted that earlier this year we reached the milestone of planting 15 million trees this year, towards the target of distributing 25 million trees by 2025.

Linked to this work is Jenipher's Coffi, a partnership we're proud to support, which is importing top quality fair-trade and organic coffee to Wales and helping Ugandan farmers work in harmony with nature, as they face the climate crisis. Jenipher Sambazi heads up this project, leading the way for women and their communities. I look forward to meeting her when she visits Wales later this month. I was delighted we were able to support her to attend COP26. She's speaking this afternoon at a COP26 Welsh Government event in Glasgow, along with representatives from Namibia and Uganda. They will be talking about the impact of tree planting and reforestation activity that the Welsh Government has funded.

We remain committed to supporting the UN's sustainable development goals and tackling the climate emergency, and the Wales and Africa programme will continue to play its part in that. We are using our small and larger grant schemes to provide support to these global challenges. The second round of the Wales and Africa small grants scheme and the remaining £700,000 of the £2.5 million COVID emergency response funding both opened for applications last week. The small grants will continue to fund Wales-based organisations and their work with African partners to deliver projects under the four themes of lifelong learning, health, sustainable livelihoods and climate change.

As it is a gender day theme at COP26 today, I wanted to mark some of the projects across our grants and programmes supporting gender equality initiatives—projects such as our Mothers of Africa, the Chomuzangari Women's Cooperative and the Hub Cymru Africa women’s empowerment project that is looking into the experience of gender-based violence victims in Lesotho, how the reporting system needs to be assessed. Later this month, Hub Cymru Africa will launch a grant scheme for organisations to submit project proposals to work with their partners in Uganda on this gender equality activity. Can I take the opportunity to praise the Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate, who has said this week at COP26 in Glasgow:

'Some of us come from communities where women and girls are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis'? 

It's also important that we see more work with our diaspora communities in Wales. Any activity undertaken in Africa should be less about us making decisions and doing the work and more about supporting people in these communities to identify and deliver what’s needed. Every constituency in Wales has partnerships in Africa, and we will continue to support these partnerships through the Wales and Africa programme. Now, more than ever, this is needed. For the first time in over 20 years, global extreme poverty actually went up in 2020. Now is the time to boost aid to nations that need it most. We stand by our principles as a globally responsible nation, and we stand by our friends. Diolch.

Thank you, Minister, for your statement. It's great to see that the Wales and Africa programme continues to benefit some of the poorest nations in the world, and that another round of small-scale funding has been launched. This has been a crucial source of income to provide help and support for many small charities and community groups on the African continent. And I would also like to put on record my thanks and support for all the work that they do.

Reflecting upon how best to maximise the grant funding, I would like to raise the issue of currency conversion and exchange, which is a vital component for funding projects abroad. As the Minister will know, and if we take Uganda as an example, the British pound over the last decade has been worth anything from 3,600 Ugandan shillings right up to 5,700 shillings, and this rather large difference will have a huge knock-on effect on the amount of money that a project is able to spend. Five thousand pounds, for example, can be worth anything from 18 million to 28 million shillings, depending on when funds are exchanged, and this means that projects may struggle to meet their full potential.

The Minister will undoubtedly be aware that you can't buy Ugandan shillings and many other African currencies in the United Kingdom, and the most cost-efficient way for charities to transport funds to these countries is to physically take it there themselves in cash and then to exchange it on arrival. Not only is carrying cash in such large quantities potentially dangerous, but charity and community projects are at the mercy of high exchange fees, which makes costing and budget management extremely difficult. With this in mind, can the Minister confirm if she has considered the possibility of allowing these charities and community groups to draw down project funds directly in their respective countries, rather than running the risks of physically importing their finances?

I'm conscious that the Minister hasn't mentioned it, but, last week, I was able to listen to some of the talks at the annual Wales and Africa Health Links conference, GlobalCitizenship2021, and I was struck by the discussion on the maximising potential for future benefit report, which analyses health partnership relationships in relation to the Wales and Africa programme and the international work carried out by health staff in Wales. Not surprisingly, the report has criticisms, and it highlighted several areas that need improvement, and I would very much welcome the Minister’s comments on two of those points.

Firstly, in a survey conducted by the report, participants highlighted their concerns over barriers that are in place that reduce the likelihood of diaspora comminutes in Wales becoming involved in health partnership work. One of the fundamental issues identified, and I quote, is 'a sense of exclusion from a too-white international development sector'. Indeed, if we scratch the surface, as they say, we can find some element of truth in this. For example, all nine trustees of the Size of Wales, led by a former First Minister, Carwyn Jones, are white; the Wales in Africa Health Links Network has four out of six white trustees; and on the Hub Cymru Africa web page, 10 out of 12 of those listed are also white. Whilst I have no doubt that there is engagement with diaspora communities in Wales, and you have specifically mentioned it in your statement today, it is obvious why communities believe that they have no voice at the top table. Reflecting upon the Welsh Government’s pronouncements on creating and encouraging greater diversity in public life in Wales, I am keen to know what the Minister is actually doing to address this issue.

Secondly, as the report outlines, the proposals of the Welsh Government are supported by patchy and fragmented policy implementation, which creates an obvious gap between what the Welsh Government intend and actual practice. This is an issue that seems to come up time and time again with this Government. For example, after eight years of adoption, the charter for international health partnerships is still not fully implemented, because Welsh Government has failed to provide sufficient resources for organisations to dedicate responsibility for international work within their organisational structures—quite ironic, given that ‘international’ is included within the charter’s name. Moreover, despite the charter’s perceived benefits, there is a lack of communication strategy, which means organisations have not built the charter into their forward work plans. In fact, there is very limited awareness of the charter beyond the board level, clearly implying that few people think it’s worth talking about.

We know the benefits that international work can bring to the NHS, and there are dedicated people investing their time and energy in trying to make this work and to develop international health partnerships, but they’re being let down by this Government’s unhealthy obsession with overcomplicating everything. The maximising potential for future benefit report is littered with accusations that the Government lacks a clear strategy in international health, with no co-ordinated aims or objectives. Furthermore, you seem to have an almost psychotic compulsion to create more and more partnership agreements in the face of duplicating effort and the pleading of those involved to reduce the number of meetings they have to attend. This is shown by the mind-boggling interdependency chart shown in the report, which would give nightmares to even the most hardened horror movie enthusiast.

So, it begs the question as to why you are involved in this at all. The report clearly shows that the health partnership community is crying out for leadership and political will to resolve these issues. Therefore, as Minister for Social Justice, who is responsible for the Wales and Africa programme, the responsibility for addressing these issues is upon your shoulders. How do you propose to tackle these concerns? Thank you.

Well, I thank the Member for his outline opening support for Wales and Africa and for the partnerships, which, of course, extend in every constituency, of which many Members here are very proud and which have received our all-important small grants funding.

Of course, you raise important points about conversion, exchange and currency issues, issues that, of course, affect all work to support international development, in terms of exchange rates and access to currencies, and that’s an important point, in terms of ensuring that our partner organisations can draw down the funding that, of course, we are sharing and allocating to meet their needs.

I’m very glad you were able to attend the Wales and Africa Health Links Network conference, which I also attended, as you know, and delivered a keynote speech last week. And the theme of this conference for colleagues was global citizenship. Of course, we had representation from all those health boards, the Welsh organisations and African partners, universities, and NHS and health workers from across the UK, who recognise the work that we are doing and the importance of it. And I think it is, actually, useful just to reflect on the strength of international learning opportunities. That scheme has been provided to nearly 200 people from Wales, with eight-week placements in either Lesotho, Uganda or Namibia, and they've assisted partner organisations with their efforts to deliver aspects of the UN sustainable development goals. If any of you have met people within our health boards who've actually taken—and, indeed, public services who've taken—part in this international learning opportunities scheme, you will know how transformational it is on a mutual-learning basis in terms of those opportunities.

It is very important that we look at the delivery and the support that is given as a result of our small grants programme and the work of Hub Cymru Africa, and I think, just in terms of looking at Hub Cymru Africa, supporting the Wales-Africa community, I mentioned the diaspora, and we work very closely together with the Wales and Africa Health Links Network, the Sub-Sahara Advisory Panel and Fair Trade Wales, and, just to give you one example, last month, Hub Cymru Africa received £40,000 from the Wales and Africa programme to deliver the women's empowerment project. And it is about empowerment that is so—. The Member draws important attention to the fact this is about empowering those communities and empowering, particularly, women, and that allows Welsh groups to contribute towards gender equality outcomes in Uganda.

I am disappointed in the fact that you don't seem to recognise the impact of the Wales and Africa programme for so many years. I just want to just remind the Member that the vision of the Welsh Government's Wales and Africa programme is to support Wales to be a globally responsible nation through building and growing sustainable partnerships, and it is actually delivering those sustainable partnerships in sub-Saharan Africa, or in the role of supporting our UN sustainable development goals. And, of course, there is a huge demand within Wales for an identifiably Welsh response to contributing to international development. And, of course, that response is because we see that we're supporting dozens of small civil society groups who work with African partners on education and on community needs, promoting health and well-being, culture, sport and business, like Jenipher's Coffi, and we are demonstrating the impact of our most successful sustainable development and climate change activities across Wales.

And I would hope that, as I said at the end of my statement, we would see that now is the time for us to come together, and particularly with COP26 and the challenge of climate change. You will have seen what's happening to Africa as a result of climate change, and I made the point in my statement: now is the time for us to do everything we can to share our resources and look to aid. So, I would ask you to raise with your UK Government the concerns that we have that both the UK Government abolished the Department for International Development and absorbed its budget into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office last year—and we knew that the world's poorest would suffer—and then reneged on the Conservative manifesto commitment, cutting £4 billion from the overseas budget, having a devastating effect on so many lives in the poorest of countries. And to give you one example, Bees for Development in Monmouth—their three-year £250,000 community partnership grant funding for work in Ethiopia has been cut as a result of the cuts from the overseas aid development budget. And, of course, that closes an important project, cutting 41 per cent from the budget. I hope you will listen to Jenipher, as she talks about her work today in Glasgow, at COP26. She's going to be talking about what it means for her to have the support of the Welsh Government and Wales and Africa in support of her work as a coffee grower in Uganda.

I thank the Minister for the statement. A number of important points were raised by you, and it was great to be reminded of all the strong links that exist between Wales and Africa, and the wealth of projects that are already being realised.

As you'll be aware, the People's Vaccine campaign is something that we in Plaid Cymru fully support, and I agree with you entirely: everyone's safety does depend on everyone having the same chance of obtaining a vaccine, wherever they live in the world, and it is a disgrace that the British Government has not acted more quickly on this. 

It was very evident that Joel James had decided not to refer to that part of your statement, and I think that if the people in the Conservative Party who are here today can take that message back to Westminster that would make a genuine difference to all of us.

You noted in your statement, Minister, that the First Minister has urged the UK Government to accelerate the supply of vaccines to the developing world. Are you able to advise what response the First Minister has received to this request and, in addition to making the call today, if you yourself have also written or will be writing to the UK Government on this matter? You would have our full support on this.

Of course, as you mentioned as well, the international aid cut by the UK Government, leading to the lowest it's been for nine years, with the cut to foreign aid spending totalling around £4 billion. This cut is not set to be reversed until 2024-25 at the earliest, and the impact will not only be felt in terms of the COVID response and recovery, but also, as you rightly outline, the detrimental impact on health in all sorts of different ways. To add to your examples, the World Health Organization’s global polio eradication initiative will lose essentially all of its UK funding, from £110 million to £5 million. Similarly, WaterAid have voiced concerns that this cut will mean at least three more years of dirty water and infant mortalities in vulnerable communities. UNICEF is also set to see its UK funding cut by 60 per cent. So, therefore, whilst we hope that the UK Government will change its mind, will the Welsh Government use the Wales and Africa programme to try and rectify the impact of these harsh aid cuts imposed by the UK Government and, if so, how?

And of course, this cut will also impact negatively on how these countries will be able to respond to the climate and nature emergency—something that you also referenced, Minister, as being absolutely essential in your statement—and it was good to hear that Welsh Government has been utilising opportunities created by COP26 to promote Wales as a globally responsible nation. Obviously, this was noted as an action as part of the Wales and Africa action plan, which also stated that COP26 would be an opportunity to forge new partnerships. I’d be interested to know what progress has been made by Welsh Government in realising these objectives so far. Obviously, COP26 is ongoing, so I would be grateful in the future for an update as well.

One of the key factors driving the global climate change and nature emergency, as we know, is deforestation and habitat loss. According to the recently published WWF Cymru, Size of Wales and RSPB Cymru study, 'Wales and Global Responsibility' report, an area equivalent to 40 per cent of the size of Wales is used overseas to grow commodities imported into Wales. For example, the average land required each year to produce Wales's demand for cocoa alone is equivalent to the size of Wrexham county or double the land area of Bridgend. Wales imports the majority of its cocoa from west African countries, where there are high risks of deforestation and social issues, while 55 per cent of cocoa import land falls in countries that are high or very high risk for deforestation and social issues. Also, the greenhouse gas emissions from the production of cocoa for Welsh imports totals about 68,800 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. Does the Welsh Government have any plans to expand initiatives such as Coffee 2020 and Fair Do's/Siopa Teg to tackle deforestation and social issues associated with Wales's imports? And will the Welsh Government strengthen their economic contract and procurement policies to ensure that supply chains are free of deforestation and social exploitation?

As you stated, Minister, global extreme poverty went up in 2020, and if we are to be a truly globally responsible nation then we need action from all Governments, not just warm words. The future of our planet demands this from us.

Diolch yn fawr, Heledd Fychan. I'm very grateful for your support for my statement today. You started by raising the issue about access to vaccines. I will repeat again what I said in terms of vaccination rates in sub-Saharan Africa averaging only 6 per cent. And the point that we all make is that none of us is safe until all of us are safe, and we are global citizens and we have those responsibilities. It's a huge obstacle to stopping the world emerging from the pandemic. Yes, the First Minister has written and has urged the UK Government to accelerate the supply of vaccines to the developing world. He's written to the former Foreign Secretary, and has written to the new Foreign Secretary as well, to ensure that we get our voice heard clearly at the UK Government. And I've made that call again—and I'm quoting the People's Vaccine Alliance—because we are throwing away vaccines. We can't send the vaccines abroad ourselves, but we can help in terms of reaching out and saying, 'Well, what is it?' And I've already described many ways in which we're supporting our partners in Africa.

I just want to give you an example of the Phoenix Project again with Cardiff University. Many of you will know Professor Judith Hall who leads that partnership. We were able to give a grant of £125,000 to roll out a vaccination programme in Namibia—this was from us to enable them to do that work, which was crucial; it's their programme, it's enabling them—because they have a major COVID-19 vaccination resistance, especially among the vulnerable, remote and disadvantaged communities. But what they did—. In partnership, the Namibian Ministry of Health and Social Services, the University of Namibia and Cardiff University have co-produced help, promotion and awareness campaigns for 90,000 of the most disadvantaged people, and that included disabled people, elderly people and prison inmates, and then they were able, in Namibia, to deliver the vaccination programme itself, saving many lives. But also, the People's Vaccine Alliance is a coalition of organisations and activists. It's campaigning for a people's vaccine for COVID-19. And I thank you for your support for this, because this should be based on that shared knowledge and making it freely available to everyone. It's a global common good, and it's also backed by past and present world leaders, health experts, faith leaders and economists.

I think it is very important that we look at all of the issues around deforestation and the work that's been—. There's so much of a profile about this in the last few days and the last week in COP26. To look at the Mbale tree programme in Uganda, which clearly demonstrates our commitment to tackling change. It's about climate justice, isn't it? Rural Ugandans who've done very little to cause the climate change that is now causing them so many problems. So, this is an Ugandan-led project—we're helping some of the very poorest people in the world adapt to climate change—delivered by the Size of Wales charity in partnership with the Welsh Government. It's a Mount Elgon tree-growing enterprise, locally delivered and for local NGOs in the Mbale region of eastern Uganda.

And what's very important in terms of the tree planting as well is to link this to the work that's being undertaken in other parts of our Africa with our support, which is addressing the very key points you make about deforestation and reforestation. So, if you look at the Ogongo indigenous forest park project, that's another collaboration between Cardiff University, the Phoenix Project and the University of Namibia, supporting reforestation in the Ogongo indigenous forest park, working in partnership, again, creating 100 hectares of restored woodland in the far north of Namibia. And that's about establishing a whole ecosystem in an area that was once green and fertile, and it's about encouraging this self-sustaining project to take this forward in partnership with the Phoenix Project. Again, the Bore community forest in Kenya, we've been supporting over the last 13 years, and that's again a locally managed project to plant 2.4 million climate-cooling, tropical trees, expanding current annual capacity, with 1 million seedlings distributed to 3,000 family farmers and 460 schools. This is, again, a very large expansion in terms of addressing these issues.

It's very important that we look to ways in which we can link our procurement policy to the importance in terms of supply chains and recognise that this has to be ethical. We have a code of practice on ethical procurement that we've developed, and that has an impact and, of course, is important as we take forward our social partnership and procurement Bill, new legislation, in the near future.

So, I just want to again say that Africa has been hit by COVID-19 and climate change. We see the first climate change famine in Madagascar, but we see a professor from Bangor University working in Madagascar to address these issues. So, we've got experts and we've got partners across Wales who are working to address these issues, and, of course, it is about sustainability, and it's about a partnership approach that will deliver the transformational change with our partners, alongside our partners.

First of all, I'm delighted that Jenipher Sambazi has gone to Glasgow to put the views of Ugandans to COP. I just hope she's still there when I get there tomorrow night, because she is completely amazing, as those of us who were privileged to meet her before the pandemic—and just a wonderful advocate for her community and the work they're doing.

But I'm still trying to process the information that you have shared with us about the vaccines, because I raised this with the health Minister a few months ago, and I was assured, or I was given the impression that all the AstraZeneca that we had previously used in Wales was now going to go to Africa, which seemed to me entirely the right place for it. So, are we saying that the UK Government has actually banned the use of the vaccines that we might have used in Wales that we had decided should go to Africa? Because it really is a very, very uncomfortable situation, I feel, in myself, having had a booster last week, when I read that only 2 per cent of people in Kenya have had a vaccine, and that would include, therefore, health workers who are trying to look after people with COVID not being protected in any way. So, this is just the most uncomfortable situation, which really just highlights the very unequal world we all live in. So, this is completely unacceptable, and where is the media on telling everybody about this? Hello, guys, you really do need to be promoting this; this is a really, really important issue. If the UK Government is refusing to act, then they need to be required to speak on why they're refusing to act.

A couple of specific questions: you talk about the menstrual products that Teams4U are sending to Africa, and I just wondered if you could tell us whether these are reusable menstrual products, because reusable menstrual products are an essential ingredient of ensuring that girls stay in school once they reach puberty. But I accept that if you haven't got clean running water, you're going to have to use disposables, with all the problems that they cause about disposal. So, it seems to me that—. I spoke about this to Jenipher Sambazi two years ago, and we need to ensure that all the communities that we're working with in Africa have access to reusable menstrual products that they are making themselves. It's not rocket science: people just need the basic design and how to do it and the materials in order to do it, but it's a fantastically important feminist issue.

On tree planting, how is our tree-planting programme diversifying diets, because coffee is a useful export crop, but it's not the basis for a healthy, varied diet? Therefore, it seems to me that if we are profiting from the wonderful Ugandan coffee, we need to be ensuring that there are other products that reinforce the health and well-being of the communities that make them for us.

And I think that may be the last thing that I had. Thank you very much for your statement. I think this is a really important issue. I think, on the booster programme, we clearly collectively need to shout out loud that it is completely unacceptable that the UK Government has not stepped up to the plate on this important issue. Not only do they cut everything that DFID was famous for in providing really good development aid, but they just absorb it into the foreign office to promote the union jack. It is a total disaster. 

Thank you very much, Jenny Rathbone. Can I just start by echoing your admiration and support for Jenipher, who is actually speaking, probably as we speak, this afternoon in Glasgow? Jenipher's Coffi is a project that is a partnership between a Cardiff fair-trade shop, Fair Do's, which I mentioned earlier on, Ferrari's coffee roasters in Pontyclun, the Wales Co-operative Centre and a Ugandan coffee co-operative. It is a partnership that imports top-quality fair-trade and organic coffee. Many of us here today will remember Jenipher's visits to the Senedd, and recognise that this is now being imported into Wales and is highly regarded, particularly as a result of Ferrari's coffee roasters' impact on that coffee. But also, of course, this goes back to your point and question about tree planting. The organic coffee is grown by our tree-planting partners. She's talking about that this afternoon. It's a great way for us to help the Ugandan farmers, as they face the climate crisis, but also she heads up this project in Uganda, leading the way for women and their communities. She is coming to Cardiff, and has been before she went to Glasgow, and I hope that she will be able to come and meet with colleagues and Members across the Chamber again next week. 

You do raise an important point about access to vaccines. We cannot, unfortunately, export or give our vaccines. I've given you an example with the Namibian project where we can help facilitate the vaccination programme in different ways. As you know, we've done what we can in terms of providing equipment, PPE, but also oxygen, where we were asked, 'Well, what can you do?' It is important that we don't just say, 'Well, we can't do this, so we're not doing anything.' We've got to do what we can do practically. But actually, the vaccine programme is delivered through the global mechanism, COVAX. The UK Government has the influence on COVAX to answer our questions about why we are not ensuring that the vaccine that we've got is properly shared. It is intolerable that it is being destroyed. It's appalling that it's being destroyed, and I'm glad that we can raise that point here today. I think the People's Vaccine alliance is important. I'm sure Members will want to find out more about this.

There are other issues about the vaccine as well, which relate to cost. Because if you actually look at Pfizer, it's selling its COVID-19 vaccine candidate for around $39 for two doses, at around an 80 per cent profit margin. And, of course, this puts it beyond the reach of all but the wealthiest of countries. So, it's important that we do take these points back, that we make these issues available, that people are aware of how we can influence COVAX and the UK Government. Developing countries' governments must increase financing for the health service so that they can deliver the vaccine when it's available. And let's just reflect on the fact that vaccination is one of the most successful health victories in human history. 

I have answered some questions about the importance of the tree-planting schemes that we're already supporting, and your points about sustainability are crucial, as indeed are your points about the work that we're doing in terms of menstrual well-being and period products. Certainly, this is something where we're just going out for some more gender-based projects coming through the small grants schemes, where we're looking particularly at gender issues. Some of those projects that we're already funding, and certainly the reusable approach, I think will be a key part of that ecological and sustainable objective.

Thank you, Minister, for your detailed statement about COVID and climate change, aiding nations who need it most, standing by our principles and standing by our friends. Can the Minister confirm how much the Welsh Government has spent over the past 15 years supporting this programme, not just through grant allocations, but also in terms of the cost of employing officials in Government? Can the Minister set out in detail how the objectives of the Government's international strategy to grow the economy by increasing exports and attracting inward investment has been achieved through this programme and whether the people of Wales have any tangible benefit? Lastly, has the Government commissioned an independent evaluation of this programme to ensure value for money? Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Altaf Hussain, and thank you for your support of the Wales and Africa programme. What is very clear is that this is a 15-year programme—I remember it being launched in this Chamber by former First Minister Rhodri Morgan—and it is a programme that has been hugely successful in terms of its impact. We have a very small Wales and Africa team in the Welsh Government to take this forward, but it has formed part of the international strategy, which was published in 2020 before you joined us. Many of the new Members will know that we have an international strategy with action plans, and the Wales and Africa programme is one of the action plans.

Certainly, I can provide more information on the total spend over the last 15 years.FootnoteLink But I think you've given me the opportunity to again remind our Members and to inform you of the impact of some of the funding that we have given, particularly in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The three large grants that we awarded through the extra £1 million allocated to the Wales and Africa programme in March of this year included United Purpose from Cardiff. That was a £600,000 grant for the rapid emergency response in Nigeria, the Gambia, Senegal and Guinea; it reached 4.4 million people. And also, Teams4U in Wrexham is a very important partnership; Members in north Wales will be aware of this. The charity provided £125,000 grant funding for improving sanitation, menstrual provision and health facilities and schools in Uganda in response to COVID-19—hot running water plumbed directly into operating theatres, two 24/7 health centres seeing up to 300 patients daily, covering all aspects of community healthcare, including HIV testing and treatment, TB treatment, immunisation, family planning, general care, antenatal and postnatal care. This is a partnership between the people of Wrexham and Uganda, with Teams4U. And, you know, the feedback has been that healthcare workers, particularly women and girls, feel a lot safer using these facilities than the old ones, which were often outside and in unlit areas.

I just want to say that this is working with Governments as well as local projects. So, the Mbale Regional Referral Hospital I mentioned—I will say that when we were able to provide support for the provision of oxygen, the new oxygen plant, which is being planned by the Ministry of Health in Uganda, will be complemented by our contribution. And also the fact that the impact of the investments that we've made have meant that people have actually said—and it's good to have a quote from a beneficiary of the water, sanitation and hygiene project—'I used to fear going to the latrine on my night shift as I would have to move out of the ward, and it was very dark outside. Now, I can use the inside toilet and I'm safe and it does not take me away from the patients.' That's Lydia, from Mukongoro health centre. So, this is the impact that our funding and our support for Wales and Africa makes. 

Information further to Plenary

Finally, John Griffiths. 

Diolch, Llywydd. I can certainly say, having been to Mbale myself, that the programme for Africa money is money well spent, because the health links, the educational links between that region of Uganda and PONT, for example, in Pontypridd in Wales were so strong, and both countries and areas gained very much from the reciprocal relationship and exchange visits. It was so heart-warming to see the schoolchildren dancing together as well as the staff there in Mbale at particular events, and of course all the fundraising that went on back in Wales for new classrooms and new facilities. So, there was the health sector, there was the education sector, there was the Gumutindo fair-trade coffee co-op, and all the community development work that went on around the subsistence farming as well. There were so many strands to it, it just showed the value of this programme, and it's really pleasing that we've had 15 years now of Wales for Africa doing this very good work, and recognising that Wales is lucky—we're lucky to be part of the peaceful, relatively prosperous world, and that does give us a moral responsibility to work with other countries that are not in those favourable circumstances to help them, and by doing so we also help ourselves. And of course it's part of that internationalisation of Wales that I think has been a strong feature of devolution since 1999, and is a thoroughly good thing for everybody in our country. 

More locally for me now, we have Love Zimbabwe, who are doing some really good work in that part of Africa, and they tell me that there are some issues, just as the Minister has mentioned, obviously around the pandemic and, indeed, climate change. So, as far as climate change is concerned, those new factors that farmers have to take into account are really worrying them and making it more difficult for them to produce the food that they rely on, and there is a real worry about increasing crop failure. At the same time, during the pandemic they found it more difficult to import food into the country as well, so there are great difficulties there that have to be recognised. And they're not really in a very good position to estimate the number of COVID cases, I'm told, because lateral flow tests cost around £25, which obviously very many people are unable to afford. So, that aspect of identifying cases is problematic in Zimbabwe, and that has made it difficult to know the extent of infection in the country. 

There's also an issue with vaccination. I was told only around 1 million out of about 15 million have been vaccinated, and the vaccine being used is the Chinese one, which is not recognised by the UK Government, which itself creates a number of difficulties. So, I would be grateful, Minister, if in your contact and joint work with UK Government you could help to make those points. I think it has been very, very disappointing that the current UK Government has broken with that consensus to maintain international development funding for the developing world. I think it's entirely wrong-headed, misplaced, immoral, and indeed counterproductive in terms of what UK Government say their objective is. I hope very much that they will rethink, even at this late stage, and adopt a more moral and defensible policy and approach.

The other matter I would mention, Minister, is Somaliland, because we do have quite a number of people, in Cardiff particularly, but also Newport, with links to Somalia and Somaliland. Somaliland has made great strides in proving itself to be a functioning democracy and committed to stability and progressive development in the country. But obviously they have great difficulties with COVID, as do the rest of the world, and more so because of the great poverty in the country. So, I know we have developing links with Somaliland, Minister, and I would be grateful if you could say a little bit about how Welsh Government sees that relationship evolving and developing, particularly in light of the current difficulties with the pandemic. 

Diolch yn fawr, John Griffiths, and John, I recall when you went to Uganda, you probably planted some trees yourself when you went there and came back and reported to us. We have got a strong consensus. We certainly have had in the past in this Chamber in support of Wales and Africa, and I recall Rhun ap Iorwerth chairing the development group where we had cross-party support for what we were doing in Wales and Africa. I'm pleased that you've mentioned Zimbabwe because I'm very aware of the Zimbabwe Newport Volunteering Association, and we were able to give some funding, as you know, out of the COVID-19 grant, buying food for community kitchens, sanitisers for 18 stations, personal protective equipment for volunteers, volunteer expenses, for combating misinformation which, of course, we know is a huge issue, but also foodbank support, face masks. We've done a lot to support the Newport volunteering association, every constituency—. And many times we've had visits from Love Zimbabwe, and I know colleagues have welcomed Love Zimbabwe to the Senedd. And we've given them funding as well, again to improve hygiene, access to clean water for hand washing, community engagement, training people to sew face masks, social distancing, understanding hand washing, et cetera. We have responded to the proposals that have come from these communities. 

Finally, I'll just say that I think there's a strong consensus, there's a strong majority support in this Chamber today for us to continue to press the UK Government to make use of the vaccine that isn't being used in this country. That's a strong message I believe that's come through today; a huge disappointment and regret at the cut of the funding to the overseas budget. And just to finally say that closing a project in Malawi as a result of that cut, United Purpose in Cardiff said that the largest climate-resilience building project in Malawi has been terminated at short notice directly because of this cut, huge losses for development activities and partnership outcomes, including 23 Malawian redundancies at United Purpose alone, cutting £1 million from the project. So, we have got a strong voice, I believe, across this Chamber in support of Wales and Africa, in support of our approaches to the UK Government to ensure we get those vaccines to Africa and globally across the world to where they're needed, and again our continued deep concern and disappointment at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office cuts. Thank you.   

Thank you, Minister.