Scottish Catholic Observer

The UK Government has announced that it will match every pound donated to SCIAF’s 50th anniversary Wee Box, Big Change appeal next Lent.

The aid agency is now hopeful that, with the match funding, it could raise more than £2 million pounds for the world’s poorest during the appeal.

Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland who is on the board of the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund, said the money would help those who needed it most. The SCIAF 2015 Wee Box appeal will help women farmers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi and Rwanda grow more food, boost their incomes and have a bigger say in their communities.

The match funding was awarded to SCIAF through the UK Department for International Development’s (DFID) UK Aid Match scheme. The programme matches pound for pound public donations to selected charity appeals, giving the public a say in how Britain’s aid budget is spent and doubling campaign donations.

“The news that SCIAF has been successful in obtaining like-for-like funding from the Department for International Development for next year’s Lenten appeal is very welcome,” Archbishop Tartaglia said. “It will hopefully serve as an extra stimulus to supporters to dig deep, knowing that for every pound they give, another pound will come from the UK Government to help the people in developing countries who so desperately need our help..”

SCIAF was selected for the fund match scheme because of its fantastic record, International Development Secretary Justine Greening said.

SCIAF Director Alistair Dutton said the charity would be able to save countless lives with the extra money.

“Winning DFID’s UK Aid Match scheme means that every pound given to us in next year’s Wee Box, Big Change Lent appeal will be doubled,” he said. “This is fantastic news for the thousands of women farmers whose lives we are helping to transform in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi and Rwanda.”

The money raised by next year’s campaign will give women farmers in the African countries seeds, tools and agricultural training, farm animals and veterinary care, community ponds and pumps to improve access to clean water, and help them plan how to deal with disasters such as droughts and floods.

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—Read the full version of this story in August 29 edition of the SCO in parishes from Friday.