Global Wales

Plaid Cymru will further develop the Global Wales partnership between British Council Wales, Universities Wales, the Welsh Government, and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. In particular, we would continue to support the following five projects:

1. Sub-Saharan Africa

We would enhance the Wales and Africa programme by extending support to the Welsh groups already working in more than 25 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and building on the focus that has been achieved in Lesotho and Eastern Uganda. Within Wales we would grow the Hub Cymru Wales partnership which has brought together organisations such as the Welsh Centre of International Affairs, the Africa Health Links Network, the Sub-Sahara Advisory Panel, and Fair Trade Wales.

2. Action on Forests

Though forests are the lungs of our planet, they are being decimated across the world at an alarming rate due to our demand for palm oil, soy, beef, and other agri-commodities. Wales has a role in resisting this trend. This would include:

• Continuing to work with the Size of Wales project, the Mount Elgon Tree Growing Enterprise and other partners in Uganda.
• Working with the UK Government to legislate to end the importation of goods that have caused deforestation.
• Introducing deforestation-free targets in procurement policy in Wales as part of our transition to utilising locally-produced and sustainable goods.
• Provide support to producer nations to ensure that supply chains do not contribute to deforestation and are sustainable, inclusive and equitable for farmers, forest communities and indigenous people.

3. Fairtrade

We would seek ways of expanding initiatives such as Coffee 2020 which is buying coffee from farmers involved in the Mbale Trees project, and Fair Do’s Siopa Teg which is also importing Fair Trade and Organic coffee from Uganda.

4. Women’s Empowerment

We would take forward the gender and equality pilot project that has been undertaken in Uganda and Lesotho, aimed at reducing domestic abuse, increase business and skills, and develop peer to peer learning.

5. Language Transmission

We would deepen Wales’ global leadership in language transmission and work with small nations and language groups as part of the UNESCO Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-32.