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The Scottish Government's International Development Fund (IDF) began in 2005, with a budget of £3 million for Malawi. In 2008, the IDF was increased and now has a budget of £9 million per annum, currently supporting projects in our seven priority countries of Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the three poorest states in India. These projects cover a range of themes, including health, education, economic development, renewable energy, civic governance, water and sanitation.

The Scottish Government has previously supported volunteers from Scotland to work in its priority countries, from the IDF. This includes funding to support a partnership between VSO and NHSScotland in finding ways to encourage NHSScotland health professional staff to consider volunteering overseas, to support Malawi and other Sub Saharan African countries to sensitively and holistically tackle their human resource crises. More recently, the Scottish Government provided match funding from the IDF to the McConnell International Foundation for their Livingstone Volunteers 2016 scheme, which helps support the fundraising efforts of young Scots (15-19 year olds), from disadvantaged backgrounds, who are in care or recently left care or those with a disability, who have the chance to volunteer in Africa, but are struggling to meet the costs.