We seek wherever possible to find appropriate organisations and individuals with whom we can create partnerships in order to achieve the best results.
For example, with the Medical Exchange we have worked with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Glasgow and with the Chama Project we have worked with the Grassmarket Community Project Edinburgh, St Mary School Calne and the Institute of Aquaculture University of Stirling.
This is crucial to our approach. We take care to build strong links with the people living in the regions where we operate.
We respond to their initiatives as much as coming up with our own.
This ensures that the projects are of real value and will be sustained long into the future.
The proposal to build the first secondary school for girls in Chama District came from two sources... An eminent church figure who grew up in north-eastern Zambia had a long-held vision to improve the educational prospects of young girls in the region and the community also very much wanted and needed such a school.
The local Chief has been particularly active in supporting the project and arranged the donation of a substantial amount of land, which the school will be able to use for agriculture, sports facilities and construct further buildings as the school expands.
The school is being run as a community school and is being overseen by a local Zambian Anglican charity, the Tivwilane Foundation. The Livingstone Initiative continues to provide funding for construction and expert advice for agriculture.
The proposal to help Livingstone Central Hospital came about from a conversation between our founder and an American volunteer working at the hospital. Understanding there was a lack of specialists, we approached the Head of Clinical Services at the hospital with the offer of a 3-month clinical training attachment in the UK. They explained they wanted and needed an Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Clinic in Southern Province. Could we arrange an ENT clinical attachment for a junior doctor? The answer from us was a resounding "yes".
The Livingstone Initiative arranged for junior doctor Alex Malambo to come to Glasgow for a 3-month clinical attachment of observership and study in ENT medicine. This was so successful, the Zambian government sponsored a 5-year post-graduate surgical training for Alex. He became the first ENT surgeon in Zambia. There are now seven across the country (four in private sector and three, including Alex, in the public sector. Alex is now working at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka with regular visits to the ENT Clinic in Livingstone.
The Livingstone Initiative funds Alex's regular visits to the Livingstone ENT Unit, where he and one of his trainee doctors undertake patient clinics and operations for patients who would not otherwise be able to receive much-needed treatment.
We are convinced this approach will ensure that our work brings maximum benefits to the local communities with whom we collaborate.