Australia supports Institute for Democratic Governance
The Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) has received 20,000 Australian dollar(A$) support from the Australian government to facilitate its community engagement, awareness creation and peace-building initiatives towards the 2016 election.
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The money is also meant to help strengthen the IDEG’s collaboration with other peace-building institutions to ensure that stakeholders are engaged properly on conflict prevention.
The Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Andrew Barnes, who presented the cheque for the amount to IDEG at the launch of the 2016/17 Australia Direct Aid Project (DAP) in Accra yesterday, observed that a stable democratic foundation rested on stronger community engagement and participation.
“This is why DAP is funding projects run by the IDEG and the Office of the Ashanti Regional Chief Imam to support preparations for this year’s elections in Ghana. A strong community ought to have people who make informed choices in a peaceful manner,” he said.
He said good governance entailed putting in place structures that would empower community dissemination of relevant information on people’s needs, such as access to potable water, the elimination of poverty and civic education.
The Programmes and Research Officer at IDEG, Mr Ewald Gavi, who received the cheque on behalf of the organisation, said the institute would put the youth at the centre of the peace-building initiative.
“We are going to create more opportunities for the youth to play an active part in supporting peaceful elections. During elections, the youth are seen everywhere there is violence. We want to engage them in order to reduce that tendency,” he said.
He said the support from the Australian government came at the right time, since it would facilitate the training and capacity- building programmes IDEG had initiated to involve the youth in the peace process.
Other beneficiaries
Some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which received funding through the DAP initiative to embark on projects in the areas of agriculture, sports and community services took turns to tell their success stories.
The Centre Italien d'Aide a l'Enfance (CIAI), an NGO based in Burkina Faso, was also presented with a cheque for A$41,550 to facilitate its women empowerment drive.
About DAP
The DAP is an initiative by the Australian government to support African countries to meet key development needs in areas such as governance, the provision of potable water, improved health care and empowerment of vulnerable groups.
In 2015-16, the high commission provided support worth more than A$820,000, equivalent to about GH¢ 2.3 million to support DAP projects in eight beneficiary countries.
The figure for this year increased to A$1,000,000.