British donation for human rights organisations

The British High Commission in Ghana's capital, Accra, has decided to donate 65,000 pounds (about US $95,300) to two human rights projects under its Human Rights Project Fund, a news release from the embassy said. The funding is to be given to the Social Enterprise Development Foundation of West Africa (SEND), to implement a gender, human rights and peace education project in the districts of East Gonja and Nanumba in Northern Region and Keta Krachi in Volta Region in the southeast, the release said. The project aims to address the livelihood insecurity of women and children through human rights and gender education and training. In implementing the project, SEND will collaborate with district assemblies and the West African Peace Network (WANEP), the release said. The second project, to be implemented by Africa Legal Aid (AFLA), involves conducting two capacity-building sessions for NGOs in Ghana, "to build human rights awareness, promote accessible justice and strengthen the application of law," the release said. The idea is to increase accessibility to the African Commission on Human and People's Rights, and understanding of the operation of the universal jurisdiction principle in international criminal law, it stated. The Human Rights Project Fund was established in 1998 to support practical projects for promoting human rights. Since its inception the fund has contributed some 15,000,000 pounds about (US $22 million) to more than 400 projects in 90 countries around the world, the release said. In Ghana, 14 civil society organisations have so far received a total of 300,000 pounds (US $439,770) from the fund, it added.