UNDP support for human rights

An initiative aimed at financing activities that promote human rights was launched on Friday in Burkina Faso by UN Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative Christian Lemaire.

"UNDP's support for such initiatives aims at enabling local action in favour of human rights for a sustainable improvement to the daily life of Burkina Faso's populations," Lemaire said at the launch of the programme in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou.

Projects by 10 local associations are to receive a total of US $100,000 under the programme, called "Assisting Communities Together" (ACT). Lemaire said ACT's aims included strengthening good governance and capacity building in civil society groups.

The 10 projects were selected because of their "originality, the relevance of their topics, the methodology of their evaluation, follow up and implementation", among other criteria, he said. They stress the importance of children and women's rights, and will use the media and local languages to disseminate information about human rights.

This is the first time Burkina Faso is benefitting from ACT, set up in 1998 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ACT is linked to the UN decade for human rights education (1994-2004), whose main objective is the implementation throughout the world of efficient strategies and programmes for teaching human rights in all strata of society.