Speeches

Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January 2016 to Question 20871, who the (a) applicants and (b) successful bidders were for the £5.5 million Human Rights and Democracy Programme; and how much funding each such successful bidder was allocated.

Mr David Lidington

For the Financial Year 2015-16, the Human Rights and Democracy Programme (HRDP) received 27 bids for democracy projects from the following applicants:

Ba Futuru
British Council Libya
Carter Centre
DanChurchAid
Democracy Reporting International
Global Partners Governance
Guatemalan Archbishopric´s Human Rights Office
International Media Support
International Republican Institute
Investigative Journalists NGO (HETQ)
Jamii Media Company Limited
John Smith Trust
Law Association of Zambia
Moroccan Forum for Truth and Justice
National School of Government International (NSGI)
Northern Ireland-Cooperation Oversees (NI-CO) in partnership with Politics Plus
Safer World Bangladesh and Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI)
Saferworld
Stakeholder Democracy Network
The Asia Foundation
UN Development Programme
Westminster Foundation for Democracy
Young African Leaders Initiative
Youth Association for Human Rights Promotion and Development (AJPRODHO)
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum,
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights

These bids were then considered on a case-by-case basis by the Programme Team, and evaluated against criteria including: value for money, project design, evidence of need, viability, sustainability, risk and local influence. Seven applicants were successful, and were allocated the amounts listed below:

DanChurchAid: £80,000
Global Partners Governance: £99,727
NI-CO in partnership with Politics Plus: £35,000
NSGI: £37,220
Safer World Bangladesh and BEI: £103,422
The Asia Foundation: £99,168
Young African Leaders Initiative: £51,397

The £100,000 Magna Carta Partnerships Fund, to assist democracies in crisis or transition, is also channelled through the HRDP. In the financial year 2015/16, we have so far agreed funding for the following implementers:

Bingham Centre: £9,993
British Embassy Mexico City: £8,000
Chatham House: £10,000
Citizen’s Watch International: £10,000
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK Branch: £20,000
King Prajadhipok Institute: £2,752
Northern Ireland Cooperation Overseas: £2,000
Slynn Foundation: £9,020
Westminster Foundation for Democracy: £5,150