§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on British Council work, funded by her Department, to support civil society, human rights and democracy in East and West Africa. [66199]
§ Clare ShortThe British Council manage, under contract to the Department for International Development (DFID), a number of projects in East and West Africa which involve support for civil society, human rights and democracy. In East Africa these include a £1.4 million civil society programme in Kenya which funds a range of democratisation and human rights initiatives, a project to strengthen the capacity of the Ugandan National Electoral Commission and programmes to empower women in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
The focus in West Africa is Nigeria. There, the British Council manages a fund for small scale good government initiatives to strengthen accountability and transparency, human rights, democracy and training in conflict management. The annual budget was increased to £500,000 for this financial year, in particular to help with the transition to democratic rule now under way.
425WIn addition, good government is an operational area for the British Council's grant in aid funding in East and West Africa, part of whose costs have been met by my Department.