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World Bank gives African Union (AU)
Commission 487,000 dollars for Diaspora programme
Accra, July 26, Ghanadot/GNA - The African Union (AU)
Commission and the World Bank have signed an agreement under
which the Bank is providing 487,000 dollars in grant funding
for strengthening the African Diaspora Programme of the AU.
The Institutional Development Fund is part of the World
Bank's support in enhancing the capacity of the AU Mission
to the United Sates in Washington, DC. It will enable the AU
Mission to carry out one of its core functions of developing
and maintaining productive relationships with the African
Diaspora in North America, the Caribbean and Latin America.
A release from the Accra office of the Bank said: The
programme will help to strengthen knowledge sharing and
coordination between the AU Mission, the Diaspora and
development partners in the Americas. It will also help to
develop a reliable database of the African Diaspora networks
and individuals.
The release said the fund would also help to initiate
resource mobilization efforts from the African Diaspora and
the private Sector in the Americas. Furthermore, it would
enhance the capacity of the AU Commission to effectively
advocate support for Diaspora in international, bilateral
and multilateral institutions as well as in other global
dialogues on African Diaspora.
The AU, African governments, the World Bank Group and other
development partners on Africa, recognize that the African
Diaspora must become full partners in the Continent's
development.
The AU has embarked on the steps necessary to harness the
expertise and resources of African Diaspora as the "sixth
(6th) region" of Africa. The first step is the establishment
of a Representational Mission to the United States of
America, with an Ambassador in Washington, DC.
The World Bank launched its Mobilizing the African Diaspora
for Development in September, 2007, with the objectives of:
Enhancing capacity for improved services delivery in the
public and private sectors and institutions by Diaspora
Technical Expert Networks; increasing the size and quality
of Diaspora-led investment initiatives; and improving policy
development and partnerships among stakeholders for building
stronger, more responsive and capable African public and
private sector institutions.
GNA
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