Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organisation that was established by the Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1966, a year after its sister organisation, the Commonwealth Secretariat.
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18 Facts About Commonwealth Foundation
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The Foundation provides resources, grants and access to platforms to encourage better engagement between civil society and institutions of governance.
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The idea of a Commonwealth Secretariat was first floated by President Nkrumah of Ghana and the concept of the Commonwealth Foundation was proposed by Alec Douglas-Home, the British Prime Minister.
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On 1 March 1966, the Commonwealth Foundation was registered as a Charitable Trust and came into being under English Law.
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In 1979, the Commonwealth Foundation's mandate was extended to include work with a broader range of non-governmental organisations involved in work such as rural development, social welfare, disability, gender and arts and culture.
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Commonwealth Foundation was already unique as an intergovernmental body established solely to support civil society, but in 2004, the Foundation took the additional step of revising its governance structure to include civil society representatives.
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The first Chairman of the Commonwealth Foundation was Nobel laureate Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet and the first Director was John Chadwick.
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Today, the Chair of the Commonwealth Foundation is Ambassador Shree Baboo Chekitan Servansing, and the Director is Vijay Krishnarayan.
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In recent years, the Commonwealth Foundation has continued to provide financial support for some professional journals.
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Capacity Development:In its capacity development programme, the Commonwealth Foundation aims to enhance the capacity of regional civil society organisations, networks and alliances so they can engage in participatory governance.
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The Commonwealth Foundation believes that the individual, organisations and institutions involved should own and manage their own capacity development and use methodologies that contribute to sustainability.
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Creative expressionThe Commonwealth Foundation gives storytellers platforms to enable them to shape public discourse.
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LearningThe Commonwealth Foundation encourages and supports a culture of learning and knowledge sharing between civic voices.
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Grants Programme GovernanceThe Board of Governors provides oversight to the Commonwealth Foundation's grant making through the Grants Committee, comprising representatives of member states and reports to the Executive Committee.
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Grant ModelThe Commonwealth Foundation gives grants to fund activities or projects of registered CSOs.
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The work of the Commonwealth Foundation Secretariat is guided by the outcomes of all these meetings.
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In 2004, ahead of the Seventh Women's Affairs Ministers Meeting, the Commonwealth Foundation organised preparatory meetings, helped establish a steering committee and supported committee members as they consulted civil society organisations in their regions.
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Commonwealth Foundation prizes, including the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, were given annually between 1987 and 2011.
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