Past Development
Assistance Work

DAP

 

2002-2004 Sri Lanka-CIDA: The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) granted the Forum $300,000 from 2002-2004 for its support of peaceful solutions to the conflict in Sri Lanka. The Forum provided technical expertise and recommendations on federalism to negotiators for both sides in the civil war. With its local partner, the Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Forum carried out public education activities, with an emphasis on federal and multi-level models, including such issues as minority rights, intergovernmental relations and fiscal arrangements within federal systems. These activities were part of a larger program in Sri Lanka, aimed at supporting that country’s peace process. See our Country Page

2003-2004 Sri Lanka-DFAIT: The Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) granted the Forum $100,000 from 2003-2004 for its Support of the Peace Process in Sri Lanka – Phase II. The Forum carried out training workshops for journalists in Sri Lanka, a course in federalism for civil society representatives and academics, and public panels in Canadian cities to engage the Tamil and Sinhala communities in the peace process. See our Country Page

2003-2005 Sri Lanka-CIDA: The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) granted the Forum $500,000 in 2003 to organize workshops on federalism and power-sharing in Sri Lanka for journalists, political scientists, academics, civil servants and high court judges. Workshops were also held for the diaspora in Toronto and Vancouver. The program began in September 2003 and concluded in May 2005. In 2003 the Forum brought senior journalists from federal countries to workshops held in four cities in Sri Lanka to explain how federalism worked in multi-ethnic federations. The Forum’s first video on federalism, The Challenge of Diversity, was shown in Tamil and Sinhala versions in different parts of the country. See our Country Page

2005-2007 Sudan-DFAIT: Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade granted the Forum a total of $768,918, from September 2005 to March 2007 for a federalism program. Under the grant, the Forum is to provide technical expertise and specialized information to senior officials to assist in the design and development of institutions for the new Sudanese Government of National Unity. This flows from the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the civil war between the Government of Sudan and South Sudan. The Forum will organize workshops for Sudanese central, state and local government officials, including a dialogue on federalism focusing on Sudanese and international experience. The Forum will hold a series of public awareness activities to raise the level of knowledge and awareness of federalism within civil society and the wider community in Sudan. The Forum will also provide expert advice to Sudan’s Fiscal and Financial Allocation and Monitoring Commission in Khartoum on such issues as measures and tools for data needs and the design of a financial transfer formula. See our Country Page

2005 Iraq-NDI: The U.S. National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) granted the Forum $506,486 in June 2005 to explain to Iraqi parliamentarians, members of different political parties, senior civil servants, academics and journalists how federal political systems can be used to bring together divergent groups within a country. The Forum held four roundtables with Iraq’s Constitutional Drafting Committee, members of Iraq’s National Assembly and with civil society groups. The Forum also developed public education materials in Arabic and Kurdish on federal systems and to organize a study tour of Canada and Switzerland. The program began in June 2005 and was completed in to November ’05. See our Country Page

2006 Iraq-UNDP: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) granted the Forum a $99,692 contract to take a key role in organizing two Iraq-related conferences in 2006. The purpose of the events was to engage a discussion among Iraqis, and with outside experts, on issues linked to the country’s then recently-adopted constitution; and assist Iraqis in thinking through the key issues in designing a coherent oil and gas regime. The events were held in Jordan from April 4–6 and in Madrid from April 24–26, 2006. See our Country Page

2006-2008 Sri Lanka-Norwegian Foreign Affairs Ministry: Norway’s Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs granted the Forum $340,797 in 2006 for an educational program on power-sharing options for Sri Lanka. The Forum was mandated to organize several courses on power-sharing for Sri Lankan government officials, journalists, business people and members of civil society; to develop a lexicon on terms used in federalism in the Tamil and Sinhala languages; and to develop, publish and distribute educational materials on federalism and power-sharing in Sinhala and Tamil including several special editions of Federations magazine. The program began in September 2006 and was completed in February 2008. See our Country Page

2006-2009 Iraq-CIDA: The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) granted the Forum a $2 million contract in 2006 to present information and training on federal systems to Iraqi members of parliament, journalists and members of Iraq’s Constitutional Review Committee. The goal of the project was to provide information about power-sharing options in the federal system Iraq was adopting. As well, the Forum worked with deans of law schools at Iraqi universities to design a foundation-level course on federalism for the leaders of tomorrow’s Iraq, and to provide video modules and a primer on federalism in Arabic. The Forum’s work under the contract began in July 2006 and was completed in March 2009. See our Country Page

2008 Nigeria DFID-United Kingdom: The Government of the United Kingdom, through the Department for International Development (DFID), provided the Forum with a cash contribution of $140,275 in 2008 to carry out a program on fiscal federalism in Nigeria. The Forum organized a two-day seminar on “Challenges and Opportunities in Fiscal Federalism: Nigerian and International Perspectives” from March 25-26, 2008, in Abuja. The event was co-organized by Nigeria’s Federal Finance Ministry, the Governors’ Forum of the States and the Forum of Federations. Case studies from federal countries were presented by three international Forum of Federations experts from India, South Africa and Argentina plus a case study from Nigeria, presented by Dr. Akpan Ekpo Participants included key figures from the federal government responsible for advancing fiscal federalism. See our Country Page

2008-2009 Nepal- GTZ: In 2008, the Forum was also granted $247,623 by the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ) to implement a six-month project in support of its Federalism Support Programme in Nepal. The project ran from August 2008 until January 2009 and was implemented in conjunction with the Forum’s SDC-funded program. See our Country Page

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