Gambia Information Site
Home
Accommodation Attractions Flights Travel & Tourism
 
African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies
 
   Yellow Pages   Organisations   NGOs   Types of NGOs   
 
Contact Address Details:

ACDHRS Gambia

Banjul area Head Office
Zoe Tembo Building, Kerr Serign
(near Kololi in the Senegambia area)
Kanifing Municipality, Ksmd
P.O. Box 2728, Serrekunda
The Gambia, West Africa

Tel no: +220 4462340
                     4462341, 4462342

Fax:              4462338
                     4462339

Email: info@acdhrs.org
 


  Background Information:
The ACDHRS is situated in the Kololi area of The Gambia and is governed by a Pan-African Council, whose Chairman is Mr. Mohamed Genedy, a human rights lawyer.

The Governing Council comprises 11 African members and includes a number of international advisors, appointed in their own capacities as eminent human rights functionaries. It meets twice a year. These Advisors make up the Advisory Committee, but do not have voting rights.

The work of the Governing Council is aided by the Executive Committee - the Chairman, Vice Chairman and two other members of the Governing Council with the Executive Director as Secretary. It also meets twice a year for matters requiring prompt attention.

The Centre's activities are carried out in four main units: Management; Training; Information and Documentation; and Legal and Research.

The initial staffing of the Centre was devoid of the requisite professionalism necessary for managing its activities. This created an overload on management, which had to do much of the work. The ACDHRS is now staffed with very competent personnel, who provide the required expertise to man all functional Units. Job descriptions have been provided for the staff and a Co-ordination Committee, comprising all heads of units, has been established. It meets regularly to plan the Centre's activities, supervise implementation of programmes and manage the daily tasks.

More than ever before, the African Centre now serves as a bridge between the African human rights NGOs, the governments and the general public. It also acts as a valuable resource in disseminating valuable information on the activities of various human rights bodies and the human rights situations in various African countries.

The African Centre also serves as an educational channel by introducing the human rights NGOs, particularly the new ones, to a variety of subjects dealing with human rights such as the international human rights instruments, management of human rights NGOs, civic education, the preparation and presentation of communications, etc. The Centre is also concentrating on the preparation of manuals for human rights teaching in schools, from the primary to higher levels.

Also of concern and interest to the Centre are gender issues, in particular current global efforts to attain equality between men and women and remove the barriers that impede women's growth and development. To this end, the Centre runs a Women's programme which recently included a training course on the International Human Rights Procedures specifically for women and a seminar on "Women in conflict situations in Africa". The Centre has been very supportive to the Working Group on the Additional Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa. Apart from its active membership of the Working Group, it financed the Group's first meeting held in Banjul in 1998 and co-financed the second and third meetings held in Dakar in June 1999, and in Kigali, Rwanda in November, 1999, respectively.

The profound confidence, credibility and international reputation enjoyed by the organisation over the years, arising from its activities, including its accountability and transparency, have led several donors to support its work. An evaluation carried out by NORAD in 1998, following the reorganisation of the Centre, recognised the strides made by the new management and recommended that its research capacity be strengthened. Another evaluation undertaken by FORD FOUNDATION a few months earlier, encouraged the Foundation to support the Centre.

In 1998, the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida) also commissioned a major evaluation of the work of the Centre. This brought to light the importance of the Centre's activities and the need for sustainable core support by donors. BILANCE also undertook a similar evaluation of the work of the Centre at the end of 1999.

Through donor support, the African Centre For Democracy and Human Rights Studies have moved into a new office building Kololi, in a beautiful area in The Gambia.

The new building serves the whole of Africa as the home for all those who strive for the promotion and protection of human rights on the continent.

Top of Page

   
   









 
Home   |  Mobile Page   |  Disclaimer & Legal Notices  |  Privacy Policy    
Copyright © 2009  Access Gambia  All Rights Reserved.