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Finland donates towards anti-corruption drive |
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Written by Staff Reporters
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The Namibia Institute for Democracy (NID) announced late in December it has received a substantial grant from the Finnish government to help it to generate critical mass for the anti-corruption campaign. The grant of almost 270 000 Euros will be made available over a three-year period.
The Namibia Zero Tolerance for Corruption Campaign is similar to a campaign by almost the same name that began in Botswana in 1999 and which to date, has produced an array of tangible results.
The Namibian campaign was launched by President Pohamba in March last year. According to a statement from the NID it aims to build a strategic public-private coalition in fighting corruption at the national, regional and local level.
This campaign simultaneously seeks to educate, to design and implement administrative systems and to enhance accountability through technical support and training to watchdog agencies and civic organizations that are committed to fighting corruption and to government institutions that have a regulatory authority.
This campaign has therefore been approached from a variety of angles on a variety of levels, in cooperation with partners such as the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Efficiency Charter Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister, various NGOs and the Council of Churches in Namibia.
At the signing ceremony the Finnish Chargé d’ Affaires, Mrs Seija Kinni-Huttunen assured the NID, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Government of Namibia, the civil society and private sector representatives and the media, of Finland's continued commitment to being a partner in overcoming the challenges of this campaign; both through funding and other forms of support since combating corruption is a high priority in the Embassy's cooperation with Namibia.
The Executive Director of the NID, Mr. Theunis Keulder, expressed his gratitude to the Embassy of Finland for increasing their involvement in the fight against corruption in Namibia. About 50 senior representatives from public institutions and 117 trainers from Civil Society Organizations and NGOs were trained in anti-corruption and integrity systems by the NID in 2006. A total of 850 people also benefited from anti-corruption awareness programs conducted throughout Namibia, which were reinforced through the production of multi-media anti-corruption media programs.
The Zero Tolerance for Corruption Campaign is co-funded by USAID, the Swedish International Development Agency and the Embassy of Finland.
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