USAID/Guinea: USAID/Guinea Launches Faison Ensemble Governance Project

OCTOBER 25, 2007

USAID/Guinea Launches Faisons Ensemble Governance Project

Consortium's activities aim to improve service delivery in the health, education and agriculture/natural resources sectors by improving governance throughout Guinea.

CONAKRY - Citing poor governance as the main barrier to development, a consortium funded by USAID/Guinea last week formally launched its Faisons Ensemble ("working together") project in support of improved governance at the local, regional and national levels.

USAID/Guinea Mission Director Clifford H. Brown (center)
delivers remarks at the opening ceremony for <em>Faisons Ensemble</em>, flanked by project leader Stephen Snook (left) and Conakry Governor Malick Sankon.

USAID/Guinea Mission Director Clifford H. Brown delivers remarks at the opening ceremony for Faisons Ensemble, flanked by project leader Stephen Snook (left) and Conakry Governor Malick Sankon.

The 31-month, $23 million project focuses on 15 prefectures in Upper Guinea and Forest Guinea, as well as the five communes of Conakry. Led by RTI, the consortium is composed of five U.S. non-governmental organizations (NGO) and two Guinean NGOs.

"Democratic governance requires the effective participation of all the actors involved in decision making and formulation of public policies," USAID/Guinea Mission Director Clifford Brown said at the Oct. 18 opening ceremony. "It also requires democratic control over the management of public assets in order to ensure that citizens have confidence in their local and national governments and to ensure the delivery of quality services for the benefit of their communities."

The goal of Faisons Ensemble is to increase access by citizens to better services in the health, education and natural resources sectors, with the aim of improving living conditions for Guineans, said Stephen Snook, chief of party for the project.

Faisons Ensemble will recruit and work with "champions" within local government, civil society and the media, providing technical and financial support for groups that promote good governance practices, Snook said.

The RTI-led consortium has four main objectives:

Improved effectiveness of government institutions and decentralization and local service delivery
Greater visibility and effectiveness of anti-corruption efforts
Increased capacity and effectiveness of civil society, working through strong CSOs and CBOs that are well managed and participate, demand accountability and transparency in service delivery, and advocate for good governance.
Increased citizen access to more diverse sources and types of information

The project "targets the fundamental issue facing Guinea: governance that benefits the few, at the expense of the many, and obstructs the stability and development of the nation and its people," RTI stated in its original proposal.

Conakry Governor Malick Sankon welcomed USAID's financing of the Faisons Ensemble project, saying: "Thanks to USAID, citizens will receive better services."

And Dr. Yamari Conde, director of the Guinea's National Office of Decentralization, praised the project for providing support to the national effort to strengthen citizen participation in local governance.

Story and photo by Richard Stirba