Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) West Africa has now become the Centre for Development Partnerships (CDP), a transition guided by the need for a locally registered organization working with communities to design long-term sustainable approaches to development.

Based in Ghana, CDP is committed to ensuring that local resources and partnerships between private, public and non-profit sectors are at the heart of development practice in West Africa. Over the last five years, and working mainly through the Beyond Aid Project,[1] it has sought to bring development partners together with the aim of increasing access to resources at community level and facilitating their useful application.

CDP has managed the World Bank Small Grants Program in Ghana since 2003. This is a 100 per cent Matched Grants Programme, the first both for Ghana and the Bank, with CDP matching the World Bank’s $45,000 a year ($180,000 in total since the programme began). CDP has also been contracted to manage the recently launched Ghana version of the World Bank’s Global Development Marketplace.

Based on CDP’s achievements in the sector, its director, Kofi Awity, is currently coordinating the EU-funded €1.5 million PAOSC programme, providing technical assistance in restructuring the civil society sector and building the capacity of civil society groups in Togo so that they can participate in sustainable development.

1 In 1999 CAF and Ghana Association for Private Voluntary Organizations in Development (GAPVOD) implemented a £400,000 Beyond Aid – Strategies for Sustainable Development project which set out to create a sustainable NGO sector in Ghana. The project also set out to develop corporate/government/NGO relations, so as to build partnerships and strategic alliances for community development.

For more information contact Kofi Awity at info@cdpwa.org