Acknowledgements

Next Article

Foreword

This study has been developed by a team led by Abhik Sen, Head of Innovation and Partnerships, Commonwealth Secretariat. Operational support on the project was provided by Catherine Muir and Anita Collins. The author of this study, Mr Vijay Krishnarayan, is an independent consultant who has previously served two terms at the head of the Commonwealth’s agency for civil society – the Commonwealth Foundation. During a seven-year tenure from 2012 to 2019, he focused the organisation on strengthening people’s participation in governance for development. He served as the Foundation’s Deputy Director from 2006 to 2012.

The study, undertaken in a participatory and consultative way, has benefited immeasurably from the co-operation and support of many supporters of the Commonwealth who have generously shared their expertise, knowledge and insight. Sincere thanks to all of them and, in particular, to the interviewees and reviewers for this study that included current and former members of the Accreditation Committee of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Board of Governors and representatives of Commonwealth-accredited organisations who volunteered to serve on the Project Advisory Group (PAG), led by its Chair, Hon. Nontembeko Boyce, Speaker of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature in South Africa.

The study would like to acknowledge the work of Hon. Nontembeko Boyce and the members of the PAG in relation to this project.

Among the people who agreed to be formally interviewed for this study in their personal capacity, the study would like to acknowledge inputs from:

• Anne Gallagher: Director General of the Commonwealth Foundation

• Duncan Howitt: Political Officer at the Australian High Commission in the United Kingdom

• Milton Inniss: Barbados’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom

• David Jones: Board Member of the Commonwealth Organisation for Social Work.

• Emma Kerr: Partnerships Officer at the Commonwealth Secretariat from 2015 to 2018

• Winnie Kiap: Papua New Guinea’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom 2011-2022

• Amy Miller Taylor: Chief Strategy Officer at CIVICUS – The World Alliance for Civil Society

• Catherine Muir: Partnerships Officer at the Commonwealth Secretariat from 2019 to 2022

• Venkatesh Nayak: Director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative’s (CHRI) New Delhi office with inputs from Maja Daruwalla, CHRI’s International Director from 1996 – 2016.

• Lucy Slack: Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum

• Alan Stevens: Head of Strategic Engagement at the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health.

• Stephen Twigg: Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association

• Nicholas Watts: Chair and Coordinator of the Independent Forum of Commonwealth Organisations

The consultant would also like to acknowledge inputs received from:

• Karen Brewer: Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association

• Sue Dale Tunnicliffe: Chair of the Commonwealth Association of Science, Technology and Mathematics Educators

• Judith Diment: Rotary Representative to the Commonwealth

• Jill Iliffe: Executive Secretary of the Commonwealth Nurses and Midwives Federation

• Beth Kreling: Honorary Secretary of the Commonwealth Consortium for Education and Peter Williams

• Andrew Larpent: Chairman of CommonAge

• Peter Oborn: President of the Commonwealth Association of Architects

• Richard Rieser: General Secretary, Commonwealth Disabled People’s Forum

• Mark Robinson: Chair of the Commonwealth Human Ecology Council

• Arif Zaman: Executive Director of the Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network

Finally, the consultant would like to thank colleagues from the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Innovation and Partnerships Team for their support to the project process.