Technical Assistance Archives - Commonwealth Oral History Project

Witness Seminar – Britain in the Commonwealth: The 1997 Edinburgh Commonwealth heads of Government meeting

by evanamusoke | Oct 13, 2018 | Apartheid, CHOGM, Civil Society, Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), Commonwealth Secretariat, Democracy, Development, Diplomacy, Elections, Eminent Persons Group, European Economic Community, European Union, Good Governance, Human Rights, India, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa, Technical Assistance, Trade and Investment, United Kingdom

This Witness Seminar, Britain in the Commonwealth: The 1997 Edinburgh Commonwealth took place at Marlborough House, London, on Monday, 19th March 2018. Download full Witness Seminar Transcript. Session participants: Amitav Banerji then Deputy Conference Secretary,...

Interview with Kamalesh Sharma

by evanamusoke | Apr 28, 2017 | CHOGM, Civil Society, Climate Change, Commonwealth Foundation, Commonwealth Institute, Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), Commonwealth Secretariat, Constitutional Change, Democracy, Development, Diplomacy, Education, Elections, Eminent Persons Group, Environment, Good Governance, Human Rights, India, Maldives, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Queen, Small States, Sri Lanka, Technical Assistance, Trade and Investment, United Nations

Download Interview Transcripts: Part One (9 March 2016) and Part Two (29 March 2016) Biography: Sharma, Kamalesh. 1941-. Born in India. Educated at St Stephen’s College, Delhi and University of Cambridge. Indian Foreign Service, 1965-2001. India’s Permanent...

Interview with Dorienne Rowan-Campbell

by evanamusoke | Jan 6, 2017 | CHOGM, Civil Society, Commonwealth Secretariat, Development, Education, Gender, Health, Human Rights, India, Jamaica, Queen, Race, Sexuality, South Africa, Technical Assistance, West Indies/ West Indies Federation, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Rowan-Campbell, Dorienne. Born in Jamaica. Educated at Carlton University, Canada. One of the founding members of Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW), 1976. Broadcast journalist for Canadian...

Interview with David McDowell

by chrismoffat | Jul 31, 2015 | Australia, Bangladesh, Botswana, Canada, CHOGM, Commonwealth Secretariat, Diplomacy, Environment, Fiji, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Nuclear, Pakistan, Queen, Reflections, Rhodesia (see also Zimbabwe), Singapore, Small States, South Africa, Sport, Technical Assistance, Uganda, United Kingdom, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcripts: Part One (24 June 2014); Part Two (2 July 2014); Appendix One (on Nelson Mandela); Appendix Two (on Idi Amin). Biography: McDowell, David Keith. 1937- . Born in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Educated at Victoria University of...

Interview with Carl Dundas

by chrismoffat | Jul 21, 2015 | Apartheid, Barbados, Civil Society, Commonwealth Secretariat, Democracy, Development, Elections, Fiji, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Technical Assistance, Zambia, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Dundas, Carl. Educated in London and called to the bar at Gray’s Inn. Appointed Legal Counsel and Director of Legal Division of the Caribbean Community, 1973. Technical Legal Advisor to Joint Selection Committee on...

Interview with Mark Robinson

by chrismoffat | Jul 15, 2015 | Apartheid, CHOGM, Civil Society, Commonwealth Secretariat, Development, Diplomacy, Education, Elections, Falklands Islands, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Grenada, Kenya, Malta, Namibia, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Queen, Rhodesia (see also Zimbabwe), South Africa, Technical Assistance, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, United Kingdom, United Nations, Zambia, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcripts: Part One (17 July 2013); Part Two (8 August 2013); Appendix One (on Belize). Biography: Robinson, Mark. 1946- . Born in Bristol, England. Educated at the University of Oxford. Special Assistant, United Nations Emergency Relief Operation...

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Definitioner

Barbara Ward

Barbara Mary Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, (1914-1981) was a British economist and writer who spent her career as an adviser to policy makers in the UK, the United States and within the United Nations. An early advocate of ‘sustainable development’, Ward founded the International Institute for Environment and Development, acting as its President (1973-80) and then Chairman.

Mark Carney

Mark Joseph Carney (b.1965) is a Canadian central banker who was appointed Governor of the Bank of England in 2013. He was previously Governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013.

Hugh Carey

Hugh Leo Carey (1919-2011) was an American attorney and political figure who served as Governor of New York from 1975 to 1982. He was Member of the US House of Representatives from 1963 to 1974.

Brian Urquhart

Sir Brian Urquhart (b.1919) is a British political figure and writer who served as Under-Secretary General of the United Nations from 1971 to 1985.

Lord Mackay

James Mackay, Baron Mackay of Clashfern, (b.1927) is a British advocate who served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain from 1987 to 1997. He was Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1985 to 1987.

Elspeth Howe

Elspeth Howe, Baroness Howe of Idlicote, (b.1932) is British political figure who served as Deputy Chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission from 1975 to 1979, and later Chair of the Broadcasting Standards Commission.

Kutlu Fuad

Kutlu Tekin Fuad (1926-2013) was a Cyprus-born jurist who served as Vice President of the Hong Kong Court of Appeal from 1988 to 1993, after which he was appointed President of the Brunei Court of Appeal. From 1972 to 1980, Fuad was Director of the Legal Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat, having previously served as a Magistrate in Cyprus (1953-56) and Judge of the High Court of Uganda (1963-72).

Kenneth Stuart

Professor Sir Kenneth Stuart (b.1920) is a physician who served as Medical Adviser to the Commonwealth Secretariat and Professor and Head of Department of Medicine, University of the West Indies.

Mick Shann

Sir Keith ‘Mick’ Shann (1917-1988) was an Australian public servant and diplomat who served as Australian Ambassador to the Philippines (1957-59), Indonesia (1962-66) and Japan (1973-77). He was subsequently Chairman of the Public Services Board (1977-78).

William Hague

William Jefferson Hague (b.1961) is a British political figure who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2010 to 2014 and Leader of the House of Commons from 2014 to 2015. Hague was previously Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1997 to 2001.

John Bolton

John Robert Bolton (b.1948) is an American political figure who served as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006. He was previously Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs.

Humphrey Appleby

Sir Humphrey Appleby is a fictional television character from the British television series Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. He serves the British government in the fictional post of ‘Permanent Secretary for the Department of Administrative Affairs’.

Sir Humphrey (Humphrey Appleby)

Charles Clarke

Charles Rodway Clarke (b.1950) is a British politician who served as Home Secretary from 2004 to 2006 in the government of Tony Blair. Clarke was previously Secretary of State for Education and Skills (2002-04) and Minister without Portfolio (2001-02).

Steve Matlin

Steve Matlin is a British scientist and education consultant who served as Director of the Health and Education Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat from 1995 to 2001. He was later Chief Education Adviser to the UK Department for International Development (2001-02), and appointed Executive Director of the Global Forum for Health Research in 2004.

William Waldegrave

William Arthur Waldegrave, Baron Waldegrave of North Hill, (b.1946) is a British political figure who served as Chief Secretary of the Treasury from 1995 to 1997. He was previously Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1994-95).

Mark Collins

Nicholas Mark Collins (b.1952) is a British environmental consultant and geographer who served as Director of the Commonwealth Foundation from 2005 to 2011. Collins, who had previously worked for the United Nations Environment Programme (2004-05) is the Chairman of the Galapagos Conservation Trust.

Patrick Wintour

Patrick Wintour (b.1954) is a British journalist who has served as Political Editor of The Guardian since 2006. He was previously Chief Political Correspondent of The Guardian from 1988-96 and 2000-06, serving in between as Political Editor of The Observer.

Chris Patten

Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, (b.1944) is a British public servant who served as the final British Governor of Hong Kong (1992-97) and as Chairman of the BBC Trust (2011-14). Patten, who chaired the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992, was appointed Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 2003.

Mrs Coard (Phyllis Coard)

Phyllis Coard was a Grenadian political figure who served as Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs in the People’s Revolutionary Government of Maurice Bishop. In 1983, Coard, her husband Bernard Coard and fifteen others were arrested following the shooting of Bishop during a coup.

Michael Jopling

Thomas Michael Jopling, Baron Jopling, (b.1930) is a British political figure who served as Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1983-87) and Chief Whip of the Conservative Party (1979-83) in the government of Margaret Thatcher. He was made a life peer in 1997.

Tony Nelson

Anthony Nelson (b.1948) is a British political figure and businessman who served as Conservative Member of Parliament for Chichester from 1974 to 1997.

Charles Gunawardena

Charles Gunawardena was a Sri Lankan journalist and diplomat who served the Commonwealth Secretariat as Director of Information in the 1980s. He had previously handled information and press relations for Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry and as a diplomat in London and New Delhi.

Terry Dormer

Terence R Dormer is a photographer and international civil servant who spent over thirty years working for the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. Arriving at Marlborough House in 1971, Dormer served the organisation in a variety of positions, including in the Secretary General’s Private Office and as NGO Desk Officer. He retired in 2003.

Ivor Richard

Ivor Richard, Baron Richard, (b.1932) is a British political figure who served as Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords (1992-97) and - following Labour's success in the 1997 UK elections - Leader of the House of Lords from 1997 to 1998. Richard was previously European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs (1981-85) and British Ambassador to the United Nations (1974-79).

Mwalimu

‘Mwalimu’ is a Swahili honorific which translates as ‘teacher’. It is often associated with Julius Nyerere (1922-99), the first President of Tanzania, who had worked as a teacher before joining politics. He is also known as ‘Baba wa Taifa’, or ‘Father of the Nation’.

Governor Soames (Christopher Soames)

Arthur Christopher Soames, Baron Soames, (1920-1987) was a British Conservative politician who served as the last Governor of Southern Rhodesia (1979-80). He served the Government of Harold Macmillan as Secretary of State for War and as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and also served as British Ambassador to France (1968-72) and European Commissioner for Trade and External Relations (1973-77).

Andrew Parker Bowles

Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles (b.1939) is a senior British military figure who served as Director of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps from 1991 to 1994. He was aide-de-camp to the Governor General of New Zealand (1965-67) and Senior Military Liaison Officer to Christopher Soames as Governor of Rhodesia, 1979-80.

John Cumber

Sir John A Cumber (1920-1991) was a British civil servant who served as Director General of Save the Children from 1976 to 1985. He had previously acted as a District Commissioner in Kenya prior to its independence in 1963, and was Administrator of the Cayman Islands (1964-68) and Commissioner of Anguilla (1969). Cumber joined Save the Children as a Field Officer in 1970.

John Boynton

Sir John Boynton (1918-2007) was a British public servant who spent much of his career in local government and was founder-president of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives. Following his retirement from Cheshire County Council in 1979, Boynton agreed to act as Election Commissioner for Southern Rhodesia, overseeing the process through which Zimbabwe would emerge as an independent country.

General Walls

Lieutenant General George Peter Walls (1927-2010) was a Rhodesian military figure who served as Commander of the Rhodesian military from 1977 to 1980. Following the independence of Zimbabwe, Walls lived in exile in Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Rajeshwar Dayal

Rajeshwar Dayal (1909-1999) was an Indian diplomat who spent much of his career working with the United Nations system, first as India’s Permanent Representative at the UN headquarters in New York (1953-56). He was later member of the United Nations Observation Group in Lebanon (1958) and Head of the UN Operation in the Congo (1960-61). Dayal served as Chair of the Commonwealth Observer Group monitoring the first Zimbabwe elections in 1980, and as Indian Ambassador to Yugoslavia and to France.

Robert Rhodes James

Sir Robert Rhodes James (1933-1999) was a British politician and historian who served as Director of the Institute for the Study of International Organisation at the University of Sussex and later Principal Officer in the Executive Office of the UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim. He was Conservative Member of Parliament for Cambridge from 1976 to 1992.

Joan Wicken

Joan Wicken (1925-2004) was a British public servant who worked for Julius Nyerere as his Personal Assistant in Tanzania from 1960 until the 1990s. Wicken ran the Dar es Salaam office of the South Centre – which evolved out of Nyerere’s South Commission – and helped set up the organisation’s Geneva headquarters.

Ndabaningi Sithole

Ndabaningi Sithole (1920-2000) was a Zimbabwean political figure who founded the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) in 1963. Sithole spent ten years in prison following ZANU’s founding. As leader of the moderate ZANU-Ndonga party in the late 1970s, Sithole joined a transitional government in 1979 and attended the Lancaster House negotiations. Feeling himself in danger from political enemies in Zimbabwe after independence, Sithole lived in exile from 1983 to 1992.

Edson Zvobgo

Edson Zvobgo (1935-2004) was a Zimbabwean political figure who acted as the Patriotic Front’s spokesperson at the Lancaster House negotiations in 1979 and founded the party ZANU-PF. Zvobgo served several cabinet positions in the government of Robert Mugabe, including Minister of Local Government and Housing (1980-82), Minister of Justice (1982-85) and Minister of Parliament and Constitutional Affairs (1985-92).

Robert Jackson

Robert Victor Jackson (b.1946) was a British political figure who worked as a senior advisor to the Governor of Rhodesia, Lord Soames, during its transition to independence as Zimbabwe. He was later editor of the Round Table Journal (1970-74) and served as MP for Wantage from 1983 to 2005.

Antony Duff

Sir Arthur Antony Duff (1920-2000) was a British civil servant and intelligence officer who served as Director General of MI5 from 1985-88. A submarine commander in the Second World War, Duff later joined the Foreign Office and served in Cairo, Paris, Bonn, and Kuala Lumpur. He was Ambassador to Nepal in 1964, and then High Commissioner in Kenya. From 1979-80, he was Deputy Governor to Lord Soames in Southern Rhodesia and played a crucial role in negotiations for Zimbabwe’s independence.

John Syson

John Syson (1939-2006) was an official with the Commonwealth Secretariat who, among other responsibilities, served as a key advisor to the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation on matters relating to Southern Africa. Syson was also involved in negotiations around Mozambique’s entry into the Commonwealth in 1995.

Francis Pym

Francis Pym, Baron Pym, (1922-2008) was a British political figure who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1982-83) in the government of Margaret Thatcher. A member of the Conservative Party, Pym acted in other Cabinet posts including Defence Secretary (1979-81), Northern Ireland Secretary (1974) and Leader of the House of Commons (1981-82).

Janet Singh

Janet Singh was an official with the Commonwealth Secretariat who acted as Personal Assistant to Sir Shridath Ramphal when he was Secretary General.

Brad Morse

Frank Bradford Morse (1921-1994) was an American politician who served as Under-Secretary General of the United Nations (1972-76) and Administrator of the UN Development Programme (1976-86). Morse was also a Member of the US House of Representatives for Massachusetts from 1961 to 1972.

Roland Brown

Roland Brown was an English barrister who acted as constitutional adviser to Julius Nyerere and was appointed as the first Attorney General of Tanzania, serving 1964 to 1965. Brown later served as Special Legal Adviser to the Technical Assistance Group, Commonwealth Secretariat.

Commonwealth Development Corporation

The Commonwealth Development Corporation or ‘CDC Group’ is a development-oriented financial institution overseen by the Department for International Development, UK Government. Founded in 1948 in London, the CDC’s investment portfolio focuses on emerging markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America, with a particular emphasis on South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Dom Mintoff

Dominic ‘Dom’ Mintoff (1916-2012) was a Maltese political figure who led Malta’s Labour Party from 1949 to 1984, serving as Prime Minister of the island country from 1955 to 1958 (as a British colony) and again from 1971 to 1984 (as an independent state).

Len Allinson (Leonard Allinson)

Sir Walter Leonard Allinson (b.1926) is a British civil servant and diplomat. He served as First Secretary in Lahore and Karachi, Pakistan (1960-62), First Secretary in Madras and New Delhi, India (1963-66), Deputy High Commissioner to Kenya (1970-73), Deputy High Commissioner to India (1975-77), High Commissioner to Zambia (1978-80) and High Commissioner to Kenya (1982-86).

CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency)

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was the primary organisation administering Canada’s foreign aid programmes in developing countries. It was established in 1968 under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and reported to the Parliament of Canada through the Minister for International Cooperation. In 2013, CIDA was dissolved by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and its functions incorporated into the Department of Foreign Affairs.

David Howell (Lord Howell)

David Howell, Baron Howell of Guildford, (b.1936) is a British politician who has served a variety of ministerial positions in Conservative governments since Margaret Thatcher. He was Secretary of State for Energy (1979-81), Secretary of State for Transport (1981-83), and Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2010-12). Since 2000, he has been Chairman of the British Institute for Energy Economics.

Kurt Waldheim

Kurt Josef Waldheim (1918-2007) was an Austrian diplomat who served as Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981. He was President of Austria from 1986 to 1992.

Julian Amery

Harold Julian Amery, Baron Amery of Lustleigh, (1919-1996) was a British Conservative politician who served as Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1972-74) in the government of Edward Heath. He had served previously as Minister for Housing and Construction (1970-72) and Minister of Public Buildings and Works (1970).

Wilson-Smillie (Dorienne Rowan Campbell)

Dorienne Rowan Campbell (formerly Doreinne Wilson-Smillie) is a Jamaican-Canadian development consultant who served as the first Director of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s division of Women’s Issues and Development from its establishment in 1981. She later helped start the Gender and Development Centre of the University of the West Indies.

Peter Williams

Dr Peter Williams joined the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1984, serving first as Director of Education and then as Director of the Human Resource Development Division. He later served as Joint Deputy Executive Chair of the Council for Education in the Commonwealth and as Secretary of the Commonwealth Consortium for Education.

Mike Faber

Professor Michael Faber (1929-2015) was a British economist and international civil servant who twice served as Director of the Technical Assistance Group of the Commonwealth Secretariat (1972-75 and 1978-82). In the 1960s, Faber worked for the Ministry of Finance in a newly-independent Zambia while advising Kenneth Kaunda’s government on the expansion of education provisions in the country. In 1982, Faber founded the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex.

David Owen

David Anthony Owen, Lord Owen, (b. 1938) is a British political figure who served as Foreign Secretary from 1977 to 1979. In 1981, Owen left the Labour Party to found the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which he led from 1983 to 1987.

Anthony Crosland

Charles Anthony Crosland (1918-1977) was a British Labour politician who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1976-77) in the government of James Callaghan. Crosland had previously served the government of Harold Wilson as Minister of State for Economic Affairs (1964-65), Secretary of State for Education and Science (1965-67), President of the Board of Trade (1967-69) and Secretary of State for Local Government and Regional Planning (1969-70).

Mark Chona

Mark Chona is a Zambian political figure who acted as Special Assistant for Political Affairs to President Kenneth Kaunda between 1968 and 1980. He is the brother of Mainza Chona, another prominent Zambian politician who served as Kaunda’s Vice President (1970-73).

David Steel

Sir David Steel (b.1938), Baron Steel of Aikwood, is a British political figure with a long career in Scottish politics. From 1976 to 1988, he was leader of the Liberal Party in the UK. From 1966 to 1970, he was President of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in the UK and later, in 1994, was an observer at South Africa’s first democratic elections. In 1999, he was Chairperson of the Commonwealth Observer Mission to South Africa’s second elections.

La Francophonie

The Organisation international de la Francophonie (OIF), also known as La Francophonie, is an international organisation linking countries and regions that share French as first or customary language or where there is some affiliation with French culture. La Francophonie includes 57 member states, as well as three associate members and twenty observers.

Lynda Chalker

Lynda Chalker (b.1942), Baroness Chalker of Wallasey, is a British Conservative politician who served as Minister of State for Overseas Development and Africa between 1989 and 1997. An MP from 1972 to 1992, she was given a life peerage in 1992.

Senate House

The Senate House, University of London, is home to the University’s Central Academic Bodies, the Vice-Chancellor’s Offices, and the various research institutes of the School of Advanced Study. The Institute of Commonwealth Studies has been based in Senate House since 2009.

Marlborough House

Marlborough House is a 17^th century mansion in the City of Westminster, central London, which has served as the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat since 1953.

Stephen Chan

Stephen Chan is Professor of International Relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He has an extensive background as an international civil servant, and has been involved in several diplomatic initiatives in Africa, especially in the arena of electoral observation.

Number 10

‘Number 10’ refers to 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British Prime Minister in London and the headquarters of the British Government.

Stuart Mole

Stuart Mole is a British political figure who joined the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1984 as Special Assistant to the Secretary-General. He was Director of the Secretary-General’s Office from 1990 to 2000, and Director-General of the Royal Commonwealth Society from 2000 to 2009.

New International Economic Order

The New International Economic Order (NIEO) was a proposal set forth by a group of developing countries in 1974 to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. It focused on issues of trade, development assistance, tariff reductions in developed countries and was intended to revise the dominant ‘Bretton-Woods’ economic order that was perceived to disproportionately benefit the United States.

Kevin Rudd

Kevin Rudd, b.1957, was twice Prime Minister of Australia (2007-10, 2013), leading a Labor Party government. He has also acted as Minister for Foreign Affairs (2010-12) under the leadership of Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

La Francophonie

La Francophonie is an international organisation created in 1970 that represents countries whose first language is French, or that have a significant proportion of French speakers, or where there is a notable affiliation to French culture.

Kofi Annan

Kofi Atta Annan (b. 1938). Ghanaian diplomat. He was Secretary-General of the United Nations 1997-2006.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Boutros Boutros-Ghali (b. 1922). Egyptian politician and diplomat. He was Secretary-General of the United Nations (1992-96) and Secretary General of La Francophonie (1997-2002).

Boutros-Ghali (Boutros Boutros-Ghali)

Boutros Boutros-Ghali (b. 1922). Egyptian politician and diplomat. He was Secretary-General of the United Nations (1992-96) and Secretary General of La Francophonie (1997-2002).

Alex Salmond

Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond (b. 1954). Scottish Politician, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and currently the First Minister of Scotland.

Mark Robinson

Mark Robinson (b. 1946). Former Conservative Party MP, he was Assistant Director in the Office of the Commonwealth Secretary-General, 1977-83 and has served as a Commonwealth election observer.

Brandt Commission (Brandt Report)

The Brandt Report (1980) was the outcome of an independent commission chaired by the former German Chancellor Willy Brandt. It reported on issues of international development, suggesting that a gulf in living standards existed between a global north and south.

Peter Snelson

Peter Snelson (d. 2011) was a civil servant. He worked for the Commonwealth Secretariat in London for 19 years, largely in the field of education.

CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency)

Canadian International Development Agency. Established in 1968, it was responsible for administering foreign aid to developing countries. In 2013 it was merged with the Department of Foreign Affairs, becoming Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.

Idi Amin

Idi Amin (c. 1925-2003). Became President of Uganda, 1971-79, after seizing power through a military coup.

Bishop Muzorewa

Bishop Muzorewa (1925-2010). Briefly Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia from June-December 1979, following the Internal Settlement, an agreement between Muzorewa and then Prime Minister of Rhodesia, Ian Smith. Muzorewa was defeated in elections following the Lancaster House agreement.

ACU

Association of Commonwealth Universities. An organisation that links universities in Commonwealth counties. Originally founded in 1913, the current name was adopted in 1963.

ZANU

Zimbabwe African National Union. A militant political organisation founded in 1963 to campaign against white minority rule in Rhodesia. It won power in 1980, and in 1987 merged with ZAPU to form ZANU-PF.

The Lusaka CHOGM

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held in Zambia in 1979.

Walvis Bay

Namibian harbour town. After Namibian independence in 1990, South Africa retained Walvis Bay until 1994.

UNTAG

United Nations Transition Assistance Group. A United Nations force that operated in Namibia from 1989 to 1990. It monitored elections and the transition to independence.

United Nations. Major international organisation, founded in 1945.

Pierre Trudeau

Pierre Trudeau (1919-2000). Canadian politician and Prime Minister (1968-1979, 1980-1984).

soft power

A concept used to explain an emphasis on a attracting and co-opting power as opposed to coercive or forceful power.

Kamalesh Sharma

Kamalesh Sharma (b. 1941). Indian diplomat, Commonwealth Secretary-General from 2008-2016.

Security Council

A body, part of the United Nations organisation, charged with upholding of global peace and security.

SADC

Southern African Development Community (SADC). An international organisation founded in 1992, and a successor to the Southern African Development Coordination Conference, founded in 1980. Goal to encourage socio-economic cooperation and integration among southern African states.

Patsy Robertson

Patsy Robertson. Jamaican journalist and diplomat. Successively Commonwealth Press Officer, Director of Information, and official Commonwealth spokesperson (1983-1994).

Shridath Ramphal

Shridath Surendranath 'Sonny' Ramphal (b. 1928). Guyanese politician, second Commonwealth Secretary-General (1975-1990).

Sonny Ramphal (Shridath Ramphal)

Shridath Surendranath 'Sonny' Ramphal (b. 1928). Guyanese politician, second Commonwealth Secretary-General (1975-1990).

ODA

Overseas Development Administration. A department of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office with responsibility for overseas aid from 1970 to 1974 and from 1979 to 1997.

Julius Nyerere

Julius Nyerere (1922-1999). Tanzanian politician and President (1961-1985).

Nkomo (Joshua Nkomo)

Joshua Nkomo (1917-1999). Zimbabwean nationalist and leader of ZAPU.

Robert Muldoon

Sir Robert Muldoon (1921-1992). New Zealand politician and member of the National party. He was Prime Minister, 1975-84.

Daniel arap Moi

Daniel arap Moi (b.1924). President of Kenya (1977-2002).

Abdul Minty

Abdul Minty (b. 1939). South African diplomat.

Don McKinnon

Sir Donald McKinnon (b. 1939) is a New Zealand politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister for the National Party (1990-96), Foreign Minister (1990-99) and Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations (2000-08).

Moni Malhoutra (Manmohan Malhoutra)

Manmohan Malhoutra (b. 1937). Indian diplomat, served in the Secretariat of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from 1966 to 1973 then joined the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, in 1974, to run the International Affairs Division.

John Major

John Major (b.1943). British politician, served, amongst other ministerial positions, as Foreign Secretary (1989) and Prime Minister (1990-1997).

Richard Luce

Richard Luce (b. 1936). British politician, served in various ministerial positions in the Foreign Office (1979-1982, 1983-1985).

Lancaster House

A London mansion house, frequently used as the venue for decolonisation negotiations between the 1940s and 1970s. It was the site of the Lancaster House Agreement in December 1979, for instance, which brought an end to white rule in Rhodesia.

Chris Laidlaw

Chris Laidlaw (b.1943). New Zealand politician and diplomat. Assistant to Sonny Ramphal.

Neil Kinnock

Neil Kinnock (b. 1942). British politician, Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992.

Kenneth Kaunda

Kenneth Kaunda (b.1924). Zambian politician and President (1964-1991).

Derek Ingram

Derek Ingram (b. 1925). British journalist and writer with a particular interest in Commonwealth issues.

IGO

Intergovernmental organisation. Organisations whose members are mostly sovereign states

Douglas Hurd

Lord Hurd of Westall (b.1930), British politician prominent during the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. Minister of State, Foreign & Commonwealth Office (1979-1983), where he acted as Minister for Europe, that office's inaugural holder; Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1984-85); Home Secretary (1985-59); and Foreign Secretary (1989-95).

Ted Heath (Edward Heath)

Edward Heath (1916 –2005). British politician and Prime Minister (1970-1974).

Gleneagles Agreement

The Gleneagles Agreement was approved by Commonwealth leaders in Gleneagles, Scotland in 1977, supporting an international campaign against apartheid. Click here to read the Agreement in full.

Front Line States

A group of southern African states formed in 1970, which campaigned for democratic majority rule in South Africa.

Malcolm Fraser

Malcolm Fraser (b. 1930). Prime Minister of Australia (1975-1983). Fraser also served as Co-Chairman of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group on South Africa.

FCO

Foreign and Commonwealth Office. British government department with responsibility for relations with other countries. Created in 1968 from the merger of the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office. Often called 'the Foreign Office'.

Falklands War

The 1982 war between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the disputed sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, also known as the Malvinas, situated in the South Atlantic.

EPG

Eminent Persons Group. A group of well-known individuals chosen by the Commonwealth to research a specific issue. The 1985 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting appointed an EPG to report on apartheid in South Africa, published in 1986 as Mission to South Africa. A second EPG was appointed in 2009 and tasked to produce a report on Commonwealth reform for 2011.

Commonwealth Secretariat

The Commonwealth Secretariat is the principal inter-governmental body of the Commonwealth, responsible for promoting cooperation between members. Founded in 1965.

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association

A Commonwealth organisation that promotes good governance. Founded in 1911 as the Empire Parliamentary Association, and renamed in 1948.

Commonwealth Foundation

The Commonwealth Foundation is a Commonwealth organisation founded in 1965 to promote the growth of professional organisations and exchange of skills, and now pursuing a broader developmental agenda.

Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation

The Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC) is an organisation administered by the Commonwealth Secretariat that delivers technical assistance to Commonwealth member countries. A mutual and voluntary fund, it was established in 1971.

CFTC (Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation)

Colonial Office

The British government department responsible for colonial territories. Merged with the Commonwealth Relations Office to become the Commonwealth Office in 1966.

Bernard Coard

Bernard Coard (b.1944). Grenadian revolutionary politician who served as Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister from 1979 to 1983. His attempted coup in 1983 helped to precipitate the US invasion of Grenada.

CHOGM

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Every two years Commonwealth heads of government meet to discuss global and Commonwealth issues, with the aim of promoting common initiatives.

Commonwealth Charter

The Commonwealth Charter was agreed in December 2012. The Charter sets out the principal values and aspiration of the modern Commonwealth. Click here to read the document in full.

Peter Carrington

Peter Carrington, 6th Baron Carrington (b. 1919). British politician and member of the Conservative party. He was Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1979-82) and 6th Secretary General of NATO (1984-88). In 1979 he chaired the Lancaster House conference.

Jim Callaghan (James Callaghan)

James Callaghan (1912-2005). British politician, Foreign Secretary (1974-1976), and later Prime Minister (1976-1979).

Maurice Bishop

Maurice Bishop (1944-1983). Grenadian politician and Prime Minister (1979-1983). The New Jewel Party under Bishop seized power from Eric Gairy in 1979.

Yasser Arafat

Yasser Arafat (1929-2004). Palestinian resistance leader and politician, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (1969-2004), President of the Palestinian National Authority (1994-2004).

Apartheid

A system of legally enforced racial segregation implemented and upheld by the National Party in South Africa from 1948 – 1994

Emeka Anyaoku

Emeka Anyaoku (b. 1933). Nigerian diplomat. Served as Head of the Commonwealth International Affairs Division (1973-1977), Assistant Secretary General (1977-1979); Deputy Secretary General (1979-1991); Secretary General (1991-2001).

ABC countries

Within the Commonwealth, Australia, Britain and Canada.

Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM)

The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), originally known as the Boycott Movement, was a British activist organisation founded in 1959 to oppose white minority rule in South Africa. It continued to run until 1994, supporting economic and academic sanctions of South Africa and cooperating with other international organisations like the UN.

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher (1926-2013). British politician and Prime Minister (1979-1990).

Mrs Thatcher (Margaret Thatcher)

Margaret Thatcher (1926-2013). British politician and Prime Minister (1979-1990).

Witness Seminar – Britain in the Commonwealth: The 1997 Edinburgh Commonwealth heads of Government meeting

Interview with Kamalesh Sharma

Interview with Dorienne Rowan-Campbell

Interview with David McDowell

Interview with Carl Dundas

Interview with Mark Robinson

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