The Fondation Chirac was launched by former French President
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Ma ...
, after having served two terms in office between 1995 and 2007.
Since 2008, this foundation strives for peace through five
advocacy
Advocacy is an Action (philosophy), activity by an individual or advocacy group, group that aims to influence decision making, decisions within political, economic, and social institutions. Advocacy includes activities and publications to infl ...
programmes:
*
conflict prevention
*
access to water and sanitation
* access to quality medicines and healthcare
* access to land resources
* and preservation of
cultural diversity
It supports field projects involving local people with innovative solutions. The Fondation Chirac has also awarded the Prize for Conflict Prevention every year since 2009.
The foundation's stated priorities include combating falsified medicines,
deforestation and
desertification
Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused by ...
, and helping to preserve
endangered languages and cultures. The "Sorosoro programme" took its name from an Araki word for "breath, speech, language". The endangered
Araki language, in
Vanuatu, was spoken by then by only eight people, and the programme's stated objective was to "participate actively in the struggle for the preservation and revitalisation of these endangered languages".
The foundation was directed from its creation until 2013 by Catherine Joubert. Facing difficulties, the foundation must in 2012 leave its premises on rue d'Anjou and thank the staff, except Marc-Antoine Jasson, currently the only employee. At the same time, Claude Chirac and
Alain Juppé joined the board of directors.
History
The Foundation was officially launched on June 9, 2008, at the
Quai Branly Museum in Paris,
"La fondation Jacques Chirac officiellement lancée"
''Le Nouvel Observateur'', 9 March 2008 with the attendance of most of its Honour Committee's members, such as:
* Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General and Nobel Peace Prize.
* Andrés Pastrana Arango, former President of Colombia.
* , former President of Senegal.
* Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, former President of Mauritania.
* Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, former chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) a ...
.
* Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Guatemalan Nobel Peace Prize.
* Youssou N'Dour, artist, Minister of Tourism and Culture of Senegal.
References
External links
Official website
{{Authority control
Foundations based in France
Jacques Chirac
Organizations established in 2008