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The Board of The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has decided to name the IEA Conference
Room after Ambassador Birgit Storgaard, Danish Ambassador to Ghana from 1994 to 1998.

Thisis in recognition of her unflinching support to the development of the arms of Government,
particularly the Legislature and the Judiciary, as well as key governance institutions.

In this regard, The IEA held a brief ceremony on 1st February, 2016, during which the IEA
Conference Room was renamed: The Ambassador Birgit Storgaard Dialogue Centre.

In attendance were dignitaries including: H.E. John Agyekum Kufuor, Former President of Ghana;
H.E. Tove Degnbol, Danish Ambassador to Ghana; Ms. Elsie-Marie Storgaard-Fog, sister of the
late Ambassador; Hon. Doe Adjaho, Speaker of Parliament; Hon. Alban Bagbin, Majority
Leader of Parliament; and many other distinguished personalities.

Amb. Birgit Storgaard arrived in Ghana at the dawn of Ghana’s multiparty democracy. This was
barely two (2) years after the 1992 elections. The long years of military rule in Ghana had left in
its wake, weak and in some cases non-existent institutions of State. A culture of silence loomed
and there was hardly any open dialogue on pertinent national issues. Amb. Storgaard recognized
the need to build strong institutions to support Ghana’s fragile democracy.

Ambassador Storgaard contributed a legacy of initiatives to strengthen dialogue and consensus
building within Ghana’s democracy. Her support led to the development and implementation of
several capacity-enhancing initiatives for the institution of Parliament and for parliamentarians.
These groundbreaking programmes include:

The Orientation Programme for new members of Parliament which ensured that all new MPs
were oriented to understand the workings of Parliament and their role as MP. This program has
now been adopted and institutionalized by Parliament.

The Legislative Assistants Programme – The IEA with the support of DANIDA, recruited
bright young graduates from Ghanaian Universities and trained them as research assistants to
support the work of parliamentarians. This programme has been institutionalized by Parliament
and several pioneer research assistants have become parliamentarians and clerks in the House.

Technical Workshops and Weekend Schools –MPs were trained on pertinent policy challenges
to build their capacity and provide them with information required for their role.

The Speakers Breakfast Forum – The Speakers Breakfast Forum brought together the Speaker
of Parliament and relevant stakeholders from various sectors of national life to discuss key
development issues confronting Ghana at the time. This forum helped to demystify Parliament,
and enabled the leadership of Parliament to hear firsthand what the views of the public on
various subject matters were.

Amb Storgaard’s initiatives and work have contributed to the recognition of Ghana as a beacon
of hope for democracy on the continent. Today, leaders of political parties in the region
undertake exchange programmes to Ghana and the IEA to learn about interparty dialogue and
consensus building. The fruits sown by Amb. Birgit Storgaard have not only flourished in
Ghana, but in Africa as a whole.

It is in recognition of these significant contributions that The IEA Board decided to honour the memory of the late Ambassador Birgit Storgaard by naming its Conference Room The Ambassador Birgit Storgaard Dialogue Center.