NDI - China

Sandra Pepera

skincaid — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 18:41:17 +0000

Sandra Pepera is a career diplomat and international development professional. Before joining NDI as its director for Gender, Women and Democracy in 2014, she spent thirteen years as a senior officer at the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), including leading programs in the Caribbean, Rwanda-Burundi and Sudan. Prior to joining DFID, Sandra spent time in British domestic politics; lecturing in political science and international relations at the University of Ghana; and as a political analyst in the Political Affairs Division at the Commonwealth Secretariat. She has a portfolio of skills and experience which include strategy development, political and risk analysis, diplomacy, general management and corporate governance.

Much of Sandra’s career has been spent working in or on transitional economies, focusing on the building of resilient and inclusive institutions. She led work on women and politics at the University of Ghana and in outreach public policy during the period of intense and unstable political transition in the early 1990s. This included participating in a program that supported the ANC Women’s League during South Africa’s transition from apartheid to majority democratic rule in 1993.

Sandra is a member of the Cambridge Sustainability Leaders Network, the Royal Commonwealth Society, the Global Board Ready Women initiative, and the International Advisory Board of the Commonwealth Journal for International Affairs (the Round Table). She holds the Financial Times Diploma for Non-Executive Directors, and serves as a trustee for the pension fund of an intergovernmental organization.

Empowering Women for Stronger Political Parties: A Good Practices Guide to Promote Women's Political Participation (Now available in Burmese)

fstovall — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 14:31:07 +0000

Author:

Julie Ballington

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute United Nations Development Programme

Published Date:

10/31/2011

Resource Type:

Manual|Handbook

Language:

Arabic, Burmese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, Urdu

English

Arabic

French

Spanish

Russian

Urdu

Attachment	Size
Read the manual (English)	2.49 MB
Read the manual with case studies (English)	3.45 MB
Read the manual (Arabic)	1.9 MB
Download the poster (Arabic)	1.18 MB
Read the manual (Burmese)	4.59 MB
Read the manual (French)	2.57 MB
Download the poster (French)	670.54 KB
Read the manual (Russian)	2.82 MB
Download the poster (Russian)	256.16 KB
Read the manual (Spanish)	2.59 MB
Download the poster (Spanish)	680.95 KB
Read the manual (Urdu)	3.74 MB
Read the manual with case studies (Albanian)	10.91 MB

Hong Kong's Shaky Democratic Future

dleonard — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 14:45:17 +0000

Source:

The New York Times

Article Link:

Published Date:

03/14/2014

Since Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region of China, Hong Kongers have longed for democracy, which Deng Xiaoping, China’s former leader, promised them when he agreed to “one country, two systems” with Britain. But since 1997, Hong Kong has “plodded along with a quasi-democratic political system” in which only half of the legislators are directly elected by the people and the chief executive “is picked by a Beijing-friendly committee of only 1,200 people.”

Dissatisfied with the system, “Hong Kongers have been looking forward to 2017 — the 20th anniversary of the handover and the year that Beijing had ruled that [Hong Kong] would finally be able to choose [its] leader through universal suffrage: one person, one vote.” However, the specifics of the election process remain unestablished and “Chinese government officials are...demanding, among other things, that all candidates must ‘love the country.’”

If Beijing and its loyalists continue to seek control of the election’s nomination process, they will “put a permanent end to the hope for true democracy — and undermine the transparency, legitimacy and integrity of [Hong Kong’s] system of government….Universal suffrage is the only way to honor Deng’s plan ‘for Hong Kong people to rule Hong Kong.’”

Equal Access: How to Include Persons with Disabilities in Elections and Political Processes

dleonard — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 14:59:44 +0000

Author:

National Democratic Institute, International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES)

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

03/06/2014

Resource Type:

Manual|Handbook

Language:

Arabic, English, French, Indonesian, Russian, Spanish, Uzbek

English

Arabic

Spanish

Russian

Attachment	Size
Download the manual in Arabic	2.54 MB
Download the manual in English	3.24 MB
Download the manual in French	2.36 MB
Download the manual in Indonesian	16.34 MB
Download the manual in Russian	2.37 MB
Download the manual in Spanish	16.87 MB
Download the manual in Uzbek	3.85 MB

K-Pop, Cat GIFs, and Constitutionalism: How an arcane democratic term became more popular online than the moon landing

dleonard — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 21:34:47 +0000

Source:

Foreign Policy

Article Link:

Published Date:

02/11/2014

In a recent Foreign Policy article, David Caragliano, NDI program manager for Asia, writes that since September, "Chinese authorities have arrested or detained hundreds of microbloggers,” including some “for posting comments critical of the government on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like platform.” Nevertheless, “government authorities are surprisingly incapable of guiding the online conversation” on some sensitive issues in China. One such issue is constitutionalism—the belief that the government's power derives from, and should be limited by, the country's constitution.

With the help of Crimson Hexagon, Caragliano located 490,000 posts between January 2013 and February 2014 that mentioned “constitutionalism,” "anti-constitutionalism," or "socialist constitutionalism" on publicly available Chinese social media sites, such as Weibo. One thing is clear from them: “Online sentiment toward democratic constitutionalism was overwhelmingly positive, with 84 percent of the comments...evincing a pro-constitutionalism view.”

“Chinese authorities may continue to try to keep independent voices in check. But the Chinese Internet is likely to remain an attractive space in part because it offers Chinese citizens access to conversations that government authorities can neither predict nor fully contain.”

Increasing Women’s Political Participation Through Effective Training Programs: A Guide to Best Practices and Lessons Learned

fstovall — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 20:08:23 +0000

Author:

National Democratic Institute

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

10/23/2013

Resource Type:

Training Manual

Language:

Arabic, English, French, Russian, Spanish

English

Arabic

French

Spanish

Russian

Attachment	Size
Download the manual (English)	994.16 KB
Download the manual (français)	1.02 MB
Download the manual (РУС)	1.31 MB
Download the manual (español)	1.08 MB
Download the manual (بالعربية)	787.23 KB

Technology, Transparency and Government: NDI Staff on Using Technology for Democracy

dleonard — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 18:28:03 +0000

Jeremy M. Weinstein, associate professor of political science at Stanford University, speaks during the conference, Right to Information and Transparency in the Digital Age: Policy, Tools and Practices.

New technologies are giving citizens more information about their governments than ever before, and they hold the potential to create even more transparency. But the same solutions do not necessarily apply across the board, and one challenge is finding the right remedy for individual situations.

These and other issues were explored at a conference at Stanford University, Right to Information and Transparency in the Digital Age: Policy, Tools and Practices, held March 11-12, at which NDI was invited to present five papers examining approaches it has taken to information sharing in various countries. Over the last 30 years, the Institute has helped local partners around the world use appropriate technologies to strengthen democratic institutions, safeguard elections and increase citizen participation.

One of the papers, Political Organizing in Closed Societies: Building Support for Democratic Change in Belarus, explored the Institute’s efforts in Belarus, which has a closed and opaque government where little information is available. Lindsay Beck, senior program assistant for NDI’s technology programs, looked at how technology could make information more accessible to citizens, opposition parties and voter registration groups.

She described how NDI worked with local partners to set up ways to more securely collect, store and manage voter information through the development of a locked-down online management system. Previously, voter information was inaccessible to members of opposition political parties, making communication with supporters and collection of voter data almost impossible. Voter information was collected securely using tools like Tails (The Amnesiac Incognito Live System, a portable operating system that allows users to browse anonymously without leaving a trace on your computer. In upcoming 2014 local elections and the 2015 presidential election this information will help parties and political organizations share voter data, and communicate with and engage supporters.

NDI used a completely different -- and lower tech approach -- in Liberia, where it worked with a former chief clerk from the Montana State Legislature to create a bill tracking system. It had three key ingredients - large manila envelopes, an excel spreadsheet and bills in the process of becoming laws - which were already available so no training or new equipment was needed.

In a paper titled, “Small Small”: Challenges and Lessons Learned in Integrating New Communication Strategies and Technology into West African Legislatures, Lauren Kunis, an NDI senior program officer for Central and West Africa, explained that “small, small” is a Liberian expression that means “slowly but surely”, and said that in some situations, incremental changes lead to the most success over time with technology-based programs.

The new system helps members of the House of Representatives keep track of where a bill is in the legislative process and who has possession of the physical document. The information is kept on a tracking sheet and updated onto an Excel spreadsheet, which is then printed out and posted on a bulletin board, keeping the process transparent and making the information available to the media and all all other interested parties. While not the most cutting edge technology, it is an appropriate one based on the legislature’s resources and level of technological expertise.

The paper highlights the importance of relationship building within legislatures, designing projects that are the right size and cost, and making step-by-step instead of drastic changes. Smaller-scale projects can change opinions about the importance of technology, which helps garner support for future projects.

A paper by Chris Doten, NDI technology program manager, focused on the challenge presented when a legislature makes information available but citizens have no means to access it. In Open Data is the Beginning, Not the End: Civil Society Organizations as Analysts to the People, he analyzes NDI’s work with Freedom Fone during elections last year in Ghana. The project aimed to make election information and civic education lessons accessible to radio stations over mobile phone networks that don’t require access to the Internet. The goal was to disseminate information faster, cheaper and more easily than before, when information was burned onto CDs and then mailed or driven around to radio stations.

Doten argues that election data should be publicly available, but if there is no distribution system, it becomes the proverbial tree falling in the forest with no one to hear it. Freedom Fone is an example of a technology that can distribute information over a dispersed, diverse population, without relying on an Internet connection or equipment that radio stations may not have. All they need is a mobile phone.

Real Names and Responsible Speech: The cases of South Korea, China and Facebook, written by NDI’s David Caragliano, argues that the benefits of anonymous speech online outweigh the costs. For at least a decade, governments have considered requiring web users to register their real names and identification numbers with online service providers before posting comments on the providers’ websites in an effort to enforce to responsible speech. A close examination suggests that real name registration by governments is also part of a strategy to silence dissenting voices. In authoritarian as well as democratic contexts, however, implementation of real name policies has been uneven and generally ineffective. The paper suggests that the cost of enforcing real name registration makes it an unwelcome proposition for the online service providers that would have to implement it. In time, Internet regulators may conclude that real name registration is more trouble than it is worth.

The final paper, Enhancing Citizen Participation Through Information and Communications Technology, written by Koebel Price, senior advisor on NDI’s civic participation team, found that more research into the the outcomes of technology-based programs is required. While more people are using technology in democracy promotion projects, the success rates of these programs and technological tools are rarely measured or assessed. Using Uganda as a case study, Price concluded that technology and communication advances alone are not enough to combat entrenched power inequalities; civic education, dialogue and participation are also required to carry out successful democratic promotion projects.

The conference included 14 speakers and 19 presentations on topics such as citizen journalism, crowdsourcing and e-democracy. Other presentations covered an interactive voice forum in India called CGNet Swara, a platform that allows citizens to record and listen to messages on important local topics; the crowdsourcing event that helped draft Iceland’s constitution; and the Botswana Speak program, an initiative that uses mobile technology to connect citizens with governmental leaders at the local, regional and national level through a tool called the Parliamentary Communication System. Beyond the presentations, workshop participants explored ways to use technology to store, process and distribute public information for citizens and governments.

Read more:

Published April 15, 2013

Where will China’s new leaders take the country?

dleonard — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 22:37:22 +0000

Source:

The Washington Post

Article Link:

Published Date:

11/05/2012

The Washington Post editorial board considers the future of China under its two newest leaders—Xi Jinping, who was installed as the general secretary of the Communist Party, and Li Keqiang, his new deputy. Their plans for the country are unknown, as is the reason they were appointed by the Communist Party. However, they will inherit a political system that is “under growing pressure.”

Leaders within the Communist Party, as well as the country’s growing middle class population, “consider the status quo unsustainable.” With protests occurring on a daily basis, and government censorship struggling to control expression on the Internet, the new leaders have an opportunity to “modernize the system,” though reformers agree that they can’t “expect the country to become a democracy overnight.”

While Mr. Xi has not given an indication of how he plans to lead, speculation of his political leanings persists. “Either way, the next decade in China will be more turbulent and unpredictable than the last,” but the U.S. will “have an opportunity to nudge Mr. Xi in the direction of democratic change.”

Declaration of Global Principles for Nonpartisan Election Observation and Monitoring by Citizen Organizations and Code of Conduct for Nonpartisan Citizen Election Observers and Monitors

fstovall — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 19:06:44 +0000

Publisher:

United Nations

Published Date:

04/03/2012

Resource Type:

Declaration

Language:

Arabic, Bangla, English, French, Mongolian, Romanian Russian, Spanish

English

Arabic

French

Spanish

Romanian

Russian

Attachment	Size
Read the declaration (Arabic)	267.58 KB
Read the declaration (English)	897.79 KB
Read the declaration (Bangla)	8.27 MB
Read the declaration (Burmese)	302.33 KB
Read the declaration (French)	327.02 KB
Read the declaration (Indonesian)	16.61 MB
Read the declaration (Mongolian)	345.97 KB
Read the declaration (Romanian)	275.41 KB
Read the declaration (Russian)	286.22 KB
Read the declaration (Spanish)	326.57 KB
Read the declaration (Urdu)	370.99 KB

The Backlash Against Democracy

fstovall — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:08:48 +0000

Source:

Washington Post

Article Link:

Published Date:

03/12/2011

In this opinion piece for the Washington Post, Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment for Democracy draws attention to the potential backlash that events in the Middle East could create with autocrats in other countries. He warns that leaders in a number of countries including Burma, China or Zimbabwe could crack down on the Internet and social medias in an effort to avert similar uprisings in their own countries.

"While in time this crisis could lead to a fourth wave of democratic expansion, in the short term we can expect a new backlash against popular pressures for democratic change. Responding to this backlash - with a much more focused effort to defend human rights and aid the work of democracy activists, for example - should be high on the agenda of the United States and other democracies. Special attention should also be given to supporting Internet freedom, including helping groups gain secure and free access to the Internet, protect themselves against malware attacks, network with counterparts in other countries, and connect with donors and technology specialists who can address their specific needs."

Albright Reaffirms Need to Work at Preserving 'Gift of Freedom'

fstovall — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:38:42 +0000

The fragility of freedom and how to preserve it was one of the themes explored at the 10th anniversary meeting of the Community of Democracies (CoD), a global coalition of democratic countries, meeting July 2-4 in Krakow, Poland.

NDI Chairman Madeleine K. Albright, who as U.S. secretary of state was an initiator of the organization along with the late Polish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek, returned to Poland for the gathering. In 2000 in Warsaw, ministerial delegations from 106 countries signed a declaration, "Toward the Community of Democracies," with the aim of demonstrating methods of support to countries striving for democracy and freedom.

The Krakow meeting was attended by 80 official delegations from around the world, including 40 at the ministerial level, as well as 200 civil society activists from Burma, Zimbabwe, China, Russia and Cuba, among other places. Also attending were parliamentarians from Europe, Africa and North America who are participants in the community's Parliamentary Forum, which was launched last March at the initiative of Lithuania, which currently holds the CoD chairmanship.

New Technologies Create Opportunities, Risks in Democracy Support

In the decade since the founding of the Community of Democracies, a major change has been the explosion of technology and the tools it has created, both for those supporting the free flow of ideas and other democratic values and for authoritarian states interested in the opposite, curtailing information and suppressing human rights. Speaking on a panel in Krakow, NDI's chief technology officer, Chris Spence, explored the role of technology in democratic development and the risks its use poses in closed societies.

"Our view is that technologies are clearly a net positive for democracy...because of the important role [they] can play in consolidating democracy in fragile and transitional democratic states," he said.

The Krakow meeting focused on challenges to democracy and, specifically, how to overcome obstacles in the path of building civil society in the contemporary world. The CoD is developing a global democracy work plan focusing on such areas as civil society protections; gender equality and women's rights; poverty, development and democracy; promoting democracy and responding to national and transnational threats; and regional cooperation.

Albright attributed the success of the first gathering in 2000 to Geremek, who died in 2008 and for whom a democracy award has now been named. "In his welcoming remarks," she said, "he declared that 'the emergence of democracy was the most important development of the 20th century.' But he also reminded us that the gift of freedom was never fully safe – because from one direction or another, the principles of freedom will always be opposed. He argued, therefore, that those who are blessed to live in a democracy have an obligation to repay that blessing by upholding free institutions and by teaching, protecting, and cherishing democratic values."

Albright presented the Geremek Award to Father José Conrado Rodriguez of Cuba, a minister in the impoverished city of Santiago de Cuba. Father José, she said, "reminds us that democracy – at its best – is more than just another system of government... Democracy is grounded in a belief that the legitimate power of governance comes not from the barrel of a gun, or from the means to arrest and to brutalize prisoners, or from the capacity to punish those who dare to voice their discontent. Power, to be legitimate, must come from the people."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who delivered a keynote address, noted "three essential elements of a free nation – representative government, a well-functioning market and civil society – that work like three legs of a stool." But "walls are closing in" on civic organizations in an increasing number of countries, she said, citing Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Venezuela, Russia, China and Egypt. "Over the last six years, 50 governments have issued new restrictions against NGOs, and the list of countries where civil society faces resistance is growing longer."

"An attack on civic activism and civil society is an attack on democracy," she said. "...it doesn't matter whether the goal is better laws or lower crime or cleaner air or social justice or consumer protection or entrepreneurship and innovation, societies move forward when the citizens that make up these groups are empowered to transform common interests into common actions that serve the common good."

The next ministerial level meeting will take place in 2011 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Related:

Pictured above: Lech Walesa and Madeleine Albright greet each other at the 10th anniversary meeting of the Community of Democracies. Photo courtesy of Pavol Demes.

Published on July 16, 2010

New Technologies for Democracy

fstovall — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:28:20 +0000

Author:

Chris Spence

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

07/01/2010

Resource Type:

Speech

Language:

English

Media Type:

PDF

English

Attachment	Size
Read the speech	82.93 KB

美国国际民主研究院

vrao — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:46:35 +0000

美国国际民主研究院（National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, 简称为 “NDI”）是一个独立的非营利性的民间组织，它致力于在世界范围内加强和扩大民主建设。邀请其全球网络的专家自愿者一起， NDI 向民间组织和政府机构，对提高民主价值、实践和制度建设，提供实用性的援助和技术性的建议。 NDI 与世界上各个地区的同行一道，致力于政治和民间组织的建设，维护选举，促进政府治理中的公民参与、公开性和责任承担。

许多国家都缺少民主实践的制度和经验。这包括能运转公开并胜任的全国立法机构和地方政府，作为公共政策辩论载体的基础广泛的政党，监督选举并促进民主价值和公民参与的无党派民间组织。

民主的政治制度比不民主的政治制度更能促进经济的一致的和合理的发展。世界上最繁荣、最安宁的国家也是最民主的国家，这并不是偶然的巧合。如果权力不受制衡，则会造成政府浪费资源，甚至导致经济衰败。最终说来，民主建设项目是对和平与稳定的投资。

NDI 作为一个政党机构（NDI’s Role as a Political Party Institute）

NDI 与民主党的领袖和精英人士个人仍然关系密切，并且利用这些关系帮助其邀请经验丰富的政治家们参与NDI 在世界各地的项目。但是， NDI 是一个完全独立的、非营利的、非政府组织，不受民主党和其他任何政党的控制和影响。NDI 的项目是超越党派的，它鼓励共同的价值、支持民主进程，而不是鼓励或支持特定的党派或意识形态。

自愿者网络和多国方法 (Volunteer Network and Multinational Approach)

民主建设项目，不仅有来自美国的专家的参与而且也有来自其他国家的专家参与的时候，才是最成功的。尝试向民主转型，是一项操作性很强的工作，需要各种不同的经验和技能。这种“多国方法”强化了这样的观点：不存在一个唯一的民主模式，尽管某些基本原则在所有的民主制度下都适用。

NDI 的主要资源是人——成百上千的在民主制度建设的实践中经验丰富的人。 NDI 的方法是，在转型的关键时刻，把这些专家介绍给需要信息、指导和鼓励的同行——政党领袖、民间组织、选举官员和立法者。 NDI 邀请其国际网络中来自于70多个国家的1000多名实务工作者，无偿地贡献其时间，分享其经验和和技能。

NDI 从来不向合作者强行“推销”解决问题的方案，也不相信一种民主制度可以在其他地方复制。恰恰相反， NDI 与合作同行分享其经验，提供一系列的选择，使得合作同行可以借鉴那些对他们自己的政治环境最有利的做法和制度。

实用性方法（Functional Approach）

NDI 向公民及其选举出的代表提供信息资源、咨询和对参与式民主的实践方法的培训。

实务性的问题可见于 NDI 所有的项目设计：政治组织和和民间组织、选举程序和民主政府治理等。对于那些面临要建设民主制度和吸收公民参与国家政治生活这一艰难任务的人们来说，这些问题不是理论问题。相反，每个问题都必须依靠务实、有效的操作技能和经验来解决：立法者需要了解有关信息从而使议会的运转更加专业化；基层民间组织需要获得外界帮助以监督选举的进行，并促进选举产生的官员对选民负责；市政厅在作出决策时需要掌握获得公众意见和建议的方法，政党需要保证其内部运作的民主性以及建立与支持者进行沟通机制的指导。

政党能力建设（Political Party Capacity Building）

稳定的民主要求强壮的、基础广泛并组织良好的政党的发展。政党必须增强其组织能力，对抗漠不关心，鼓励积极参与。如果民主政党组织不能发挥其在社会上的特殊作用，公民就会失去对治理本身的兴趣。一个政党能够对公共政策问题进行有效的辩论并且具有代表性、负责任，才会对民主社会有所贡献。 NDI 把民主政治的基本要点带给政党——从党的内部沟通、候选人和党的领袖的民主遴选，到问题研究、民意调查和与群众的交流。

公民参与（Citizen Participation）

在许多处于转型期的国家，很多人并不清楚他们在一个开放的政治环境中应享有的权利和应承担的义务。中间组织——通情达理的公民之声——是一个多元社会和深厚的公民文化不可缺少的组成部分。 NDI 经常支持民间组织投身于其国家转型的选举当中。 NDI 可以帮助这些团体开展选民教育项目，向公民宣传选举程序。它还可以协助开展选举监督项目以树立公众对选举程序的信心。这些团体的工作所提供的教育价值——增强政治公开和公民参与，远远超过了选举日所产生的影响。除了帮助民间组织的能力建设以外， NDI 与民间组织共同开展工作，其本身便是一种使公民更多地接触政治程序、反腐败、促进政府治理中的透明和责任承担的方法。

选举程序（Election Processes）

选举必须是公开的和民主的，只有这样才能令人对政治制度更有信心。选举是一个能动的过程。在这一过程中，政党成员、民间组织及其他机构必须系统地掌握参与国家政治生活所必需的技能。 NDI 曾应政党和政府的邀请，对其国家的选举法律进行研究，提出改进建议。 NDI 帮助政党和民间团体开展对选民和公民的选举教育活动，组织选举监督项目，例如投票监督和独立计票。

加强立法机构（Strengthening Legislatures）

有效的民主治理取决于是否有专业化的、负责任的和反映民众利益和要求的立法机构。 NDI 的合作项目支持立法机构的专业化发展，鼓励公民积极参与立法过程，研究如何治理腐败，提倡在国家政策的制定中实行透明原则和责任承担原则。立法者学习有关立法机构的组织和操作方面的实用知识，包括立法监督、内部程序规则、公众如何获取信息、有效使用议会工作人员和政党核心小组的作用等。 NDI 也在合作项目中通过鼓励举行公开听证、召开地方官员与公民间的公开的小型座谈会和加强选民与被选官员之间的交流，来促进公民更广泛地参与立法决策。

地方政府（Local Government）

当地政府往往正是人们在日常生活中遇到迫在眉睫的问题时求助的对象。近年来，在许多国家，民主的发展已经使得中央政府放权给新选出的地方政府。而在另外一些国家，影响公民实际参与地方政府事务的障碍仍然存在，因而降低了地方官员的责任承担水平，也影响公众对政府的信任感和满意度。 NDI 项目也着重于促进地方官员与其选民之间的沟通，促进公民参与地方决策。此类努力，旨在帮助地方政府管理本地事务，树立公众对政府的信心。这种公信力对建立能代表人民的、有效的和稳定的民主制度，是至关重要的。

妇女参政 (Women’s Political Participation)

NDI 还开展鼓励妇女参与政治和政府治理的项目。妇女占全世界人口的50%以上，但女性选民、女性政党领袖和选举产生的女性官员的数量与全部妇女人口远远不成比例。支持妇女更多地进入政治和公民事务的领导层是 NDI 50%的使命，从而实现在世界范围内加强民主制度的无性别差异和广泛代表性。妇女参与在 NDI 所有项目的设计和实施中都是至关重要的因素。 NDI 的合作项目试图帮助建立一种这样的环境，即妇女在其中可以参加公共政策辩论、竞选政治职务、被选举担任有关职务，并有效地实施管理。

NDI 总部设在华盛顿特区，在4个大陆都有本地办公室。 NDI 在下列地方开展过项目：

阿富汗、阿尔马尼亚、阿尔吉利亚、安哥拉、阿根廷、亚美尼亚、阿塞拜疆、巴林、孟加拉、白俄罗斯, 贝宁，玻利维亚、波斯尼亚-黑塞哥维那、博茨瓦纳、巴西、保加利亚、缅甸、布隆迪、柬埔塞、喀麦隆、中非共和国、智利、中国、哥伦比亚、刚果民主共和国、科特迪瓦、克罗地亚、古巴、捷克共和国、多米尼加共和国、东帝汶、厄瓜多尔、埃及、萨尔瓦多、爱沙尼亚、埃塞俄比亚、冈比亚、格鲁吉亚、加纳、危地马拉、几内亚、圭亚那、海地、香港、匈牙利、印度尼西亚、伊拉克、亚买加、约旦、哈萨克斯坦、肯尼亚、科索沃、吉尔吉斯坦、拉脱维亚、黎巴嫩、莱索托、利比里亚、立陶宛、马其顿、马达加斯加、马拉维、马亚西亚、马里、毛里求斯、墨西哥、摩尔多瓦、黑山社会主义共和国、摩洛哥、莫桑比克、纳米比亚、尼伯尔、尼加拉瓜、尼日尔、尼日利亚、北爱尔兰、巴基斯坦、巴拿马、马拉圭、秘鲁、菲利宾、波兰、卡塔尔、罗马尼亚、俄罗斯、塞内加尔、塞尔维亚、塞舌尔、塞拉利昂、斯洛伐克、斯洛文尼亚、南非、南韩、斯里兰卡、苏丹、斯威士兰、台湾地区、塔吉克斯坦、泰国、多哥、土尔其、乌克兰、乌拉圭、乌茨别克斯坦、委内瑞拉、西海岸和加沙地带、也门、赞比亚和津巴布维。

NDI 是根据美国法典501（c）（3）规定而成立的一个非营利公司。向 NDI 的捐赠可以从应税款中扣除。

美国国际民主研究院

董事会

Madeleine K.Albright （主席）

Rachelle Horowitz（副主席）

Marc B. Nathanson（副主席）

Kenneth F. Melley（秘书长）

Eugene Eidenberg（司库）

Kenneth D. Wollack（会长）

China

ggreene — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:42:08 +0000

Participation in the Legislative Process

In 2000, NDI launched a program designed to help people’s congress members, their staff and others share experiences on democratic legislative processes. NDI co-organized three national seminars with the Center for the Study of People’s Congress and Foreign Legislatures at Peking University on governance reform and citizen participation in the legislative process, with an emphasis on promoting public hearings. At the third national-level seminar, the Institute assisted participants draft general procedural guidelines for conducting legislative hearings in China. NDI also supported the development of the Center for the Study of People’s Congress and Foreign Legislatures into a resource library on comparative legislative reforms and democratic practices.

In 2003, NDI and the China Center for Comparative Politics and Economics (CCCPE) organized a seminar on the rules governing legislative hearings and experiences in various localities. In 2004, NDI continued this program in Lanzhou to address the specific issues cost analysis and the effectiveness of local legislative hearings. After the program’s completion, NDI and CCCPE held China’s first seminar on the subject in Guiyang.

In 2004, NDI worked with the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MoCA) to develop a training program for elected local urban community officials on increasing citizen participation. NDI brought a former mayor of San Francisco to Fuzhou to share his experience with workshop participants. Later in the year, the Institute and MoCA co-organized a second training workshop in Nanjing.

In 2006, to complement its work on public hearings in the legislative process, NDI sponsored the development of a Chinese voice-over version of a video developed by the National Energy Board of Canada on “The Public Hearing Process.”

The Role of Political Parties

In 2004, NDI brought a senior Democratic Party advisor to China for a series of lectures on the U.S. political party primary process, co-hosted by the Institute of Political Science at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and the China Association for International Understanding. Later that year, NDI organized a seminar in Beijing with the Institute of Political Science at CASS on the comparative role of political parties in electing legislators in Western Europe, the U.S. and China.

Since 2010, NDI, together with the International Republican Institute and the East-West Institute, has facilitated an annual U.S.-China High Level Political Party Leaders Dialogue. The event brings together top representatives from the Chinese Communist Party and the U.S. Democratic and Republican parties for off-the-record discussions on common concerns and future prospects for U.S.-China political relations. By involving individuals with the highest level of access to the political leadership in both countries, the dialogues function as an informal back-channel process to support official exchanges between the two countries on some of the most critical issues shaping the bilateral relationship.

Public Participation in Environmental Governance

From 2005 to 2007, NDI partnered with the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV) and the Shenyang EPB on a comprehensive Chinese-language handbook for EPB officials on how to incorporate citizen participation in environmental governance.
In 2007, NDI launched a project with the Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy (PRCEE) of the State Environmental Protection Administration (now the Ministry of Environmental Protection) to support the participation of nature reserve residents and other stakeholders in the governance of Chinese nature reserves. The program concluded with a workshop in March 2008 in Dujiangyan City and the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province where NDI, PRCEE, the Sichuan EPB, the Dujiangyan City EPB and the Wolong Nature Reserve developed recommendations on how to apply participatory governance methods, such as public hearings in the context of ecologically sensitive areas, where private citizens also reside.

In 2008, NDI collaborated with the School of Law and Politics at Ocean University of China in Qingdao, the Shandong Provincial Environmental Protection School and the Shandong Provincial EPB on a handbook for environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to encourage participation in environmental governance and to promote participatory governance within the NGOs. NDI continues to encourage dialogue between environmental NGOs and EPB officials in their efforts to make decision-making more inclusive.

Open Government Information

Beginning in 2010, the Institute has been working to support Chinese government initiatives to improve transparency. In 2011, the Institute sponsored an exchange between Kevin Dunion, first information commissioner for Scotland, and senior officials of the legal affairs office of the Beijing municipal government. Chinese officials expressed interest in learning about Dunion’s experience and they discussed practical issues, such as caseload management of OGI requests, appeals management, and what constitutes a commercial secret under international law.

In 2011 and 2012, NDI held workshops in Shandong and Beijing for civil society activists and academics to allow them to share experiences and best practices related to OGI. During the 2012 workshop, entitled “Applying for Open Government Information: Cases and Discussion,” the discussion focused on identifying problems encountered when applying for OGI and recommending specific actions that NDI could take to support them in the future.

Women's Political Participation

NDI is currently working with local partners in China and Hong Kong to carry out a “Young Leaders for Women’s Education and Empowerment Program.” The program is designed to provide leadership skills and empowerment for 10 young leaders. Each participant receives a small grant to implement a project in her home community. The program provides skills building for the participants and mentoring for project implementation over the project’s three month period. The program seeks to foster a network of leaders from both Hong Kong and mainland China working for women’s empowerment and civic participation.

Contact Information

For more information about these programs, use our contact form or contact:

Adam Nelson, senior program manager
anelson@ndi.org

Over the last 30 years, China’s booming economic development has created an increasingly diverse society. The drive toward modernization and the evolution of values, including growing recognition of the importance of accountability, has led to incremental reforms in governance that allow citizens to participate in the decision-making process. For example, in March 2000, the National People’s Congress (NPC) passed the Law on Legislation that allows for law drafters to gather public input on proposed legislation.

More recently, the government supported public participation in environmental governance. In October 2010, the Central Committee approved the guiding principles of the “12th Five-year Plan (2011-2015)”, with an emphasis on public participation in environmental protection such as listening to public comments through hearings and expanding the ways citizens can convey their concerns to government.

Other reforms provide opportunities to introduce transparency and accountability into the national governance framework. In May 2008, the government issued national Open Government Information (OGI) regulations that offer a legal basis for a nationwide government information disclosure system.

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NDI 2005 Annual Report

vrao — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 05:00:00 +0000

Author:

National Democratic Institute

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

12/01/2005

Resource Type:

Report

Language:

English

Attachment	Size
Read the report	6.23 MB