NDI - Democracy and Technology

Making All Voices Count: New Fund Aims to Support Open Government around the World

dleonard — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 17:36:17 +0000

“Democracy thrives on diversity and becomes stronger through vigorous debate; its very identity is based on the free expression of popular will,” said former Secretary of State and NDI Chairman Madeleine Albright at the Dec. 5 launch of a new initiative aimed at using technology to improve communications between citizens and their government. “That’s one reason why the new information and social networking technologies have such potential.”

Addressing the potential of new information and social networking technologies, former Secretary of State and NDI Chairman Madeleine Albright spoke at the Dec. 5 launch of a new initiative aimed at using technology to improve communications between citizens and their government. “Democracy thrives on diversity and becomes stronger through vigorous debate,” she said. “Its very identity is based on the free expression of popular will.”

More than 150 academics, donors, journalists, technologists and social entrepreneurs attended the Washington, D.C., unveiling of Making All Voices Count (MAVC), a four-year partnership between the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), and the Omidyar Network (ON).

Its goal is to support innovations using the Web and mobile technology to help new democracies become more transparent and accountable, and to empower citizens to advocate effectively for change. Citing recent events in Burma, the Middle East and North Africa, Albright noted that “technology has opened the door to further democratic gains” and has enabled citizens around the world to organize at the grassroots level more effectively than ever before.

MAVC programs will focus on Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, putting technology to work at the municipal and subnational levels to increase citizen engagement and government responsiveness. Programs will support innovative technology to establish open communication between citizens and government, build evidence to support what works and why, and build on successful initiatives to generate global attention around open government issues. The fund was inspired in part by the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a group of nearly 60 governments that have committed to promote more transparency to improve oversight by citizens and civil society groups.

“Dictators and demagogues learned long ago that having a monopoly on information is the best way to seize and maintain power,” said Albright. “The Making All Voices Count Initiative is based on our understanding that it is more difficult now than it has ever been to control the flow of knowledge—and that is all to the good.”

Other speakers included Rajiv Shah, USAID administrator; Sir Peter Westmacott, British ambassador to the U.S.; Susan Glasser, Foreign Policy editor; Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Sida director general; Stephen King, partner at Omidyar Network; and Samantha Power, special assistant to the president and senior director for multilateral affairs and human rights on the staff of the National Security Council. Vinton Cerf, vice president and chief Internet evangelist at Google and Justine Greening, U.K. Secretary of State for International Development, also presented via video messages.

Left to right: Ginny Hunt, Principal for Strategy and Civic Innovation, Google; Susan Glasser, Foreign Policy editor; and Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Director-General, Swedish International Development Agency (Sida).

At the MAVC Knowledge Fair after the formal program, NDI shared information about its work in support of more open government around the world. One example was UsPeak, a program in partnership with the Parliament of Uganda that allows citizens to communicate with members of parliament (MPs) via text message, voicemail or a UsPeak call center, and that helps MPs track issues that are important to constituents. Other examples included OpeningParliament.org, a loose network of civil society groups that are advocating for more open parliaments in countries around the world, and the Seguridad con Justicia website, which gave citizens in Mexico the opportunity to ask candidates questions about security and justice reform issues ahead of elections last July and that continue to serve as resources to educate the public about citizen security.

While the power of technology is central to the continued push for open and transparent governments, Albright stressed that it is just as important to make sure citizens and civil society have the ability to take advantage of it to inspire change.

Noting that “technology—for all its promise—has no inherent moral value,” Albright reflected on the use of technology both for good and evil, and the importance of making sure technology is used to “expand knowledge, defend human rights and strengthen democracy.”

“The latest inventions are amazing because they help people to accomplish what they choose. But our future depends on what people choose to do,” she said.

Related:

Published Dec. 6, 2012

NDI Partners with Code for All to Support Global Civic Tech

jfrant — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 14:46:10 +0000

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) is proud to announce a partnership with Code for All, a global network of civic technology organizations, to support the network in sharing their learning and experiences and bringing the Code for All model to additional parts of the globe.

NDI Chairman Madeleine Albright visits Code for America’s headquarters in San Francisco.

The Nov. 13 issue of New York Times Magazine features the work of Code for America and the story of technology fellows working with local government in California to simplify and improve the application process for food stamps in the state. This feat was a surprisingly impressive one, which was alluded to by the article’s subtitle: “Why is it so hard to make a website for the government?”

Code for America was founded in 2009 with the simple idea that improving government use of technology can improve the lives of citizens. Silicon Valley has championed “user-centered” design—building technologies and interfaces that are intuitive to use regardless of the complexity of the system. Code for America believes that user-centered design isn’t just how we should design technology, it is how we should design government. Since its creation, Code for America has placed fellows in local governments and engaged groups of volunteers called “brigades” all over the United States to help make government more user friendly.

The Code for America model has proved successful and, in 2013, it launched Code for All, an international network of organizations that have replicated the idea all over the world. Starting with four chapters—in the U.S., Germany, Mexico and the Caribbean—the community has spread globally to include Code-for organizations in Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, South Africa and regionally in Africa. The network continues to grow and there are dozens of organizations aspiring to join Code for All in the coming year.

The Code for America and Code for All model aligns with NDI's mission by engaging citizens in helping governments work for the people they represent—not just by improving the use of technology, but by creating a culture of innovation in democratic institutions. Code for All chapters have partnered with governments on a wide range of issues, from monitoring air quality, to refugee integration, to disaster management, to locating child care services, to simplifying government services.

This week, NDI Chairman Madeleine Albright visited Code for America’s office in San Francisco to discuss the importance of the organization’s work in the civic technology community. Earlier, a one-day planning meeting, facilitated by NDI, for members of the Code for All network was held at the margins of the 2016 Code for America Summit from November 1 to 3. Each of the Code for All member organizations were represented at the planning meeting, along with aspiring members from Romania, Canada, and Taiwan.

Members of the Code for All network meet at the margins of the 2016 Code for America Summit in Oakland, California.

These events build on a recent memorandum of understanding signed by NDI and each of the Code for All chapters. NDI will be working with Code for All in a secretariat role, supported by the National Endowment for Democracy, to onboard new member organizations, ramp up exchanges and sharing among network members, and expand resource mobilization to build and strengthen the network. Code for All will also explore the creation of a category of affiliate organizations which can benefit from the expertise and experiences of the community. This new partnership builds off of past NDI work to help create networks of domestic election monitors, legislators and civil society organizations advocating for the openness of parliaments, and civic innovators around the world.

Code for All chapters have already brought to life a wide array of projects that are impacting citizens on a variety of issues. Code for Pakistan has worked with disaster management agencies to redesign their online presence and streamline the provision of relief to disaster-stricken residents. Code for Germany's local lab in Stuttgart came together to build cheap air quality sensors, distribute them to citizens throughout the city, and is now crowdsourcing air quality data in a city where air pollution has posed a significant public health issue. The Kenyan chapter of Code for Africa launched Dodgy Doctors, a tool to check that your local doctor is a registered physician, which addressed a widespread problem of fake doctors in the country and led to policy changes. Code for Japan built Papa Mama Map, a map of childcare centers and nursery schools in cities around Japan to allow new parents to find a facility that meets their child's needs. And in Mexico City, Code for Mexico (Laboratorio para la Ciudad, the official innovation unit of the Mexico City government) has developed the first interactive moving map of private minibuses in the city, Mapat. This is just a small sample of the projects that have been launched.

Governments around the world are faced with the challenge of successfully delivering for their citizens in the face of rapid technological change. NDI looks forward to working with the Code for All chapters around the globe to help democratic institutions meet this challenge.

For more information about NDI's partnership with Code for All, please contact Dan Swislow at dswislow@ndi.org.

Last Chance to Register For Online Civic Leadership Course

jfrant — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 19:21:48 +0000

Do you have an idea for solving a social problem using technology? Would you like to learn how to pitch ideas to leading experts, investors and policymakers? Here’s your chance.

NDI and Stanford University's Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) are looking for the next generation of civic tech leaders in the U.S., Middle East and North Africa. The bilingual Civic Tech Leadership Program will work with young leaders to develop civic-tech ideas -- and participants with the best pitches will travel to Silicon Valley and Washington DC to meet leaders in tech and policy.

Do you have an idea for solving a social problem using technology? Would you like to learn how to pitch ideas to leading experts, investors and policymakers? Here’s your chance.

Apply Now!

The program, which will begin on October 31, aims to cultivate tech-empowered leaders and encourage cross-cultural collaboration among innovators. Over seven weeks, participants will work in small teams to develop a bilingual video pitch, diving into topics like problem analysis, design thinking, and marketing. This free program is made possible through the generous support of the Stevens Initiative.

Apply by October 7, 2016 at 11:59 PM EST, by submitting, in one paragraph, a description of a civic-tech idea. Youth aged 20-30 from the Middle East, North Africa or the United States are eligible to apply. No technical skills are necessary -- just bring your imagination and commitment to social good. For inspiration, you can also access the free Technology for Accountability Lab, a new Stanford Online course affiliated with this program. The course is live until October 17, 2016.

If you have questions, contact Sarah Welsh at swelsh@ndi.org.

NDI Launches Leadership Program Combining Technology and Democracy

NDI Launches Leadership Program Combining Technology and Democracy

jfrant — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 19:31:26 +0000

NDI is pleased to launch the Civic Tech Leadership Program in collaboration with Stanford University's Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL). The program aims to cultivate tech-empowered leaders and encourage cross-cultural collaboration between innovators in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the United States. This action-oriented program will connect two audiences: civic activists who have an interest in using technology in their work and technology experts who wish to use their skills to build a more democratic and less corrupt world.

Register Now!

Supported by the Aspen Institute’s Stevens Initiative with funding from the U.S. Department of State and Bezos Family Foundation, the program consists of three components: an online course, a virtual exchange on civic technology, and a study mission for winning participants to Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. English and Arabic speakers will participate in a free and open online course offered by Stanford Online’s Technology for Accountability Lab, which includes discussion boards so participants can interact. The program is free and open to everyone. The course launches on August 9, 2016; registration is currently open.

The course includes 22 videos on seven accountability topics in English and Arabic. Presentations are by leading civic technology experts, including Larry Diamond on the importance of transparency; NDI and Mourakiboun on election tech; Sunlight Foundation on political finance; Transparency International on beneficial ownership transparency; Brazil’s HackerLab; and Tunisia’s Al Bawsala on citizen engagement in legislatures. Some presenters will also appear in webcast question and answer sessions during the course. Participants will also have the opportunity to collaborate with each other on real-world projects. Individuals who complete course requirements will receive a statement of accomplishment from Stanford Online.

Participants in the course who are from the MENA region or the U.S., and 20 to 30 years old will be eligible to apply for a follow-on component -- a virtual exchange on civic technology thatwill begin in October 2016. Participants in this second component will work together in groups to develop civic-tech project ideas based on what ideas and experiences they gained from the Technology for Accountability Lab course. Each group will develop a bilingual video to present their project idea with help from NDI resources and mentors.

Four of the best project teams from the virtual exchange will be selected for a final third component, an in-person study mission to Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C., to be held in January 2017, where participants will have an opportunity to meet decision makers, elected officials and civic tech leaders.

Published on July 20, 2016

NDI Wins Award from HP for Gaming Tool

jfrant — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 13:42:25 +0000

NDI was selected as one of 20 winners out of hundreds of entrants for HP’s Living Progress Challenge. This challenge was designed to aid millions of people around the world who are excluded from opportunities due to limited access to technology or education by connecting good ideas from the nonprofit sector with top tech talent. The challenge asked organizations to submit a proposal for software applications or digital services that could be created to improve people’s lives. NDI proposed SheVentures -- a gaming platform for women’s advocacy education that puts players at the center of a dystopian world where the protagonists must mobilize their community to combat injustices against women, both large and small.

This screencapture depicts the process to create a rough mockup of the SheVentures game, inspired by a steampunk design asthethic.

NDI’s Democracy and Technology team has piloted gaming as a tool for education in a world where youth everywhere have increasing access to smartphones. Games make learning more entertaining and can attract broader audiences than traditional in-person training. They achieve higher levels of interaction and engagement than traditional one-way education platforms. Much as street theater or radio dramas provided basic and accessible information to earlier generations, smartphone games are a way to reach the masses with compelling, fun, and educational messages.

In SheVentures, the player decides how to take on injustices perpetrated against women, and must mobilize the community in order to create lasting political change. The game will teach basic techniques in advocacy, canvassing, advertising, protest, and mass communication as the player succeeds or fails based on the ability to build power and influence through their organizational efforts. NDI hopes that the game will teach much of the same basic content as an traditional introductory training. After learning to organize against the “monsters” in the game world, players will be better able to tackle real-world problems with the same approaches.

Winning proposals benefit from pro-bono design and coding skills by an array of professionals who are themselves competing to be selected by NDI and HP to develop SheVentures. Working with the Living Progress team, NDI will be able to select submissions from dozens of professional graphic designers and software developers.

The other first-round winners include the UN World Food Program, Stanford University, The Global Water Challenge, American Red Cross, World Wildlife Fund, and Pact among others. NDI’s winning proposal was the result a collaborative effort between its Democracy and Technology and Gender, Women and Democracy departments.

Liberian Lawmakers Watch: New Tools Shed Light on Parliamentary Performance before the General Elections

erodriguez — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 20:16:51 +0000

For the average Liberian, finding information on one’s legislator can be a daunting task. With no bill-tracking system or plenary record, citizens are often left in the dark about their lawmakers’ performance. Civil society groups face steep obstacles to advocacy because basic information is hard to come by. This lack of transparency about the bill-making process, committee membership, and hearing schedules make effective legislative engagement in Liberia a significant challenge.

On Liberian Lawmakers Watch, citizens can look up their lawmakers or find out the status of bills that matter to them.

Within this context, the Institute for Research and Democratic Development (IREDD), an NDI partner, is breaking ground with a new tool to help inform Liberians about the performance of their legislators. The Liberian Lawmakers Watch is an interactive website that tracks and publishes statistics on legislators’ plenary attendance, participation in floor debates, committee membership, and bill sponsorship in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. NDI provided support to IREDD to develop the site as part of its “Building Citizen Centered Political Engagement” program funded by the Embassy of Sweden.

At the official launch of the website, held on April 28 at the Royal Grand Hotel in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, IREDD Executive Director Harold Aidoo expressed hope that the website would promote electoral accountability by enabling voters to make informed choices based on each lawmaker’s platform and performance.

“When we [politicians] are aware of informed voters, we will take our work seriously.”

Echoing Aidoo, Senator J. Milton Teahjay of Sinoe County praised IREDD for providing voters with “a perfect weapon that arms citizens to make wise electoral choices,” noting that “when we [politicians] are aware of informed voters, we will take our work seriously.”

The website launch came on the heels of the release of IREDD’s Legislative Report 2015, a study on the performance of Liberian legislators and of the legislature as a whole. Released on April 18, the report pays particular attention to the structure and capacity of legislative committees and their role in congressional oversight. IREDD identifies several challenges facing the government including weak and ineffective committees, insufficient oversight over the executive branch, and a lack of transparency.

Recommendations to improve legislative effectiveness and accountability include:

building the research capacity of congressional staff
improving budget transparency through the production of quarterly finance reports, and
restructuring the leadership of legislative committees to enhance their productivity.

The report also ranks Senators and Representatives in plenary attendance, floor debate participation, legislative productivity, and oversight activity, thereby providing readers with an informative lawmaker “report card.” The release caused a stir, receiving widespread media coverage and provoking a public debate over the effectiveness of the Liberian legislature and some of its members.

The website transforms data on legislative attendance and participation into easy to interpret graphs.

The release of IREDD’s report and website is timely. The Liberian political climate is beginning to heat up in advance of general elections in October 2017, when all 73 members of the House of Representatives will be up for re-election. Because IREDD is making information on legislative performance more accessible, voters will now be more empowered than ever to hold their legislators accountable at the ballot box.

IREDD is one of many parliamentary monitoring organizations (PMOs) working around the world to help build strong, open and accountable parliaments. The recently launched Opening Parliament Initiative provides a forum that connects PMOs to facilitate networking, collaboration and the sharing of best practices.

Published on June 2, 2016

Attachment	Size
LLW Attendance by County.JPG	36.65 KB

Tech for Transparent Elections: “Citizens on Watch” in Serbia

erodriguez — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 16:41:26 +0000

Quick, reliable information about election results and processes is essential to ensure confidence in elections. Equipped with strong data that is rapidly collected and analyzed, unbiased observers can dispel (or verify) rumors about an election and help strengthen public trust in the results. This is where innovative technologies play a crucial role. New technologies can minimize the often time-consuming process of collecting, cleaning, and analyzing large amounts of data originating from thousands of polling stations nationwide. Nonpartisan election observation missions can also use technology to ensure the public quickly sees critical data that the observers collect, when it matters most.

One standout example is the recent “Citizens on Watch” campaign from The Center for Research, Transparency, and Accountability (CRTA) in Serbia.

CRTA prepares accreditations for observers ahead of the April 24 elections in Serbia.

One standout example is the recent “Citizens on Watch” campaign from The Center for Research, Transparency, and Accountability (CRTA) in Serbia. CRTA works with citizens to improve the openness and accountability of their government institutions using innovative technological solutions, such as the Istinomer (“Truth-O-Meter”) website that evaluates politician's statements and the Otvoreni Parlament (“Open Parliament”) portal that raises awareness about Parliament’s work, to advocate for accountability. Ahead of Serbia’s early parliamentary elections in April, CRTA took on a new element of transparency and accountability: their first-ever election observation effort.

CRTA trained and deployed 1,100 citizen observers to monitor the process throughout the country, reached nearly one million people via its social media channels

Leading up to the April 24 election, social media and traditional online media outlets were littered with comments reflecting citizens’ mistrust in the election process. “[We haven’t] received any valid and justifiable reason for having these elections, except for ‘a better future for Serbia’ and exclusively personal and party interests,” wrote one woman on the N1 news site. Like her, many citizens did not see the point of holding early elections. The lack of clear party platforms, the dominance of strident inter-party critique in the media coverage, the abuse of government resources to gain electoral advantage, and the relatively controlled media only added to citizens’ wariness.

This lack of trust in the elections and the campaign mirrors the overall distrust of political and civil society institutions in Serbia, where trust in these bodies is the lowest in the region. With this in mind, CRTA did not just want to monitor the election process—it also dedicated itself to sharing its findings with citizens and putting citizens at the center of its monitoring efforts. To this end, CRTA trained and deployed 1,100 citizen observers to monitor the process throughout the country, reached nearly one million people via its social media channels, and countless more as its findings were picked up by the mainstream media.

In order to independently verify the election results, CRTA deployed monitors to 450 randomly selected, statistically representative polling stations across the country on election day. CRTA then analyzed the data monitors provided on strengths and irregularities at each station via the parallel vote tabulation (PVT) methodology. In this methodology, reports from monitors on the integrity of the voting process are used to precisely project voter turnout and results, as well as the presence and scale of any irregularities in the voting process.

To bolster confidence in civil society and allay demands for immediate election results, CRTA added a novel element to their election monitoring initiative: a livestream. Throughout election day, the public could tune in to the PVT process and see how election observers were collecting and processing information as it came in. Where before citizens only had access to the end results, the livestream brought them into every step of the process.

CRTA Livestream Viewers by Hour

At the end of election day, pressure for results skyrocketed. Serbia’s Central Electoral Commission was unable to report final results, ultimately calling for a re-run of elections at 15 polling stations the following week; the opposition claimed there was enough evidence to suggest that the elections were rigged. This made CRTA’s strong analysis and livestream all the more crucial. When suspicion was cast on the electoral process, CRTA showed the 3,877 citizens who watched the livestream exactly what they were doing to assess the situation.

In Serbia, this tech-fueled transparency made CRTA one of the few credible sources of information in the fraught political atmosphere. By providing continuous, transparent information, CRTA helped to bolster public confidence in the election process and its results. It also set a precedent of pre-election monitoring in Serbia that can be used to highlight areas for further investigation. However, the challenges Serbia faced in this election are not unique. In many other countries around the world, there is a similar lack of trust in civil society organizations that monitor elections, while citizens want immediate results. CRTA’s pioneering livestream is a simple but powerful tool, one that can be deployed around the world to build citizens’ trust in their country’s elections.

"It's good to have someone who informs the public! Bravo CRTA!" - Online public comment

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) provided technical assistance to CRTA in developing and implementing a systematic, evidence-based, election observation initiative for the April elections, with funding from the Open Society Foundation.

Aspen Institute Stevens Initiative Grant: NDI will Expand Virtual Exchange Between Youth in MENA & the U.S

erodriguez — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 17:56:56 +0000

Author:

National Democratic Institute, Governance Team

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute, Governance Team

Published Date:

04/04/2016

Resource Type:

Press Release

Language:

English

The Aspen Institute Stevens Initiative today announced the award of a 1-year grant to the National Democratic Institute (NDI), one of 10 new projects funded through a national competition to use virtual exchange to increase cross-cultural understanding and equip young people to participate in a global economy.

NDI is among the first wave of virtual exchange programs to be funded by the Stevens Initiative, a public-private partnership designed to increase people-to-people exchange between youth in the United States and the Middle East and North Africa as a lasting tribute to the legacy of Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Aspen Institute Stevens Initiative Grant:

NDI will Expand Virtual Exchange Between Youth in MENA & the U.S.

Virtual exchanges uses technology for sustained, people-to-people education programs. The Initiative aims to increase mutual understanding between youth in middle school through post-secondary and equip a generation of globally minded youth with the skills they need to succeed in an increasingly interdependent world.

The announcement marks the first major step in the Stevens Initiative’s plan to scale up people-to-people exchanges between youth in the United States and the Middle East and North Africa. The Initiative provided $5 million to support online programs that will bring more than 20,000 young people together to engage in cross-cultural learning experiences. The programs reach 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa and 25 American states.

Under the Stevens Initiative, NDI – through an existing partnership with Stanford University – will adapt a free, open online course called the Technology for Accountability Lab for a dual-language audience of English and Arabic speakers. From this course, NDI will select 200 applicants for a special mentorship track in which teams of participants will collaborate on bilingual videos about prospective ‘civic tech’ projects. The teams responsible for the top video submissions will be selected for a study trip to Washington, D.C., and Silicon Valley to connect with technologists, policymakers, elected officials, and civic innovators.

Other examples of the work to be undertaken include:

Online English, Arabic, and Kurdish language exchange between students in California and their peers in Morocco and Saudi Arabia;
Storytelling through virtual reality for middle and high school students in Kentucky, New York, and Jordan, including Syrian refugees;
A collaborative anthropological project between high school students in Morocco and Chicago;
Global leadership activities for students in Iraq, Illinois, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Washington, and Wisconsin.
An online program exploring how the media portrays people in the United Arab Emirates and various states across the United States.

Most programs will launch in Spring 2016 and continue for a period of two years.

“This is the beginning of a global classroom. NDI will be a pioneer in an exciting and dynamic field,” said Elliot Gerson, Executive Vice President of the Aspen Institute. “Our vision is to spark conversations between young people in countries around the world—to exchange ideas and information and to work together on addressing important issues. We look forward to working with NDI to achieve this vision.”

The first Stevens Initiative award competition was open to U.S. non-profit organizations. In addition to holding future rounds of the award competition, the Initiative will share best practices and support research to address which methods have a measurable impact and have the potential to reach all young people as the field grows.

“Civic technology has the potential to transform the relationship between citizens and their governments in positive ways. Equipping the next generation of women and men leaders with the technical skills to improve the lives of their communities is a key element of NDI’s mission,” said NDI President Kenneth Wollack. “The cross-cultural format of this initiative contributes to greater understanding and collaboration across cultural lines -- something that is critically important in our increasingly interconnected world. It also provides an opportunity to honor the legacy of Ambassador Stevens.”

Stanford University is partnering with NDI on the development and implementation of the dual-language course and mentorship track, and it will also host study trip participants. The Institute for Representative Government will engage its network of former Members of Congress to share their perspectives on effective and innovative policymaking through the virtual and in-person exchanges.

“There is a universal aspiration for democracy, human rights, and good governance, and we have abundant public opinion survey evidence to demonstrate that this aspiration is not culturally limited,” said Larry Diamond, senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and former director of the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University. “I have long believed that technology has the potential to be a game-changing tool in helping people realize these aspirations. This initiative will provide an opportunity to share models for using technology to advance accountability with a young generation of civic technologists in the U.S. and in the Middle East and North Africa.”

Institute for Representative Government Executive Director Peter Weichlein added, “Our board of directors consists of a bipartisan group of former Members of Congress, who regularly engage with youth leaders through programs like the ‘Congress to Campus’ program of the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress. We are thrilled to be part of an initiative that provides young people with additional skills for democratic participation, whether it leads to a career in public service and politics or to simply being a more active citizen.”

In addition to NDI, the other Stevens Initiative grantees announced today are:

Chicago Sister Cities International, Eurasia Foundation, Global Nomads Group, IEARN, Soliya, State University of New York – Center for Collaborative Online International Learning, University of California Berkeley, Wofford College, and World Learning.

NDI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nongovernmental organization that has supported democratic institutions and practices in every region of the world for more than three decades. Since its founding in 1983, NDI and its local partners have worked to establish and strengthen political and civic organizations, safeguard elections, and promote citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

The Stevens Initiative is a public-private partnership designed to increase people-to-people exchange between youth in the United States and the Middle East and North Africa as a lasting tribute to the legacy of Ambassador Chris Stevens. By fostering structured online engagements between young people in secondary through post-secondary education, the Stevens Initiative aims to increase mutual understanding and equip a generation of globally minded youth with the skills they need to succeed in the 21st century.

Housed at the Aspen Institute, the Stevens Institute is a collaboration between the family of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, the U.S. Department of State, the Bezos Family Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the governments of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Algeria, and Morocco, and Microsoft, Twitter, Mozilla, and GoPro. Visit them at www.stevensinitiative.org.

Attachment	Size
NDI Stevens logos.JPG	15.24 KB

Facebook and PeaceTech Lab Join NDI at Launch of Arabic-Language E-Learning Platform

jfrant — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 22:16:19 +0000

This week, NDI launched its new Arabic-language e-learning and training platform TaalamSharek.org, or “learn-engage” in English. Redesigned with support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), this platform, which is also designed to be used on mobile phones, represents a new era in online engagement with and among democracy advocates in the Middle East and North Africa. The platform allows citizens to build their civic and political skills on topics such as campaign planning, elections, citizen participation, governance, and political party development.

TaalamSharek went live during an event hosted by NDI on March 2, 2016, to discuss new opportunities for online engagement in the Middle East and North Africa. As Internet penetration continues to grow in the region, local and international organizations alike are broadening their approaches to support democratic development.

“After the Arab Spring, activists lacked a concrete plan for governance, and democracy training programs were becoming increasingly in demand. People wanted information on how to gain skills in governance and how to become more involved,” said Leslie Campbell, NDI’s senior associate and regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, at the event. “Popular social media platforms are also responding to user trends and making it easier for activists around the world to organize and engage others in the issues they care about.”

“In the MENA region, there are 121 million monthly active Facebook users, and 110 million of those are most active on their mobile phones,” said Facebook representative Katie Harbath, who directs the social media platform’s global politics and government outreach.

Derek Caelin, a specialist at the PeaceTech Lab, highlighted the increasing relevance of these online tools for political development, pointing out that even local organizations in conflict-affected areas like Iraq are using technology in their outreach and development programs

TaalamSharek meets a demand from people in the Arab world who are seeking to build their political and civic skills and their understanding of the fundamentals of democracy. With over 52 e-learning modules with step-by-step trainings and more than 100 manuals and guidebooks produced and translated by NDI’s Arabic Publications Center, the platform provides educational resources in a way that is intuitive and manageable to regional partners. Activists can sign up for weekly newsletters, which highlight new resources and case studies, and feature tips on political skills. NDI will continue to develop and upload new e-learning modules and training resources on a regular basis.

The site’s resources are free and available in a wide array of formats including video, script, powerpoint, audio, worksheet, and publication, allowing the content to be more accessible to persons with disabilities and ensuring local trainers are better equipped to teach these skills to members of their community or political party.

TaalamSharek replaces an e-learning platform that was originally developed with support from the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL). The site saw a 367 percent increase in traffic since it became a regional resource in November 2014 with more than 1.3 million views in aggregate. Visitors to the site downloaded over 90,000 learning materials, including powerpoint presentations, worksheets, templates and educational publications.

Please contact the TaalamSharek team (taalamsharek@ndi.org) with any inquiries or requests for resources.

Published on March 4, 2016

Transforming Global Politics through NDI’s DemTools 2.0

smajestic — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 22:07:20 +0000

Vermont Governor and NDI Board Member Howard Dean and Congresswomen Anna Eshoo gave keynote remarks at the DemTools 2.0 Launch.

On December 9, over 300 people attended, in person or via livestream, the National Democratic Institute’s (NDI) unveiling of DemTools 2.0, a new online, open-source toolbox that will help citizens report problems in their communities, help civic groups manage data, and better prepare governments to better understand and respond to citizens' concerns.

Technology has the power to transform politics around the world, just as it has in the United States. People everywhere are demanding more from elected officials, and they need affordable, easy-to-use tools to make their voices heard. NDI’s Demtools 2.0 will empower millions of people to build better democracies, while helping governments respond at the speed of the internet.

The DemTools toolkit is designed to apply technology solutions to common problems.

involving citizens in government decision-making;
helping civil society groups organize in a digital world;
better connecting elected officials with constituents;
managing election data; and
fostering civic dialogue through social media.

This new open-source initiative frees organizations and institutions from the time-consuming and costly effort of creating and developing their own technology solutions or using expensive commercial products. The scale and impact of the DemTools project is virtually limitless.

Vermont Governor and NDI Board Member Howard Dean, whose pioneering 2004 presidential campaign paved the way for the tech-driven precision of current U.S. politics, and Congresswomen Anna Eshoo, co-chair of the Congressional Internet Caucus and a key leader in Congress on technology and Silicon Valley, gave keynote remarks at the downtown Washington event, congratulating NDI and DemTools 2.0.

“Through the power of DemTools, the intellectual and creative capital of the tech sector is being harnessed to transform global politics and better engage citizens,” said Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, whose district includes Silicon Valley. “To be successful in deploying new technologies, particularly in developing nations, connectivity and affordability must be a central focus. I commend NDI for making DemTools 2.0 both free and open-source, thereby eliminating a critical barrier to adoption.”

Speaking about how democratic change almost always comes from the bottom up, Governor Howard Dean added, “All we have to do to make democracy succeed in this world is ensure that everyone has tools of empowerment unlike anything that has been seen before on the face of the earth.”

A panel of leaders from the tech sector discussed the application of new technologies. Moderated by NDI’s Senior ICT Officer and Product Manager Christine Schoellhorn, the panel included Tim Receveur (Director, PeaceTech Exchanges), Andrew Hoppin (President, NuCivic), Kat Duffy (Director, Sunlight Labs), Lena Trudeau (Senior Manager of Global Expansion, Amazon Web Services), Seth Andrew (Senior Advisor to the United State’s Chief Technology Officer), and Colin Delany (Editor of Epolitics.com).

Seth Andrews said that the office of the White House CTO wants to see state, local, and international governments take DemTool Petitions, based on his office’s We The People, and make it better. “We hope that you will continue to take this DemTool as a way to get feedback in real time.”

Lena Trudeau, who travels around the world on behalf of Amazon Web Services, remarked that the “growing ubiquity of access of these tools is a really powerful force for good in the world.” She praised NDI’s DemTools 2.0 as a “real game changer” for putting capabilities directly “into hands of students and researchers, entrepreneurs and change agents.”

The first generation of DemTools has been deployed by 82 organizations around the world in the last year. For example, political parties have used NDI’s Civi DemTool to manage contacts and improve their outreach to party members. DemTools are delivered with comprehensive training and support materials; and a recently published NDI guide, “Technology: A Planning Guide for Political Parties,” supplements DemTools 2.0 by providing practical advice on common pitfalls that political parties experience and potential pathways for success when implementing technology projects.

The tools have been tested in a broad range of country contexts. In Bosnia-Herzegovina and Colombia, NDI’s Issues DemTool brings together the voices of politicians and citizens to discuss pressing social and political issues online. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Macedonia, and Ukraine, the CiviParty DemTool is used to assist the organizing effort of political parties.

Review the video of the entire event here. Join the conversation, which was trending on twitter during the launch, with #DemTools.

NDI is committed to making a real-world impact with DemTools. The platform has the capability to scale to support thousands of organizations, which can improve the lives of millions of citizens - but only if it is shared. Whether you think DemTools could be useful for your organization or for those you collaborate with, we’d love to work with you. Sign up to learn more.

Published on December 11, 2015

New Guide Helps Parties Understand Tech ‘Dos and Don’ts’

smajestic — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 14:52:11 +0000

NDI launched a new website to serve as a resource for political parties that want to use technology to improve the way they function. “Technology: A Planning Guide for Political Parties” gives advice on common pitfalls political parties experience and potential pathways for success when implementing technology projects. The website also gives real-life examples through a set of case studies to help political parties learn from the experiences of other political parties and campaigns.

The case study Online Primary to Increase Participation Fails to Connect looks at how the European Green Party (EGP) announced an open online primary election ahead of the 2014 European elections. The online primary gave citizens three months to electronically vote for two of the four nominated candidates running for the European Parliament. According to Reinhard Bütikofer, co-chair of the EGP and member of the European Parliament, by implementing the online primary, the party “wanted to reduce the growing gap between citizens and political institutions.”

The EGP was hoping to mobilize 100,000 EU citizens to vote in the primaries, but as the elections came and went only 22,000 people participated. The low voter turnout underscored that the success of a new technology projects depend on more than just functional technology. It also requires deep contextual analysis, and strategic planning to assess user interest and clarify the level of marketing needed to encourage participation.

Understanding the long- and short-term costs of technology projects is also essential. As political parties increasingly use information communication technologies (ICTs) to interact with citizens, fundraise, coordinate internal and external communication, and maintain databases, budgets will have to be adjusted to reflect maintenance costs and staff time.

NDI’s technology guide includes step-by-step instructions on how parties can think through what ICT projects can achieve and how they can best utilize them. It also includes worksheets to help parties better understand the decisions they may have to make including: custom versus off-the-shelf software, basic voter file requirements, how to calculate the real long- and short-term costs of an ICT project and more.

The website is meant to benefit political parties that operate in a variety of environments. Parties in high-tech areas can use the site to identify how a social media presence could extend party outreach to new platforms, and to attract new supporters and strengthen the relationships with existing ones. In this context, as citizen use of social media and other new technologies continues to increase, so are expectations for parties to engage on these new platforms. Parties in low-tech environments can use the guide to learn how to balance newer tech-based initiatives with more effective use of existing approaches. Parties in countries with limited communications infrastructure, for example, may choose to focus on radio, SMS and targeted social media outreach to urban centers, over designing a cutting-edge grassroots-organizing smartphone application.

For more information, please see this short overview of the site. If you have questions, please send an email to the parties team, NDIParties@NDI.org.

Published on November 18, 2015

At November 10 Dinner, NDI to Honor UN High Commissioner for Refugees and Four Tunisians Who Are Advancing the Promise of Democracy

jfrant — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 17:27:48 +0000

NDI announced today that it will honor four Tunisian political and civic leaders, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees at its annual Democracy Award Dinner on Tuesday, November 10.

The dinner will be held at the Ritz-Carlton Washington, D.C., 1150 22nd St., NW. It will begin at 7:00 p.m. and will be preceded by a reception at 6:00 p.m. Tickets may be obtained through this link.

Learn more about NDI's 2015 Democracy Award Dinner and the four Tunisian awardees.

NDI announced today that it will honor four Tunisian political and civic leaders, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees at its annual Democracy Award Dinner on Tuesday, November 10.

The dinner will be held at the Ritz-Carlton Washington, D.C., 1150 22nd St., NW. It will begin at 7:00 p.m. and will be preceded by a reception at 6:00 p.m. Tickets may be obtained through this link.

View Livestream

Tunisians Yassine Brahim, Rafik Halouani, Wafa Makhlouf and Sayida Ounissi will be honored along with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres. The W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award, NDI’s highest honor, is presented annually to individuals or organizations that have demonstrated a commitment to democracy and human rights.

The Tunisian honorees have been at the forefront of efforts to advance the democratic transition in their country, reflecting a new generation of democratic leaders. Brahim is the Minister for Development, Investment and International Cooperation, and president of the Afek Tounes Party. Ounissi and Makhlouf are elected members of the Assembly of Representatives of the People, Tunisia’s parliament. Halouani is the president of Mourakiboun Network, a leading election observation network in Tunisia. It is leaders from civil society, political parties and government, like those honored in this year’s Democracy Award ceremony, who are turning the promise of the Tunisian revolution into real improvement in the daily lives of citizens and make democracy succeed.

“Tunisia shows that democratic change is not an elusive goal in the Middle East and North Africa; it takes persistence, inclusivity and compromise,” said former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, NDI’s chairman. “The biggest challenge today is to meet the expectations for tangible improvements in the daily lives of the Tunisian people. Those who are advancing the promise of democracy in Tunisia deserve strong and sustained international support.”

Guterres played a central role in the democratic transition in his own country of Portugal, and served as the Portuguese prime minister from 1995 to 2002. As president of the international grouping of Social Democratic and Labor parties, he expanded the organization’s support for democracy abroad and Guterres volunteered with NDI the Middle East, sharing his experiences in places like Iraq and Jordan. Guterres was elected by the UN General Assembly in 2005 as the High Commissioner for Refugees. The United Nations High Commission on Refugees is one of the world’s preeminent humanitarian organizations and has twice won the Nobel Peace Prize. Guterres is now at the front lines of recent efforts to aid Syrians who are leaving their country to find refuge in Europe.

In his call for European democracies and the United States to welcome those escaping Syria, Guterres has said that “[We need] the capacity to show that we can see diversity is a richness, not a problem, that we understand our societies are being inevitably multiethnic, multiracial, multicultural, multi-religious and that is good for societies.”

“As someone who fled both communist and Nazi occupation of my country of birth, I understand that the refugees from Syria are fleeing to Europe not just to escape persecution, but also to find stability, dignity and freedom -- three things that only democracies can provide. The refugee crisis is a result of the failure of dictatorship,” Albright said.

Tunisia has been at the forefront of political reform in the Arab world since December 2010 when discontent with autocratic rule and government corruption erupted in mass street demonstrations, resulting in President Zine al Abidine Ben Ali’s departure from power in January 2011. The Tunisian revolution, which was catalyzed by the self-immolation of Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi, also inspired uprisings across the region that became known as the Arab Spring. The drivers behind the revolution and the hope for the elections lay in the desire of Tunisians for economic empowerment, dignity and a government that serves the people. In the nearly five years following the revolution, Tunisia has experienced both euphoric and tragic periods. The writing of the new constitution was a lengthy process, but combined the views of a range of ideologies and political backgrounds into the most progressive constitution in the region. International observers hailed the 2014 elections, which marked first democratic legislative and presidential polls in Tunisia, as a significant achievement.

Long involved with supporting Tunisian democracy activists, NDI opened an office in the country following the uprising of 2010. With support from the United States Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, NDI is providing assistance to newly established governing institutions and emerging civil society organizations.

Digital Solution Helps Shield Online Activists

blesswing — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 18:37:05 +0000

Source:

Voice of America News

Article Link:

Published Date:

07/23/2015

Chris Doten, manager for digital technology programs at NDI, spoke with Voice of America News about digital security solutions for journalists and democracy advocates.

Civic Updates

vrao — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 17:55:00 +0000

Author:

National Democratic Institute

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Resource Type:

Civic Update

Language:

English

Attachment	Size
Issue 50: A Matter of Political Space (April 2016)	1.06 MB
Issue 49: Social Movements (January '16)	1.22 MB
Issue 48: Peace, Security and Democratic Resilience (August '15)	818.41 KB
Issue 47: Integration (April '15)	1011.57 KB
Issue 46: The Infomediary Role of NDI Partners (Jan. '15)	339.19 KB
Issue 45: The Role of Dialogue in Deepening Democracy (Sept. '14)	1.84 MB
Issue 44: Taking Advantage of Political Entry Points to Improve Meaningful Engagement (May '14)	1.12 MB
Issue 43: Political Inclusion of LGBT Population (Jan. '14)	1.43 MB
Issue 42: Radio as an Effective Communication Tool (Aug. '13)	1.48 MB
Issue 41: The Use of ICT to Enhance Citizen Participation (May '13)	1.57 MB
Issue 40: Supporting Inclusion of Marginalized Ethnic and Religious Groups (Dec. '12)	1.87 MB
Issue 39: Public Opinion Research (Sept. '12)	1.69 MB
Issue 38: Youth Programming (May '12)	1.83 MB
Issue 37: Mainstreaming Persons with Disabilities (Jan. '12)	1.72 MB
Issue 36: Organizational Development (May '11)	1.1 MB
Issue 35: GOTV, Voter Information & Voter Education (Jan. '11)	1.04 MB
Issue 34: Structuring and Maintaining Partnerships (Sept. '10)	306.87 KB
Issue 33: Political Process Monitoring (May '10)	419.89 KB
Issue 32: Defending Space for Citizen Participation (Aug. '09)	204.87 KB
Issue 31: Best Practices for Meaningful Citizen Engagement (April '09)	540.61 KB
Issue 30: Context Matters (Jan. '09)	311.87 KB
Issue 29: Voice, Space and Accountability (Aug. '08)	869.11 KB
Issue 28: Communications Tools (May '08)	207.88 KB
Issue 27: Using Information and Communications Techonologies (Jan. '08)	486.89 KB
Issue 26: Working with Marginalized Populations (Sept. '07)	283.24 KB
Issue 25: Ten Years of Civic Updates (July '07)	258.56 KB
Issue 24: Making Democracy Deliver (Feb. '07)	413.86 KB
Issue 23: Positive Partnerships with Local Groups (May '06)	268.06 KB
Issue 22: Political Activism for People with Disablities (Dec. '05)	458.7 KB
Issue 21: Local Fundraising and Volunteer Recruitment (July '05)	221.65 KB
Issue 20: Tips from NDI Practioners (April '05)	561.26 KB
Issue 19: Get Out The Vote (Dec. '04)	496.75 KB
Issue 18: Involving Youth in the Political Process (July '04)	277.27 KB
Issue 17: Monitoring as a Driver of Change (Feb. '04)	488.58 KB
Issue 16: Citizen Surveys and Other Organizing Tools (Nov. '03)	546.03 KB
Issue 15: Making University Connections (Aug. '03)	579.18 KB
Issue 14: Focus Groups (May '03)	334.74 KB
Issue 13: Civic Forum (Nov. '02)	279.56 KB
Issue 12: Coalition Building (Jan. '02)	195.45 KB
Issue 11: Assessment Methods (Aug. '01)	84.74 KB
Issue 10: Partnership Approaches (April '01)	109.87 KB
Issue 9: What's Voting All About? (Oct. '99)	82.5 KB
Issue 8: Global Seminar on Advocacy and Democracy Development (June '99)	481.85 KB
Issue 7: How Civic Programs Increase Women's Participation in Processes (Dec. '98)	962.34 KB
Issue 6: Post-Conflict and Ethnic Divided Societies (July '98)	120.75 KB
Issue 5: Assessing Programs (March '98)	81.99 KB
Issue 4: Training (Nov. '97)	98.85 KB
Issue 3: Resources and Communication (July '97)	74.43 KB
Issue 2: Advocacy (April '97)	94.31 KB
Issue 1: Program Highlights from Around the World (Feb. '97)	121.71 KB

Social Innovation Summit 2015: Big Ideas for Big Data

blesswing — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 18:56:55 +0000

Source:

BizTech Magazine

Article Link:

Published Date:

06/16/2015

NDI’s Chief Technology Officer Chris Spence offers his input on how NGOs can make use of big data for social good.