NDI - South Korea

NDI Remembers Former South Korean President Kim Young Sam

jfrant — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 21:07:57 +0000

Author:

National Democratic Institute

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

11/24/2015

Resource Type:

Statement

Language:

English

NDI mourns the passing of former South Korean President Kim Young Sam, a long-time opponent of military rule, who ushered in an era of reform that would put his country at the forefront of democratic as well as economic development in the region. He died in Seoul on Sunday, November 22

Elected president in 1992, Kim became the first civilian to hold that office in more than three decades. His inauguration marked a turning point of a political journey that began 38 years earlier when, at 26, Kim became the youngest person ever elected to Korea’s National Assembly, where he continued to challenge executive abuses. When later placed under house arrest and banned from political activity, he refused to be silenced. Daring to embrace political compromise, he united with former rivals and built the foundation for peaceful democratic transition.

NDI worked with Kim Young Sam as he sought political reforms and subsequently honored him as the 1993 recipient of the Institute's Harriman Democracy Award presented on the 30th anniversary of the death of President John F. Kennedy, a coincidence Kim characterized as “doubly meaningful” in his acceptance remarks. Then-President Clinton spoke at the NDI Award dinner.

Kim’s visit to Washington also served as the occasion of President Bill Clinton’s first state dinner during which he lauded Kim’s leadership for democracy and whose “great personal sacrifice in the cause of democracy in Korea has been an inspiration to freedom-loving people around the world.”

English

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.

Kay Seok

jravinsky — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 20:03:51 +0000

Kay Seok is NDI’s resident director in South Korea. Since January 2013, she has overseen the development, implementation and evaluation of NDI’s overall country strategy. She has organized workshops and seminars on NGO capacity building and management, implemented English language program for activists, and led study tours to Cambodia, Indonesia, Belgium, and Switzerland. She is also responsible for managing the Seoul office and supervising all South Korea-based volunteers.

Prior to joining NDI, Ms. Seok served as the grants program manager at the US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. She also worked as a Korea and the Philippines researcher at Human Rights Watch and as a reporter for the Associated Press. She authored numerous reports, essays, and articles for publications such as the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and International Herald Tribune. She received her bachelor's degree from Ewha Women’s University and her master’s degree in international relations from Yonsei University.

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

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

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

Evening at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Celebrates Freedom and Creativity

dleonard — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:31:08 +0000

The contrasts between the creativity that democracy can bring and the stifling of imagination in closed societies like North Korea was the topic of an evening at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C., Nov. 14 organized by the theatre and NDI.

The evening featured You for Me for You, a play written by Korean American playwright Mia Chung, which tells the story of two sisters and their attempt to flee North Korea for the United States. It was accompanied by an art exhibit in the theatre lobby by world-renowned North Korean artist and political dissident Song Byeok. A former state-sponsored propagandist turned satirist, Song Byeok escaped from North Korea in 2001. His paintings will be featured at Woolly Mammoth, along with the play, through Dec. 2.

A small reception before the show featured comments from Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment for Democracy; Dan Baer, deputy assistant secretary at the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; and Kathleen Stephens, former U.S. ambassador to Korea.

“Until you have democratic institutions, until you have human rights, people don’t create,” Stephens said. Song Byeok’s achievement is “a symbol of the kind of creativity that only democracy supports” as well as “a testimony to the resilience of the human spirit, and the resilience of the Korean people.”

The program concluded with a moving account from Song Byeok of the trials he faced while living in North Korea and his escape to the South. “I have been learning what freedom and human rights is,” he said through a translator, noting that he had dedicated his art to the people of North Korea.

Byeok’s D.C. exhibit features satirical paintings of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. One of the most eye-catching shows the “Dear Leader” dressed as Marilyn Monroe. Others depict images of his recent artistic freedom—his own form of protest against the harsh regime that once held him prisoner. Byeok continues to work under an assumed name to protect family and friends still in the country.

Published Nov. 21, 2012

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

Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation and Code of Conduct for International Election Observers

vrao — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 04:00:00 +0000

Publisher:

United Nations

Published Date:

10/27/2005

Resource Type:

Manual|Handbook

Language:

English, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Azeri, Bosniak-Cyrillic, Bosniak-Latin, Chinese, Croatian, Dari, French, Hungarian, Kazakh, Latvian, Macedonian, Moldovan, Pashtu, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Turkish, Ukrainian

Media Type:

PDF

The Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation and the Code of Conduct for International Election Observers were developed through a multi-year process involving more than 20 intergovernmental and international nongovernmental organizations concerned with election observation around the world. The process began informally in 2001 at the initiative of NDI and the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division (UNEAD) and included an initial meeting at the UN in New York and a meeting in Washington co-hosted by the OAS and NDI. The declaration was commemorated at the UN on Oct. 27, 2005, and is now endorsed by 52 intergovernmental and international organizations, which are engaged in the process of improving international election observation.

Note: The first link below connects to the English-language version of this document. The subsequent links connect to the document in other languages, following the same alphabetical order as the list of languages above.

English

Arabic

French

Spanish

Albanian

Armenian

Azeri

BiH Latin

Bosnian

Bosnyak-Cyrillic

Chinese (Mandarin)

Croatian

Dari

Hungarian

Kazakh

Macedonian

Molodav

Pashto

Polish

Portuguese

Romanian

Russian

Serbo-Croatian

Turkish

Ukrainian

Attachment	Size
Read the declaration (English)	87.82 KB
Read the declaration (Albanian)	52.76 KB
Read the declaration (Arabic)	139.49 KB
Read the declaration (Armenian)	78 KB
Read the declaration (Azeri)	291.5 KB
Read the declaration (Bosniak-Cyrillic)	260.88 KB
Read the declaration (Bosniak-Latin)	204.71 KB
Read the declaration (Chinese)	194.03 KB
Read the declaration (Croatian)	145.88 KB
Read the declaration (Dari)	175.76 KB
Read the declaration (French)	75.93 KB
Read the declaration (Hungarian)	224.26 KB
Read the declaration (Kazakh)	234.13 KB
Read the declaration (Latvian)	256.82 KB
Read the declaration (Macedonian)	282.39 KB
Read the declaration (Moldovan)	166.21 KB
Read the declaration (Pashto)	273.96 KB
Read the declaration (Polish)	304.49 KB
Read the declaration (Portuguese)	146.22 KB
Read the declaration (Romanian)	244.08 KB
Read the declaration (Russian)	86.82 KB
Read the declaration (Serbian)	236.55 KB
Read the declaration (Spanish)	77.38 KB
Read the declaration (Turkish)	300.9 KB
Read the declaration (Ukrainian)	222.71 KB

Political Parties and the Transition To Democracy: A Primer in Democratic Party-Building for Leaders, Organizers and Activists

vrao — Mon, 09 May 2005 04:00:00 +0000

Author:

National Democratic Institute

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

01/01/1997

Resource Type:

Manual|Handbook

Language:

Arabic, English, French, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish

This handbook discusses organizational and procedural elements necessary for the daily operation of a political party and emphasizes the need to develop a party’s outreach capacity at the local level. It outlines strategies for long-term party development and for maintaining effectiveness between elections.

الأحزاب السياسية والانتقال إلى الديمقراطية

الناشر: منشورات المعهد الديمقراطي الوطني.

تفصيل: يناقش هذا الكتيّب العناصر التنظيمية والإجرائية الضرورية لعمل الأحزاب السياسية اليومي، ويشدّد على الحاجة إلى تنمية القدرات التواصلية لدى الأحزاب على المستوى المحلي. ويستعرض أيضاً الاستراتيجيات الآيلة إلى تطويرِ عمل الأحزاب على المدى الطويل وتفعيلِ دورها باستمرار بين انتخابات وأخرى.

English

Arabic

French

Spanish

Russian

Serbo-Croatian

Attachment	Size
Read the manual (English)	236.98 KB
Appendix A	2.63 MB
Appendix B	2.33 MB
Appendix C	722.22 KB
Appendix D.1	2.12 MB
Appendix D.2	2.6 MB
Appendix E	1.31 MB
Appendix F	2.04 MB
Appendix G	953.17 KB
Appendix H	1.93 MB
Appendix I	1.89 MB
Read the manual (Arabic)	677.21 KB
Read the manual (French)	646.12 KB
Read the manual (Russian)	453.34 KB
Read the manual (Serbo-Croatian)	242.9 KB
Read the manual (Spanish)	108.21 KB

Party-on-Party Monitoring of Asia Electoral Campaigns: Taiwan; South Korea; Philippines; Indonesia

vrao — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 05:00:00 +0000

Author:

National Democratic Institute

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

08/01/2004

Resource Type:

Report

Language:

English

Attachment	Size
Read the report	620.32 KB

Legislative-Executive Communication on Poverty Reduction Strategies, Parliaments and Poverty Series, Toolkit No. 1

vrao — Wed, 05 May 2004 04:00:00 +0000

Author:

National Democratic Institute United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

05/01/2004

Resource Type:

Manual|Handbook

Language:

Arabic, English, French, Russian, Spanish

This guide is designed for those who are working with parliaments to strengthen the legislative role in implementing MDG and PRSP by strengthening legislative-executive communication.

تعزيز المشاركة البرلمانية في الأهداف الإنمائية للألفية الجديدة والعملية الاستراتيجية للحدّ من الفقر - التواصل التشريعي-التنفيذي حول استراتيجيات الحدّ من الفقر

الناشر: برنامج الأمم المتحدة الإنمائي، منشورات المعهد الديمقراطي الوطني.

تفصيل: تمّ وضع هذا الدليل لكلّ من يتعاطى بشؤون البرلمان من أجل تعزيز دور الهيئات التشريعية في تطبيق أهداف الأمم المتحدة الإنمائية للألفية الجديدة، والوثيقة الصادرة عن البنك الدولي حول استراتيجية الحدّ من الفقر، عن طريق تسهيل التواصل بين السلطتين التشريعية والتنفيذية.

English

Arabic

Attachment	Size
Legislative-Executive Communication on Poverty Reduction Strategies (Arabic)	1.13 MB
Legislative-Executive Communication on Poverty Reduction Strategies (English)	623.73 KB
Legislative-Executive Communication on Poverty Reduction Strategies (French)	574.52 KB
Legislative-Executive Communication on Poverty Reduction Strategies (Russian)	738.76 KB
Legislative-Executive Communication on Poverty Reduction Strategies (Spanish)	543.53 KB

Parliamentary-Civic Collaboration for Monitoring Poverty Reduction Initiatives, Parliaments and Poverty Series, Toolkit No. 2

vrao — Wed, 05 May 2004 04:00:00 +0000

Author:

National Democratic Institute United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Publisher:

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Published Date:

05/01/2004

Resource Type:

Manual|Handbook

Language:

English, Arabic, French, Russian, Spanish

This guide is designed to facilitate relationships between civil society and parliament with the aim of monitoring Millenium Development Goals (MDG) and the world Bank’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). Detailing the various stages of this relationship, this guide focuses on assessing potential collaboration, building relationships, creating and maintaining monitoring strategies, and publicizing results.

تعزيز المشاركة البرلمانية في الأهداف الإنمائية للألفية الجديدة والعملية الاستراتيجية للحدّ من الفقر - التعاون البرلماني- الأهلي لمراقبة مبادرات الحدّ من الفقر

الناشر: برنامج الأمم المتحدة الإنمائي - منشورات المعهد الديمقراطي الوطني./p>

تفصيل: تمّ وضع هذا الدليل لتسهيل العلاقات بين المجتمع المدني والبرلمان بهدف مراقبة تطبيق الأهداف الإنمائية للألفية الجديدة، والوثيقة الصادرة عن البنك الدولي حول استراتيجية الحدّ من الفقر. يشرح هذا الدليل تفصيلاً مراحل هذه العلاقة مع تركيزه على دراسة فرص التعاون المحتملة، بناء العلاقات، إعداد استراتيجيات المراقبة وضمان استمراريتها، والإعلان عن النتائج.

English

Attachment	Size
Download the manual (English)	883.76 KB
Download the manual (Arabic)	1.01 MB
Download the manual (French)	654.27 KB
Download the manual (Russian)	918.42 KB
Download the manual (Spanish)	597.38 KB

Legislative Public Outreach on Poverty Issues, Parliaments and Poverty Series, Toolkit No. 3

vrao — Wed, 05 May 2004 04:00:00 +0000

Author:

National Democratic Institute United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

05/01/2004

Resource Type:

Manual|Handbook

Language:

Arabic, English, French, Russian, Spanish

This publication seeks to assist parliaments in facilitating and improving communication on poverty reduction issues with the electorate. It details various audiences and the types of public outreach strategies to implement.

تعزيز المشاركة البرلمانية في الأهداف الإنمائية للألفية الجديدة والعملية الاستراتيجية للحدّ من الفقر - المساعي التشريعية للتواصل مع الشعب في قضايا الفقر

الناشر: برنامج الأمم المتحدة الإنمائي - منشورات المعهد الديمقراطي الوطني.

تفصيل: يسعى هذا الكتاب إلى مساعدة البرلمانات في تسهيل التواصل بين الهيئة التشريعية وجمهور الناخبين حول قضايا الحدّ من الفقر. فيتحدث تفصيلاً عن مختلف استراتيجيات التواصل التي يجب أن تتبنّاها والفئات التي تستهدفها.

English

Arabic

Attachment	Size
Legislative Public Outreach on Poverty Issues (Arabic)	1.13 MB
Legislative Public Outreach on Poverty Issues (English)	1.33 MB
Legislative Public Outreach on Poverty Issues (French)	1.28 MB
Legislative Public Outreach on Poverty Issues (Russian)	1.43 MB
Legislative Public Outreach on Poverty Issues (Spanish)	1.22 MB