NDI - Thailand

NDI Statement on the Passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand

erodriguez — Thu, 13 Oct 2016 18:03:49 +0000

Author:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

10/13/2016

Resource Type:

Statement

Language:

English

The National Democratic Institute expresses its sincere condolences to the people of Thailand for the passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Over his 70-year reign, King Bhumibol was dedicated to the development and prosperity of Thailand. The country’s loss will be mourned throughout the world.

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

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

Thailand's Democratic Way Out

dleonard — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 16:43:14 +0000

Source:

The New York Times

Article Link:

Published Date:

01/31/2014

Thailand’s election will not likely break the political deadlock between Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai Party and protesters who have rallied around Suthep Thaugsuban’s People’s Democratic Reform Committee (P.D.R.C.). “The only way forward for Thailand is to hold reforms in order to strike a more viable balance between the majority and the minority.”

The electoral winners “must accommodate the interests of the losers more openly and more systematically” than in the past. In return, “the electoral minority should not hold the country hostage to get its way,” especially after recent attempts by the P.D.R.C. to facilitate “a citizens coup has polarized Thailand.”

“Rather than trying to seize power without regard for the will of the majority of Thai people who elected Ms. Yingluck, Mr. Suthep and the P.D.R.C.must make concrete demands and propose an actionable agenda on good governance that is acceptable to other parties. And the Yingluck government must address those grievances, by making political reforms a top national priority.”

Democracy in Peril in Asia

dleonard — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 16:02:10 +0000

Source:

The New York Times

Article Link:

Published Date:

01/08/2014

The recent protests in Cambodia, Bangladesh and Thailand “are a vivid reminder of the fragile state of democracy in many developing countries, particularly those that do not have independent judiciaries and professional police forces and militaries.”

In all three countries, “[a]utocratic and corrupt political leaders have used government agencies, in some cases over decades, to serve themselves and their cronies” rather than the people. As a result, “[t]he lack of sufficient democratic checks and balances...has undermined faith in elections and helped to create the conditions for civil unrest.”

“There are no easy or quick solutions to the crisis in these three nations. While elections are vital, they are not sufficient to create stable democracies. Until these countries build institutions capable of serving as a check on political leaders, they will remain vulnerable to civil unrest.”

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

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

Deborah Healy

fstovall — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:15:09 +0000

Deborah Healy, program director for Thailand, has more than 15 years experience related to political party strengthening and electoral processes. Ms. Healy has been the program director for Thailand since 2007 and was responsible for NDI's program to support citizen participation in political reform processes under Thailand's transition to civilian rule. Currently, she manages the NDI Thailand office and oversees NDI programs that focus on promoting political party strengthening and supporting citizen participation in political processes.

From 2003-2008, Ms. Healy served as senior program manager with NDI in Bangladesh focusing on political party programs. She was in charge of the design and implementation of technical assistance programs for political parties in Bangladesh, working with party leaders on approaches to strengthen political parties, including the development of constituency outreach systems. She led trainings to prepare political party poll agents and conducted campaign trainings for women political leaders. Ms. Healy has coordinated with political parties, key government bodies and program stakeholders on the design and implementation of NDI's programs, and managed relationships with program donors.

Ms. Healy has extensive electoral expertise. She has handled monitoring programs for national and local government elections in Bangladesh and was part of the management team for an international long-term election observation mission for the 2006/2007 national elections. She has also conducted election monitoring missions for previous parliamentary by-elections and local government elections.

A native of Ireland, Ms. Healy has been involved in Irish domestic politics since 1988. She has worked on several presidential, parliamentary and local campaigns. She was the personal administrator for David Andrews, a member of the Irish parliament who held a number of senior ministerial positions including the defense and foreign ministry portfolio. For many years, she managed the parliamentarian's constituency (district) office and served as chief liaison between the minister and government departments. She also directed voter and media relations during electoral campaigns, trained canvassers and organized canvassing operations.

Budget Oversight Discussed at NDI/World Bank Institute Seminar

ggreene — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:31:01 +0000

Parliamentarians and staff members from eight countries on three continents gained new insights into budget oversight in a three-day World Bank Institute (WBI)-NDI seminar that focused, among other things, on the role of parliamentary budget offices in overseeing spending and aiding transparency.

NDI’s director of governance programs, John Johnson, a speaker at the July seminar, discussed the international movement to establish parliamentary budget offices. Such agencies, he said, aid parliaments by reviewing and simplifying executive budget data so members of parliament can more easily use it to influence economic and development policies. The budget analysis also makes budget information more understandable for the public and increases accountability in spending.

To illustrate the benefits and challenges of setting up parliamentary budget offices, Johnson focused on the experience of Uganda in 2001. Initially blocked by the executive, the Uganda Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) was finally pushed through after months of lobbying by supporters. Since its creation, the Uganda PBO has identified ways to maximize tax revenues, developed a simple system for parliamentary committees to monitor expenditures and performed other oversight functions. While a success story, the office’s experiences illustrate that new budget offices need support to overcome both initial and ongoing resistance, Johnson said.

Participants in the seminar were from Thailand, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Nigeria, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Morocco, and Lebanon. They discussed the oversight systems in place in their countries, avenues for further reform, and the need to overcome legal and cultural barriers to parliamentary budget oversight A theme that arose repeatedly was the importance of nonpartisanship in budget oversight and the difficulty of maintaining it.

The seminar featured guest presentations by Rasheed Draman of Canada’s Parliamentary Center; Barry Anderson, former acting director of the Congressional Budget Office; and Douglas Criscitello, founder of the New York City Independent Budget Office. The speakers addressed aspects of budget oversight and the role of information in the budget process. Participants concluded the seminar by joining break-out groups to discuss steps toward developing budget offices for their own legislatures.

More information on the seminar, including copies of the presentations, may be found on the World Bank Institute web site.

—

Published on Sept. 18, 2008

Thailand

ggreene — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:44:10 +0000

Supporting Dialogue Between Elected Officials and Constituents

Since 2007, the Institute has worked on programs to restore democratic institutions, strengthen and promote political party development and increase dialogue between elected officials and constituents.

Beginning in 2010, NDI has worked with the Political Development Council (PDC) to conduct programs enhancing interaction between Thai citizens, the government and political parties. The Institute supported 43 PDC-held local dialogues across 22 provinces. These town hall-style forums bring together citizens and local and national government representatives to discuss, prioritize and resolve issues. NDI also provided assistance to the National Steering Committee – comprising representatives of King Prajadhipok’s Institute (KPI) and the PDC – to communicate the issues raised at the dialogues to the relevant parliamentary committees.

Increasing Youth Participation in Governance

NDI has also made youth participation in governance a focus of its programming in Thailand. The Institute partnered with the National Youth Council of Thailand, a semi-autonomous body under the Bureau for the Promotion and Protection of Youth & Children, to provide opportunities for young people across the country to share their concerns about the country’s political development, work on a shared agenda for the future, and bring these concerns to the attention of elected and appointed officials.

Building on the successes of this project, NDI is currently working to provide youth representatives with the skills and tools to constructively engage with local officials and help shape local government decision-making. The Institute identifies young leaders and develops youth steering committees in six provinces. These committees will aggregate grassroots youth issues, organize youth dialogues, draft actionable reports with solutions to key issues raised at the dialogues, and submit the reports to provincial officials.

Funding

NDI programming in Thailand is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and previously received funding from the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL).

Contact Information

For further information, please contact:

Bangkok
Deborah Healy, Resident Director
dhealy@ndi.org

Washington, D.C.
Christina Costello, Program Manager
ccostello@ndi.org

NDI has promoted democratic development in Thailand since 1994, conducting programs to strengthen civil society, political parties and democratic institutions. From 1998 to 2000, the Institute helped civic groups monitor elections and conduct provincial anti-corruption campaigns. From 2001 to 2004, NDI involved Thai political party leaders in a regional program that brought together party leaders and reformers from across Asia to share and develop strategies on combating corruption and supporting greater accountability and internal democracy within parties. In October 2006, NDI conducted an assessment of the political environment in Thailand, consulting with a broad range of political party members, civil society leaders and members of the military-appointed government. Based on those findings, NDI launched a program in 2007 to support citizen and political party participation in reform processes under Thailand’s interim government. Current NDI programming seeks to increase youth participation in the provincial development planning process, following efforts to enhance interaction between Thai citizens, the government and political parties.

In May 2014, the Thai military staged its second coup d’etat in eight years, establishing a junta known as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). The NCPO has set out a “roadmap for democracy,” promising a new constitution and new elections by 2016. However, the underlying issues that surrounded the previous coup, which removed former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006, and the turmoil that followed, remain to be addressed. Thaksin’s controversial rule split the nation, revealing a sharp ideological divide pitting his supporters, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (the UDD, also known as “red shirts”) against the People’s Alliance for Democracy (“yellow shirts”) and the recently formed People’s Democratic Reform Council, led by Democrat Party deputy leader Suthep Thaugsuban.

The election of Thaksin’s sister Yingluck Shinawatra as prime minister in 2011 brought a short-lived period of calm that ended in late 2013 when the Pheu Thai Party-led administration attempted to push through an amnesty bill in parliament. The legislation would have excused Thaksin from corruption charges and allowed him to return from exile. This development resulted in mass demonstrations in Bangkok to oust the government.

In an effort to defuse the situation, Prime Minister Yingluck dissolved parliament and scheduled elections in early February 2014. The elections, however, failed to resolve the conflict and seemed only to highlight the democratic deficit in Thailand’s body politic. The polls, which were later nullified by the Constitutional Court, were boycotted by the Democrat Party, who stated that elections would not change the political status quo. Prime Minister Yingluck and her government remained in office in a caretaker capacity while the protests continued, resulting in a political deadlock. In the early hours of May 20, 2014, martial law was imposed. Two days later, the military took control of the country’s government once again as discussions between the government and the protesters failed to reach a compromise.

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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

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