NDI - Uganda

Global Domestic Election Monitoring Network Seeks to Share Experience

rrunyan — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:57:35 +0000

Millions of people around the world who have organized to monitor elections in their own countries often must brave difficult conditions and personal risk in a quest for responsive and transparent governance. While they share many goals and practices, they have not had a way, on their own, to connect with one another and benefit from the knowledge of their counterparts.

Enter the Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors, or GNDEM, born in 2009 and now connecting 140 member organizations from more than 60 countries. NDI spearheaded the effort to create GNDEM and currently manages the GNDEM.org website.

Sierra Leone domestic monitors watch vote count during 2007 elections.

Launched last summer, the site provides easy access to more than 1,000 documents grouped into 39 priority topics identified by members. The topics range from how to maintain credibility and impartiality during observations to media strategies and the nuts and bolts of how to monitor various processes before, during and after elections.

The site also includes the Declaration of Global Principles for Nonpartisan Election Observation and Monitoring by Citizen Organizations, which was written and agreed upon by GNDEM member organizations. The effort to create and maintain global standards for domestic monitoring is similar to standards developed for international election observation adopted in 2005 and endorsed by 36 nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations.

“Citizen observation has become a movement. It’s not just a concept anymore.”

- Darko Aleksov, secretary general of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations

The Global Principles set standards for citizen observers. They are a tool for advocating for more rights for observers and for observers to be able to exercise those rights, said Darko Aleksov, secretary general of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO), which includes 22 monitoring groups from 16 countries in the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe.

“Citizen observation has become a movement. It’s not just a concept anymore,” Aleksov said. “Around eight million people in the world so far have been recruited, trained and deployed to be domestic observers on a voluntary basis. This [Global Principles] document is a product of what we have learned.”

Networks of monitoring groups from different regions in the world – including ENEMO, also a GNDEM member – have existed for some time to share experiences. But GNDEM is the first effort to bring these regional networks and individual groups together to share knowledge on a global scale.

“NDI has helped foster regional networks and connections among groups over its 25 years of assisting citizen election monitors in more than 75 countries,” said Pat Merloe, NDI’s director of electoral programs, and part of the idea behind GNDEM is to encourage greater direct peer-to-peer exchanges.

“Traditionally, NDI has been in the best position to share global developments in citizen election monitoring,” Merloe said. “For example, if monitoring election violence becomes important in a given country, we know that efforts in Sri Lanka, Guatemala and Zimbabwe provide useful models. We bring that knowledge to bear, often bringing activists together to share experiences or otherwise helping people make connections.”

Domestic monitors audit a voter list in Indonesia in 2008.

These types of linkages are now beginning to happen through GNDEM. The Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center in Azerbaijan and the Egyptian Association for the Support of Democracy, for example, have sought the network’s help in distributing reports and press releases, while a coalition of groups in Liberia has asked for feedback on its preparations for general elections next October. Organizations like the DEMGroup in Uganda and the Bahrainian Transparency Association have featured their online mapping tools with the GNDEM community, sharing how they have incorporated new technologies into their monitoring methodologies.

Regional networking is also enhanced through GNDEM. The Center for Democracy and Development (CDD) in Ghana, for example, which monitors issues from economic reform to conflict mitigation and plays a leading role in nonpartisan election monitoring, has worked with help from NDI over the last year to launch the West Africa Election Observation Network (WAEON), representing citizen election monitors from 11 countries. CDD-Ghana recently hosted a study mission from the Central African Republic’s coalition of election monitors, which was preparing to observe that country’s 2011 general elections.

Another GNDEM member, the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE), aims to improve the Lebanese electoral system and reinforce democratic electoral practices. It is working with other organizations in the Middle East and North Africa to launch a citizen election monitoring network to enhance the impact of election integrity efforts in that region. Like CDD-Ghana, LADE participated in developing the Declaration of Global Principles.

“International observation has long been effective in bringing global attention to a particular election,” Merloe noted, “but it cannot provide the deeper political understanding that citizen monitors bring, nor can it leave the lasting, substantial impact that so many citizen groups have created. After all, elections are about citizens’ rights to participate in public affairs and to establish accountable, representative governance.”

This story was originally published in the Spring 2011 edition of NDI Reports. You can read the entire newsletter here: www.ndi.org/NDI-Reports-Spring-2011/index.html. Please visit NDI’s complete newsletter archive at www.ndi.org/newsletter_archive to read newsletters dating back to 1987.

DEMGroup Long Term Observation Finds Elections Mostly Free but not Fair

rrunyan — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:12:31 +0000

Author:

The Democracy Monitoring Group

Publisher:

The Democracy Monitoring Group

Published Date:

02/15/2011

Resource Type:

Press Release

Language:

English

Media Type:

PDF

English

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NDI E-news: Community of Democracies, Burma, Iraq | August 2010

fgalleto — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:14:59 +0000

August 2010

New and Established Democracies Celebrate Past Successes and Look to the Future of Democracy Support

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Former Polish President Lech Walesa and Madeleine Albright at the 10th anniversary meeting of the Community of Democracies

Community of Democracies Celebrates 10 Years

Representatives
from many of the world's established and new democracies came together
in Krakow, Poland, last month to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the
Community of Democracies, a global coalition
focusing today on meeting challenges to democracy and strengthening the
role of civil society.

NDI Chairman Madeleine K. Albright, who as U.S. secretary of state was an initiator of the organization, spoke at the gathering,
saying "those who are blessed to live in a democracy have an obligation
to repay that blessing by upholding free institutions and by teaching,
protecting, and cherishing democratic values." Read more»

Transatlantic Democracy Dialogue Begins

To
encourage stronger transatlantic ties on democracy support, senior U.S.
and European policymakers came together in Washington, D.C., for the
start of a two-year dialogue to discuss ways to fortify cooperation on
democracy and human rights. The dialogue is chaired by Albright; Jerzy Buzek,
president of the European Parliament; Javier Solana, former European
Union high representative for the common foreign security policy; and Vin
Weber, former congressman and former chairman of the National Endowment
for Democracy (NED). It is organized by NDI with primary
support from the European Commission and the NED. The
dialogue will, through a series of conferences and working papers,
produce actionable recommendations for improving democracy support
programs. Read more»

Commemorating the Frost-Solomon Task Force

Frost (left) and Rep. David Price (center) speak to Ibrahim Samadi, a participant in the parliamentary research service institute from Afghanistan.

The
benefits of transatlantic cooperation were celebrated in early June at a
commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Frost-Solomon Task Force,
which provided assistance from the U.S. Congress to new parliaments in
Central and Eastern Europe emerging from communist rule. Its programs
were based on the principle that successful democratic transitions in
the former communist countries depended on the establishment of
effective democratic legislatures. Former Rep. Martin Frost, for whom the task force was named along with the late Rep. Gerald Solomon, attended the commemoration in Warsaw, Poland, along with
representatives from 10 of the former Soviet bloc countries. Read more »

Toward Better Parliamentary Research Services

Many
of the representatives from the original Frost-Solomon countries stayed
in Warsaw to share their experiences during a week-long parliamentary
institute organized by the House Democracy Partnership (HDP), a
successor to the task force. Representatives from 11 parliaments on
four continents, all HDP partner parliaments, took part in the institute
that focused on developing and strengthening parliamentary research
services. "Where democratic governance has taken root...commissions such
as ours can provide an added boost by sharing our own experiences, good
and bad," said Rep. David Price, chairman of HDP. Read more »

NDI Analysis: Burma's Electoral Framework is Fundamentally Undemocratic

A
new NDI report found that Burma's new election laws and constitution
have created a framework that is fundamentally undemocratic for the
first national elections to be held in the country since 1990. Based on
a legal and human rights analysis, NDI concluded that the election
process will not be a step forward and risks being yet another setback
in a country that has been governed by the military for almost half a
century. The process "is clearly designed to guarantee a pre-determined
outcome and, therefore, does not meet even the minimum of international
standards," the report said.

Read the full report »

New Technologies Create Opportunities, Risks in Democracy Support

Speaking at a panel at the Krakow Community of Democracies meeting, NDI Chief Technology Officer Chris Spence explored the role of technology in democratic development and the challenges and opportunities it poses in closed societies. Spence also addressed the importance of using technologies in new and emerging democracies using examples from Afghanistan and Uganda.

He noted that while technology can provide useful tools, to be most effective they must be used to support well-organized "off-line" activities by civil society groups.

Read Spence's remarks »

In Angola, Radio Program Connects 'Parliament and Me'

"Parliament
and Me," a new radio talk show in Angola, is working to establish a
connection between elected representatives and their constituents as the
country rebuilds after a 27-year civil war. NDI partnered with Radio
Ecclesia, a capital city radio station with a wide audience, to create
the weekly program, which educates citizens about the role of
parliament.

The
program also explores historical, political and legal issues that many
Angolans may not be familiar with, such as the origins of the Angolan
parliament, the laws it has passed and the impact of women parliamentarians.

In Macedonia, New Legislative Research Institute to Aid Lawmakers

Macedonia is working to establish a professional parliamentary research service that will
enhance the ability of its legislature to advance democratic
governance in the country. The parliament is undertaking a
three-year project to create such a service, which will help lawmakers obtain
the necessary information to generate and amend legislation, oversee
public expenditures and monitor how laws are carried out.

The
research service is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and
Cooperation and implemented by NDI and its Macedonian partner, the
Institute for Parliamentary Democracy.

Iraqis Discouraged by Post-Election Government Negotiations

Iraqis
are becoming increasingly frustrated about the delay in the formation
of a new government and a majority of them believe that the country is
headed in the wrong direction, according to a recent public opinion poll
conducted by NDI.

Among
the survey's other findings, 42 percent of those polled thought Ayad
Allawi, representing the Iraqiyya coalition, which got the most votes in
the March 7 elections, should become the next prime minister, compared
to 14 percent who supported current Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki. The most
important problem facing average Iraqis, they said, is delivery of basic
services.

Increasing Women's Political Participation Around the Globe

Part of NDI's core mission is working with women around the world to help them gain leadership skills and access to power:

Afghan Women Seek Major Role in Peace-building:
Women from 33 of the country's 34 provinces attended a symposium in
Kabul, Afghanistan, to find ways to ensure that women's rights are integrated into the government-initiated peace and reconciliation process. They listed 13 recommendations for the Afghan government to
follow to address women's needs.

Coalition Boosts Effort to Implement Gender Quota Law in Burkina Faso:
Last year the legislature in Burkina Faso passed a law requiring that
30 percent of candidates on political party lists be women. Now, a
coalition is suggesting ways to fully implement the law.

Middle Eastern Women Gain Political Inspiration in Wisconsin: A
group of young women from across the Middle East who aspire to
political careers spent two weeks at a leadership retreat in Madison,
Wisc., the culmination of a year-long Young Women Leaders Academy.
There, they learned from elected women leaders about public service and
political campaigns.

Mayan Women Train One Another to Increase Their Political Voice:
To help overcome the political and economic challenges facing Mayan
women in Guatemala, NDI has published a series of training guides to
help equip the women with the concrete skills they need to pursue
political leadership opportunities.

Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors Launches

In
more than 90 countries, millions of citizens have joined nonpartisan
election monitoring efforts to safeguard electoral integrity, hold
government accountable, mitigate politically motivated violence and
promote the right of citizens to participate in public life.

For the first time, those groups have joined together to form the Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors, which launched a website
this month that compiles thousands of documents, manuals and best
practices. As the site continues to evolve, domestic election monitors
around the world will be able to exchange information, form
relationships and continue to learn from each other.

Multimedia Not To Miss

Be sure to check out:

Pop star Bobi Wine performs his song, "A Serious Matter," to help promote peaceful elections and the use of an NDI-supported election hotline in Uganda.

A short video
highlights the interaction between citizens and members of parliament
in Cambodia as part of a NDI's constituency dialogue program.

Democracy Updates | Partner Spotlights | In-Country Perspectives |

Democracy Dialogue | Publications | Employment

Ugandan Pop Star Sings About ‘A Serious Matter’

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 19:40:13 +0000

NDI recently partnered with pop-music star Bobi Wine to record a song that sends a message against election violence in his native Uganda. The song, composed in Luganda and entitled “A Serious Matter,” is a mix between reggae and local African music. It is part of a campaign to encourage Ugandans to use a new citizen hotline called “Uganda Watch 2011” to voice concerns about the integrity of the electoral process surrounding polls set for February 2011.

NDI recently partnered with pop-music star Bobi Wine to record a song that sends a message against election violence in his native Uganda. The song, composed in Lugandan and entitled “A Serious Matter,” is a mix between reggae and local African music. It is part of a campaign to encourage Ugandans to use a new citizen hotline called “Uganda Watch 2011” to voice concerns about the integrity of the electoral process surrounding polls set for February 2011.

Wine performed the song at the hotline kickoff in Kampala in June and has performed it live again around the country. The song has been aired on radio stations throughout Uganda since June, and the music video for the song has been featured on seven major TV stations. Both radio and TV stations have mentioned the hotline and its significance each time the song has aired.

NDI approached Wine, who is especially popular among the younger population, and offered financial support for the costs of producing an election-related song. With more than half of Uganda’s eligible voting population between the ages of 18 and 30, Uganda Watch supporters believe the song will be an effective way of getting the word out about the hotline and the importance of non-violence.

You can listen to the song, watch the music video or read a translated version of the chorus below.

Chorus

So if it is voting, let’s go and vote but votes should not separate us,

Let’s stop feuding ‘cause of those contesting,

Votes should not separate us.

As we’re feuding, they’re in agreement.

Votes should not separate us.

Voting comes to an end but we still stay

Votes should not separate us

Pictured Above: Bobi Wine performs “A Serious Matter.”

Published July 29, 2010

NDI Partners with Commonwealth Parliamentary Association to Strengthen Parliaments

fgalleto — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 20:42:06 +0000

NDI and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) have signed an agreement to collaborate on efforts to enhance representative government around the world. The association is a group of national and subnational legislatures of the Commonwealth, representing some two billion citizens from all faiths and ethnicities from six continents.

A memorandum of understanding was signed in Nairobi Sept. 8 by the secretary-general of the CPA, William F. Shija, and the president of NDI, Kenneth Wollack.

A memorandum of understanding was signed in Nairobi Sept. 8 by the secretary-general of the CPA, William F. Shija, and the president of NDI, Kenneth Wollack. Shija attended the signing ceremony in advance of the 56th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference hosted by the Kenyan Parliament. Wollack was in Nairobi attending NDI's first board meeting held outside the United States. NDI Board member Tom Daschle, former U.S. Senate majority leader, also participated in the ceremony.

NDI and CPA will continue to work together to develop and promote the use of the CPA's "Benchmarks for Democratic Legislatures," a guide to good parliamentary practice developed in 2006 by a CPA Study Group that drew on a number of technical inputs, including an NDI discussion document. The CPA benchmarks are being used around the world to help parliaments self-assess their procedures and processes to identify areas where democratic governance can be improved.

Wollack and Daschle noted NDI's past successful cooperation with the CPA and looked forward to additional partnership at the global level and in Commonwealth parliaments where NDI has a parliamentary strengthening program. For his part, Shija welcomed the formal partnership as a vehicle for the 175 national and subnational legislatures of the Commonwealth to work with NDI to strengthen developing parliaments.

NDI and the CPA also collaborate with other international organizations on parliamentary strengthening, including the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank Institute.

Related:

Pictured above: Kenneth Wollack (left) and William F. Shija at the signing ceremony in Nairobi

Published September 21, 2010

New Technologies Create Opportunities, Risks in Democracy Support

fgalleto — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:35:27 +0000

In the decade since the founding of the Community of Democracies, which met June 2-4 in Poland, a major change has been the explosion of technology and the tools it has created, both for those supporting the free flow of ideas and other democratic values and for authoritarian states interested in the opposite, curtailing information and suppressing human rights.

Speaking on a panel in Krakow, NDI's chief technology officer, Chris Spence, explored the role of technology in democratic development and the risks its use poses in closed societies.

"Our view is that technologies are clearly a net positive for democracy...because of the important role [they] can play in consolidating democracy in fragile and transitional democratic states," he said. In such places, democracy, which hasn't fully taken root, "risks backsliding toward authoritarianism if nascent democratic institutions are not strengthened. Creative uses of technology in these environments can and do help make these institutions more efficient, accessible, transparent and effective and thus help democracy deliver for their citizens."

Spence noted that in the early 1990s NDI began to recognize the important role technology plays in politics and democratic development, and began to develop creative ways to integrate technology tools and approaches into its democracy support programs.

He cited two current NDI programs:

A tool, www.afghanistanelectiondata.org, for analyzing Afghanistan election results data in the aftermath of last summer's flawed presidential election. It was developed to pinpoint fraud, to try to hold the government accountable for better elections, and to help civic groups and political parties oversee the next round of parliamentary elections slated for September. Embracing an "open data" approach, the site uses information provided by the Afghanistan government in a 2,500-page PDF document that was difficult to use and combines that with demographic, ethnographic, topographic and security information from other sources. The site makes the data easier to analyze using new visualization tools including maps, graphs and other data filtering tools.
A Citizen Hotline program in Uganda that allows citizens to use text messaging to report problems with voter registration for the country's 2011 elections that will be combined with a domestic election monitoring program on election day. The Hotline uses a technique, known as "crowd sourcing," to pinpoint the location of complaints. This is an evolving new approach to increasing citizen participation and oversight of elections and other political processes, including human rights monitoring, budget monitoring, and any number of others.

"The introduction of these tools in the absence of good civic or political organization is not enough."

Spence noted that while technology tools are useful and frequently necessary, to be most effective in bringing about political reform, they must be used to support well-organized political activities by strong organizations, typically civic groups or political parties, with long-term plans for change. "The introduction of these tools in the absence of good civic or political organization is not enough," he said.

Spence also addressed the risks associated with the introduction of technology tools in authoritarian states, which usually have technological advantages over their citizens. "In closed societies, citizens and civic groups are at a technological disadvantage and need to be very deliberate in building communication strategies that take into account a full understanding of risk," he said. "They must include a combination of the right technologies and procedures that are designed for their specific environment."

The “New Technologies for Democracy” panel was moderated by Teymoor Nabili of Al-Jazeera. Panelists included Matt Harrison from the Prometheus Institute; Walid Al-Saqaf, an online journalist and activist from Yemen; Susan Pointer, director of public policy and government relations at Google for Southern and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and Wael Abbas, a well-known Egyptian blogger and activist.

Related:

Pictured above: A map from www.afghanistanelectiondata.org

Published on July 16, 2010

NDI E-news: NDI Celebrates 25 Years, Rwanda, Colombia | May 2010

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:16:00 +0000

May 2010

NDI Celebrates 25 Years

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe

NDI celebrated its 25th anniversary on May 10 by honoring two champions of democracy, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe and the Network of Chocó Women of Colombia, at an event hosted by NDI Chairman Madeleine K. Albright. Read more»

Albright described Tsvangirai as "a courageous democratic leader of our time" as she presented him with NDI's W. Averell Harriman award, which recognizes individuals and organizations that have exhibited a sustained commitment to democracy and human rights. The award also recognized the democratic aspirations of the Zimbabwean people.

"I recognize that over the past decade or more, I have become one of the better-known faces of the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe — but I am only amongst millions of my countrymen and women who believe that our nation, its people and our children deserve to live in a society free from fear of persecution, poverty and hunger," said Tsvangirai as he accepted the award. He described democracy as a process rather than an event, and pledged his commitment to moving Zimbabwe forward in that process. Read Tsvangirai's speech»

Nimia Vargas accepted the Madeleine K. Albright Grant on behalf of the Network of Chocó Women in Colombia. The network is an umbrella group of 52 civil society organizations that works to increase women's rights and political participation in western Colombia. The network will use the $25,000 grant to provide leadership training to women interested in politics. Chocó has the country's highest levels of poverty and illiteracy. Read Vargas' speech»

The dinner was also a celebration of NDI's first quarter century. The Institute premiered a film, NDI's First Quarter Century: Working for Democracy and Making Democracy Work, narrated by Christiane Amanpour of CNN. It highlighted the Institute's history of supporting political parties, civic groups, parliaments, elections and women's groups in 125 countries. NDI also published an anniversary report tracing its history and programs. Watch the film» | Read the report»

10 Days in Rwanda: Training Political Parties to Embrace Technology

Ben Fuller of the Service Employees International Union went to Rwanda as a trainer for NDI to work with young political leaders from all 10 Rwandan political parties. In this first-person essay, he recounts his impressions and experiences in the country.

"We focused on building political party messages not based on personality or aimless cheap shots and dissention, but originating instead from party platforms built on well thought-out public policy."

Mexican Men and Women Work Together to Elect More Women

Though gender quotas have led to an increase in the number of women running for and elected to office in Mexico, women hold only 5 percent of municipal and state elected positions. NDI partnered with the Fox Center and Mexico's three major political parties to help women gain new campaign skills.

Over 300 male and female participants took part in a week-long series of training sessions that emphasized the strategic aspects of running a campaign as well as some of the "soft" skills needed to win an election.

NDI Partners Pursue Transparent Election Season in Colombia

It's election season in Colombia, where historically polls have been marred by violence, allegations of fraud and intimidation by armed groups allied with candidates. Legislative elections took place on March 14 and the first round of the presidential election is set for May 30.

NDI and its local partners are working to increase transparency around the elections. In addition to supporting a domestic election monitoring group, NDI has also aided in organizing candidate debates and better campaign finance reporting.

Young Leaders Learn, Network at East Africa Political Academy

In East Africa, where large youth populations can feel disconnected and overlooked by governments with aging leaders, the Regional Youth Political Leadership Academy (RYPLA) hopes to boost the leadership skills and political networks of young leaders beginning their political careers.

NDI created RYPLA in partnership with the Kristdemokratiskt Internationellt Center in Sweden for a select group of political party members, age 22 to 35, who aspire to elected office or party leadership. Last year, the group met three times and learned tools and strategies for organizing campaigns, reaching out to constituents and crafting a political message.

Vote for your Favorite Video!

Voting has begun for the Democracy Video Challenge. The DVC is a global project to celebrate democracy through film. Three finalists have been chosen from each of six regions of the world and the winners will be chosen by the public. Films complete the phrase "democracy is..." in under three minutes.

Winners receive an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., New York and Hollywood, where they will meet with government officials and film and television producers. Voting will remain open through June 15 and winners will be announced shortly thereafter.

The DVC is sponsored by the U.S. State Department in partnership with NDI, the Center for International Private Enterprise, the International Republican Institute, the International Youth Foundation, the Motion Picture Association of America, New York University, NBC Universal, the Recording Industry Association of America, TakingITGlobal, William Morris Endeavor, YouTube and the USC Annenberg School for Communication.

Watch the finalists' videos and vote»

The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

NDI E-news: African Elections, Serbia, Cambodia | June 2010

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:11:19 +0000

June 2010

Delegations Praise, Suggest Improvements for African Elections

Keith Jennings, NDI's Southern and East Africa regional director, and Ambassador Nora Schimming-Chase of Namibia present the delegation's findings in Tanzania.

Elections do not begin and end on election day. Successful polls require months of pre-election preparations by candidates, civil society, election commissions and domestic and international observer groups. Successful elections also require transparent counting procedures, a timely and fair adjudication of electoral complaints and a peaceful transfer of power.

In the pre-election periods in Tanzania and Guinea, NDI fielded delegations that assessed conditions and made recommendations to improve transparency, participation and fairness in upcoming elections.

In Tanzania, elections slated for October 2010 will be a milestone in the country's democratic development. The NDI delegation released a statement praising Tanzania's electoral process for its innovation and reform, but pointing out several aspects of the process that need to be strengthened. The delegation focused especially on a July 31 referendum that could enable Zanzibar to form a government of national unity. It also focused on the Election Expenses Act, which could exacerbate the resource imbalance between the government and opposition parties, and the voter registration process, which it said still requires significant improvements. Read more»

In Guinea, where the military junta is preparing to hand over power to a civilian government after the country's June 27 presidential election, members of the NDI delegation were optimistic that the election would be conducted peacefully. Their optimism was merited when the voting proceeded in what was initially seen as a largely peaceful and fair election. In a communiqué released prior to the vote, the delegation said, "The electoral campaign is being held without clashes and major incidents." Areas cited as needing improvement were the election commission's communications with the public as well as Guinea's security forces' role in the electoral process. Read more»

These two elections, in addition to upcoming polls in Rwanda, Kenya and Niger, underscore the value of the guidelines, recommendations and a sample of best practices included in a new report from last year's Ghana colloquium on African elections. The gathering was attended by more than 100 participants from 25 African nations. The report is available in both English and French.

Citizen Hotline Launched Ahead of Ugandan Elections

In an effort to curb electoral irregularities in Uganda, DEMGroup and the Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy (CCEDU), both domestic election monitoring organizations, are using technology.

They have put in place a citizen hotline that Ugandans can use to call or text in concerns about the integrity of the electoral process. The comments are being collected, organized and checked out by DEMGroup and CCEDU monitors and digitally mapped on a public website to add transparency to the voting process.

The project is being conducted in partnership with NDI.

In Serbia, Five Pillars for Strengthening Parliament

As the political situation in Serbia has stabilized, attention has shifted to operation of its parliament and the lawmakers' responsibilities to constituents. Rebecca Shoot, a resident program officer in NDI's Belgrade office, discusses the Institute's work helping parliamentarians engage with the electorate.

NDI Brings Together Parliamentary Monitoring Groups in Jakarta

The efforts of civil society organizations to monitor and assess the work of legislatures was the subject of a recent meeting of representatives of parliamentary monitoring organizations (PMO) at the Sixth Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The findings of a project to identify and map PMOs around the world were presented at the conference, as was an introduction to the AGORA Portal for Parliamentary Development, an online resource for sharing parliamentary best practices.

Watch the Winning Videos!

You voted for your favorites, now see who won! The Democracy Video Challenge has announced its six winning filmmakers— from Ethiopia, Indonesia, Spain, Iran, Nepal and Colombia — who earned the most votes for their three-minute videos completing the phrase "democracy is..." The six will now visit New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, where they will meet with representatives from government, democracy and other nongovernmental organizations, and the film and television industries.

Watch the winning videos»

Congress Looks to Women as Agents of Change

Women's meaningful participation in politics affects both the range of policy issues considered and the types of solutions that are proposed. In places such as Timor-Leste, Croatia, and South Africa, an increase in the number of female lawmakers has resulted in more legislation related to domestic violence, inheritance and security.

NDI President Kenneth Wollack testified about these gains at a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on "Women as Agents of Change: Advancing the Role of Women in Politics and Civil Society."

Read Wollack's testimony»

Constituents, Representatives Mix in Expanded Program in Cambodia

In Cambodia, members of the National Assembly have few chances to interact with constituents, and citizens rarely have an opportunity to express their views to their elected representatives in Phnom Penh. To address these challenges, NDI is expanding its constituency dialogue program as part of a five-year USAID-funded effort called Accountability in Governance and Politics. The dialogues are attended by 400 to 600 citizens and are similar to town hall meetings. Citizens can speak to and ask questions of their elected representatives.

Analysis: Signs of Optimism in the Balkans

Efforts in the Balkans to turn the page on a troubled past and look to democratic rule as a foundation for political stability are having an effect, according to Robert Benjamin, NDI's regional director for Central and Eastern Europe. In a recent talk, he discussed the outlook in the Western Balkans — Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia — and concluded that despite challenges the region is making real progress toward peace, stability and democracy.

"My optimistic message is that the region is stabilizing in ways we've never seen before," he said.

Read Benjamin's full remarks»

New Technologies for Democracy

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

Author:

Chris Spence

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

07/01/2010

Resource Type:

Speech

Language:

English

Media Type:

PDF

English

Attachment	Size
Read the speech	82.93 KB

Citizen Hotline Launched Ahead of Ugandan Elections

fgalleto — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:39:26 +0000

During 2006 elections in Uganda, international observers and domestic monitors reported significant violations of electoral law and protocol, including disenfranchisement of voters, counting and tallying irregularities, the use of state funds for campaign activities and the incarceration of political opposition leaders. As February 2011 elections approach, efforts are underway to head off potential repetition of these problems and violations.

DEMGroup and Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy, domestic election monitoring organizations, are carrying out a comprehensive monitoring strategy that includes a citizen hotline.

DEMGroup and Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy (CCEDU), domestic election monitoring organizations, are carrying out a comprehensive monitoring strategy that includes a citizen hotline, entitled “Uganda Watch 2011.” Ugandans can use the hotline, launched this month to text in concerns about the integrity of the electoral process. That information will be collected and organized by DEMGroup and CCEDU monitors and digitally mapped at http://www.ugandawatch2011.org/. The maps allow users to sort by issue and region, letting the public see which electoral problems are most prevalent and which parts of the country are experiencing the greatest numbers of incidents. Text messages can be received in a variety of Ugandan languages and are translated to English for wider audiences.

Over 140 Ugandans have been trained to publicize the hotline throughout the country. Within a few weeks of the launch the hotline received over 300 text messages expressing concerns about a range of issues including the registration process, ghost voters and national ID cards. DEMGroup and CCEDU staffers will follow up on the messages for further investigation and verification.

To complement that effort, DEMGroup and CCEDU will also hold feedback sessions throughout the country so that particular complaints or trends are highlighted and so citizens can participate in electoral reform efforts. The feedback sessions, which will include representatives from the government, political parties, the Electoral Commission and civil society, will be recorded and played on radio stations in all regions of Uganda. NDI has provided technical assistance and support on development of the hotline and analysis of the information collected.

The use of new technologies is part of a shift occurring in election monitoring around the world that is moving from anecdotal and impressionistic evaluations of electoral processes to data-focused and information rich assessments. NDI is among the leaders in this movement with the use of parallel vote tabulations (PVT) to provide independent vote counts as a check on election authorities. DEMGroup, with technical assistance from NDI, is likely to complete a data-backed analysis of voting results on election day in Uganda.

“Citizen reporting, including using crowdsoursing and other technologies, can significantly increase public engagement in electoral activity and improve potentials for accountability,” said Ian Schuler, a program manager for NDI’s information and communications technology team. “The citizen hotline in Uganda is a visionary program. It’s happening in part because we have good partners and Uganda itself is one of the more tech-savvy places on the continent, so it’s a good environment to be piloting new technologies.”

NDI’s country director in Uganda, Heather Kashner, stressed the importance of implementing programs like the citizen hotline to increase citizen participation and promote government accountability.

“The citizen hotline is a way to try to make a change fast, make it big, and get it to more people than otherwise exist outside traditional power structures,” Kashner said, “it’s crucial that we include as many people as possible in ensuring a peaceful and reliable electoral process.”

Pictured Above: Concerns from Ugandan citizens about the election process are collected and digitally mapped at http://www.ugandawatch2011.org/.

Published June 29, 2010

Election Technology | May 24, 2010

fgalleto — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:10:30 +0000

TV2 Africa | Link to story »

This story on using new technologies for election monitoring efforts in Africa and around the world interviews Pat Merloe of NDI and Eric Gunderson of Development Seed.

Link to story »

Congress Looks to Women as Agents of Change

fgalleto — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:57:09 +0000

In places as diverse as Timor-Leste, Croatia, Morocco, Rwanda and South Africa, increasing numbers of women are being elected to political office. In each case, more women has meant more legislation related to anti-discrimination, domestic violence, family codes, inheritance, and child support and protection.

"Women's political participation results in tangible gains for democracy, including greater responsiveness to citizen needs, increased cooperation across party and ethnic lines, and more sustainable peace," said NDI President Kenneth Wollack in testimony at a June 9 House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on "Women as Agents of Change: Advancing the Role of Women in Politics and Civil Society."

Wollack and other panelists discussed the concrete ways in which women help democracy deliver benefits to all citizens. Panelists also stressed the role that the United States must play in promoting gender equality and empowering women politically and economically to help establish stronger, more inclusive democracies around the world.

In the last 10 years, the rate of women's representation in national parliaments globally has grown from 13.1 percent at the end of 1999 to 18.6 percent at the end of 2009. Some regions have seen particularly dramatic increases, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of women in parliaments has risen from 10.9 to 17.6 percent. While these numbers show progress, women continue to be vastly underrepresented in politics, excluded from decision-making processes and routinely subjected to discrimination and violence.

In spite of enormous social and economic barriers and often in the face of violent opposition, women around the world are demanding their rights to education, security, and healthcare, and claiming a louder voice in decisions that affect their lives and communities. Panelists highlighted the vital role that women can play as leaders in politics and their communities, and stressed the need for increased support for women's political leadership both in the U.S. and abroad.

As Wollack noted, "it is not an accident that the countries in which health, education and economic development are not part of the national agenda are places where women are denied a genuine political voice. Empowering women politically will help countries develop democratic institutions so they can begin to successfully address issues related to security, jobs, human rights, physical well-being and human development." Throughout his testimony, he illustrated how NDI has been working with political and civic leaders for more than two decades to support their efforts to increase the number and effectiveness of women in political life.

Wollack also called attention to the various barriers that limit women's political and civic engagement, namely access to positions of power and to economic resources, lack of government transparency, and pervasive and discriminatory gender stereotypes. He focused on the eight ways to build women's political participation: conducting ongoing communications trainings; building leadership skills; uniting women across political party lines, often in the form of women's caucuses; reforming political parties internally so that women's participation is a real priority; teaching women to train other women so that knowledge and skills are not lost; training elected women so that they are ready to deliver services back to constituents, increasing their chances of re-election; exchanging information internationally; and engaging youth to help change attitudes and behavior towards women.

Other witnesses were: Melanne Verveer, ambassador-at-large for Global Women's Issues; Dr. Esther Brimmer, assistant secretary for International Organization Affairs; Swanee Hunt, chair of the Institute for Inclusive Security and former U.S. ambassador to Austria; and Judy van Rest, executive vice president of the International Republican Institute (IRI). The House Committee members and panelists discussed a range of topics, including women and governance; women and security; women's role in Haiti's reconstruction process; U.S. policies in Afghanistan; violence against women; the importance of ratifying The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); and the creation of a new United Nations gender entity that would coordinate efforts to support women globally.

Read Wollack's testimony»

Related:

Pictured above:Wollack testifies at the Subcommittee hearing

Published on June 14, 2010

Women as Agents of Change: Advancing the Role of Women in Politics and Civil Society

fgalleto — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 14:19:53 +0000

Author:

Ken Wollack

Publisher:

National Democratic Institute

Published Date:

06/09/2010

Resource Type:

Testimony

Language:

English

Media Type:

PDF

2010

English

Attachment	Size
Kenneth Wollack's Testimony	42.9 KB

Young Leaders Learn, Network at East African Political Academy

fgalleto — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:16:26 +0000

For young people in East Africa seeking to have a political voice, the two-year-old Regional Youth Leadership Academy (RYPLA) has helped show the way. One of its graduates, Daniel Taabu, has become executive director of the National Rainbow Coalition-Kenya (NARC-K), a political party with a seat in parliament. In Uganda, 14 graduates started Uganda Youth Stand Up, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to increase civic participation by registering one million young Ugandans to vote ahead of the February 2011 elections. Six of 15 Tanzanian participants from RYPLA's first year are now running for parliament.

In a region where large youth populations can feel disconnected from and overlooked by governments with aging leaders, these small steps can have a big impact. The majority of the population in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya is under 35, but emerging young leaders have found few opportunities to acquire the experience needed to play leadership roles in their parties, run for office or govern in the future.

To help this new generation gain political expertise, NDI created RYPLA, which brings together young leaders from the three countries to boost their leadership skills and political networks as they begin their political careers.

Established in 2008 in partnership with the Kristdemokratiskt Internationellt Center in Sweden, the academy is for a select group of political party members, age 22 to 35, who aspire to elected office or party leadership. Last year, the group met three times and learned tools and strategies for organizing campaigns, reaching out to constituents and crafting a political message. RYPLA participants were nominated by their political parties based on their desire and potential to be leaders.

NDI staff, including NDI-Kenya Senior Resident Director Mary O'Hagan (center), meet in preparation for the workshop.

One session focused on the political climate in the participants' home countries, asking them to map the themes and issues that the electorate cares about. Another focused on how to use campaign resources to target geographic and demographic groups most sympathetic to a campaign's platform and message. Trainings were conducted on how to communicate effectively through the media, Internet or campaign events.

Attendees also participated in simulated campaign scenarios, such as giving a speech or writing a statement. They worked on public speaking, timing and political language skills, and wrote a sample campaign plan by the end of the academy.

Participants were encouraged to network with each other. Members of political parties from different countries rarely have opportunities to get together, but at RYPLA, participants met nightly, after the workshops, to informally discuss political issues of the day and their plans for the future. Participants from all three countries pledged to help each other with fundraising and support as they run for office in the coming years.

RYPLA was modeled after the Youth Political Leadership Academy, an NDI program in Kenya from 2001 to 2009. With the success of that initiative, NDI expanded the program to include other countries in the region.

Related stories:

Pictured above: Participants at the third RYPLA session in Tanzania.

Published on May 27, 2010

Heather Kashner

fgalleto — Tue, 18 May 2010 17:18:27 +0000

Heather Kashner is NDI's resident director in Uganda. Ms. Kashner possesses more than 15 years of domestic and international work experience, including work with political parties, civil society and parliaments. As chief of party in Uganda, Ms. Kashner oversees a multi-year partnership with the International Republican Institute that supports civil society, domestic election observation and political party development. Ms. Kashner also created a pilot program which is expanding to support constituency relations in Uganda's parliament.

Prior to her role in Uganda, Ms. Kashner served as NDI's deputy director of governance and a senior advisor to NDI's executive office. She supported NDI projects throughout Africa and Latin America, serving as a resource for programs in Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Guinea Bissau, Kosovo, Liberia, Nigeria and Uganda.

Ms. Kashner joined NDI in 2001 as party program director and NDI's chief of party in the post-conflict environment of Kosovo until 2005. While chief of party in Kosovo, Ms. Kashner designed innovative techniques to strengthen political parties, support Kosovo's first democratically elected parliament and placed heavy emphasis on staff development. Several members of Kashner's original staff now manage their own programs within NDI and other international organizations. In 2005, Kashner served briefly as an advisor to the Office of the Prime Minister of Kosovo on behalf of USAID.

Before joining the Institute, Ms. Kashner managed multi-million dollar issue campaigns and congressional races in the U.S., and directed marketing and sales teams in western Canada for a global electronics company. Ms. Kashner has an MsC from Hautes Etudes Commerciales and Oxford University's joint "Consulting and Coaching for Change" program.

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