As senior resident director, Chris Henshaw has headed NDI’s programs in Macedonia for more than 11 years.
During that time, NDI has worked with parliament, political parties and citizen groups to strengthen the legislative system, improve the election process and build out political party organizations. Through it all, Chris and his stellar team have promoted inclusiveness as a core democratic principle, a principle that Macedonia espouses, but which takes considerable effort to realize given the historical, social and political fractures that the country has endured.
“I feel empowered, encouraged and humbled by the fact that many of the main players in Macedonia – be it civil society or parliament or within political parties – all see NDI as someone they can work with, link with, network with and trust,” said Henshaw. “Based on our track record to date and based on the aspirations of people we work with, that’s a great feeling of hope for the future.”
In the interview below, Henshaw reflects on a decade of democracy work in Macedonia, discusses NDI’s innovative work around women’s political participation and shares a success story about the Institute’s recent Roma internship project.
