NDI and Carnegie Collaborate on Gender and Democratization

NDI's Gender, Women and Democracy (GWD) team has been working in partnership with Thomas Carothers, vice president for studies and director of the Democracy and Rule of Law Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, to explore the ways democracy assistance treats the issue of gender equality and women's political empowerment, in various political environments.

In this partnership, GWD commissioned an in-depth research paper from Mr. Carothers to fill an important gap in the discussion of international aid for democracy and to advance current thinking toward “strategic differentiation” in identifying the kinds of programs that would be most effective in supporting different groups ability to influence wider change.

Sandra Pepera, NDI’s Director for Gender Women and Democracy, was pleased with the result. “We’re very grateful to Tom for picking up our challenge to examine the relationship between gender relations and states of democracy, and how this might inform democracy assistance strategies. It’s a new and exciting perspective, developed by an international authority on the sector.”

Published today, Mr. Carothers’ paper reveals how a focus on gender can provide new and different entry-points for democracy assistance. Read it here.