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Kyrgyzstan Women's Group to Receive 2012 Madeleine K. Albright Grant
The Women's Discussion Club of Kyrgyzstan
Join NDI March 22 as we honor the Women's Discussion Club of Kyrgyzstan with the Madeleine K. Albright Grant at a luncheon and awards ceremony. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz will give the keynote address, with special remarks by Melanne Verveer, U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women's issues. The luncheon will be held at 12:30 p.m. at the Ritz Carlton in Washington, D.C. RSVP to the luncheon»
The Women's Discussion Club of Kyrgyzstan, which launched with NDI support in 2006, was one of the first groups in Kyrgyzstan to bring together women from diverse backgrounds and political parties to defend the rights and interests of women across the country.
In 2010, the club was instrumental in supporting women candidates for parliament, and it organized a successful campaign to halt the legalization of polygamy. The group plans to advocate for stronger quota laws that would increase the number of women in parliament and local government.
The group will use the $25,000 Albright grant on these initiatives and to form a coalition of political party women's wings to advocate on behalf of women's rights within the legislature and their respective parties.
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 Dr. Azza Kamel of the Egyptian women's group ACT accepts the Albright grant in 2011.
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NDI established the Madeleine K. Albright Grant in 2005 to support organizations that create greater roles for women in political and civic life. Winners are selected from a competitive pool of applicants seeking to promote women's political participation. Past recipients were the Egyptian group ACT, the Network of Chocó Women of Colombia, the Women's League of Burma and the 50/50 Group of Sierra Leone, the Mostar Women's Citizen Initiative and the Women's Political Caucus of Indonesia.
The Madeleine K. Albright Grant is made possible through the generosity of the Melvin and Bren Simon Foundation.
The luncheon will be preceded by a panel discussion entitled "Parties to Parliament: How Women Can Win in the Institutions of Democracy." The panel will feature Winnie Byanyima, director of the gender team at the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP); Donald Steinberg, deputy administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development; Sherry Rehman, Pakistani ambassador to the U.S.; Anders B. Johnson, secretary general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union; and Albright. It will be moderated by Judy Woodruff, co-anchor and senior correspondent of the PBS Newshour. The panel marks the official Washington launch of the joint UNDP and NDI publication Empowering Women for Stronger Political Parties: A Good Practices Guide to Promote Women's Political Participation. RSVP to the panel»
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In Egypt, Travel Ban Lifted as NGO Workers Go To Trial
The trial of 43 individuals working for local and international nongovernmental organizations, including 15 who work for NDI, has been set for April 10.
On March 1, Egyptian authorities lifted a travel ban on U.S. and foreign NGO employees. In a statement, NDI welcomed the lifting of the travel ban, but remains deeply concerned about the welfare of its Egyptian employees and the nature of the attack on Egyptian civil society organizations. Read more»
Eighteen former foreign ministers from around the world called on the Egyptian authorities to stop the prosecution of NGO employees. Read more»
Testifying before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs about this issue, NDI President Kenneth Wollack explained that the goal of NDI's programs in Egypt and around the world is to "support a transparent, democratic process that gives people the freedom to make choices." Wollack testified alongside the presidents of the three other U.S.-based NGOs under fire, the International Republican Institute, Freedom House and the International Center for Journalists. Read more»
Teen Activist Receives Pakistan's National Peace Award
Malala Yousufzai, a 13-year-old girl from the tribal area of Swat, has been awarded Pakistan's first ever Peace Award for Youth for her bravery in reporting the details of a bloody Taliban insurgency in the region. Yousufzai has participated in NDI programs as a member of the Awami National Party. Read more»
New Publications
Tunisians went to the polls in October to elect a National Constituent Assembly, a major milestone in the country's political transition that began in January 2011 with the ouster of the president. Now, NDI has published a report on the elections, with observations, findings and recommendations from its 49-person international delegation that observed the elections. Read more»
A new manual on leadership and campaigning was produced for Kenyans considering a run for office. It includes sections on communications, media relations and governing once elected. Read more»
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Citizen Monitors Find Russian Election Neither Free nor Fair
Golos (Vote), Russia's leading independent election monitoring organization, said that Russia's March 4 presidential election "was not free and fair, and did not meet the requirements of Russian legislation and international election standards." The findings are based on the reports of volunteers who observed polling places across the country. Read more»
City Hall Still a Reach for Women in Mexico
The New York Times featured NDI's Future Women Mayors Academy in Mexico. With support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the NDI program is carried out in cooperation with the Mexican National Institute for Women and the Morelos State Institute for Women, the federal and state government agencies that support women's political participation. Participants represented all registered political parties in the state of Morelos. Read more»
New Public Opinion Research in Tunisia, Iraq
Nearly a year after Tunisia's nationwide protests led to the overthrow of its autocratic president, Tunisians remain proud of their accomplishments and hold high expectations for their new government, according to recent focus group research conducted by NDI. Read more»
Citizens in Iraq are increasingly worried about the government's ability to run the country — particularly to create jobs and provide basic services and security. Compounding the problem, Iraqis feel increasingly disconnected from their leaders, according to new opinion research from NDI. Read more»
Forums Show Cambodians Concerned about Inequity and Corruption
More than a 11,000 Cambodians took part in a year-long series of forums with their elected representatives in parliament, where they sought answers on issues such as land disputes, lack of infrastructure and corruption. Read more»
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