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NDI 30th Anniversary Dinner Honors Civic Innovators From Around the World
Technology is rapidly changing the way citizens communicate with and watch over their governments. New tools and movements— everything from websites that keep track of bribes or potholes to organizations that monitor parliamentary performance — have led to growing demands for improved government accountability. The existence and success of these new technologies are attributable to political entrepreneurs who have developed increasincly creative ways for citizens and governments to interact.
Twenty-one of these civic innovators—public officials, entrepreneurs and civic activists from five continents — will be honored by NDI at its 2013 Democracy Dinner, part of the Institute's 30th anniversary celebration, for the work they have done finding ways to use technology to make governments more transparent and effective. The dinner will be held in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, Dec. 10.
Jack Dorsey, chairman and co-founder of Twitter; Samantha Power, U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations; and Toomas Hendrik Ilves, president of Estonia, will be among the speakers at the dinner. Dorsey and Ilves will also be honored along with Belabbès Benkredda, founder of the Munathara Initiative, a Tunisia-based debating forum; January Makamba, deputy minister of communication, science and technology in Tanzania; Jennifer Pahlka, deputy chief technology officer of the United States and co-founder of Code For America; Swati Ramanathan, co-founder of Janaagraha, an Indian nonprofit that crowdsources corruption reports from citizens; Jorge Soto, Mexico’s director of civic innovation; Roya Mahboob, an Afghan software entrepreneur and women’s empowerment activist; and 13 others.
The dinner will also mark the launch of the Tom Daschle Leadership Initiative, which will aid NDI’s work with political leaders at all levels of government who value excellence and who are committed to improving the lives of the citizens they serve.
Watch the event at www.ndi.org/live and follow the conversation at #ndi30.
Read more and purchase tickets to attend»
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In Nicaragua, a revision to local election law has resulted in the election of more women than ever before. But many new female politicians lack political experience, and worried about handling the challenges of their new positions. NDI brought together more than 100 women politicians from six political parties to provide training on municipal law, public policy, constituent communication and more to help them tackle their new roles. Read more»
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Legislative Openness Working Group Launched at Open Government Summit in London
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