The Internet has transformed the way people communicate — making it simpler to share more information more often and more widely. But that ease can also introduce privacy and security risks for political activists.

Although Mexico passed a federal law on transparency and access to public information in 2002, legislative information is still hard to come by for citizens who want to participate in the policymaking process and hold their governments accountable.

Theresa Kanneh, a 17 year old in her final year at G.W. Gibson High School in Monrovia, stood in front of a group of Liberian senators in the Joint Chamber of the Legislature. She described the poor state of water and sanitation conditions in Liberian schools. Conditions are so poor, she said, that students are forced to relieve themselves in bushes due to a lack of working toilets, interfering with their ability to learn.

In advance of tomorrow’s runoff presidential election in Afghanistan, NDI has added new data to its Afghanistan election data website, visualizing results from the April 5 first round presidential election as well as voter turnout data by gender and province. The site uses data from Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission and enables viewers to examine candidate performance as well as the participation of female voters across the country.