New technologies are giving citizens more information about their governments than ever before, and they hold the potential to create even more transparency. But the same solutions do not necessarily apply across the board, and one challenge is finding the right remedy for individual situations.

Organizers had to scramble to find extra chairs for 340 Yemeni tribal sheikhs, governors, political party and civil society organization members, and journalists who turned out for the sixth televised town hall meeting to discuss Yemen’s highly anticipated National Dialogue Conference, which began last month. Despite an electricity outage caused by an attack on oil pipelines outside of Sana’a, the capital, participants flooded the March 13 meeting, originally arranged for just 230 people.

“We want to participate in the design of our future,” said Rosa María Payá, daughter of the late Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá, of Cuba’s struggle for democracy at a panel April 9 sponsored by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and NDI.

The widespread problem in Iraq of violence against women — tolerated in households, schools and businesses— has become the primary focus for a local women’s advocacy organization, Bent al-Rafedain (BROB). It has sought to raise awareness among residents of Babil province, south of Baghdad, that violence against women is not an isolated issue, but a widespread problem that needs to be addressed.

Since its independence in 1960, the Central African Republic (CAR) has struggled to overcome political instability, mutinies and rebellions. On March 24, a coalition of rebel groups, Seleka (“union” in Sango), overthrew the government of President Francois Bozizé. Following the coup, one of the rebel leaders, Michel Djotodia, appointed himself president, formed a new government and stated his intent to remain in power until presidential elections are held in 2016. Following the coup, citizens have faced pervasive looting, and a lack of water and electricity.