Local governments are on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis globally, not only in managing the public health response, but also with regard to educating and communicating with citizens. Officials are continuing to develop and implement measures to address complex citizen needs today, while also looking ahead to prepare their communities for the new realities of a post-COVID world. Concurrent with the pandemic are challenges such as disinformation, citizen skepticism, and the need for greater transparency and accountability across all functions of government. 

The protests in the United States sparked by the high-profile deaths of George Floyd and other Black Americans have evoked widespread sympathy across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and comparisons to the anti-government protest movement in the region in recent years. However, when it comes to the widespread racial discrimination towards Black communities in the Arab world, there has been little acknowledgement of the need to address the issue.

The participation of women in Armenian politics is nothing new – in the early-20th century, Armenia first granted women’s suffrage, elected women parliamentarians and appointed women ambassadors. Yet, in Armenia today, women represent less than a quarter of the National Assembly and even smaller percentages in executive and high-level government leadership roles. 

In Tunisia, civil society organizations (CSOs) across the country have taken principal roles in supporting government efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. By standing up government efforts with resources, leadership, or community relationships, these CSOs have held an important role in virus response across the country.

Every Wednesday, Calmar Brou, Aliou Bamba and other young leaders arrive at daybreak to help keep the peace on market days in the weekly market in the Ivorian city of Béoumi. Calmar and Aliou are respectively the president (a Baoulé) and vice president (a Malinké) of the municipal youth body, selected by their peers to help coordinate youth activities and promote collaboration among members of their two ethnic groups. This task has been particularly challenging in the last year.

COVID-19 has become a defining governing challenge of 2020 in countries around the world. The pandemic’s intersection with gender has created unique and disproportionate effects on women, and one of the most severe among them has been increased rates of gender-based violence (GBV). The stresses of the pandemic, increasing incidents of substance abuse, and economic strain have combined in dangerous ways for many women and their families at the same time that their access to critical support services and networks -- both formal and informal -- have been curtailed.

Amidst sustained COVID-19 transmission in North Macedonia, 51.3 percent of eligible voters went to the polls on July 15 in snap elections to elect a new parliament.

The incumbent SDSM and its coalition partner, the ethnic Albanian Besa Movement, scored a slim, two-seat lead (46) over center-right VMRO-DPMNE (44). SDSM/Besa need at least 15 additional seats from VMRO-DPMNE, ethnic Albanian parties DUI (15), Alliance for Albanians/Alternativa (12), DPA (1), and/or upstart left leaning Levica (2) to form a governing majority (61). 

In the early months of COVID-19, Jordan’s nationwide lockdown left many citizens unemployed and unable to access medicine, food, water, electricity and gas, leaving local officials overwhelmed by the number of citizen demands. To help alleviate the burden of local officials, NDI’s parliamentary fellows have risen to the occasion to play a key role in facilitating rapid responses to citizens’ needs.