The National Platform for Women, the culmination of a three-month collaboration and consensus-building effort by political party members, civil society activists and government officials from across Iraq, was launched in Baghdad last month in anticipation of Iraq's March 7 parliamentary elections.

A broad coalition of civil society organizations in Burkina Faso recently developed a report detailing discrimination against women in the West African country for presentation to a U.N. committee considering implementation of the international Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Civic and political leaders from across Kazakhstan came together recently to debate and discuss the merits of a new privacy bill that would introduce tough new punishments for those convicted of invasion of privacy.

In Bangladesh, traditional gender roles keep most women from gaining political power. A recent forum, "Celebrating Women's Leadership in Bangladesh," brought together female MPs and other Bangladeshi women with political aspirations to inspire and encourage them to run for office and to work together across party lines to increase women's political participation in the country.

Gerard Latulippe, NDI’s resident director in Haiti, has been in Washington coordinating NDI’s efforts in response to the Jan. 12 earthquake.  NDI has been supporting Initiative Committees that are mobilizing to support national and international relief efforts.  Latulippe was in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake hit and describes the harrowing circumstances as well as NDI’s ongoing efforts.

Tell us where you were, what you were doing when the earthquake hit.