“Political parties want to regain our trust. We demand access to information; this is the way for them to get back our trust,” said Houyam, a student from Al Akhawayn University. Through NDI’s Ajiw Tcharko, or Come Participate program, Houyam and his fellow students were able to express their demands through policy recommendations.

The armed conflict in Syria has left more than 400,000 dead, led to 6.3 million internally displaced people, and has forced at least 5 million refugees to flee the country. Syrian citizens are caught in a cycle of security, humanitarian, and political crises that have left their communities in disorder and without governance.

Every two years, the National Democratic Institute’s Board of Directors holds one of its meetings in a country where NDI has particularly vibrant democracy strengthening programs. In previous years the international board meetings have been held in Kenya, Jordan and Colombia. This year, NDI Chairman Madeleine Albright led a delegation of NDI Board members to Georgia and Ukraine—countries where NDI has built deep and lasting partnerships that have led to fruitful collaboration.

NDI brought 16 aspiring young innovators from Algeria, Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, and the United States to Washington, DC, and San Francisco, CA, in April to meet with policymakers, technologists, civic innovators and social entrepreneurs. The visit was the culmination of NDI’s Civic Tech Leadership Program -- a unique bilingual program to cultivate young tech-empowered leaders in the U.S. and across the Middle East.