Malawian civil society organizations are promoting local government accountability through advocacy campaigns to improve development and service delivery in rural communities. Through the creation of accountability clubs, small local networks consisting of community activists and ordinary citizens are responsible for identifying local needs and pressuring leaders to respond to citizens’ concerns. Among the issues many of these clubs have focused on is improving health service delivery in rural communities.

When Liberians go to the polls on October 10, they will see more women on the ballots. That is, if 138 “women’s leadership boot camp” graduates have anything to say about it.  

Although in 2005 Liberians elected Africa’s first woman head of state, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, women continue to be underrepresented as voters, political party leaders and activists, and elected officials. Less than 10 percent of Liberia’s legislators are women, and nearly 10 percent fewer women than men were registered to vote in the last election.

Through its Innovation Network (Red Innovación) regional program, NDI is taking advantage of the impact and reach of new technologies to allow for the exchange of best practices between civil society and government across Latin America. From January 11 to 13, Red Innovación brought a group of 10 political leaders from 10 countries across the region together with Chilean politicians.

“The notion that there should be a dichotomy between our moral preferences and our strategic interests is a false one. Our ultimate foreign policy goal is a world that is secure, stable, humane, and safe, where the risk of war is minimal. Yet, the reality is that hotspots most likely to erupt into violence are found, for the most part, in areas of the world that are nondemocratic -- places that have been defined by the Defense Department as the ‘arc of instability.’ These are places that experience ethnic conflict and civil war; they generate refugee flows across borders; they are places where terrorists are harbored and illegal drugs are produced.”

When Cambodian voters cast their ballots in June 2017, local leaders will be chosen to represent their communities on the Commune Council. This election presents a rare chance to draw attention to local government, its unique challenges, and its accountability to citizens. Recognizing this opportunity, the Cambodian Civil Society Partnership (CCSP) launched its Civic Engagement in Democratic Development trainings, designed to strengthen collaboration between elected representatives and their constituencies.