Gang violence, organized crime and corruption have long plagued Central America’s Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador), undermining democratic reforms and hampering public safety and prosperity. Because these challenges are so widespread, an effective response must involve every level of government, from city councils to national legislatures. Governments, local police and concerned citizens groups recognize the need for international collaboration to develop effective solutions.

A life dedicated to politics is tough. It requires near-constant work designing and communicating solutions to citizen concerns that can seem like a moving target while facing attacks from opponents and navigating the different priorities of allies. Political parties, as the preeminent platforms in democratic systems for aggregating political activists and transforming public campaigns into governance, bear the brunt of this heavy workload.

Adamawa state in northeast Nigeria is experiencing an increase in the number of women joining political parties and participating actively in politics. The social landscape of the region is traditional, conservative and male-dominated. As a result, it is a context in which women have long been marginalized from political and electoral processes. Ordinarily, expectations for women’s political participation would be very low.

A new report published by NDI and the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA Kenya) highlights a number of important political gains made by women during the 2017 general elections. For the first time in Kenya’s history, women were elected to serve as governors and senators, and 29 percent more women ran for office than in the previous election — a fact that led to the largest number of women ever seated at all levels of the Kenyan government.