Stories

Civic Engagement Helps Lower Barriers Between Roma and Non-Roma Youth

Seventeen-year-old Vlado has his eye on the future – going to college, learning English, perhaps even running for local office. His reality now is vocational school and a tiny house where he lives in a Roma settlement outside of Roskovce in eastern Slovakia. The challenge he faces is whether his enthusiasm and ambition will be enough to get him out of the cycle of poverty, exclusion, and violence that plagues this and many other isolated Roma settlements throughout Central and Eastern Europe.

What does electricity mean for women in rural Burkina Faso?

For Tankaoano Minata, a midwife from the village of Namoungou in this West African nation, one of the poorest in the world, it means delivering newborns into a brighter world.

“The authorities finally supplied the Namoungou health center with electricity. We no longer have births by flashlight,” Minata said.

NDI Establishes Silicon Valley Presence

Given the increasingly important role that technology is playing in democratic reform efforts globally, NDI has named Sarah Oh to serve as its partnerships representative in Silicon Valley. Oh will be based at the Impact Hub in San Francisco, a collaborative working space that describes itself as part innovation lab, part business incubator and part community center. She will be responsible for liaising with NDI partners and tech innovators in Silicon Valley and throughout the Bay Area.

Men and women of South Sudan believe they are an essential part of the country's constitution-making process, according to a new NDI report based on a series of focus groups held around the country.

“We do not want the big government people to do it alone,” said one participant, reflecting a response shared by a broad segment of those taking part in the study.

This year marks Mexico’s 60th anniversary of women’s suffrage, and though the country has made progress in passing reforms to increase women’s political participation, women are still not well-represented in decision-making bodies.

Despite the slow pace of Libya’s political transition and its serious security issues, a new public opinion survey conducted by NDI in partnership with JMW Consulting reveals that most Libyans remain optimistic about the future and continue to support democratic institutions.

Since it was officially launched at the World e-Parliament Conference on International Democracy Day last September, the Declaration on Parliamentary Openness has gained broad international support.

Regional instability, Islamist terrorist attacks and persistent lack of food challenge the democratic gains made since the 1990s in Niger. While one of the world’s largest uranium producers, the country is ranked by the United Nations as one of the poorest in the world. Past corrupt practices and lack of oversight over how previous Nigerien governments awarded mining contracts have resulted in uneven distribution of revenue from the country’s expansive extractive industries.

On August 6, National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi visited NDI's new Parliamentary Resource Center (PRC) in the capital city of Naypyitaw.

The setting was a hall in Amman, Jordan, packed with more than 500 students from eight universities, members of the community, and a panel of judges representing members of parliament, civil society organizations, university officials and veteran journalists. They were there for the culmination of five weeks of debate practice and training. Over the next four hours, they would watch eight teams debate seven topics ranging from lowering the age of candidacy for parliament to receiving Syrian refugees in Jordan. At the end, only one team would be left standing.

Civic Engagement Helps Lower Barriers Between Roma and Non-Roma Youth

Grassroots Groups Improve Health Care, Education at Local Level in Burkina Faso

NDI Establishes Silicon Valley Presence

Citizens Seek Role in South Sudan's Constitution

‘6x60’ Initiative Works to Enhance Women’s Political Leadership in Mexico

Libyans Remain Optimistic About the Country's Future

Declaration on Parliamentary Openness Endorsed by OSCE PA

Presidents of Niger's Parliamentary Groups Visit the European Parliament in Brussels

Aung San Suu Kyi Visits NDI’s New Parliamentary Research Center in Burma

Students Across Jordan Debate Politics in First-Ever National Competition

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