The contrasts between the creativity that democracy can bring and the stifling of imagination in closed societies like North Korea was the topic of an evening at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C., Nov. 14 organized by the theatre and NDI.
With roads and infrastructure still in disrepair from the First and Second Congo Wars, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) faces some of the world’s greatest mobility and communications challenges.
The country is large — around two-thirds the size of Western Europe— and lack of transportation options severely restricts travel. For instance, a recent 3,000 km car trip that should have been measured in hours required 15 days to complete. Air travel is in many cases the sole option for moving from place to place.
For those who have never experienced a freewheeling political campaign, the raucousness of an American election season can be inspiring and overwhelming. Talking is incessant in rooms of phone bank volunteers searching for votes, energetic political party members go door to door in last minute appeals for support and candidates talk nonstop in the countdown to election day.
Nine years after the end of a civil war that ravaged the country for more than a decade, Liberian youth continue to face staggering unemployment, lack of access to quality education and limited representation in government policymaking.
Of the 64 percent of Liberians living below the poverty line, 68 percent are young people. Among the unemployed, 58 percent are youth, members of a generation that grew up without access to education and are unqualified for many of the jobs currently available. Many have turned to crime as a result.
A delegation of young political party representatives from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia are visiting the United States this week on a study mission to observe the U.S electoral process, and particularly the role of youth, with the goal of gathering information on techniques they can bring back and adapt in their home countries.
With the 2nd U.S. presidential debate as a backdrop, 25 visitors from 12 countries came to Hofstra University in New York in mid-October to exchange information about putting on debates in their own countries and witness first-hand the intricacies of organizing the Oct. 16 matchup between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney.
For Burkina Faso’s last election – a presidential poll in 2010 –difficult and confusing requirements resulted in overwhelmingly low voter registration. Only three million of the country’s six million eligible citizens registered. And of those, only 1.7 million showed up at the polls. Women, in particular, faced formidable obstacles because of a requirement that citizens obtain a birth certificate before they can register.
Young people make up nearly 60 percent of the population in Zambia and face growing unemployment rates. But their participation in politics and government has remained low. A group of youth-oriented civil society organizations is using the drafting of a new constitution as an opportunity to address youth issues and include young people in the political process.
Young people make up nearly 60 percent of the population in Zambia and face growing unemployment rates. But their participation in politics and government has remained low. A group of youth-oriented civil society organizations is using the drafting of a new constitution as an opportunity to address youth issues and include young people in the political process.
