Last week, from 18 to 21 June, more than 2,000 civil society activists, journalists, government officials and private sector actors convened at the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Vilnius, Lithuania, to discuss lessons learned and good practices for the fight against corruption. 

One of the key ways that legislatures promote democratic governance and accountability for their constituents is by participating in the yearly process of scrutinizing and authorizing the executive’s budget proposal for government spending. As the national institution most closely linked to the population’s demands, legislatures have a special responsibility to engage with the budget process to ensure that it is transparent and reflects citizen priorities.

Since 2017, NDI has implemented the “Central Europe Democracy Initiative – (CEDI)”  to support democratic actors in the region in responding to resurgent Euroscepticism and threats of autocratization. One key component of the National Endowment for Democracy-funded program enhances the capacity of political actors at the local level to engage effectively with their constituencies and address citizen concerns, thereby actively rebuilding public confidence in democratic political processes.

Strength in unity. This was the sentiment that resonated in exchanges between parliamentary monitoring organizations (PMOs) in the Western Balkans during an event hosted in Sarajevo by the National Democratic Institute (NDI).  

As the National Democratic Institute (NDI) moves into a fourth year of championing environmental governance in its global programming, staff are leading the Institute in integrating the principles of environmental sustainability, democratic participation and accountability within NDI itself. In the fall of 2023, NDI launched the Environmental Sustainability Initiative pilot for select country offices to design strategic sustainability action plans, measure progress, and share lessons learned.

A polycrisis is the simultaneous occurrence of several catastrophic events, and that is exactly what we see with global public debt. Over the past several years, the international debt burden has reached unprecedented levels. Two dozen African countries are in or nearing debt distress.

Parliamentary research services play a crucial role in advancing democracy by both empowering legislators to make informed decisions and providing the public with credible information about the policy choices that affect their lives. Parliamentary research institutes can support lawmakers by providing non-partisan, factual and balanced assessments of the issues facing the legislature.