Romania has come a long way in its democratic and economic development since the demise of the communist regime 25 years ago, but some essential transition issues are still being closed. An assessment of its progress took place in Bucharest last month at a seminar assessing Romania’s 25 years of transition to European democracy.

Civic activists and government reformers in at least 30 countries rallied behind open legislatures to promote values of transparency, inclusion and participation in the lawmaking process during the first-ever Global Legislative Openness Week (GLOW) Sept. 15 to 25.

As more citizens turn to the Internet to engage in political activity, elected representatives are finding new ways to communicate with constituents and engage them in decision-making.

NDI staff member Lila Jaafar testified July 24 before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa. Subcommittee Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen presided over the hearing, “The Struggle for Civil Society in Egypt.”

“There is still a great hunger for democracy in Egypt – especially among the youth who now recognize that it will take more than street demonstrations to create a more pluralistic and democratic system,” Jaafar said during her testimony.

Although Mexico passed a federal law on transparency and access to public information in 2002, legislative information is still hard to come by for citizens who want to participate in the policymaking process and hold their governments accountable.

Theresa Kanneh, a 17 year old in her final year at G.W. Gibson High School in Monrovia, stood in front of a group of Liberian senators in the Joint Chamber of the Legislature. She described the poor state of water and sanitation conditions in Liberian schools. Conditions are so poor, she said, that students are forced to relieve themselves in bushes due to a lack of working toilets, interfering with their ability to learn.