Members of the Assembly of Kosovo are working to strengthen transparent and inclusive practices as well as exploring new ways to legislate effectively, represent constituents in a single electoral district, and oversee the executive branch of government.

Legislators and staff of the National Assembly of Macedonia focused on process rather than politics in a recent simulation exercise that demonstrated the use of public hearings to further the efficiency of committee work within their parliament.

The NDI-sponsored simulation was structured around environmental issues facing a young, transitional democracy similar to their own – the fictitious Republic of Verduria – to engage participants in a series of mock legislative, oversight and investigative committee hearings.

NDI celebrated pioneering African women at its 2007 Democracy Luncheon by bestowing its two highest honors on Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman to head an African country, and the 50/50 Group of Sierra Leone, which is dedicated to promoting greater participation of women in that nation’s politics.

President Johnson Sirleaf received the 17th W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award. The 3rd annual Madeleine K. Albright Grant was awarded to the 50/50 Group.