Gender, Women and Democracy

Bahrain Women’s Union Calls for Action on Domestic Violence Law

For more than two decades, women in Bahrain have struggled to raise awareness of domestic violence. The Kingdom has no laws or government policies to address violence against women and a draft law that would establish penalties has been languishing in the parliament for years. To push the issue, the Bahrain Women’s Union (BWU), an association of 12 women's organizations, launched an advocacy campaign on Dec. 11 for a domestic violence law, which has been a priority for the union since its founding in 2001.

Chocó Women of Colombia Win 2010 Madeleine K. Albright Grant

The Departmental Network of Chocó Women of Colombia (Red Departmental de Mujeres Chocoanas) has been chosen by NDI to receive the 2010 Madeleine K. Albright Grant for its work to create greater roles for women in the civil and political life of the region.

The network, an umbrella group representing 52 civil society organizations from 18 towns in the primarily Afro-Colombian department of Chocó, will receive $25,000 for a political training school and to create a network of women political leaders in Chocó, in the western part of Colombia.

As the countries of southeastern Europe struggle to move beyond a legacy of violent conflict and consolidate their democratic institutions, women leaders play an essential role. Frequently, women serve as the vanguard of political change, willing to break with established traditions and accepted wisdom to advocate for reforms. However, women politicians in the region have little place at their parties’ decision-making tables and are frequently absent when policy is developed. To foster cooperation among like-minded women leaders in the region, NDI, from Oct.

National Platform for Women Focuses Debate on Priorities for Iraqi Women

With parliamentary elections approaching, Iraqi women are looking for ways to ensure that their voices and concerns are not excluded from the political debate. For the past several years, the ability of Iraqi women to contribute to policy debates has been constrained by security concerns, political instability and corruption. Though Iraqi women are slowly increasing their involvement in government, political parties and civil society organizations, they are still largely absent from decision-making positions within those bodies.

Mayan women in Guatemala, who are estimated to be 20 percent of the population, are substantially underrepresented in Guatemalan politics. Despite 1996 UN-sponsored peace accords that called for increasing political involvement of the indigenous population, indigenous women were rarely included on candidate lists in the most recent election in 2007, and only two of the 158 deputies in Congress and one of 333 mayors across the country are Mayan women.

Crónicamente sub-representadas en la vida política de El Salvador, mujeres de los diferentes partidos políticos nacionales se reunieron recientemente en San Salvador para definir un programa legislativo que conduzca al país a mayores niveles de igualdad de género.

iKNOW Politics, an online network dedicated to the advancement of women in politics, launched a new Arabic language version in Amman, Jordan, Oct. 27, opening it up to potentially millions of new users in a region where women are significantly underrepresented politically.

December 2008

New NDI Website and e-Newsletter

NDI is pleased to announce the launch of its new website, www.NDI.org. With many new interactive features and links, the site provides information about NDI programs in nearly 80 countries. It also describes the issue areas in which we work – civic participation, elections, governance, political parties, women’s issues, and democracy and technology – and has news and feature stories about our programs.

Special sections provide commentary on democracy assistance, information on NDI’s partners around the world, a library of documents that underpin democracy programs, and a searchable database of NDI reports, manuals, training materials and other publications going back more than two decades.

With the new website we are also inaugurating this new e-newsletter with timely information about NDI events and programs. Click here to sign up.

Visit the site »

Democracy Awards Luncheon

The struggle for democracy in Burma will be a focus of NDI’s 2008 Democracy Awards Luncheon as the Institute honors two champions of that cause on Dec. 15 in Washington, DC.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu will receive the W. Averell Harriman Award for his global efforts on behalf of democracy in other troubled nations since the democratic transition in South Africa. A Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Archbishop has been a relentless advocate for democracy in Burma and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Laureate and the leader of Burma’s non-violent democracy struggle.

In addition, the Women’s League of Burma, an umbrella organization of 12 groups representing different ethnic backgrounds, will be honored with the Madeleine K. Albright Grant for its work promoting women’s participation in civic and political life. Selected from a competitive pool of applicants, the league will use its $25,000 award to train Burmese women in exile who will return to Burma and train other women to address concerns such as health, human trafficking and local leadership. Reserve a seat or table »

Making Democracy Deliver on Issues that Affect Citizens

Democracy’s credibility depends, to an important degree, on how its institutions work in practice and on what it delivers. Democracies must be able to tackle issues that reflect the popular will and address questions that affect citizens’ daily lives, such as security, jobs, human rights, health, education, social services and infrastructure.

The challenges facing the poor are often rooted in closed political systems where citizens are denied their political voice, where government institutions have no obligation to answer to the people, and where special interests exploit resources without fear of oversight or the need to account to the public.

Deepening democracy so that it can deliver tangible improvements in people’s lives is an overarching NDI objective.

In its December newsletter, the Institute explores this topic in more detail and provides examples from its work in Afghanistan with provincial legislatures, Indonesia helping citizens track government spending, Mozambique addressing AIDS and HIV, and Macedonia helping the parliament respond to citizen concerns. Read the newsletter »

The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide by promoting citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

Read more about NDI E-news: Inaugural Issue | Dec. 2008

NDI E-news: Bangladesh, Ghana, iKnow Politics | Jan. 2009

January 2009

Elections in Bangladesh and Ghana Promote Stability and Democracy

Peaceful transitions of power marked parliamentary elections in Bangladesh and a presidential runoff in Ghana last month.

In Bangladesh, NDI fielded a 60-member international observer delegation for the Dec. 29 polls in which the victory of the Awami League brought two years of military-backed rule to a close. The delegation concluded that the vote was well-administered and conducted in an orderly fashion.

In Ghana – a pillar of African democracy – a highly competitive Dec. 7 presidential contest prompted a runoff on Dec. 28. Ghana’s Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), an NDI partner organization, monitored both contests. Its independent vote tabulation, which confirmed the Electoral Commission’s announcement of a razor-thin victory for the opposition leader, built public confidence for the result.

Read more about the: Bangladesh elections »

| Ghana elections »

Women Find Strength, Information Through iKNOW Politics

Diplomats on Pennsylvania Avenue, watching Inauguration Day Parade

Linking women across continents, languages and faiths is part of the success story of iKNOW Politics – an online portal through which women in politics network and share information, knowledge and expertise.

Approaching its second anniversary, the site has received over 31 million hits at a rate of nearly 138,000 per day, with membership topping 3,500. The site was launched by NDI in partnership with the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

Available in English, French and Spanish, with Arabic expected this summer, iKNOW’s online library has over 1,000 papers, case studies, training guides and other materials; access to 23 international news sources; a space for online dialogue; and more than 60 experts from 28 countries to answer questions.

To mark the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, NDI and the Presidential Inaugural Committee hosted a luncheon Jan. 20 for more than 150 Washington-based ambassadors at Blair House, the guest quarters for visiting heads of state located across the street from the White House.

Political Empowerment Program Inspires Iraqi Women

The engagement of women in Iraq’s political process has been a major focus of NDI’s efforts since 2006. One of the Institute’s Iraq staff members, Ferdos Majeed, discusses a series of NDI training programs in Erbil that have encouraged women’s political participation.

Read more about NDI E-news: Bangladesh, Ghana, iKnow Politics | Jan. 2009