“Political parties want to regain our trust. We demand access to information; this is the way for them to get back our trust,” said Houyam, a student from Al Akhawayn University. Through NDI’s Ajiw Tcharko, or Come Participate program, Houyam and his fellow students were able to express their demands through policy recommendations.

Despite comprising almost half of the Nigerian population, youth have been historically marginalized from entering politics at a state and federal level. Aspiring to increase youth’s participation in Nigerian politics, the Youth Initiative for Advocacy Growth and Advancement (YIAGA), Youngstars Development Initiative (YDI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) partnered to launch the “Not Too Young To Run” (NTYTR) campaign.

Youth in Kyrgyzstan are not often asked their opinion on political matters. However, NDI’s work with youth activists in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan’s capital, has demonstrated that youth are enthusiastic and capable participants in the political process, eager to have their voices heard. 

Elections in the United States are unique -- not only due to the decentralized election framework and history of campaigning, but also for the impact that presidential results in particular have around the world. This year Americans cast their votes for 469 members of Congress and 6,064 state-level elected leaders, in addition to dozens of ballot measures in individual states.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the peace accords that ended Guatemala’s 36-year internal conflict that deeply divided the country. However, in the two subsequent decades many of the accords’ goals remain to be achieved in critical areas such as rule of law, social justice, and the alleviation of poverty for marginalized groups including women, indigenous people, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) communities.