Latest News

News from the Field: Strengthening democratic practices in Pakistan

UNDEF is supporting an initiative implemented by the Citizens’ Commission for Human Development (CCHD), aimed at reinforcing, in Pakistan, the involvement of the main components of society in the political process, with a focus on women’s political participation. The CCDH has been encouraging attitudinal changes in the country for more than 20 years, focusing more recently on supporting the decentralization process.

As underscored by Syedia and Wasim, two political activists who took part in a CCHD meeting organized last December in Kasur, "Democracy requires public participation in democratic process; without it, the concept of democracy remains colorless".

Political leaders, parliamentarians, journalists, women’s organizations, local government officials and NGOs are the primary groups targeted by the project because of their capacity to transform attitudes and therefore enhance people’s involvement in the political process.

Launched in July 2007, in the challenging pre-electoral context, this one year project has achieved impressive progress implementing a threefold strategy aimed at:

transforming the apathetic attitude of targets groups into a participation attitude,

reinforcing the capacity of key political actors,

strengthening the democratic dialogue with citizens and renewing the social fabric.

Reinforcing the sustainability of this initiative, a symposium will be held in Islamabad, on 27-29 May 2008, to focus on the theme "strengthening democracy in South Asia". 250 participants from the sub-region, including senior government officials, members of civil society and diplomats will assess sub-regional achievements, share results and determine how to tackle the democratization challenge.

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News from the Field: The Asia Young Leaders in Governance Initiative

The Asia Young Leaders in Governance (AYLG) initiative addresses the need to build a critical mass of young leaders in the Asia region, who will be trained as leaders in democratic governance processes. It recognizes that young leaders are an important constituency that require further attention and investments to enable them to serve as more effective leaders for the future. The AYLG project strategy supports building the leadership values and capacities of young leaders towards further enhancing their knowledge and skills in their various areas of expertise and influence; and in turn strengthening democratic governance processes in the region.

Over a two-year period commenced in January 2007, UNDEF has been supporting the second phase of this successful initiative ; the significant project progress highlighted by UNDP Bulletin are imparted in the following story.

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News from the Field: Enhancing active citizenship in Vanuatu

Independent since 1980, Vanuatu consists of over 80 islands. 78% of the ni-Vanuatu live in outer islands and due to the geographical spread of the islands, have limited access to media and information, remaining distant from central government.
Distance between constituent islands is a challenge that needs to be overcome in order to enhance democratic participation in the political process.

UNDEF is supporting a project implemented by Transparency International Vanuatu (TIV) aimed at strengthening access to civic education of communities from the outer islands.

This initiative targets the remote and rural communities of these islands and seeks to contribute to the development of a social environment where educated citizens, aware of their rights, duties and the legitimate role expected from their leaders, are more politically involved and responsible.

Launched in February 2007, the project has achieved significant progress implementing a threefold strategy aimed at:

training a pool of 6 trainers which will be able to facilitate democratic debate and will, beyond the duration of the project, serve as focal points for transparency International;

designing and conducting in Bislama - the local official language - a series of 60 training workshops - targeting local populations and aimed at increasing their understanding of good governance processes;

producing and disseminating informational materials aimed at explaining in Bislama, fundamental texts such as the constitution and the Leadership Code, which governs the conduct of the leaders of Vanuatu.

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Furthering democratic participation to prevent social violence in Guatemala

Eleven years after the signing of the Peace Accords that brought an end to 36 years of civil war in Guatemala, security is still a primary challenge for the consolidation of democratic principles and institutions.

UNDEF is supporting a project, implemented by the participating agencies of the UN system in Guatemala, - UNDP, UNAIDS, UNHCHR and UNICEF - which aims at strengthening the participatory process to further develop local synergies between communities and state authorities to address social violence.

This two year initiative is articulated on a threefold strategy which seeks to:

Enhance the dialogue between communities and state authorities, at the local level;

Strengthen the social fabric and networking activities between local communities and civil society organizations;

Support local polices of violence prevention.

Launched a year ago, the project has achieved significant progress regarding its main goals:

The creation of spaces of dialogue dedicated to enhancing the participatory process in three specific municipalities;

The reinforcement of the capacity of local communities through an educational and technical assistance program aimed at producing concrete recommendations in the field of democracy consolidation and violence prevention policies.

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News from the Field: Soutien aux Femmes Parlementaires du Burundi

Au Burundi, l'engagement national pour la consolidation de la paix et de la stabilité implique une active participation des femmes dans la vie politique. Depuis les élections législatives de 2005, 56 sièges parlementaires sont occupés par des femmes.

Les femmes accédant aux responsabilités parlementaires ont besoin de renforcer leurs capacités et de développer, entre elles et au-delà des clivages partisans, solidarités et partenariats.
A la demande du parlement burundais, le FNUD soutient un projet de deux ans mis en œuvre par l'Union Interparlementaires (UIP), dont l'objectif est de :

Renforcer la formation et les capacités des femmes parlementaires,

Sensibiliser les parlementaires sur les considérations de genre,

Développer une plateforme de communication et de coopération entre les femmes parlementaires et la société civile.

Les premières activités de ce projet ont contribué à renforcer la conscience des parlementaires sur leur rôle et les modalités de leur action pour la prise en compte des questions de genre.

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Secretary-General attends UNDEF Advisory Board Meeting

The Seventh UNDEF Advisory Board meeting was held on 28 March 2008. The Secretary-General of the United Nations attended the meeting (see the Secretary-General's statement and an article published by the UN News Centre), which is the first Board meeting of year 2008. Sixteen of 19 Board members participated in the meeting. The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss a recommended list of projects for the second round of funding.

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News from the Field: Opening dialogue spaces between political parties and civil society in MERCOSUR

In MERCOSUR countries – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela – UNDEF is supporting a 2 year project implemented by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s Center of Studies in Rio de Janeiro, reinforcing the capacity of political parties and civil society organizations (CSOs) to develop democratic cooperation and dialogue.

The two-fold objective of the project aims to:

• Enhance mutual understanding between political parties and civil society and interaction between them to advance the democratic agenda;


• Create democratic spaces of dialogue at regional and national levels.

Started in January 2007, the project has made significant progress: young leaders coming from political parties and civil society organizations have been provided with customized educational training and coaching to reinforce their capacities and to enhance their cooperation.

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News from the Field: Promouvoir le dialogue des sociétés civiles pour la démocratie en Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre.

En Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre, le renforcement des sociétés civiles et des coopérations régionales constitue un élément fondamental de promotion de la démocratie

Créé en 2003, le " Réseau des plates-formes nationales d'ONG d'Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre ", (REPAOC) s'efforce d'intégrer les sociétés civiles africaines dans les processus décisionnels liés au développement, de renforcer la dynamique de coopération sud-sud et de promouvoir le respect des droits de la personne.
Fédérant près d'un millier d'ONG, le REPAOC, regroupe les huit plates-formes nationales d'ONG suivantes:

Le Collectif des Fédérations et Réseaux d'ONG du Bénin (CFRONG) - Bénin

Le Secrétariat Permanent des ONG (SPONG) - Burkina Faso

Le Forum des ONG de Développement Durable (FONGDD) - Guinée (Conakry)

La Fédération des Collectifs d'ONG (FECONG) - Mali

Le Réseau des ONG de Développement et des Associations de Droits de l'Homme et de la Démocratie (RODADDHD) - Niger

Le Conseil des ONG d'Appui au Développement (CONGAD) - Sénégal

Le Centre d'Information et de Liaison et d'ONG (CILONG) - Tchad

La Fédération des ONG au Togo (FONGTO) - Togo

La double vocation du REPAOC est de :

faciliter la communication entre les acteurs collectifs nationaux de la sous-région, et de

développer la représentation des acteurs collectifs nationaux dans les enceintes régionales et internationales.

Dans ce cadre, le FNUD soutient un projet de deux ans destiné à renforcer les capacités d'analyse, de mobilisation et de communication de ces coalitions d'ONG. Les activités mises en œuvre depuis le lancement du projet en avril 2007 ont permis de renforcer l'autonomisation, la cohésion et l'action du REPAOC.

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News from the Field: Increasing women's political participation and representation in the Southern African Development Community region (SADC)

UNDEF is supporting a two year initiative carried out by the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum, which is a regional inter parliamentary body composed of the following parliaments from : Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Widening and addressing the challenge of women’s political participation and representation has become a priority for each country in the SADC region. While gender equality, political participation and representation of women have in general been accepted as applicable principles in the SADC region, their translation into practice remain wanting.

It is commonly considered that representation of women must reach 30% before they can be of significant impact. While the best reforming countries attained 36% in women’s parliamentarian participation, the lowest mark in the region is 10.7%. Countries with the highest levels of women’s representation are often those that have a proportional representation system or have legislated or provided quotas for women parliamentarian participation within their constitution.

The overall objective of this regional project, which focuses on countries in which elections are scheduled between 2007 and 2010, is twofold and consists in:

• advocating for women’s political participation and representation


• developing empowerment strategies for female parliamentarians.

Started in April 2007, the project has implemented the many activities both at country and regional levels of the Regional Women's Parliamentary Caucus (RWPC) which is the operational body of the SADC PF.