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Pour l’éducation civique des jeunes de province pour la reconstruction d’Haïti
11 Jul 2012

Il est aujourd’hui admis que la reconstruction d’Haïti -- après le terrible séisme que le pays a connu en 2010 -- ne peut pas être que physique....

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Empowering bloggers and citizen journalists in the Arab world
09 Jul 2012

UNDEF funds a project to train and support Arab bloggers and citizen journalists to advance freedom of expression and human rights....

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Building a culture of democracy in Bhutan
03 Jul 2012

How to engage young people in one of the world's youngest democracies? Bhutan, a nation of 650,000 people, elected a new...

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Building local citizenship for women and youth in Mexico
26 Jun 2012

In the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí, UNDEF funds a project to build civic participation to promote democracy and human rights, with an emphasis on ....

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UNDEF Morocco grantee awarded honorary doctorate in Ottawa
19 Jun 2012

Moroccan UNDEF grantee Elarbi Imad, President and Executive Director of the Moroccan Center for Civic Education, received an honorary doctorate from the University of Ottawa in June 2012 for his work in creating knowledgeable, .

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Promoting indigenous people's participation in Kamchatka, Russia
12 Jun 2012

UNDEF Deputy Head Annika Savill visited a project in Kamchatka Territory, Russian Federation, in May 2012 to support democratic participation of indigenous peoples..

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Training defenders before Inter-American Court of Human Rights
06 Jun 2012

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights recently underwent extensive reform, including new rules of procedure to improve victims’ access to legal representation...

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UNDEF project roundtable on civil society and marginalized in Russia
29 May 2012

An UNDEF-funded project to strengthen the participation of marginalized women in the Russian Federation held a roundtable in May 2012 ..

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India's Ambassador presents SG with cheque of almost five million for UNDEF
30 March 2012

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Hardeep Singh Puri, presented the Secretary-General with a cheque for 4.71 million dollars ..

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UNDEF supports Russian Indigenous Peoples
23 March 2012

Deputy Executive Head Annika Savill met with Rodion Sulyandziga, First Vice-President of the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North at UN headquarters ...

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Actor Jeffrey Wright is new UNDEF Board member
23 February 2012

UNDEF is delighted that Jeffrey Wright has accepted the UN Secretary-General’s invitation to serve on the UNDEF Advisory Board for 2012-13. An award-winning film...

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Empowering Liberia's youth and women in the democratic process
17 February 2012

Although recent Liberian elections have generally been pronounced free and fair by the international community, studies show that even more than a decade after the end of armed conflict, some voters vote out of fear and ignorance..

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First UNDEF-funded Women Leadership School launched in Georgia
03 February 2012

The first UNDEF-funded Women Leadership School – one of four planned worldwide – was launched by the Women’s Democracy Network in Tbilisi, Georgia on 27-29 January. ..

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UNDEF project helps African Charter on Democracy enter into force
27 January 2012

With UNDEF support, the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance has now been ratified by 15 nations – a milestone which means the Charter will now enter into force..

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Building democratic governance in the Hill Tracts of Bangladesh
20 January 2012

In Bangladesh, UNDEF funds an initiative to advance pro-poor and democratic governance in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The project works in over 200 villages to step up interaction between organizations of poor tribal peoples and local government ..

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UNDEF project bridges democracy gap in Pakistan
22 December 2011

An UNDEF-funded online directory of parliamentary committees and NGOs was launched to bridge the divide between Pakistan’s Parliament and civil society.

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UNDEF funds new media clinic in Central Asia
20 December 2011

In Central Asia, NGOs and independent media often have nowhere to turn for support on new media technology, with little or no in-house knowledge and commercial alternatives that are far too expensive...

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Pour l’éducation électorale en République Démocratique du Congo
14 December 2011

En République Démocratique du Congo, le FNUD soutient un projet qui promeut la démocratie participative par la création de clubs d’action démocratique..

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Training women to lead in rural China
07 December 2011

A task force formed to support China's rural women’s participation in local politics convened in Shaanxi province in November 2011...

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Women learn to lead local democracy in India
29 November 2011

An UNDEF-funded project in Rajasthan, India, completed its work in 2011 to strengthen the leadership of women elected to ....

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UNDEF project launches guiding principles for elections in Africa
21 November 2011

A new set of guiding principles for free, fair and transparent elections in Africa was launched in Accra, Ghana, on the International Day of Democracy as part of a project made possible by UNDEF.

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The big issue hits the streets in Nigeria
11 November 2011

The Big Issue Lagos, a new and pioneering Nigerian street magazine funded by UNDEF, was launched in November 2011. It is the part of an UNDEF-financed six-country project to use street papers.....

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UNDEF co-hosts Oslo gathering for democracy activists
27 October 2011

The UN Democracy Fund was one of the co-hosts of the Oslo Governance Forum in October 2011, which brought together 250 participants from government and civil society in more than 70 countries.

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UNDEF at CIVICUS World Assembly
20 September 2011

At the CIVICUS World Assembly in Montreal in September, UNDEF hosted a panel discussion that brought together UNDEF projects from four continents, each focusing on strengthening the voice of civil society.

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Promoting accountability on the environment in Vietnam
13 September 2011

In the 25 years since Vietnam introduced the doi moi programme of reforms, citizens have come to participate far more actively in politics at both commune and village levels. But government is still not fully accountable, especially on issues impacting the environment.

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Creating new connections in Central Asia and South Caucasus
19 August 2011

In eight countries of Central Asia and South Caucasus, UNDEF funds a project to increase public participation and make governance more accountable through independent monitoring of public policy-making and implementation.

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SG approves fifth round of funding

For UNDEF's Fifth Round of Funding, the Secretary-General has approved a short list of 64 project proposals recommended by the UNDEF Advisory Board. The proposals were short-listed out of a record number of more than 3,700 applications - almost double the average number in the past few years. Because of the large number of applicants, UNDEF is able to respond directly only to those on the short list. For more details, please see our next newsletter in July.

For a text-only version (recommended for dial-up connections), please click here.

Democratic Transformation of Egypt
04 August 2011

UNDEF funded and supported the organization of a conference in Cairo on 26-27 July on "Ways to Strengthen the Democratic Transformation of Egypt". The conference, held by The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies in partnership with the Madrid-based think-tank FRIDE, drew more than 100 participants from Egyptian civil society, political parties and academic institutions as well as a number of foreign observers. Click here for the conference program in English and Arabic, as well as for papers presented by prominent Egyptian opinion leaders. The conference addressed in an open and informed manner the many challenges Egypt faces on its path to democracy, including the place of military and religious ideas in the future shape of the country's governance.

A women's parliament for Azerbaijan
07 July 2011

In Azerbaijan, a transitional society shaped by vast oil and gas resources, UNDEF funds a new project to create the country's first women's parliament. 

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Holding your local representative accountable in Ukraine
28 June 2011

In Ukraine, UNDEF funds a project to build skills among NGOs and citizens to engage in political processes and hold their local government officials accountable. 

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Building high-altitude democracy in the Himalayas
24 May 2011

India has the largest tribal population in the world, with more than 460 tribes comprising some 85 million people. Almost one third are in the Himalayan region.

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Russian NGOs learn to lobby officialdom
17 May 2011

How can civil society in Russia work more effectively with the authorities to achieve positive change? UNDEF funds an initiative to build skills among Russian NGOs that lack experience in interacting with officialdom and in communicating their message effectively.

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The Doers of Democracy: An exhibition of photographs organized by UNDEF
9 May 2011

"The Doers of Democracy," a photo exhibition organized by UNDEF, is being held at UN Secretariat Visitor's Lobby from 9 May 2011 to 12 June 2011.

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Perceptions of Democracy Assistance: A seminar hosted by UNDEF
17 May 2011

At this crucial time for democratization efforts in several countries, UNDEF hosted a seminar on 9 May to present the findings of a vast study about how well the support family is supporting the many actors in the field.

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UNDEF Update 10
3 May 2011

Welcome to the latest issue of UNDEF Update, the newsletter of the United Nations Democracy Fund.
This electronic quarterly provides a user-friendly snapshot of what we do, how we work and why.

To view the latest issue, please click here.

For a text-only version (recommended for dial-up connections), please click here.

Freedom on the Net is under growing threat
25 April 2011

Cyber attacks by the state, politically-motivated censorship, and government control over internet infrastructure have emerged as especially prominent threats to freedom in the internet, according to an UNDEF-funded report.

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Ten exemplary projects from UNDEF's First Round of Funding
5 April 2011

A compendium of ten exemplary UNDEF-funded projects was compiled by Dr. Lincoln Mitchell of Columbia University.

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UNDEF launches new initiative in Algeria
14 March 2011

In Algeria -- as in Tunisia and Egypt -- greater participation by women is crucial to building better governance and genuine democracy.

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UNDEF held up as model in expert testimony to US House Committee on Foreign Affairs
07 March 2011

"You are familiar with the data on the cost efficiencies of UN peacekeeping operations, such as the GAO study that shows it would have cost the United States eight times as much as it cost the UN to respond to the earthquake disaster in Haiti last year...

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Women use radio to build better governance in Burundi
28 February 2011

After 12 years of civil war in Burundi, the challenge is to keep addressing the divisive factors that drove the country's brutal armed conflict, while finding ways to nurture the country's fragile democracy..

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Standing up for rights of women in Somaliland
24 February 2011

Somalia is one of the world’s most challenging environments in which NGOs can operate.

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UNDEF now funded by 40 countries
24 February 2011

Reflecting the crucial and historic era for democratization efforts worldwide, the list of countries contributing to UNDEF grew to 40 in February 2011, with Argentina becoming the latest donor to the Fund.

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A watchdog for women's participation in Egypt
11 February 2011

Ensuring women's participation will be key to building a democratic and well-governed Egypt.

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UNDEF Update 9
31 January 2011

Welcome to the latest issue of UNDEF Update, the newsletter of the United Nations Democracy Fund.
This electronic quarterly provides a user-friendly snapshot of what we do, how we work and why.

To view the latest issue, please click here.

For a text-only version (recommended for dial-up connections), please click here.

UNDEF project strengthens women's participation as key to Tunisia's future
14 January 2011

The political participation of women will be critical in building the way forward in Tunisia after the historic events of early 2011..

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UNDEF funds new guide to developing accurate voter lists in transitional democracies
13 January 2011

An UNDEF-funded project has launched a guide to developing accurate voter lists in transitional democracies.

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UNDEF project continues amid Guatemala state of siege
07 January 2011

An UNDEF-funded initiative continues to operate in the northern Guatemala province of Alta Verapaz, even after the government declared a state of siege there in December 2010 in response to massive drug-related violence.

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UNDEF funds Arabic legal search engine to serve general public
05 January 2011

An UNDEF-funded initiative has developed a widely sought after Arabic-language legal search engine on human rights and humanitarian law.

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Roll Call of UNDEF's Fourth Round Grantees

Forty-one organizations in more than 30 countries successfully negotiated and signed Fourth Round project documents with UNDEF during 2010, and are now implementing these new projects with UNDEF funding.

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UNDEF Update 8
10 November 2010

Welcome to the latest issue of UNDEF Update, the newsletter of the United Nations Democracy Fund.
This electronic quarterly provides a user-friendly snapshot of what we do, how we work and why.

To view the latest issue, please click here.

For a text-only version (recommended for dial-up connections), please click here.

President Obama singles out support for UNDEF in speech to UN General Assembly
23 September 2010

President Obama made special mention of the UN Democracy Fund in his address to the General Assembly on 23 September, saying "it’s time for every Member State... to increase the UN Democracy Fund". He spoke of democracy as the form of government that delivers most for citizens, and spoke of civil society -- the focus of UNDEF's work -- as the shapers of human progress and the conscience of communities."To put it simply: democracy, more than any other form of government, delivers for our citizens. And that truth will only grow stronger in a world where the borders between nations are blurred," President Obama told the opening of the General Debate, attended by all 192 UN Member States. "America is working to shape a world that fosters this openness, for the rot of a closed or corrupt economy must never eclipse the energy and innovation of human beings." Turning to civil society, he went on: "The arc of human progress has been shaped by individuals with the freedom to assemble; by organizations outside of government that insisted upon democratic change; and by free media that held the powerful accountable. We have seen that from the South Africans who stood up to apartheid, to the Poles of Solidarity, to the mothers of the disappeared who spoke out against the Dirty War, to Americans who marched for the rights of all races, including my own.

"Civil society is the conscience of our communities, and America will always extend our engagement abroad with citizens beyond the halls of government. We will call out those who suppress ideas, and serve as a voice for the voiceless. We will promote new tools of communication, so people are empowered to connect with one another – and, in repressive societies, to do so with security. We will support a free and open Internet, so individuals have the information to make up their own minds. And it’s time to embrace – and effectively monitor – norms that advance the rights of civil society, and guarantee its expansion within and across borders."

"This institution can still play an indispensable role in the advance of human rights, President Obama urged. "It’s time to welcome the efforts of UN Women to protect the rights of women around the globe. It’s time for every member state to open its elections to international monitors, and to increase the UN Democracy Fund. It’s time to reinvigorate UN peacekeeping, so that missions have the resources necessary to succeed, and so atrocities like sexual violence are prevented and justice is enforced – because neither dignity nor democracy can thrive without basic security. And it’s time to make this institution more accountable as well, because the challenges of a new century demand new ways of serving our common interests."

US Under Secretary of State reaffirms support for UNDEF
21 September 2010

UNDEF Executive Head Roland Rich met on 21 September with María Otero, United States Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs and Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. In the course of the meeting, Under Secretary Otero expressed the strong and continuing support of the US Administration for the UN Democracy Fund. She noted that the Fund had achieved considerable results in the five short years since it was created. Assistant Secretary Posner noted that the work of the Fund provides strong support for civil society in the current challenging environment.

On International Day of Democracy, Governments reflect on their journeys
15 September 2010

Governments spoke candidly at an event on the International Day of Democracy about their individual countries’ journeys towards democratic governance, reflected on the challenges ahead, and reaffirmed their commitment to the the UN Democracy Fund as a unique tool to strengthen democratic processes and values at the grassroots of societies around the world.

UNDEF Head Interviewed for UNTV
03 September 2010

Roland Rich, Executive Head of UNDEF, was interviewed by Bill Miller for his program Global Connections. The interviewwas taped on 5 August. In the course of the interview Mr Rich discusses UNDEF projects and answers questions relating to democracy and the democratization process. The Interview is being shown on UNTV.

UNDEF Update 7
28 July 2010

Welcome to the latest issue of UNDEF Update, the newsletter of the United Nations Democracy Fund.

This electronic quarterly provides a user-friendly snapshot of what we do, how we work and why.To view the latest issue, please click here.

For a text-only version (recommended for dial-up connections), please click here.

Engager la société civile pour la démocratie et la bonne gouvernance en Côte d'Ivoire
News from the Field, 18 June 2010

En Côte d'Ivoire, le FNUD soutient le projet “la société civile engagée pour la démocratie et la bonne gouvernance”, mis en œuvre par West Africa Network for Peacebuilding in Côte d'Ivoire.Les élections présidentielles en Cote d’Ivoire initialement prévues  en 2005 et repoussées à maintes reprises n’ont pu être organisées à ce jour. Ainsi, le Conseil de sécurité tenu le 27 Mai 2010 à unanimement adopté une résolution appelant les autorités concernées « à s’assurer de la publication de la liste électorale, à annoncer une date finale pour la tenue du premier tour des élections présidentielles et à respecter l’ensemble de leurs engagements. »La crise politico-militaire survenue le 19 septembre 2002 a entravé le processus de développement en Côte d'Ivoire, où le seuil de pauvreté a atteint près de 50 %,, selon le  Programme des Nations Unies pour le Développement.

Par ailleurs, la récente dissolution du gouvernement et de la commission électorale indépendante ont fragilisé davantage le processus électoral. Selon Mr Choi Soon-hong, représentant du Secrétaire Général des Nations Unis en Côte d’Ivoire, “le report des élections et la non matérialisation de la réunification accroissent les tensions et entravent la normalisation constitutionnelle, politique, économique et sociale en  Cote d’Ivoire. ”Le projet soutenu par le FNUD a pour but de permettre la participation effective de la société civile à la démocratisation de la Cote d’Ivoire, d’amener les populations aux capacités renforcées à s’intéresser à la gestion de leur communauté par un contrôle citoyen de la pratique de la démocratie et de la bonne gouvernance. Les comités départementaux conduiront différentes activités visant à assurer un développement participatif  à savoir : faire des propositions  visant à intégrer la société civile dans les programmes des collectivités locales ; suivre  l’exécution des programmes ; assister  à différentes sessions ouvertes.  Ces activités permettront aux  comités  départementaux sélectionnés de s’assurer des avancés en matière de démocratie et de bonne gouvernance.

Dialogue among Palestinian Youth in the West Bank and Gaza City
News from the Field, 09 June 2010

In Palestine, UNDEF funds a project to build leadership capacity among youth and establish forums for them to participate in democratic processes and promote democratic principles in their communities.

With UNDEF support, the Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies, RCHRS, has developed a programme to improve democratic dialogue among youth in both the West Bank and Gaza City. Implemented in several stages, the programme started by training participants in tolerance and constructive dialogue.In the most recent stage, participants attended collective training workshops in Ramallah and Gaza City to put these skills into practice. The meetings included leaders, facilitators and youth reperesenting a variety of perspectives, making the workshops a valuable opportunity to network and gain understanding of various cultural, traditional, and religious backgrounds.

UNDEF Update 6
10 May 2010 Welcome to the latest issue of UNDEF Update, the newsletter of the United Nations Democracy Fund.

This electronic quarterly provides a user-friendly snapshot of what we do, how we work and why.To view the latest issue, please click here.

For a text-only version (recommended for dial-up connections), please click here.

Increasing women’s participation through multimedia strategy in Kenya
News from the Field, 19 April 2010

On Kenya’s independence in 1963, when the constitution was negotiated in London, only one woman delegate from Kenya was present. Women’s rights and issues were largely ignored in the document that emerged. Despite numerous constitutional amendments since then, women and minorities in Kenya face considerable challenges in asserting their rights.

Today, with UNDEF support, the African Woman and Child Feature Service works to ensure the voice of women is heard in the media and governance. It recently launched a multimedia strategy initiative to strengthen the participation of Kenyan women in the political processes. The project uses advocacy, research and technical support to give women greater visibility in the media and to equip them with the skills to take up high positions in the legislative branch of the government, public office and civil society. The project will also train a cadre of journalists in understanding gender issues, and build the capacity of women parliamentarians to advance women’s rights through the media. In addition, it monitors the use of gender language in the media through an electronic publication entitled African Woman.

Professor Appiah sums up democratic philosophy in UNDEF Advisory Board debut
News from UNDEF, 30 March 2010

Anthony Kwame Appiah, Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University and a member of the UNDEF Advisory Board for 2010-11, spoke at the Board's Spring meeting on 29 March. His remarks were a concise yet profound reflection on the nature and philosophy of democracy:

"The trouble with most accounts of democracy is that they want to insist that it has a simple definition and a few virtues. But democracy, which emerged in the modern world, in response to monarchy and empire, has many elements and many inter-connected virtues, which are mirror images, if you like, of the vices of the Ancien Régime. In democracies, unlike monarchies and aristocracies, elites have to live with the discipline of knowing that they may be replaced; and they have to permit public criticism, from which they can learn about the impacts of their decisions on the life of their citizens, and through which citizens can organize to replace as well as to support them. There is no life-tenure; there is no lèse majesté. And since citizens are engaged in assessing government because they have a role in choosing the governors, they need information and education to do their job well.

In democracies, unlike empires, government reflects the characters of the citizens, is local rather than remote, and treats every subject as an equal person. No more can the fact of ethnicity count as a reason to chose one person’s interest over another’s: and the point is soon generalized, so that it is not just race and ethnicity that are no longer sufficient grounds for discrimination, but nor is social class or caste or, most importantly, gender and religion. Sexual orientation is increasingly on the list of inadmissible grounds for discrimination; so is disability. In democracies, citizens are not subjects: they are free to make their lives according to their own conceptions of what is worth having and doing and being, provided they respect the rights of others to do the same. And, as equals, they are entitled to respect: from the state, from each other. To make all this possible, citizens need rights: of free expression and association, to bodily integrity, to the basic health, shelter and nutritional needs without which a life of human dignity is not possible. And so democracies, committed to the dignity and equality of their citizens, seek to ensure these things.

These many good things that flow from democracy are best understood, I believe, as flowing from the idea that adult citizens are entitled to manage their own lives. This is required by the fundamental image of human dignity that is rightly mentioned in the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In securing that dignity, the state can be an essential aid, both because it helps organize social traffic, keeping citizens out of each other’s way, and because it provides goods that families and smaller groups cannot easily achieve on their own. If people are to manage their own lives -- as individuals, in families and through social associations--the government will work best if it is sensitive to what they need to make their lives and responsive to their objections to the state’s interventions and to their requests for aid. One central ideal in helping to assure this is a principle of subsidiarity, which requires that local decisions be made locally; another is the recognition that government is only needed in some spheres of life, while others will be managed well by independent elements of civil society.

In a world where government is guided by these many aims, NGO’s will have many vital contributions to make. They will act locally to allow free citizens to solve their own problems, through the power of free association; they will articulate local concerns to government when its help is needed; they will provide citizens, both locally and through national media, with the materials to assess the elites who run the state, and to decide whether they want to change them. They can help to create the educated and informed citizenry at the local level that democracies require, and to disseminate the very democratic values--freedom, equality, mutual respect--that guide democracy and make it work. But they can also act at the very highest global levels--across the boundaries of nations--to bring together like-minded people from many societies to assure that every government secures the very goods that government exists to protect: a life in freedom, associating freely in the pursuit of goods that the citizen herself approves. I have the honor to have been elected to the Presidency of the PEN American Center; and one of our jobs as an NGO is to criticize our own government, when it fails to live up to the highest standards of respect for free expression, and to join with the other 145 PEN Centers in 100 countries to put pressure on other governments when they fall victim to the same temptations. I believe our willingness to criticize our own government strengthens our ability to criticize others. So it's a great honor to be involved with UNDEF and I look forward to joining you all in its work."

Dr. Appiah, who grew up in Ghana and the United Kingdom, has taught philosophy and African studies at the University of Ghana, Cambridge, Duke, Cornell, Cornell, Yale and Harvard. He joined the Princeton faculty in 2002 as Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy and the University Center for Human Values. He is also associated with Princeton’s Center for African American Studies and Programs in African Studies. Dr. Appiah’s published work includes In My Father’s House, which won the Herskovitz Prize for African Studies, Colour Conscious: The Political Morality of Race (with Amy Gutmann), The Ethics of Identity, and Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers. As an intellectual bridging the global South and North, as well as the worlds of philosophy and of African studies, he adds a unique perspective to the work of UNDEF.

Pour une démocratie participative en République démocratique du Congo
News from the Field, 19 March 2010