Partnership with ICDT emphasizes the importance of peaceful democratic transitions

The United Nations Democracy Fund and the International Centre for Democratic Transition (ICDT) signed a partnership agreement in Budapest on April 23rd at the occasion of the expert meeting entitled “The experience of democratic transitions: Lessons learned from democracy assistance”, jointly organized by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) and the International Centre for Democratic Transition (ICDT).

The ceremony took place at the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where participants and guests were greeted by His Excellency Gábor Bródi, Hungary’s permanent representative to the United Nations. The partnership agreement was signed by István Gyarmati, Director of ICDT and Magdy Martinez-Soliman, Executive Head a.i. of UNDEF.  

The International Centre for Democratic Transition (ICDT) is an independent institute established by a non-partisan public foundation of the Hungarian government, with the mission to collect the experience of past democratic transitions and to share it with those who are determined to follow that path.

The goal of the partnership is to create a general framework in which both parties can support efforts of democratization worldwide in light of their common interest. The UN Democracy Fund counts on ICDT’s developing knowledge and experience in the field of democracy support. Furthermore, the partnership encompasses various levels of cooperation such as exchanging information, performing continuous consulting, connecting the two organizations’ websites, circulating each other’s publications, and any further activities the parties agree on.

Democracy Fund signs agreement with the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences

FLACSO, the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences was created on April 17, 1957, following a UNESCO iniciative in the Latin American Conference on Social Sciences at Rio de Janeiro. It is an international, intergovernmental organization with a regional and autonomous structure, composed of Latin American and Caribbean countries that adhere to the accord. Currently, there are oficies in: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Dominican Republic and Surinam. In addition to its Regional Administrative Departments, the General Executive Secretary is located in Costa Rica. Its work focuses on areas such as Democratic Governability and Political Institutions, Decentralization, Social Development and Public Policies and Social Movements.

Partnership signed with the SADC Parliamentary Forum

The Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) was established in accordance with the SADC Treaty as an autonomous institution of SADC. It is a regional inter parliamentary body composed of twelve parliaments representing over parliamentarians in the SADC region. These member parliaments are Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

It was chartered to bring about convergence of economic, political, and social values in the SADC and help create the appropriate environment for deeper regional cooperation through popular participation.

The objectives of the Forum include the promotion of multiparty democracy, good governance, gender equality, and political stability in the region as well as respect of the rule of law, human rights, and fundamental freedoms.

Partnership agreement signed between Conectas Human Rights and the UN Democracy Fund

Conectas Human Rights is an international non-governmental, not-for-profit organization, founded in São Paulo, Brazil in October 2001, with the mission of strengthening the individual and collective impact of human rights activists and scholars working throughout Latin America, Africa, and Asia by forging connections among them and increasing their interaction with the United Nations’ international human rights system. Conectas was accorded Consultative Status before the UN in January 2006.

Through its Global South Program, Conectas builds the capacity of local and regional human rights advocates, shares knowledge among and between academics and practitioners, promotes alliances and south-south cooperation, and equips human rights activists to interact with the UN, a key partner in the promotion of human rights. In these ways, Conectas is increasing the influence and impact of a new generation of Global South human rights defenders.

Democracy Fund initiates partnership with the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA)

Idasa is an independent public interest organisation committed to promoting sustainable democracy based on active citizenship, democratic institutions, and social justice. It is based in South Africa, but in recent years it has begun to work elsewhere – largely in sub-Saharan Africa. It actively promotes programmes in the areas of Accountability, Active Citizenship, Constitutional Reform, Elections & Electoral Systems, Equality, Government Budgets, HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, Peace Building & Dialogue and Political Governance.

Democracy Fund and IFES formalize their partnership

IFES is an international, nonprofit organization that supports the building of democratic societies. IFES is based in Washington DC and currently operates in over 20 countries. IFES' emphasis is on home grown democratic processes and in partnering with local actors. Its areas of expertise are civic education, election administration, NGO development, decentralization, anti-corruption, judicial accountability and disability rights. The new partnership will strengthen an already existing and fruitful cooperation that had started on a project on the administration of elections (the "ACE" project).

Partnership Agreement Signed between UN Democracy Fund and International Peacebuilding Alliance (Geneva)

Mr. Nick Howen, member of the Democracy Fund Advisory Board and Secretary-General of the International Commission of Jurists and Mr. Scott Weber, Director General of Interpeace, signed a partnership agreement in Geneva on 20 November 2006.

The International Peacebuilding Alliance, Interpeace, is a Geneva-based international non-governmental organisation that works with local partners in divided societies to build lasting peace. Interpeace and its partners promote national dialogue by bringing together key actors across a broad cross section of society to analyse their country’s problems, find home-grown solutions and to define a common vision for long-term development. The Democracy Fund has supported current efforts of Interpeace to foster dialogue and reconciliation in Guinea-Bissau and Rwanda.

Inter-Parliamentary Union Welcomes the Partnership with the UN Democracy Fund

The IPU has approved a draft resolution that the Parliaments of the world will ask their governments to support in the next UN General Assembly, in which they "welcome the partnership agreement concluded recently between the United Nations Democracy Fund and the IPU, and looks forward to growing cooperation in the realm of democracy and good governance." This is the first agreement signed by the Fund with its eminent partners.

Last June, the Representative of the SG on and Member ex-officio of the Board of the Democracy Fund, Mr. Amir Dossal, had been invited to brief the 114th Assembly in Nairobi about the establishment of the Fund. The Executive Head a.i. of the Fund was invited to speak before the 115th Assembly in Geneva. He indicated in his address that the United Nations has felt comfortable working with IPU "on a range of issues, including women's empowerment, constitutional reform, political party law and electoral reform, security sector oversight, accountability and anti-corruption, and ensuring that policies are targeted to meet the needs of the people, in line with objectives laid out in the Millennium Development Goals (…)We are very pleased that the Fund will support two projects of the IPU that Secretary-General Johnson has mentioned in his report. We are also glad to see that other parliamentary actors have been successful in this first tranche of allocations.

Partnership Agreement Signed between UN Democracy Fund and Democratic Control of Armed Forces (Geneva)

The Director of DCAF, Ambassador Theodor H. Winkler and the Executive Head a.i. of the UN Democracy Fund, Mr. Magdy Martinez-Soliman, signed in Geneva the second of the Fund's Partnership Agreements. The Geneva-based organization, funded and supported by 48 Member States of the UN, is specialized in issues of democratic oversight of the military, Defense spending scrutiny, intelligence community accountability and security sector reform at large. DCAF has collaborated earlier with several UN departments and agencies, notably UNDP and DPKO. Both parties have expressed interest in developing together proposals for a policy paper on Democracy and Security

International IDEA is UN Democracy Fund's Eminent Partner

The Secretary-General of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Mr. Vidar Helgesen, and the Executive Head a.i. of the UN Democracy Fund, Mr. Magdy Martinez-Soliman, signed in Stockholm a Partnership Agreement by which both organisations will collaborate in an even closer fashion. Created in 1995, IDEA, an inter-governmental organization with member states from all continents, has a mandate to support sustainable democracy worldwide. IDEA operates at an interface between those who analyse and monitor trends in democracy and those who engage directly in political reform or act in support of democracy at home and abroad. IDEA works with both new and long-established democracies, helping to develop and strengthen the institutions and culture of democracy. Australia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, India, Portugal, South Africa and Spain are both Full Member States of IDEA and contributors to and/or Members of the Board of the UN Democracy Fund. IDEA is one of the "eminent partners" of the Fund, which is supporting IDEA's political and constitutional reform work in Chile and Bolivia. UNDEF and IDEA also worked closely together in the context of the follow-up to the 5th and within the 6th International Conference of New or restored Democracies.

The Club of Madrid and the UN Democracy Fund Declare Strategic Partnership

On the occasion of the V General Assembly and Annual Conference of the Club of Madrid on "The Challenges of Energy and Democratic Leadership", the President of the Club of Madrid and former Chilean Head of State, HE Mr. Ricardo Lagos, and the Executive Head a.i. of the UN Democracy Fund, Mr. Magdy Martinez-Soliman, signed a partnership agreement in the Spanish Senate. The Club of Madrid is an independent organization dedicated to strengthening democracy around the world by drawing on the unique experience and resources of its Members - democratic former heads of state and government. In partnership with other organizations (including the UN Democracy Fund) and governments that share its democracy-promotion goals, the Club of Madrid provides peer to peer counsel, strategic support and technical advice to leaders and institutions working towards democratic transition and consolidation. The Club of Madrid project “Dialogue on Democratic Values in the Arab World” will receive support from UNDEF to promote dialogue with decision-makers from both government and civil society on democratic reforms, with a focus on the critical issue of freedom of association, in Jordan and Morocco. Members of the Club of Madrid include Presidents Martti Ahtisaari, Raúl Alfonsín, Carl Bildt, Gro Harlem Bruntland, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Joaquim Alberto Chissano, Bill Clinton, Jacques Delors, Felipe González, Mikhail Gorbachev, Inder Kumar Gujral, Antonio Guterres, Václav Havel, Lionel Jospin, Helmut Kohl, Wim Kok, Alpha Oumar Konare, Hong Koo Lee, Benjamin Mkapa, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Romano Prodi, Mary Robinson and Ernesto Zedillo, amongst many others.