American organizations working for the promotion of democracy in the Middle East are hardly a new phenomenon in the United States.  Among the most well-known and respected of these organizations is the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), a non-governmental organization based in Washington, DC with offices and staff around the world.  But what is NDI? What exactly does NDI do? Who works there? How effective is the organization in reaching its goals?

 

In 1984, a government statute called for the creation of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which would “strengthen democratic institutions around the world through nongovernmental actions.”  In order to facilitate NED’s goals, the statute also called for the creation of the National Democratic Institute and its partner, the National Republican Institute, later renamed the International Republican Institute.  NDI, which is affiliated with the Democratic Party, was created to assist NED in implanting non-partisan and multi-partisan programs that would meet NED’s goals, which include:  supporting democratic institution building; strengthening democratic electoral processes; and working to foster relationships between those working to advance the values of democratic pluralism in both local and international contexts.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Democratic Institute.  Albright was the first female Secretary of State in U.S. history, nominated for the post by President Clinton in 1996.  She also served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.  Kenneth Wollack, a former co-editor of the Middle East Policy Survey who was also a frequent writer on foreign affairs for the Los Angeles Times, serves as the President of the Institute.  NDI’s board of directors consists of approximately 30 members.  These include such famous personalities as Geraldine Ferraro, a former Congresswoman and the first female vice-presidential candidate in U.S. history, and Sam Gejdenson, a former Congressman from Connecticut.

NDI receives the vast majority of its funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).  Some of NDI’s programs in the Middle East receive funding from the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), which is housed in the United States Department of State.

 

According to information provided by the organization, NDI is a non-profit organization that works to “strengthen and expand democracy worldwide.”  NDI provides resource materials, consultations, and training workshops on “the practical tools of participatory democracy.” 

NDI focuses on six different aspects of democratic development.  Each of these aspects has a significant impact on the success of NDI’s mission.  These aspects include:

• Political Party Building: NDI conducts programs that aim to improve communication within political parties.  These programs also encourage the democratic selection of party candidates and full transparency with regard to the inner workings of a given political party.  NDI believes that transparency and accountability are the foundations of a political party that the public can trust.

• Citizen Participation:  NDI programs often help civil society organizations in a given country to create voter education guides and to inform citizens about the general components of the electoral process.  By emphasizing the importance and effectiveness of voting, these programs aim to create an educated and informed citizenry that actively participates in the political process.

• Election Processes:  Many political parties and governments have requested that NDI study their electoral codes and suggest improvements to them.  NDI also provides technical assistance in elections monitoring and has organized international observer delegations to assist with monitoring and evaluating the fairness of elections in several countries.

• Strengthening Legislatures:   NDI believes that responsive and transparent legislatures are a foundation of a healthy democracy.  An important aspect of much NDI programming thus aims to promote legislative transparency and accountability, and often includes professional development programs for members of the legislature in a given country.

• Local Government:  Many NDI programs focus on promoting communication between local governments and their constituents.  These programs aim to build and fortify public trust in local governmental and political institutions.

• Women’s Participation:  Many NDI programs focus on increasing women’s participation in all aspects of government and politics.   Because women are underrepresented in politics in all regions of the world, NDI works for the equitable participation of women as an integral aspect of improving democratic practices as a whole.

 

The National Democratic Institute consists of several regionally-focused divisions.  Les Campbell serves as the Regional Director of the Middle East and North Africa division.  Mr. Campbell has been in this position since 1996.  He is a frequent media commentator on issues pertaining to the Middle East, and has authored several pieces concerning democracy and democracy promotion in the Middle East.

NDI maintains offices in nine countries in the Arab world:  Algeria; Bahrain; Egypt; Iraq; Jordan; Lebanon; Morocco; Palestine; and Yemen.  These regional offices serve as the base from which NDI’s programs in the region are run.  In addition to the nine offices, NDI also operates an Arabic-English translation center in Beirut. 

In the past two years, NDI has participated in two intra-regional initiatives, in addition to its ongoing programs in individual countries.  The first of these is called the Partners in Participation initiative, which aims to provide women with the necessary tools for conducting “viable” political campaigns in their home countries.  The initiative provided women with training workshops, seminars, and the opportunity to network with other women to share experiences and strategies for overcoming common obstacles.

The second initiative NDI co-sponsored was called “The Congress of Democrats from the Islamic World:  Establishing a Platform for Democratic Governance.”  Delegates to the conference, held in Istanbul, came from across the Islamic world, including from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.  The conference sought to provide a forum for delegates to discuss progress toward democratic reform in their individual countries. As well as the obstacles they faced.  At the end of the conference a Platform for Democratic Governance in the Islamic World was issued, which emphasized the points on which the delegates had reached a consensus, including the need for:  accountable political parties; multiparty elections; an independent media; freedom of information; equal participation of women in political processes; and government oversight by parliaments and civil society. 
       
NDI and Palestine

NDI’s programs in the West Bank and Gaza focus primarily on the development of political parties and international observation of elections processes.  NDI offers workshops and consultations for Palestinian political parties, helping them with voter registration, message development, coalition building, and increasing women’s participation in the political process.  NDI also organized international observation missions to the West Bank and Gaza to observe the Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections.  After the elections, the observers offered recommendations for solving existing and potential future problems with the electoral system. 

The National Democratic Institute maintains an office in Baghdad from which it runs its several Iraq programs.  The aims of these programs include:  helping to set up the Iraqi Election Information Network, an NGO that has provided elections monitors for the October 2005 referendum and for the parliamentary elections on December 15; advising the Constitutional Drafting Committee and helping to train the members of the National Assembly; assisting political parties in their development, campaigning, and polling research; helping to develop a wide coalition of civil society organizations that advocate for citizen participation in democratic processes; and helping to ensure that the new Iraqi constitution includes language protecting the rights of women.

In April of this year NDI conducted extensive focus group discussions to determine Iraqi public opinion regarding the constitutional process and several other important themes.  The focus group report is available for free on-line at NDI’s website.
 
NDI and the Egyptian Parliamentary Elections

NDI’s presence in Egypt has recently focused on promoting democratic electoral processes and citizen participation in Egypt’s presidential and parliamentary elections.  NDI has partnered with several civil society organizations in Egypt to assist them with training in election monitoring.  

In previous articles, Taqrir Washington has addressed the issue of whether or not democracy promotion efforts by U.S. organizations working in the Middle East are effective.  Judging the effectiveness of programs with such lofty aims is a difficult task. 

Despite this, NDI can cite a long list of accomplishments.  Just this last week the Washington Post, a prominent and well-respected newspaper in Washington, DC, printed a series of articles on NDI’s activities in Yemen.  The author of the articles followed NDI’s Yemen director and witnessed first-hand how the NDI Yemen office works.  The articles focused specifically on NDI’s efforts to assist tribal leaders in Yemen to resolve long-standing and violent feuds that have exacerbated the pre-existing problems of poverty, illiteracy, and instability in many parts of the country.

But the high-profile praise NDI has received in the Washington Post is just one example of the organization’s effectiveness.  Another indicator of NDI’s success is the fact that it continues to receive funding for its programs, and that those focusing on the Middle East have seen their funding steadily increased over the past several years. 

However, as was true when evaluating NDI’s counterpart, the International Republican Institute, the most accurate measure of NDI’s success should come from those whom it aims to help.  The people of Yemen, Iraq, and Egypt, for example, are best suited to judge the effectiveness of NDI’s programs in their respective countries.