UNDP AND NDI JOIN EFFORTS TO PROMOTE GOOD GOVERNANCE AND DEMOCRACIES WORLDWIDE
July 17, 2000
New York, 17 July 2000 – The United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and
the National Democratic Institute for
International Affairs (NDI) today
announced a new initiative to jointly
promote good governance and strengthen
democratic institutions around the
world. The agreement was signed by NDI
President Kenneth D. Wollack and UNDP
Administrator Mark Malloch Brown at UNDP
Headquarters in New York.
As part of this new partnership, UNDP
and NDI will join efforts to enable
legislative bodies to engage in national
policy-making and oversight as an
independent branch of government and to
become effective and accountable
representatives of their constituents.
The agencies will also enhance the
ability of civil society organizations
to promote good governance and help
political parties build their
organizational capabilities, act as
voices of an informed citizenry, and
expand public participation in the
political process.
In addition, UNDP and NDI will
strengthen electoral processes by
working with civil society
organizations, political parties and
election officials to ensure open and
democratic elections by helping to
develop legal frameworks, organize
international and domestic election
observation projects and assist in voter
education. The two agencies will also
help decentralize decision-making to
ensure that governments are responsive
to their people’s needs, and support
civic organizations in educating
citizens to become active players in the
political life of their societies.
"Ineffective governance often
short-circuits the connection between
anti-poverty efforts and poverty
reduction,” said Mr. Malloch Brown.
"That is why good governance built
around strong, transparent, democratic
institutions is so important in the
fight against poverty."
The collaboration will
largely take the form of technical
assistance services to be provided by
NDI in support of UNDP country, regional
and global programmes. This assistance,
to be requested by UNDP, will focus on
the transfer of knowledge, skills and
technology to strengthen the capacity of
institutions in a manner that ensures
the sustainability of reforms. The two
agencies will also provide training for
country officials and exchange
information and data on governance.
“This new partnership builds on the
relationship that UNDP and NDI have
developed over the years,” Mr. Wollack
said. “Our expanding cooperation
reflects the growing recognition of the
links between sustainable development,
and accountable and transparent
political systems.”
Each of the two agencies is firmly
committed to the cause of good
governance. UNDP believes that
development assistance that emphasizes
good governance – which could be ideally
accomplished through multi-party
elections, popular political
participation, effective and responsive
parliaments, independent judiciaries and
accountable legal systems – is essential
for poverty eradication. For more than
16 years, the non-profit,
non-governmental NDI has been calling on
a global network of experts to encourage
and introduce participatory political
processes and strengthen democracy in
the developing world.
The new agreement formalizes the
agencies’ long cooperation in the field
of good governance worldwide. In Yemen,
for instance, a UNDP grant allowed NDI
to implement a good governance program
focusing on parliamentary reform; in
Pakistan, NDI and UNDP organized
post-election roundtables on
accountability and prepared a good
governance strategy; in Niger, the
agencies coordinated international
election observer efforts; in Lesotho,
they held a conference to examine a
variety of electoral models for the next
parliamentary elections; and in
Mozambique, they cooperated in
implementing a nationwide civic
education program.
NDI and UNDP could also benefit from
each other’s experiences by cooperating
in post-conflict situations. NDI, for
example, has initiated programmes to
rebuild government institutions, promote
elections and launch the process of
reconstructing civil society in post
conflict societies such as Bosnia,
Cambodia, Guatemala, Haiti, Lesotho,
Liberia and Mozambique.
For further information, please contact
Omar Gharzeddine, tel: (212) 906-5171,
e-mailomar.gharzeddine@undp.org at UNDP
in New York or Jean Freedberg, tel:
(202) 797-4785, e-mail jeanf@ndi.org at
NDI in Washington, D.C.
