The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

Political dissidents from China, Syria, Iran, Ethiopia, Cuba and Burma joined NDI Chairman Madeleine K. Albright and others to pay tribute to the life and work of Václav Havel at the National Endowment for Democracy. Havel, a playwright and political activist who went on to become the president of Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic, died last month at the age of 75.

Two years after the devastating January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the country is attempting to rebuild with the help of development proposals prepared by citizens. These efforts, known as roadmaps, or “cahiers de charges,” have been endorsed by elected officials across the country as a way to demonstrate that they are listening to citizens and have set specific goals for reconstruction and development efforts.

Forbes magazine has recognized NDI Program Officer Kathryn Peters as one of the “30 under 30” making their mark in the field of law and policy.

A landmark anti-discrimination law, described by one supporter as “an homage to equality,” was signed into law last month by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. For the first time, it levies prison sentences for acts of discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation or nationality.

The law is “a form of justice,” said President Santos. “It was time to get tough on this and to ensure the protection of the rights of those discriminated against.”