Progress towards a stable democratic system in Iraq continues despite political uncertainty, economic instability and continued, though diminished, violence. In the face of these challenges, NDI is committed to providing assistance and opportunities for participation to all Iraqis through programming focused on empowering civil society, strengthening political parties, developing better governance practices, encouraging the political participation of women and youth, and helping to ensure open and fair electoral processes. To implement these programs, NDI draws on a number of Iraqi and international experts and has produced numerous publications in Arabic and Kurdish.
NDI has had an in-country presence since June 2003.
Civic Participation
NDI’s work with civic groups focuses on democratic political awareness and citizen participation in Iraq’s political life. Specifically, the Institute assists civil society and youth groups in developing basic organizational structures and strategic plans for becoming actively involved in the political process and playing an intermediary role between citizens and public officials. The Institute implements such programs by facilitating regular meetings between leaders of civil society groups, organizing seminars to discuss the role of civil society in a democracy and to find solutions to pressing issues, and conducting trainings and consultations for groups to build their internal capacity.
In support of the Institute’s objective of promoting increased participation of youth in civic and political activities, NDI initiated a skills building program focused on improving the civic leadership and mobilizing capabilities of Iraqi youth. The program, referred to as the Youth Empowerment Program, or YEP, commenced with a series of training workshops on communication skills. In 2008, almost 100 youth from throughout Iraq gathered for the “Youth for Change” camp, where they started developing work plans to address issues of regional and national concern, as well as elected a national coordinating body. Workshops on conflict resolution and participatory planning will round out the program, which will run through March 2009.
Prior to the January 31, 2009 provincial council elections, NDI trained domestic election monitors from civil society organizations throughout Iraq. Through this program, the Institute’s partners fielded more than 30,000 domestic election monitors to observe voting in polling centers in all 18 provinces. On election day, NDI’s elections operations center in Erbil collected observation data from our partners to track comments and findings about election administration. These efforts, as well as monitoring initiatives planned for the December 2009 national elections and the Kurdistan Regional Government elections, are an important factor in improving transparency and accountability in the electoral process.
Political Party Strengthening
NDI is working to ensure that political parties have the ability to effectively serve constituents and the skills to communicate with opposing parties in a constructive and democratic manner. In order to realize these objectives, the Institute conducts programs to provide Iraqi politicians with the skills and methods to recruit members, plan and conduct electoral campaigns, develop decision-making processes and other structures within the party, and improve two-way communication with constituents, citizens and the media.
In advance of the provincial elections, NDI developed the eight-module Campaign Development Series. The modules included research, drafting a campaign plan, identifying issues, targeting voters, message development, message delivery methods, candidate training, and get-out-the-vote and party agent training. The Institute delivered the training for national and regional parties, as well as emerging political entities, and trained more than 1,000 candidates to compete in the elections.
