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.

Heather Kashner is NDI's resident director in Uganda. Ms. Kashner possesses more than 15 years of domestic and international work experience, including work with political parties, civil society and parliaments. As chief of party in Uganda, Ms. Kashner oversees a multi-year partnership with the International Republican Institute that supports civil society, domestic election observation and political party development. Ms. Kashner also created a pilot program which is expanding to support constituency relations in Uganda's parliament.

Prior to her role in Uganda, Ms. Kashner served as NDI's deputy director of governance and a senior advisor to NDI's executive office. She supported NDI projects throughout Africa and Latin America, serving as a resource for programs in Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Guinea Bissau, Kosovo, Liberia, Nigeria and Uganda.

Ms. Kashner joined NDI in 2001 as party program director and NDI's chief of party in the post-conflict environment of Kosovo until 2005. While chief of party in Kosovo, Ms. Kashner designed innovative techniques to strengthen political parties, support Kosovo's first democratically elected parliament and placed heavy emphasis on staff development. Several members of Kashner's original staff now manage their own programs within NDI and other international organizations. In 2005, Kashner served briefly as an advisor to the Office of the Prime Minister of Kosovo on behalf of USAID.

Before joining the Institute, Ms. Kashner managed multi-million dollar issue campaigns and congressional races in the U.S., and directed marketing and sales teams in western Canada for a global electronics company. Ms. Kashner has an MsC from Hautes Etudes Commerciales and Oxford University's joint "Consulting and Coaching for Change" program.