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.

Antoinette Pearson has more than 15 years’ experience developing, monitoring and implementing civic education strategies for community-based organizations, nonprofits and civil society networks in the United States, West Africa, Central/Eastern Europe and the Caribbean. She currently serves as NDI's resident country director in Malawi.

Ms. Pearson previously worked for NDI in Washington, D.C., managing programs in Gambia and Ghana, and in the Czech Republic working with civil society organizations. She left NDI to pursue community outreach projects with a number of U.S. nonprofit organizations and associations, including the Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, Pathway Senior Living, and the International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. She returned to NDI to work in Malawi in 2011.

Ms. Pearson has an M.B.A. from Case Western Reserve University, a master's of international administration from the SIT Graduate Institute and a B.A. from Hiram College.