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.

Alec Ross, senior advisor for innovation at the U.S. State Department, led a discussion on democracy and technology.

NDI senior staff members from 58 countries came together for three days last week to discuss trends in democracy support and explore opportunities presented by new technologies and other innovations in program design, implementation and evaluation.

Participants show the power of networks during an exercise at the Training Fellowship program.

In Pakistan, where instability, distrust, violence and political rivalries can impede interaction among political parties, women and young people — the majority of the population — often have difficulty making their voices heard.

To help enhance their leadership and training skills, young representatives from four major political parties came together in Karachi in late May and again in July with the aim of developing the capabilities of their own parties to train party members in professional party building and campaign organizing.  Over half of the participants were women and more than 80 percent of them were under 35.