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.

Anita Vandenbeld, NDI’s resident director in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has over 20 years of experience working with political parties and parliaments in Canada and around the world.  Ms. Vandenbeld has served as director of parliamentary affairs in the Office of the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and as minister responsible for democratic reform, where she oversaw the development and implementation of the government of Canada's democratic reform action plan. Ms. Vandenbeld also worked as chief of staff for Senator Grant Mitchell, and as a policy analyst with the National Liberal Caucus Research Bureau. She has worked on dozens of political campaigns at the national and local levels and ran for a seat in the Canadian parliament under the Liberal party banner in 2011.

Internationally, Ms. Vandenbeld worked for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Kosovo as senior advisor and deputy chief of the Central Assembly and Political Parties section. She also coordinated an anti-corruption campaign with the OSCE mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and worked on parliamentary development in BiH and Serbia with the Canadian Parliamentary Centre. More recently, Ms. Vandenbeld managed iKNOW Politics, a global online network promoting women’s political rights and encouraging women to participate in the political arena. In 2008, Ms. Vandenbeld was awarded the Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal for her work on democratic development in Kosovo.

Ms. Vandenbeld obtained her undergraduate degree at the University of Calgary before completing her master’s in Canadian politics and constitutional history at York University.