NDI celebrated its 25th anniversary on May 10 by honoring two champions of democracy, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe and the Network of Chocó Women of Colombia, at an event hosted by NDI Chairman Madeleine K. Albright.

The Departmental Network of Chocó Women of Colombia (Red Departmental de Mujeres Chocoanas) has been chosen by NDI to receive the 2010 Madeleine K. Albright Grant for its work to create greater roles for women in the civil and political life of the region.   

The network, an umbrella group representing 52 civil society organizations from 18 towns in the primarily Afro-Colombian department of Chocó, will receive $25,000 for a political training school and to create a network of women political leaders in Chocó, in the western part of Colombia.

Congressional staff members from Colombia, Guatemala and Peru had a valuable opportunity to exchange information during a recent video conference program on legislative strengthening put on by NDI and the World Bank Institute (WBI).  The video conference series—the second in two years involving NDI and the WBI—brought the participants together to explore good practices in the areas of lawmaking, effective committees, and oversight and transparency.

Since the early 1990s, women in Latin America have significantly increased their political participation and successes. But while the number of women legislators has increased, advances have not been uniform across countries and women are continuing to seek more recognition of their interests. In some countries, women legislators have formed committees on gender; in others, more informal groups have been created to address specific issues. But the strength and effectiveness of these groups differ from country to country.

Colombia's department of Chocó, where 82 percent of the residents are of African descent, was the nation's first administrative division designed to give that group some autonomous decision-making power. But the hoped-for empowerment has been slow to materialize in the face of poverty, corruption, violence and neglect.

At a recent seminar in Bogotá, Colombia, NDI brought together local elected officials from Latin America to discuss how to restore faith in political parties’ ability to deliver the benefits of democracy to citizens. The 20 participants from six countries spent five days together.

Francisco Herrero, NDI’s resident senior director in Colombia, discussed the goals and accomplishments of the seminar and offered his perspective on the challenges facing political parties in Latin America.

Where did the idea for the seminar come from?