Democracy Innovation Lab

NDI envisions a world where democracy and freedom prevail, with dignity for all. In 2025, the Institute established the Democracy Innovation Lab, a team of the Institute’s global experts tasked with cultivating and sharing technical expertise and developing new evidence-based approaches to:

• Empower people to have a say in how they’re governed;
• Make democracy work by helping political parties, governments and elected officials be more responsive, accountable and effective in meeting the needs of their people; and
• Strengthen democratic societies by supporting freedom’s advocates and pushing back on forces that seek to undermine freedom around the world.

These experts form an agile, multi-disciplinary team that draws on the Institute’s’ 42 years of experience working across more than 150 countries with community groups, political parties, parliaments, and governments across the world to help people harness their power to make democracy work. 

To counter the growing global threat of autocracy, democracy advocates must innovate and transcend regional and technical boundaries to identify what works and rapidly spread the word. In this spirit, the Democracy Innovation Lab:

• Leverages the Institute’s more than four decades of expertise in supporting democracy advocates worldwide to meet persistent and emerging challenges with proven techniques and approaches;
• Deploys rapid response teams to thwart threats to freedom and democracy and to seize opportunities for democratic change;
• Develops innovative and evidence-based approaches and cutting-edge tools; and
• Connects democracy advocates with each other and with experts worldwide, sharing knowledge and resources across borders to build cross-national movements.