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Center For Democracy and Governance
Democratization & Human Rights
"Helping democratic & Human Rights institutions deliver improvements to citizens’ lives."
Helping democratic & Human Right institutions deliver improvements to citizens’ lives is an overarching objective of CDG programs. In many transitioning democracies, citizens have experienced either minor or no tangible benefits from their new governments: In Somalia/land this become a common challenge of peace-building and state-building, poverty levels have remained the same; government services remain ineffective or have disconnected from their governments. Government leaders who fail to deliver basic levels of stability, safety, and opportunity risk losing their legitimacy. When they fail to deliver on basic needs for prolonged periods, their poor performance can lead to a crisis of legitimacy not just for particular governments, but for the concept of democracy as a viable form of government.
CDG aims to address these issues in a number of ways. Through the Institute’s legislative, executive office, and local government strengthening programs, the center will assist government institutions in listening to citizens (through public hearings, for example), and responding to their concerns. CDG will also begin to help legislatures build capacity to address specific policy issues, focusing on legislative engagement on poverty reduction initiatives, CSOs policies, and management of oil, gas and mining industries.
Election Observation
Election observation is fundamentally an exercise in support of democracy. Election observers serve as impartial watchdogs who can assess whether the results of an election truly reflect the will of the people. Genuine democratic elections do not guarantee democratic governance but are a prerequisite for it. They provide political legitimacy for elected leaders and a foundation from which to govern, reducing the scope for non-democratic challenges to power. They serve to resolve competition for political power peacefully and are more likely to lead to stability.
What is the goal of election observation?
International election observation is now common around the world and accepted as an international norm. The overarching goal is to support efforts to strengthen democratic processes and institutions and to support the conduct of elections that meet international standards, are peaceful, and have credible results. On election day, credible and impartial observers can strengthen an electoral process by reassuring voters they can safely and secretly cast their ballots and electoral fraud will be detected.