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News & Updates
Feature
Promoting Gender Inclusion with Nepal’s Election Commission
In the last decade, Nepal has made significant progress in promoting gender equality and women’s political participation, including adopting women’s rights-focused international and national instruments as well as a gender quota in the 2007 interim Constitution.
Publication
Brochure/Fact Sheet
Guinea: Support Political and Electoral Processes
Guinea held a legislative election on September 28, 2013, after six years of delays attributable to a variety of factors, including a military coup d’état. This election, despite being preceded by a series of violent demonstrations, was conducted peacefully, and was widely considered a positive step in Guinea’s democratic transition. Challenges persist, however, that must be addressed prior to the presidential election that is currently scheduled to take place in 2015. The Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) continues to struggle to demonstrate the institutional and operational capacity necessary to administer elections in a credible and transparent manner and the promotion of electoral reform is further inhibited by a generally weak understanding among citizens of democratic principles, electoral processes, and decentralization.
January 28, 2015
News & Updates
Feature
Registering Marginalized Populations to Vote in Nepal
As Nepal undergoes critical electoral and governance changes, IFES Nepal is working with local partners to register Nepalis – including Dalits, youth, Muslim women, freed Kamaiya (those subjected to forced labor) and other historically marginalized groups – to vote. This is part of IFES Nepal’s efforts to ensure that all Nepalis are able to participate actively in Nepal’s evolving political process.
News & Updates
Feature
Improving Access to Citizenship Certificates
As a primary legal document in Nepal, the citizenship certificate is compulsory for banking; accessing formal education and employment; registering on the voter’s roll; and obtaining a variety of benefits, including social security and government allowances for people with disabilities, victims of armed conflict and internally displaced persons. Yet despite its importance, there are significant barriers – including lack of knowledge or supporting documents and issues related to gender, caste and extreme poverty – that hinder access to citizenship certificates, especially for those from Nepal’s more marginalized groups.
Publication
Book
Gender Equality & Election Management Bodies: A Best Practices Guide
The full participation of women and men in a country's political and decision-making processes as voters, candidates, elected officials and electoral management body (EMB) staff is crucial. Yet, despite a set of robust international instruments and many positive developments in recent years, women represent only 21.7 percent of world's parliamentarians and in many countries they continue to be marginalized and underrepresented in political and electoral processes. Clearly, major steps still need to be taken before true gender equality is achieved in this arena.
September 23, 2014
News & Updates
Press Release
Health Crisis in West Africa Erodes Peace and Democratization Efforts
The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) is deeply concerned about the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. This health crisis has resulted in more than 1,350 reported deaths so far in a region that has been moving steadily toward peace and democratization. This outbreak of the Ebola virus has already killed more people than any other Ebola epidemic in history.
News & Updates
Feature
Empowering Youth in Nepal to Secure their Voting Rights
As part of the USAID-funded “Strengthening Political Parties, Electoral and Legislative Processes” program, IFES Nepal is partnering with subawardees like Youth Initiative (YI) to strengthen the participation of youth, ethnic minorities and historically marginalized groups in Nepal’s electoral process. In support of this objective, IFES Nepal and YI recently launched a new initiative – “Voter Registration, Electoral Participation and Citizenship Certificate Support for Youth” – to ensure that eligible youth are able to register and secure their right to vote.
News & Updates
Feature
IFES Hosts Election Commission of Nepal
On July 14, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) hosted a delegation from the Election Commission of Nepal (ECN), led by Commissioner Dolakh Bahadur Gurung, an interactive learning session at its Washington, D.C. headquarters.
Election FAQ
Elections in Nepal: November 19 Constituent Assembly Elections
On November 19, Nepalis will elect members to form a Constituent Assembly (CA), which will be charged with drafting a new constitution for the South Asian country. IFES' frequently asked questions (FAQs) Elections in Nepal: November 19 Constituent Assembly Elections shed light on the poll.
News & Updates
Interview/Speech/Testimony
IFES Alumni Goes Back to School, Looks to Level the Global Playing Field
Alexandra Matthews, a graduate student at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, tells us what she learned about empowering the vulnerable while at IFES, and how this work inspired her studies.