NDI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nongovernmental organization that has supported democratic institutions and practices in every region of the world for more than three decades. Since its founding in 1983, NDI and its local partners have worked to establish and strengthen political and civic organizations, safeguard elections, and promote citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.
Since its founding in 1983, NDI has worked with local partners in 130 countries and territories, bringing together individuals and groups to share ideas, knowledge, experiences and expertise. Partners receive broad exposure to best practices in international democratic development that can be adapted to the needs of their own countries. NDI’s multinational approach reinforces the message that while there is no single democratic model, certain core principles are shared by all democracies.
The Institute’s work upholds the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It also promotes the development of institutionalized channels of communications among citizens, political institutions and elected officials, and strengthens their ability to improve the quality of life for all citizens.
Institutional Representative: Linda Stern, Director of Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning
Linda Stern is the Director of monitoring, evaluation & learning at the National Democratic Institute (NDI), where she spearheads the institute’s efforts to build a body of evidence for NDI’s diverse democracy assistance programming. She also leads a Research, Evaluation & Learning (REL) initiative with a consortium of eight democracy, human rights and labor organizations under the Fundamental Freedoms Fund (FFF), sponsored by the US State Department. She serves on EGAP’s Board of Directors and is a member of its Elections, Representation & Political Participation committee.
Institutional Representative: Franklin Oduro, Resident Country Director
Franklin formally assumed the NDI Ethiopia Office Country Directorship position beginning in 2022. Prior to this, he was the pioneer program director for electoral support component activities when he joined the Ethiopia NDI field team. Since 2019 he has led and directed all aspects of NDI’s citizen observer support programs mobilizing civil society partners and institutions to engender inclusive and participatory governance and systematic citizen election observation methodologies. Franklin’s career spans over 20 years in international development managing and implementing democracy, governance, elections, transitional justice, and national reconciliation and peacebuilding programs. Over this period, his career has been devoted to supporting inclusive civil society and marginalized populations’ participation in democratic processes. He began his career at the Center for Democratic Development (CDD), Accra, Ghana rising to the position of deputy executive director and also served in expert capacities with NDI in Nigeria and Liberia between 2010 and 2019. In Ethiopia, he led NDI’s technical and financial support to Ethiopia’s civil society coalitions and networks significantly contributing to strengthening civil society participation in election monitoring, increasing policy advocacy by marginalized groups, increasing the participation of women in politics, including innovative approaches to preventing Violence Against Women in Elections (VAW-E) and improved governance and management practices of civil society organizations. Dr. Oduro studied political science at the University of Ghana and obtained his Ph.D. in Political Science from Carleton University, Canada.
NDI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nongovernmental organization that has supported democratic institutions and practices in every region of the world for more than three decades. Since its founding in 1983, NDI and its local partners have worked to establish and strengthen political and civic organizations, safeguard elections, and promote citizen participation, openness and accountability in government. Since its founding in 1983, NDI has worked with local partners in 130 countries and territories, bringing together individuals and groups to share ideas, knowledge, experiences and expertise. Partners receive broad exposure to best practices in international democratic development that can be adapted to…