Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

Many NIMD programmes are right at the heart of political reform processes, including countries that feature in this collection of democracy stories: Ghana, Guatemala, Indonesia and Mali. These countries are involved in peaceful constitutional or law reform processes, which seek, among other things, to rebalance the powers of the Executive in relation to the Legislative and the Judiciary; to redesign electoral systems with a view to make them more inclusive and representative; and to regulate the financing of political parties in order to combat corruption.

Accountability and ownership

NIMD’s contribution to these efforts is directed both at the content of reforms, to ensure a better performance of democracy, and on the accountability of the process itself, to ensure a widely shared ownership of the reforms through participation of the population. The additional focus on process is a key feature of the NIMD approach, which recognizes local ownership and inclusive dialogues to build trust among politicians and constituencies and foster a democratic culture. Institutional reforms may be supported but without internalizing these reforms in enhanced democratic practice, accountability and ownership remain hollow phrases.

Trends

In the evolution of NIMD programmes three trends are noticeable. The first is a trend to facilitate reform processes at the core of political agendas at national levels. The second is a trend to move beyond capitals to decentralized levels. The third is the increasing interest in political education, recognizing that democracy does not function without democrats.

Some of the stories in this collection exemplify these trends. Thus in Ghana, the NIMD programme has facilitated a comprehensive assessment of the state of democracy, resulting in the Democratic Consolidation Strategy Paper (DCSP), a home-grown democratic reform agenda, which is supported by all political parties and widely shared within society at large.

A growing asset in the implementation of the NIMD programmes is the institutionalization of interparty dialogue by our partners in Centres for Multiparty Democracy (CMDs). In two countries featuring in this publication, Mali and Kenya, these Centres are well established.

The trend to move beyond capitals is exemplified by the story on the Shared Municipal Agendas in Guatemala, where politicians and citizens’ groups are involved in efforts to make local governments more accountable. Likewise, in Kenya, the NIMD programme is supporting local initiatives to foster dialogue and build bridges of understanding between ethnic constituencies in the aftermath of the election violence that broke out there in December 2007.

The story of one of the alumni of the Indonesian Sekolah Demokrasi (Democracy School) underscores the rationale of investing in a new generation of politicians. The Democracy School programme is an important experiment in political education, which is receiving interest from other parts of the world.


Partnership


Another message for international cooperation is more effective collaboration. Yet harmonization of international support to national and regional programmes is proving a very time-consuming and labour intensive process. In addition, providing support to political parties and movements continues to be something that many international cooperation agencies do not dare to consider. Thus in the Accra Agenda for Action of the recent 3rd high level Aid Effectiveness Conference of the OECD, no reference was made to political parties. This was a missed opportunity: just before the international community convened in Accra, the leadership of the political parties in Ghana presented their DCSP, which still stands as an invitation to international partners to harmonize their support for democratic governance, using this home-grown analysis and road map for reforms as their compass.

Fortunately, NIMD does not stand alone in its conviction that international efforts to make political systems perform better should pay due regard to the role of political parties. We work with other politically savvy democracy assistance organisations, such International Idea, NDI and IRI, and multilateral organisations such as UNDP and OESCE. Within the European Union we foster collaboration among democracy assistance practitioners through the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), which we cofounded. And as the story on our partnership with the Dutch Institute for Political Participation (IPP) exemplifies, in our experience collaboration can and does lead to innovation.

Democracy: a work in progress

With the various international developments and trends in NIMD’s programmes, it is important to conclude that the core business of NIMD – that is, to help political parties in young democracies bring about the political reforms necessary to make democracies perform better - has not changed.

Accordingly, our programmes continue to centre on three objectives:

1) contribute to the strengthening of multiparty democratic systems;
2) support the institutional development of political parties;
3) improve the relations between political society and civil society, including the private sector and the media.

As the story on party development in Mali illustrates, when these three objectives work together, they help bring about more accountable governments, more representative political parties, and better performing political systems in NIMD programme countries; more stability in the relations with neighbouring countries; and better conditions for sustainable development. And since we are an organisation of political parties, our programmes continue to benefit from the expertise of political practitioners, such as those in the story on the political participation of women in Ghana, who know that democracy is always a work in progress.

Inclusivity

NIMD offers a new approach to international democracy support. As a coalition of Dutch political parties across the political spectrum, NIMD can directly work with all political leaders and their parties in young democracies. NIMD invites political parties to cooperate on the advancement of democracy – learning to ‘disagree without becoming disagreeable’. In most NIMD programme countries, political parties have formed their own inter-party dialogue platforms that seek to forge a common ground for the advancement of democratic reforms. The approach is expressly inclusive in recognition that all parties are shareholders in a democratic political system, and that all share responsibility for its well functioning. Through this approach, democratic reforms obtain a more widely shared legitimacy. That is why inclusivity is a cornerstone of all NIMD programmes.

Case Study Mali: Making political parties perform better

Accountability

Only in a democracy, leaders can be held accountable for the way they use their power through a system of both formal (e.g. legislation) and informal (e.g. publicity) checks and balances. In the relationship between government and citizens, the citizen delegates the use of power through elections in exchange for a government’s accountability for the exercise of said power. Accountability serves both a political and operational purpose: it not only serves to prevent the abuse of power by the executive but also provides incentives for effective and efficient government. The same principles apply to the functioning of political parties and their relationships with civil society. Hence, the three objectives of NIMD - systemic democratic reforms, institutional development of political parties, and enhanced relations between politics and society – work together to improve accountability within the political systems of our programme countries.

Case Study Guatemala: Shared Municipal Agendas make local governments more accountable

Ownership

NIMD’s approach to democracy support is exemplified in the Democratic Consolidation Strategy Paper (DCSP) of the political parties in Ghana. These are comprehensive political reform agendas based on a home-grown assessment of democratic deficiencies and proposals to address these. While the principles on the basis of which NIMD facilitates such reform agendas are similar, the content and outcome of the process differs from country to country. As distinctly political reform agendas they may be seen to complement the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) promoted by multilateral organizations. NIMD hopes that more shared reform agendas after the examples Ghana’s DCSP and Guatemala’s Shared National Agenda (SNA), will result from other programmes in the years to come.

Case Study Ghana: A home-grown democratic agenda

No democracy without democrats

The NIMD approach focuses very much on furthering trust among key players within political society and between political society, civil society, the private sector and the media. One of the lessons learned from the Democracy School programme in Indonesia is that political education helps enable a new generation of politicians to bridge divides between politics and society. It is encouraging that a similar approach has been suggested for a prospective programme in Afghanistan while analogous initiatives are now also undertaken in southern Africa. The focus on teaching potential leaders in the practical application of democratic instruments, complements efforts to achieve institutional reforms.

Case Study Indonesia: Democracy School educates a new generation of politicians

Dialogue

Young democracies are often characterized by entrenched political antagonism and at times violent conflicts. NIMD recognizes that the cause of many conflicts in young democracies and fragile states is the lack of trust among political leaders and a zero-sum approach to politics, which excludes major sections of the population. Political conflicts inhibit the changes for sustainable socio-economic development. NIMD programmes support political reforms initiated by the leadership of political parties in young democracies that help reduce conflicts, forge understanding among constituencies, and advance democratic practices and values.

Case Study Kenya: Building bridges of understanding between ethnic constituencies

Peer-to-peer learning

Democratic development does not comply to some template that can be readily exported. It is an incremental process that needs to grow from within. As a provider of assistance to this process in some 17 young democracies, NIMD is well aware that the value of foreign experts is limited. However, in its work with politicians NIMD has learned that exchanges with peers from other countries are valuable. They contribute to comparison of political practices, reflection on entrenched positions, and new ways of thinking about democracy.

Case Study Ghana: ‘Poor but bold’, women advance political particiaption

Partnerships

NIMD can only achieve its mandate successfully in partnership with other stakeholders in democratic development. The first line of partners consists of the multiparty platforms in NIMD programme countries. A second line of partners consists of agencies with a similar mandate to support democracy through work with political parties, such as the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the International Republican Insitute (IRI), the Westminister Foundation for Democracy (WFD), Demos, and the Foundations of the German political parties, among others. A third line of partners are bilateral and multilateral organizations that support democratic governance. These include the Dutch embassies and the European Union delegations in NIMD programme countries, the British Department for International Development (DFID), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), International IDEA, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), among others. And last but not least there is a fourth line of partners that combine a broader interest in democratization with a specific expertise, such as Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) and the affiliated Training Centre (RNTC), Beerenschot Management Consultants, and the Dutch Institute for Political Participation (IPP).

Case Study Georgia: VoteMatch: Dutch voting tool helps parties define programs

Harmonization and complementarity

The home grown reform agendas supported by NIMD, such as Guatemala’s Shared National Agenda (SNA) and Ghana’s Democratic Consolidation Strategy Paper (DCSP), carry a broad political consensus. They therefore offer a unique opportunity for other international partners, bilateral and multilateral agencies alike, to harmonize their democratic governance support, as advocated in the OECD Paris Declaration and its successor, the Accra Agenda for Action. Likewise, in Europe NIMD has become an active advocate of multilateral cooperation and a higher EU profile in democracy support. In 2008 NIMD helped launch the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), an organization founded by some fifteen civil society organizations, that aims to harmonize democracy support initiatives within the European Union.

Case Study The European Partnership for Democracy (EPD)