Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

Recipients of the first certificates ever handed out by the Democracy Unit's Training Program expressed their commitment to sharing their knowledge with their community and party peers. They had been in training since November 5, 2008 - on an intensive course designed by the NIMD sponsored Democracy Month to promote deeper understanding of both the theory and practice of democracy in Suriname.

Making the grade
The participants - Monday's graduates, were political party members, trainers of political parties, teachers, journalist and members of civil society organizations.

Out of the 124 persons enrolled, 107 took the course. Of those, 27 candidates received a certificate. Those who earn a certificate received a statement instead recognising each of the four modules they completed.

The modules treated during the course were: Political Sciences, Development of Economics, Policy and policy making and State Law. A guest lecture about Caricom was also part of the course.

New Nickerie, where the training started on January 30th, 2009 showed a relatively better performance than Paramaribo. 41 people enrolled, 23 were present at the start of the course while on Saturday, May 30th a certificate was provided to 16 candidates, which is an average of 66%, while Paramaribo stocked by the average of 25 %. In Nickerie a further 13 candidates received statements for completion.

Looking to the elections
In his speech at the Paramaribo Mr Hans Breeveld, director of the Democracy Unit, stressed the importance of the elections, which will be held in May next year was stressed. Referring to article 5 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter (of the OAS) he emphasized the high costs of elections in Suriname.

Mr Breeveld also asked for transparency as far as the financing of the elections are concerned. Besides certificates and statements for completion every candidate also received a copy of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

The Democracy Unit in Suriname
In July 2008 when the NIMD sponsored Democracy Unit in Suriname convened more than 50 political party representatives in the district of Nickerie for a consultation about the Train-the-Trainers Programme, Mr. Jimmy Kasipowidjojo, Chairman of the Board of the DU, promised that “the programme would offer a neutral place for politicians where they can meet and discuss the basic principles of a democracy, without getting stuck into sensitive political debates”.
Since then it has gone on to provide young politicians not only with a key to a theoretical understanding of democracy, the rule of law in Suriname, political history, and policy development, but also with practical political skills such as debating, presenting, and meeting techniques.

The training is open to young politicians from all parties in Suriname as well as journalists and teachers and interested members of civil society.

More Information
For more information on the training or NIMD's programme in Suriname, please feel free to contact the DU through NIMD's Lizzy Beekman // lizzybeekman@nimd.org