“The camp is a platform for young people, providing an incredible energy boost, enhancing self-confidence, and offering the opportunity to make new friends and connect with like-minded individuals. I can confidently say that the Civic Engagement Camp amazed and inspired me with its creativity and thoughtful design. I believe it is one of the best youth projects in Kyrgyzstan.” -Adelia.  

SEE MORE Photos from IFES Kyrgyzstan

Using the SEED methodology, IFES has successfully conducted civic education camps in Kyrgyzstan, Tunisia, and Lithuania with students from Belarus. IFES has worked with over 165 universities and colleges, and over 450 education specialists in Georgia, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, and Sri Lanka. To date, over 37,000 students have participated.

IFES CELEBRATES INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY

Each year, IFES honors International Youth Day (August 12th) as an opportunity to recognize the contributions of young leaders around the world. To celebrate, IFES interviewed five young leaders from across programs, asking them to share more about their leadership and weigh in on topics ranging from digital innovation to meaningful youth inclusion under USAID’s new DRG policy. Sarah Ann Timreck, Youth Engagement Program Officer on the IFES Inclusion team, put together an immersive and interactive project about the young partners she profiled for 2024’s commemoration. CLICK HERE to see photos and videos from the participants, and thank you to the young people IFES engages with every day for helping us strengthen democratic resilience and build positive democratic cultures! 
 
MORE: International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples was celebrated on August 9th, 2024. Earlier this year, at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), IFES hosted its first side event featuring Indigenous youth from Kenya, Guyana, and Cambodia. Read more about this unique UNPFII event from Kai Stuckey and Danielle Anthony HERE 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

She Leads: On July 11th, Lois Nkwachi Chinedu, Senior Gender and Inclusion Officer from the IFES Nigeria office, and Ameni Mathlouthi, Project Officer from the IFES Tunisia office, gave a presentation about IFES’s flagship program that works to empower women. She Leads provides women with the skills and knowledge to participate and take on leadership roles in political and electoral processes through a series of beginner, intermediate and advanced trainings. The presenters discussed recent implementations of She Leads in Nigeria and Tunisia, showcasing the program’s impact, reflecting on challenges, and highlighting best practices. Over the last decade, IFES’s She Leads program has directly trained over 4,000 women leaders in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bougainville and Kenya. LEARN MORE about how She Leads is tailored to fit each country and political context, equipping women with specific skillsets to assume leadership roles as candidates, elected leaders, and community advocates. Check out Lois's presentation HERE.  

GLIDE 2024 Landscape Analysis: The Global LGBTQI+ Inclusive Democracy and Empowerment (GLIDE) Initiative – a partnership between IFES, Outright International, and Synergía Initiative for Human Rights – launched the GLIDE 2024 Landscape Analysis. IFES was the lead GLIDE partner for this research and the report provides a snapshot of the status of LGBTQI+ rights and civic and democratic participation around the world, including those factors that impact the ability and willingness of LGBTQI+ people to engage in political processes. The GLIDE Initiative held a webinar on July 30th, 2024, to launch the report. WATCH the recording of the presentation if you missed it. 

IFES Muskie Fellow Presentation: The Europe & Eurasia team’s Muskie Research Fellow, Elizbar Khvichia, presented his recent paper entitled Youth Political Participation as a Sustainable Change Factor: Case Studies in Georgia and Armenia. Through his research, Elizbar analyzes the challenges and behaviors of youth and young adults, examining their engagement dynamics through specific country-based variables. The analysis, based on case studies from Georgia and Armenia, aims to clarify how mass protests and democratic backsliding affect youth electoral behavior and whether this leads to their formal engagement in sustaining democracy. VIEW the recorded presentation on YouTube. 

IFES IN THE NEWS

• Bond UK: Dr. Fernanda Buril, Deputy Director of IFES’s Center for Applied Research and Learning, was solicited to author a blog post for Bond: A super year of not-so-super elections: How autocratic regimes are hijacking the polls – and how to reclaim them.
• BBC News: Maximo Zaldivar, IFES’s Regional Director of Latin America & The Caribbean, was interviewed about the integrity of the July 28th Venezuelan elections.
• College of the Atlantic: IFES Board Chair William Eacho, joined MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough for a discussion entitled: Challenges to Democracy: Media, Misinformation, and the Rise of Authoritarianism.  
• New York Times: Dr. Fernanda Buril, Deputy Director of IFES’s Center for Applied Research and Learning, AND Maximo Zaldivar were interviewed together and featured in the same piece about the Venezuelan elections: How Authoritarian Governments Rig Elections to Stay in Power.  
• Axios: Dr. Cassandra Emmons, IFES’s Global Democracy Data Adviser, spoke to Axios about the length of election cycles, comparing the U.S. to other countries. Democrats’ time crunch for a new candidate is still long compared to other countries.  
• National Conference of State Legislatures: The US Isn’t the Only Nation Going to the Polls.

The Voice is a monthly newsletter from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) that keeps you informed about elections worldwide and how IFES is advancing democracy for a better future. Get this newsletter sent directly to your inbox by subscribing here. 

To stay up to date with the latest news and publications from IFES, visit ifes.org.