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News & Updates
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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
Feature
Is a New Power-Sharing Deal the Best Governing Arrangement for Yemen?
Over the past two decades Yemen’s political leadership has often addressed political deadlocks or crises by signing informal power-sharing arrangements among various tribal, regional and political groups in the absence of institutions or a legal framework mandating or regulating these agreements. Many of the agreements were either aborted immediately upon adoption, never implemented, or abandoned within a few years.
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.
News & Updates
Feature
IFES Supports New Biometric Voter Registration System in Yemen
Since 2012, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) has been providing technical assistance to Yemen’s electoral body, the Supreme Commission of Elections and Referendum (SCER), to develop and implement the country’s new biometric voter registration system (BVR). In May 2014, the SCER conducted a pilot test of the new system, registering nearly 19,000 individuals out of a total estimated voting age population of 24,000 in a single electoral district in the capital of Sana’a.
News & Updates
Interview/Speech/Testimony
Leveling the Playing Field for Yemeni Women: A Q&A with Safia Al-Sayaghi
News & Updates
Feature
Transition at a Crossroads: Moving Beyond the GCC Agreement in Yemen
In late 2011, Yemeni political leaders and stakeholders endorsed the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Agreement, which laid out a two-year roadmap for resolving Yemen's political paralysis. The agreement scripted a process with an inclusive National Dialogue, a new constitution, a constitutional referendum and national elections to move the country forward. Two years later, it is likely the initial timeframe will expire without a referendum and without elections. Please view a panel discussion on these timely issues, the overall political environment in Yemen, the potential impact on the electoral process and the ongoing role of the international community.
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.