Tools & Resources
Filter by
Type
Publication date
Language
Type
Publication date
Language
News & Updates
Feature
Myanmar’s Election Commission Takes Steps to Achieve Gender Equality and Include Voters with Disabilities
After five decades of military rule, Myanmar has initiated an ongoing process of democratic reform, opening new and significant political space. However, persons with disabilities in Myanmar still face numerous obstacles in accessing their right to vote, and, at only 6.8 percent, Myanmar has one of the lowest percentages of women in parliament in the region.
News & Updates
Feature
Post-Election Advocacy Advances Disability Inclusion in Myanmar
During Myanmar’s historic general elections in November 2015, the Myanmar Independent Living Initiative (MILI), a disability rights organization based in Yangon, worked to ensure that the elections were the country’s most accessible and inclusive elections to date for persons with disabilities.
News & Updates
Press Release
IFES Announces International Recipient of 2016 Democracy Awards
IFES will honor Nay Lin Soe, a disability rights advocate and founder and CEO of the Myanmar Independent Living Initiative, with its 2016 Charles T. Manatt Democracy Award. This is the first time that IFES has honored both a disability rights advocate and an Asian citizen with the Democracy Award.
News & Updates
Interview/Speech/Testimony
Nay Lin Soe Remarks: 2016 Charles T. Manatt Democracy Awards Ceremony
Nay Lin Soe, a disability rights advocate and Founder and CEO of the Myanmar Independent Living Initiative, received the 2016 Charles T. Manatt Democracy Award for his work advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities in Myanmar and Southeast Asia. Read his remarks accepting the Democracy Award.
News & Updates
Feature
Nay Lin Soe and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Myanmar
Myanmar’s 2015 election was a historic moment for democracy in the Southeast Asian nation. Ahead of the elections, Nay Lin Soe’s collaboration with Myanmar’s Union Election Commission, government, civil society and media was critical to ushering in a new and inclusive era for Myanmar and serves as an exemplary model of how to advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities in nascent democracies.
News & Updates
Feature
Video: 2016 Democracy Awards Ceremony
On September 13, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) held its seventh annual Charles T. Manatt Democracy Awards ceremony in Washington D.C. This event brings diverse groups of domestic and international leaders together who share a belief in advancing good governance and democratic rights by empowering and encouraging active citizen participation.
News & Updates
Feature
Video: IFES Creates an Electoral Lexicon in Moroccan Sign Language
In collaboration with a Moroccan Sign Language (MSL) consultant, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) as part of the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening adopted the IFES Electoral Lexicon to MSL, improving access to civic education information among the deaf community.
News & Updates
Feature
IFES Celebrates International Day of Persons with Disabilities
The annual International Day of Persons with Disabilities, held on December 3, commemorates the human rights of persons with disabilities. This year we also celebrate the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
News & Updates
Feature
Disability Rights Advocate and 2016 Charles T. Manatt Democracy Award Recipient
As Myanmar prepared for its historic 2015 general elections, IFES spoke with Nay Lin Soe, the articulate founder and CEO of the Myanmar Independent Living Initiative (MILI), to discuss the barriers encountered by persons with disabilities, the remarkable advances that have been achieved for persons with disabilities in Myanmar in the last five years, and MILI’s work in the lead up to Myanmar’s historic 2015 elections.
News & Updates
Feature
New Version of Moroccan Sign Language Mobile App Released
On September 22, IFES Morocco released an updated version of its electoral lexicon mobile phone app. The app, named صوتي حقي , or “My Vote, My Right,” is an accessible civic education tool created for Moroccan citizens, particularly for those in the Deaf community. The app features live-person videos of all terms of the Moroccan sign language electoral lexicon in French, Arabic, and Moroccan sign language, as well as definitions of the terms in all three languages.