Where We Work
Since 1987, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) has worked in over 145 countries around the world. With programming in Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa, IFES’ independent expertise strengthens electoral systems and builds local capacity to deliver sustainable solutions.
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7 Aug 2019 | News and Updates
IFES will honor Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Margot Wallström, former United States Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and former U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley...
5 Aug 2019 | Election FAQ
On June 16, Guatemalan citizens voted in general elections. On August 11, they returned to the polls to elect their president and vice president from the two top candidates of the first round. ...
1 Aug 2019 | News and Updates
In early 2019, Ukrainian student Rashyd Bilalov organized the “Democracy Talks” project at his university. An alumnus of IFES' Democracy: From Theory to Practice civic education course, he was...
1 Aug 2019 | News and Updates
IFES honors young champions and showcases the pivotal role young people play in developing and sustaining democratic processes in their communities by celebrating International Youth Day 2019 with a...
1 Aug 2019 | Publication
On March 20, Saba, a special municipality in the Caribbean Netherlands, held elections for Island Council and the Netherlands Senate Electoral College. IFES conducted a targeted electoral observation...
24 Jul 2019 | News and Updates
In June 2019, IFES and local partner Ragnar Nurkse Department of Governance and Innovation at the Tallinn University of Technology held a training course on electoral technology and cyber hygiene in...
19 Jul 2019 | Publication
Group of Influence Ukraine Executive Director Tetyana Durnyeva, IFES Senior International Adviser Harald Hartvig Jepsen and independent consultant Hannah Roberts contributed an article on “IDPs’...
18 Jul 2019 | News and Updates
IFES, in partnership with the Center for Dalit Women Nepal, is introducing its flagship women’s leadership program “She Leads” to Nepal. Over the next four years, through a modular training...
17 Jul 2019 | News and Updates
Less than half of young Ukrainians say they have enough practical knowledge about the electoral process. To address this challenge and encourage more youth participation in elections, in March 2019,...
10 Jul 2019 | News and Updates
On June 16, for the first time in Guatemalan history, citizens had the opportunity to exercise their right to vote from outside their country as a result of 2016 electoral reforms. IFES has been...
10 Jul 2019 | Election FAQ
On July 21, citizens of Ukraine went to the polls for early parliamentary elections after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a decree to dissolve the Parliament. To help you understand this...
10 Jul 2019 | News and Updates
IFES worked alongside the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Guatemala to draft municipal agreements committing political parties and candidates to a peaceful electoral process, identify target...
2 Jul 2019 | News and Updates
On June 11, "She Leads" alumna Chanthy Hoy spoke on a side panel at the United Nations Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She spoke of the...
1 Jul 2019 | Election FAQ
Citizens of Papua New Guinea had been scheduled to go to the polls for local-level government (LLG) elections from June 22 to July 6. The schedule for the LLG elections was halted by a Supreme...
27 Jun 2019 | News and Updates
On June 11-12, IFES co-hosted two events: “Leadership for Policy Change: Government, International Nongovernmental Organization and Disabled People’s Organization Strategies for Political Inclusion”...
26 Jun 2019 | News and Updates
On June 7, Francophone election administrators voted unanimously to create a Women’s Forum to bring together women in senior leadership positions in national election administration. The...
25 Jun 2019 | News and Updates
On May 20, IFES Gender Program Coordinator Otito Greg-Obi was elected to the 2019-20 Executive Committee of the United States Civil Society Working Group (CSWG) on Women, Peace and Security (WPS)....
19 Jun 2019 | News and Updates
On May 31, IFES delivered its final document on the 2019 transmission of preliminary electoral results (TREP) to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of El Salvador. The document describes and analyzes all...
19 Jun 2019 | News and Updates
Disability rights advocate Cristina Francisco received an “Everyday Heroines” award from the National District of the Dominican Republic. In this Q&A, we ask Francisco about her work on...
19 Jun 2019 | News and Updates
On June 4, leaders of the Electoral Institute of Mexico City (IECM) visited IFES' headquarters to sign an agreement that marks the next phase of their longstanding partnership. With this “Enhancing...
18 Jun 2019 | News and Updates
On June 6, IFES Deputy Country Director for Ukraine Gio Kobakhidze spoke on the evolution of civic education in the digital age at an international seminar on “Electoral Participation and Education...
11 Jun 2019 | Election FAQ
On June 16, citizens of Guatemala went to the polls to elect a president and vice president, 160 deputies to the Congress of the Republic, 20 deputies to the Central American Parliament, 340 mayors...
5 Jun 2019 | Multimedia
On April 9-12, IFES trained members of Guatemala's National Council on Disability to conduct an election access observation. View a photo gallery of the two trainings, which built skills to collect...
5 Jun 2019 | News and Updates
On April 9-12, IFES trained members of Guatemala's National Council on Disability to conduct an election access observation ahead of the country’s general elections on June 16. The trainings built...
30 May 2019 | Election FAQ
On June 9, citizens of Kazakhstan went to the polls for an early presidential election, which will become a defining moment of 21st century Kazakhstan, affecting political life at all levels and...
30 May 2019 | News and Updates
On April 4-5, IFES co-sponsored the Ninth Forum on Latin American Democracy, hosted by Mexico’s National Electoral Institute in Mexico City. Vice President of Programs Michael Svetlik represented...
24 May 2019 | Multimedia
To address a lack of civic education in Tunisian schools and create an informed and civic-minded future generation, IFES developed the Democratic Awakening Toolkit. IFES produced 1,500 toolkits,...
23 May 2019 | News and Updates
A survey conducted the Tunisian Mediterranean Center found that 16 percent of Tunisian women who participated in a mobilization campaign responded that men in their families did not allow them to...
22 May 2019 | News and Updates
IFES partnered with the Tunisian Mediterranean Center to train and deploy women ambassadors in Tunisians governorates with the highest illiteracy rates to encourage women to register and vote in the...
22 May 2019 | Multimedia
IFES has more than 400 staff spread across Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Eurasia and the Middle East and North Africa. During the week of May 12, 2019, IFES field leadership traveled...
17 May 2019 | News and Updates
On May 8, IFES organized an event at George Washington University on “In Defense of Democracy: The Evolution of Civic Education in the Digital Age." The gathering included a presentation on the...
17 May 2019 | Election FAQ
On May 21, Malawian citizens went to the polls for general elections. This was only the second time that Malawi conducted presidential, parliamentary and local government elections on the same day....
17 May 2019 | News and Updates
IFES' annual Joe C. Baxter Award recognizes the contributions of election professionals whose skills and dedication to the field of election administration epitomize the mission of IFES and embody...
15 May 2019 | News and Updates
IFES' programming in Asia-Pacific seeks to reinforce the power of citizens and elected leaders to work across ethnic, gender and religious lines. Key programming examples include IFES’ “She Leads”...
10 May 2019 | Multimedia
On April 21, 2019, Ukrainian citizens voted in a second-round presidential election after no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round on March 31. View a photo...
10 May 2019 | News and Updates
On April 21, 2019, Ukrainian citizens voted in a second-round presidential election after no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round on March 31. Despite the...
10 May 2019 | News and Updates
IFES is pleased to announce that Alan Wall, a senior elections adviser and former IFES chief of party, is the recipient of the 2019 Joe C. Baxter Award, after being unanimously selected by IFES’...
7 May 2019 | News and Updates
On April 2-5, IFES coordinated a visit for Haitian election officials to the Central Electoral Board’s Civil Status and Electoral Training Center in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
7 May 2019 | News and Updates
Alessandra Rossi arrived in Guatemala City in January 2019 to serve as IFES' resident director in Guatemala and provides technical leadership and overall direction to IFES’ “Electoral Governance and...
3 May 2019 | News and Updates
As part of its efforts to ensure access to reliable information and promote high-quality journalism in Ukraine, IFES organized a study trip to the Baltics for investigative journalists to gain hands-...
3 May 2019 | News and Updates
As we celebrate World Press Freedom Day and this year’s theme of “Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation,” we highlight the important work done by IFES to promote...
3 May 2019 | News and Updates
IFES is hosting the Press Secretary of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Armenia Hermine Harutyunyan as part of the American Councils Professional Fellowship Program. In this Q&A,...
2 May 2019 | Multimedia
On April 8-9, IFES implemented a workshop on “Electoral Coverage in an Era of Disinformation” in Panama City for 48 journalists, candidate representatives and Electoral Tribunal (TE) staff. The...
2 May 2019 | News and Updates
IFES is working to establish regional peer networks of election arbiters, which allow judges and election commissioners to discuss best practices and share comparative examples of how other countries...
2 May 2019 | News and Updates
From March 18-28, IFES partnered with Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council to conduct a Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) train-the-facilitators workshop...
2 May 2019 | News and Updates
From March 15-17, IFES conducted a workshop and training for Haitian journalists on advanced investigative journalism, the inclusion of persons with disabilities, women’s representation and violence...
2 May 2019 | News and Updates
The “Agreement for a Transparent, Ethical and Peaceful Electoral Process” was signed on March 11 by representatives of 18 of the 28 political parties that will participate in Guatemala’s upcoming...
1 May 2019 | Election FAQ
On May 5, Panamanian citizens went to the polls to vote in presidential, legislative and local elections. These were the sixth general elections since the ousting of the Manuel Noriega dictatorship...
26 Apr 2019 | Publication
In a new brief, IFES outlines how the latest generation of technology-fueled disinformation campaigns is amplifying the scourge of hate speech and offers a framework for democracy and governance...
24 Apr 2019 | Publication
While women in Bougainville have greater access to politics and decision-making than their counterparts in other parts of Papua New Guinea (PNG), they still face significant challenges as they seek...
24 Apr 2019 | Publication
Elections in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are characterized by violence and tribal politics that contribute to a high prevalence of violence against women in elections (VAWE). A new report from IFES...