“Former Legislators Strengthening Democracy Worldwide”
About Us
A functioning democracy incorporates many components, including free, fair and transparent elections, independent governmental institutions and an informed electorate. The Global Democracy Initiative (GDI) is an organization established...
Pre-Election Work
Through a contribution from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), IEMI was able to offer ongoing in-depth training sessions for its members. We have trained more than 60 former legislators from Canada, Europe, and the United...
Post-Election Work
An effectively functioning legislature is of central importance to democratic accountability. Therefore, ongoing legislative strengthening projects conducted by reputable and professional NGOs are of tremendous signifigance and the Global...
Mission Statement
The purpose of the Global Democracy Initiative is to organize, train, and deploy Former Parliamentarians of Canada, Former Members of the European Parliament, and Former Members of the U.S. Congress as participants in democracy building activities such as election observation, democratic institution building, and supporting elected representatives in emerging democracies as they strive for free and transparent forms of good governance.
GDI intends to engage in several missions per year, and will play an active role in pre- and post-election democracy-building endeavors by itself and in cooperation with other international democracy-building institutions.
Our Work
Founded in 2005, IEMI, now GDI, was created out of the universal idea that an international group of former legislators can add an important dimension to democracy building work in the many nations trying to set up a government based on transparency and rule of law. IEMI engages in three areas of expertise:
- To train former legislators based on internationally recognized guidelines for legislative and strengthening and election observation work
- To collaborate with reputable NGOs to place trained legislators in existing missions
- To engage former parliamentarians in post-election democracy building work
Press Release
Meeting in Washington, the US Association of Former Members of Congress (FMC), the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians (CAFP) and the Former Members of the European Parliament Association, established the Global Democracy Initiative (GDl). Building on five successful years utilizing the unique skills of former legislators in overseas election observation as the International Election Monitors Institute, the partners have decided to expand the scope and outreach of the program by creating GDl.
The mission of this new initiative is to promote democracy around the world and to increase our portfolio of activities from election monitoring to working with countries before, during, and after elections, according to GDI’s new President, Leo Duguay, who is also president of the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians.
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