On International Democracy Day 2022, the Global Democracy Coalition will hold an event to celebrate democracy activism and democracy defenders of different kinds across varying contexts, and to discuss the most effective ways to support them, to advance and protect democracy worldwide, showcasing stories and examples from partner organizations in the Global Democracy Coalition and their democracy defenders grantees/partners.
WFD's CEO, Anthony Smith will be speaking at the event discussing WFD's work and how strategies and programming are shifting to address new challenges.
The event aims to show how the defense of democracy takes different shapes and forms across varying contexts but will also seek to tease out commonalities and prevalent challenges and strategies to learn from each other. The discussion will also provide inputs to democracy assistance organizations from the Global Democracy Coalition from the United States, Europe, and Latin America so that they can more effectively support the efforts of different types of democracy defenders and also learn from each other.
Programme
14:00 - 14:15 Opening Remarks by Kevin Casas-Zamora, Secretary-General of International IDEA
Panel I: Democracy defenders in diverse contexts
Moderated by Kyra Buchko, Co-Executive Director at PartnersGlobal
The first panel will focus on democracy activists from different contexts and regions, who will share their stories, strategies and provide recommendations to the democracy assistance organizations on how their support can more effectively support their goals.
The panel will feature different types of democracy activism, thanks to the 5 speakers from different contexts and regions that will participate:
- Americas - Civil society democracy defender in an authoritarian country - Anonymous
- Africa - Civil society democracy defender in exile from an authoritarian country - Tutu Alicante - Equatorial Guinea
- Asia - Opposition politician/government in exile from an authoritarian country - H.E Mr. Moe Zaw Oo – Myanmar
- Europe - Civil society activist in a backsliding democracy - Márta Pardavi – Hungary
- Middle East - Civil society activist inside a war context - Fahd Saif - Yemen
15:30 - 15:45 Coffee Break
Panel II: Supporting Democracy Defenders
Moderated by Annika Silva-Leander, Head of North America for International IDEA
The second panel will consist of democracy assistance organizations in the Global Democracy Coalition from the United States, Europe and Latin America, who will share how they support different types of democracy activists/activism and how their strategies and programming are shifting to address new challenges, including those highlighted by the activists.
The panel will feature the following organizations:
- Anthony Smith - Westminster Foundation for Democracy
- Damon Wilson – President and CEO of the National Endowment for Democracy
- Derek Mitchell – President of the National Democratic Institute
- Gina Romero - Latin America and the Caribbean Network for Democracy (REDLAD)
Nicolas Bouchet, a visiting fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Berlin, will help frame this discussion by presenting the key findings of a report written together with Ken Godfrey at the European Partnership for Democracy and Richard Youngs at Carnegie Europe, on changing democracy support in hostile environments.
17:30 - 19:00 Break
Panel III: The role of philanthropic organizations in protecting democracy
Organized by the Global Democracy Coalition Partner DT Institute and moderated by Violet Tsagka, VP, Business Development & Communications and Co-Director of Research and Grants Division at DT Institute (TBC).