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Home » Bureaus/Offices Reporting Directly to the Secretary » Senior Advisor to the Secretary for Civil Society and Emerging Democracies » Community of Democracies » LEND Network

Effective | Innovative| On-Demand Democracy Support
 

On March 27, 2012, United States and Estonia announced that they would co-chair a Working Group within the Community of Democracies (CD) to support a groundbreaking new effort to support leaders in emerging democracies. Led by Dr. Tomicah Tillemann, the Senior Advisor for Civil Society and Emerging Democracies, and Ambassador Merle Pajula, Director of Policy Planning for the Foreign Ministry of Estonia, the LEND Network (for Leaders Engaged in New Democracies) leverages expertise from the Club de Madrid, the world’s largest forum of democratically elected former presidents and prime ministers, and 21st century technologies developed by Google, OpenText, and Dialcom to connect leaders who have successfully navigated the challenges of democratization with leaders in emerging democracies. The project has also received generous financial support from the Government of Sweden and the United States Agency for International Development.

Highlights

Beginning in 2012, the project will provide peer advice, peer support and capacity building to political leaders and policy makers in Eastern Europe and North Africa. The LEND Network will generate the following outputs:

• A secure, self-perpetuating community that operates in a largely virtual setting with the goal of sharing information and expertise about democratization.
• The project will deploy tools for online voice, video, and text communication along with new translation technology to address the cost and logistical barriers that have limited such efforts in the past.
• Sustained participation from a user base that brings together world class experts representing more than twenty countries.
• Two face-to-face meetings that will bring together members of the Club de Madrid and participants of the LEND Network.

The LEND Network fills a crucial need. Currently, there is no online platform to facilitate real-time information sharing between leaders in new democracies and leaders who have undergone democratic transitions. The Network will provide a global forum for exchanging information and expertise on democratization from more than twenty countries and support leaders as they work to build strong, accountable institutions and establish the rule of law.

For further information on the LEND Network, please email SSACSED@state.gov.