CALD and FNF host dinner for NED

(June 28, 2007/ Manila) The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation jointly hosted a dinner in honor of National Endowment for Democracy (NED) director for South and Southeast Asia, Brian Joseph, and assistant program officer, Jessica Gingerich yesterday at the FNF-CALD office.

Mr. Joseph and Ms. Gingerich, who hold office at the NED headquarters in Washington DC, are in the Philippines to assess the political situation and explore opportunities for increased NED involvement in the country.

NED is a partner of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs or NDI.

Way back in January 2002, NDI and CALD held a workshop on Political Party Strategies to combat corruption in Bangkok. This groundbreaking project was aimed at supporting political parties in their efforts to implement internal anti-corruption reforms through enhanced democracy, accountability, and transparency in party structures and practices. In this workshop, political parties of various persuasions from eight countries sat down together under to candidly assess gaps and shortcomings or party structures and organizations and the bigger political context where parties operate. Political parties, especially in Asia, leave much to be desired. But ever the optimists, CALD and NDI, fully cognizant of the fact that political parties are part of the problem, but they can also be part of the solution.

Another workshop was held a year and a half later and this time, it was expanded to include academia, civil society and mass media.

A result of these two workshops was CALD and NDIs electoral missions in 2004 where Asia had a record number of elections. The mission covered Taipei, Jakarta, Seoul and Manila.

Earlier the two NED officials met with CALD and FNF’s Resident Representative Siegfried Herzog for a briefing on each others key areas of concern and work and opportunities for closer cooperation.

CALD Secretary General Neric Acosta, MP; CALD Executive Director John Coronel and CALD Program Officers Paolo Zamora and Carlo Religioso attended the meeting.

The meeting focused on the democratic works and advocacies of the two organizations and possible areas for cooperation in the future.

The NED is a private, non-profit organization that strengthens democratic institutions around the world through non-governmental efforts. It offers hundreds of grants each year to support pro-democracy groups in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and the former Soviet Union.

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This post was written by CALD