The European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) is a membership-based network of not-for-profit organisations with a global remit to support democracy. EPD is composed of 20 European organisations with activities in over 140 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. It is the most important European network on democracy support and a leading voice on democracy worldwide. The EPD Secretariat is headquartered in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium.

Creation

The European Partnership for Democracy was created in April 2008 with backing from several European governments. The launch was opened by Czech President Vaclav Havel, who stated: ''“I believe that this new foundation is one of many conceivable ways of demonstrating how the old European idea of joint responsibility for this planet lives on in a unifying Europe and is still relevant in our global world. From my own experience, I know how enormously important it is for those who in one way or another are fighting for human rights or against authoritarian regimes to receive attention or assistance from the democratic world.”'' In his historical dictionary of democracy, scholar Norman Abjorensen writes that EPD "was set up to further European democracy assistance across the world, and has operated in about 140 countries, working with civil society organizations, faith-based organisations, media outlets, elections-management bodies, the private sector, political parties, elected institutions at national and local levels, and the security and justice sectors."

Objectives and functioning

EPD collaborates with

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., with operations in Europe, South Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East, as well as the United States. Foun ...

on the European Democracy Hub, a permanent hub for expertise on democracy support seeking to fill the gap between programme evaluations and global assessments of the state of democracy, with analysis and evidence-gathering of European democracy support policies and programming.

Internal organisation

EPD's organisational structure is composed of a general assembly composed of all member organisations, a Board of Directors and a Secretariat. EPD is managed by a Board of Directors composed of eight members elected among the organisations composing EPD. The board is composed of a president, currently Anu Juvonen, the executive director of Demo Finland, a Vice-President, currently María Elena Agüero, a Vice-President, currently María Elena Agüero, the secretary general of

Club de Madrid Club de Madrid is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit organization created to promote democracy and change in the international community. It is composed of 127 regular members from 74 countries, including 5 Nobel Peace Prize laureates and 2 ...

and a treasurer, currently Anthony Smith, the chief executive officer of the

Westminster Foundation for Democracy The Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) is a United Kingdom non-departmental public body set up to support democratic institutions overseas. It was established on 26 February 1992 and registered as a company limited by guarantee in the U ...

. The EPD Secretariat is based in Brussels and is in charge of the daily activities of the partnership. It is led by an Executive Director, Ken Godfrey.

Members

* ALDA -

European Association for Local Democracy ALDA, the European Association for Local Democracy, is a membership based organisation established in 1999 at the initiative of the Congress of the Council of Europe, Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. ALDA works on th ...

* Article 19 * Institute for Political Sciences of the

Catholic University of Portugal The Catholic University of Portugal ( Portuguese: ''Universidade Católica Portuguesa'', pronounced nivɨɾsiˈðad(ɨ) kɐˈtɔlikɐ puɾtuˈɣezɐ, also referred to as Católica or UCP for short, is a concordat university (non-state-run unive ...

* CFI Media Development *

* DD Foundation * Demo Finland * Democracy Reporting International *

Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy (DIPD) was established by the Danish Parliament in May 2010. Its overall purpose is to strengthen and complement the Danish democracy assistance, particularly through support to political parties and multi ...

* EDGE Foundation * Elbarlament * Election-Watch.EU * European Exchange * Free Press Unlimited *

Kofi Annan Foundation The Kofi Annan Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to help build peaceful, democratic and resilient societies. It was founded and legally incorporated in Switzerland in 2007 by the late Kofi Annan, former se ...

Netherlands Helsinki Committee The Netherlands Helsinki Committee (NHC) is a non-governmental organization that promotes human rights and strengthens the rule of law and democracy in all countries of Europe, and the Central Asian countries participating in the Organization for Se ...

* Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy *

People in Need People in Need (PIN; ) is a Czech nonprofit, non-governmental organisation based in Prague, Czech Republic. PIN implements Humanitarian Aid, humanitarian relief and long term Development aid, development projects, educational programmes, and huma ...

* The Oslo Centre *

References

External links

* {{Election Organizations Organisations based in Brussels