Andrew Ellis, International IDEA's director for Asia-Pacific

International IDEA has launched a new programme focusing on Asia and The Pacific region. Already the Institute operates in Nepal, and has had other regional involvement over the years. The new programme marks a consolidation across a region of increasing global political and economic significance with an experience of democracy building as broad as on any other continent.

As Programme Director Andrew Ellis explains: “There is an opportunity here for IDEA to make its strategy complete and more effective. We have developed a growing programme in Africa and a widely based programme in Latin America. Since a lot of our work involves building networks of those involved in democracy across the global south, by establishing an Asia and The Pacific Programme we are putting the third leg on the stool”.

International IDEA’s main involvement in the region is in Nepal where we provide material and capacity building to support the Constituent Assembly in the development of a new constitution.

At the same time, Ellis said, there is considerable scope for the Institute to support regional democracy building initiatives through institutions such as the Bali Democracy Forum established in Indonesia which brings countries together to share experiences of democracy.

“Constitution building, electoral capacity building and electoral justice” he added “are all areas in which we can contribute”.

International IDEA’s new Asia and The Pacific Programme comes at a time when many Asian countries are feeling more confident at expressing themselves on the world stage. Yet it is a diverse place: from the growing influence and economic strength there are well established democracies such as Japan, India and Australia. There are other countries with more recent democratic transitions such as Indonesia, Nepal and The Philippines whereas in other countries, such as Thailand, the situation is less certain and democratic development seems even further off in places such as Fiji and Myanmar.

Priorities identified for the first full year of the programme in 2010 include:

• Support for regional democracy building initiatives, including activities with the Institute for Peace and Democracy associated with the Bali Democracy Forum on democratic transition, and with the Non-Aligned Movement Centre for South-South Technical Cooperation on electoral dispute resolution;
• Continued support for the process of constitution building and implementation in Nepal;
• Citizen assessment of democracy within the region, including follow-up of assessments that have already taken place in the Philippines;
• Support for electoral capacity building, in particular in the areas of electoral justice and of elections and conflict; and
• In close cooperation with the UN, the Commonwealth and the Pacific Islands Forum, exploring potential contributions to any process leading towards the restoration of democracy in Fiji.