Lead by Chair Kenneth G Forslund, members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Swedish Parliament met with Secretary-General Yves Leterme and International IDEA’s senior management on 16 December. The visit was an opportunity for members of the Committee to learn about International IDEA’s work and key programmatic plans for 2016.
At the meeting Leterme especially emphasized the importance of Member States’ ownership of the organization and how International IDEA through its comparative knowledge and expertise on democracy issues tries to add value to its Member States development cooperation programmes. As the host country and a founding member of International IDEA, the collaboration and interaction with Sweden remains a central priority.
The presentations focused on the state of democracy globally, and in particular highlighted how International IDEA is trying to respond to the many and serious challenges facing democracy and democracies around the world today – be it from violent conflicts, censorship, widening inequalities or the marginalization of women’s influence. Comprehensive and transparent information was given on the financial reporting and budget situation of International IDEA.
The meeting discussed issues such as the global initiative by International IDEA to address the role of money in politics, how the organization works with partner organizations in Sweden, the recent establishment of the Wider Europe Programme, including activities in Ukraine, and the IDEA-lead consortium in Myanmar Support to Electoral Processes and Democracy (STEP Democracy), funded by the European Union
