International IDEA convened four Young Women’s Empowerment Academies across Southern Africa, East Africa, West Africa and South Asia, bringing together 110 young women from 35 countries. Aspiring candidates, party members, youth leaders and elected officials articulated clear commitments at the individual, community and political levels, positioning themselves to contest elections, reform party structures and mobilize others in support of transformative and inclusive democratic change.

Throughout 2025, International IDEA convened a series of regional dialogues across Africa under the WYDE Women’s Leadership Initiative. Bringing together politicians, emerging leaders and civil society actors from more than 30 countries, these safe, mixed‑gender spaces confronted the patriarchal norms that continue to restrict women’s political participation. 

International IDEA’s Electoral Processes Programme continued strengthening global electoral integrity in 2025. International IDEA advanced good practices among electoral assistance practitioners, policymakers, electoral management bodies (EMBs) and civil society, influencing reforms and capacity-building efforts across regions.

The Global State of Democracy (GSoD) initiative is one of International IDEA’s flagship initiatives, which aims to provide up-to-date, incisive and relevant data, analysis and policy guidance that helps shape the global debate on democracy. The Institute’s annual Global State of Democracy report is a reference point for policymakers and media, while the monthly Democracy Tracker monitors progress and setbacks around the world. 

Women continue to confront entrenched barriers and new forms of inequality throughout their political careers. In 2025 International IDEA’s work put a spotlight on a fast-growing threat—how digitalization, generative AI and online disinformation are fuelling gender-based political violence and shrinking democratic space for women.

Working with partners including the UN Development Programme, UN Women, ParlAmericas, Casa de América and Fundación Carolina, International IDEA advanced strategies to counter digital harms and strengthen women’s political leadership.

The year 2025 marked a decline in press freedom, as highlighted in International IDEA’s Global State of Democracy report. Across Latin America, the Institute collaborated with journalists, fact-checkers, civil society organizations, digital platforms and electoral authorities to strengthen efforts to counter disinformation and gender‑based digital political violence.

Amid one of the most intense electoral calendars in recent years—spanning presidential and legislative elections in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana and Honduras, legislative polls in Argentina, subnational elections in Uruguay and Honduras, and judicial elections in Mexico—the region confronted deep public frustration with democratic performance. This frustration was reflected in lower voter turnout, a rise in protest voting and increasingly radical candidacies, alongside mounting concerns about potential foreign interference. 

International IDEA’s Building Federal Democracy in Myanmar Programme has become a driving force in the country’s post-coup push for a democratic future. Despite conflict and fragmentation, the programme helped institutions involved in the democracy movement chart a transitional constitutional path and spur the adoption of six new state and regional constitutional frameworks. Through targeted governance support, mediation and dialogue, International IDEA broke deadlocks and strengthened coordination across the democratic movement. 

International IDEA released three publications in 2025 examining the voting rights of overseas citizens across Asia and the Pacific. Migration is deeply embedded in the region, with many citizens studying, working or settling abroad while elections take place in their countries of origin, posing challenges for voter registration, participation and representation.

A consortium of civil society organizations (CSOs) in Nepal, supported by International IDEA, established a civil society platform to advocate for an electoral system that better enables women, Dalits and youth to assume political roles. The platform has helped build the capacity of Nepalese CSOs to advocate for citizens’ political rights. The project provides technical support to the Election Commission, advocates for legal and institutional reforms, counters misinformation and promotes digital civic education.