About

The World Movement for Democracy is a global network of democrats, including activists, practitioners, academics, policy makers, and funders, who have come together to cooperate in the promotion of democracy.

The Washington, DC-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) initiated this nongovernmental effort with a global Assembly in New Delhi, India, in February 1999 to strengthen democracy where it is weak, to reform and invigorate democracy even where it is longstanding, and to bolster pro-democracy groups in countries that have not yet entered into a process of democratic transition.

The participants in the New Delhi Assembly adopted a Founding Statement to guide the development of the World Movement, which held its Second Assembly in São Paulo, Brazil, in November 2000, its Third Assembly in Durban, South Africa, in February 2004, and its Fourth Assembly in Istanbul, Turkey, in April 2006, and its Fifth Assembly in Kyiv, Ukraine, in April 2008. The Sixth Assembly took place in Jakarta, Indonesia, in April 2010. The World Movement is led by a distinguished international Steering Committee and NED currently serves as its Secretariat.

Only those networks, groups, or individuals sharing the principles and values contained in the Founding Statement may be associated with the World Movement for Democracy. Political positions adopted by such networks, groups, or individuals will not bind the World Movement as a whole, which, as a matter of policy, does not advocate positions on particular political issues.