State of democracy - MS Democracy Audit
How does democracy function for poor and marginalised people in developing countries? How do the poor and marginalised, themselves, evaluate the state of democracy in their own country? What can be done to improve the state of democracy?
MS and our partners have launched a democracy auditing process which aims to take stock of the status of democracy in each of the countries where MS operates. In the future, we shall be expanding the scheme to include more countries. The Democracy Audit can be used as an important tool which can highlight central issues, problems and improvements in the development of democracy. In this way, the hearing becomes a force for the improvement of democracy - in a way that not only involves poor people but at the same time fights poverty. The hearing forms the foundation of our efforts and activities in relation to democracy on an international scale.
The hearing process has two main aims:
- The process, in itself, should be a learning process for the participants.
- The compilation of a national evaluation report and a global report which can be used in an international debate about democracy and democratisation, with emphasis on democracy for the poor.
The hearing is based on a methodology which was developed by The University of Essex and International IDEA. MS has elected to use this methodology to serve our purpose by using a questionnaire with 16 main questions, which deal with the state of the country’s democracy. The method is based upon the fact that it is the country’s own citizens, themselves, who consider and evaluate the state of their own democracy.
Please, consult the documents to the right for a more thorough description of the audit, the process and the auditing tools. If you have any questions about The Democracy Audit, you are welcome to contact:
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