Making Democracy Work: From Principles to Performance

A highly diverse group of activists, practitioners, scholars, donors, and others engaged in democracy promotion from more than 100 countries in all global regions met at the Fifth Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 6-9 April, 2008. Despite their different backgrounds and cultures, they came together with shared democratic values to build relationships of mutual support for strengthening democratic movements, defending democracy and human rights activists, and consolidating democratic institutions. The Steering Committee was very pleased to hold the Fifth Assembly in Ukraine, which has made important strides in building democracy for its citizens, but still faces many serious problems. We wish to express our deep appreciation to our local partner organization in Kyiv—the Europe XXI Foundation—as well as to the many institutions listed at the end of this report that provided generous funding to make this Assembly possible. We also offer a special word of thanks to our Steering Committee colleague from Ukraine, Inna Pidluska, who offered profound leadership and guidance in the organization of the Fifth Assembly. (fragment)