Democracy Delivers
How USAID is cementing progress in democratic bright spots and empowering changemakers
In mid-September, world leaders gathered in New York City to take part in the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) — engaging in discussions on the global challenges facing us today. High on that very long and consequential list: democracy.
The United States seized the opportunity to call upon a diverse array of partners to collaborate, generate new and innovative solutions to promote the value of democracy, and demonstrate that democracy can deliver tangible benefits to citizens and their communities.
On the sidelines of UNGA, alongside Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. International Development Finance Corporation CEO Scott Nathan, USAID Administrator Samantha Power hosted USAID’s flagship event, “Democracy Delivers,” which brought together leaders and representatives from countries experiencing democratic openings (Armenia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Malawi, Moldova, Nepal, Tanzania, and Zambia) with leaders from the private sector, philanthropies, and foundations.
They all came together to discuss how democracies can make a difference in the daily lives of their citizens by delivering on political and economic reforms that foster job creation, improve health care and public services, and generate new opportunities.
USAID is surging attention and resources to support countries experiencing democratic openings — “bright spots” in a world in which many democracies are experiencing worrying backsliding — with a focus on helping reformers move quickly and show concrete results. This includes expanding our cross-sectoral democracy investments to ensure citizens feel the difference that democracy and citizen-responsive governance can make in their lives. Read on to learn more.
Promoting Democratic Gains
The broad trend lines facing democracy — with 16 years of declining global freedom — underscore the reality of democratic fragility, with democracies of all kinds facing an array of structural, political, economic, and geopolitical challenges. While reformers and citizens in the budding democracies represented at the event also confront these dynamics, they have together been able to drive progress on democratic reforms despite the many obstacles in their way.
By building support from beyond the U.S. Government for those countries doing the difficult work of creating stronger, more resilient democracies, USAID seeks to mobilize broad coalitions that can help create opportunity and show citizens that democracy does deliver for them in their daily lives.
“Rather than simply promote democracy the way we always do, through election support or investments in independent media — very, very important investments, though those are — those who believe in free societies and free markets need to help your citizens, the citizens of the countries gathered here, feel the difference that democracy and reform can make in their lives day to day,” said Administrator Power.
Advancing Progress Through Collective Action
During President Biden’s first ever Summit for Democracy in December 2021, the United States called on the democratic countries and partners to transform what it means to stand for our values on the global stage. Global leaders seized this opportunity to address their domestic democratic challenges, and made approximately 750 commitments to counter authoritarianism, combat corruption, and promote respect for human rights at home and abroad.
During this Year of Action, various stakeholders, including civil society, are working to support and hold governments to account for these commitments and also to push for them to be clear, actionable, and achievable. The United States and partners are also advancing several multi-stakeholder platforms called Democracy Cohorts — with the intent of galvanizing concrete action by providing opportunities for dialogue and collaboration among civil society, the private sector, and other partners and decision makers.
Cohorts addressing issues such as technology for democracy, youth, financial transparency and integrity, gender equality, information integrity, and deliberative democracy, have already brought together governments to demonstrate political will toward progress on Summit commitments.
Says President Biden: “Democracy doesn’t just happen by accident. We have to defend it, fight for it, strengthen it, and renew it.”
A Key Moment for Democracy
Despite years-long trends of democratic backsliding and rising corruption, history reveals that autocracies are less secure and less able to deliver for their people than democracies. And this fact has not gone unnoticed. People all around the globe, including in the United States, are demanding democracy, human rights, accountable and responsive government, and coming out to the polls — and sometimes into the streets — to reject corruption, repression, and authoritarianism. And they have been heard.
The challenge now is for the leaders from budding democracies — many of whom came into office on platforms emphasizing restoring democracy and making progress on anti-corruption — to deliver tangible changes for the people that they represent, from reducing inequality and expanding rights to growing local entrepreneurship and improving service delivery.
USAID — and our partners across a wide spectrum of actors who are invested in democracy — must be prepared to seize opportunities and generate new and innovative solutions to help bright spot countries cement their democratic gains.
“The enthusiasm of citizens may be the most inspiring, and ultimately, the most consequential because when people in other parts of the world, including in closed societies, see citizens holding their leaders to account, when they see government actually working to solve problems that people are confronting in their daily lives, then they too begin yearning for a more free, a more open a more accountable government, in their own countries,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “And that’s the kind of virus that we’d like to see spread.”
About the Author
Jessica Benton Cooney is the Senior Communications and Outreach Specialist in USAID’s Center for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance.
