Democracy for Future Generations

Three ways USAID brought democratic renewal to the forefront of the third Summit for Democracy

The Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance Assistant to the Administrator Shannon Green (center) highlighted USAID’s holistic approach to elections, including surging programmatic and diplomatic support to key countries, at a plenary panel on the 2024 year of elections on day two of the Summit. / Jessica Benton Cooney, USAID

This March, the Republic of Korea hosted the third Summit for Democracy, which brought together leaders from the U.S. government, including the White House, USAID, and the Department of State, as well as civil society and the private sector.

The theme of the Summit — “Democracy for Future Generations” — provided an opportunity to demonstrate to global audiences how the United States and other democracies are delivering for citizens and addressing the world’s most pressing challenges.

USAID also seized the opportunity to highlight progress made on initiatives under the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal (PIDR), which President Biden launched at the first Summit for Democracy in December 2021.

The United States initiated the Summit process in 2021 to put new and high-level focus on the need to strengthen democratic institutions, protect human rights, and accelerate the fight against corruption, both at home and abroad.

At the first Summit, approximately 100 participating governments made over 750 commitments to advance these efforts, and the subsequent “Year of Action” inspired a broad range of stakeholders to come together to make this work actionable. The second Summit in March 2023, which was co-hosted by Costa Rica, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, and the Republic of Zambia, was an opportunity for world leaders to showcase progress made on their commitments.

Read on to learn about three key USAID engagements at the third Summit in Seoul.

Vera Zakem, USAID’s Chief Digital Democracy and Rights Officer, at the launch of the Advancing Digital Democracy Academy during the third Summit for Democracy, in South Korea. /Jessica Benton Cooney, USAID

Promoting Human Rights Centered Technology

Digital technology has reshaped the world — including remaking global democracies.

While digital platforms and government portals are fostering previously unimaginable levels of fiscal transparency — these revolutionary benefits have also come with an equally broad range of negative impacts. In repressive contexts, tech-enabled surveillance tools are giving authoritarian actors powerful, low cost means of social control. Even in the strongest democratic societies we see the impacts of bias and discrimination when decision making is delegated to algorithms.

On the first day of the third Summit for Democracy, the White House held a side event on Commercial Spyware and Secretary of State Blinken delivered a foreign policy speech on strengthening information integrity and resilience. / Jessica Benton Cooney, USAID

To ensure that technology is used to advance human rights and democratic values rather than undermine them, USAID announced the Advancing Digital Democracy (ADD) initiative at the first Summit for Democracy, as part of the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal. The ADD initiative recognizes that governments and civil society will not successfully limit digital risks on their own.

Finding solutions needs to include the makers of that technology — ADD will leverage private-sector partnerships to ensure that multi-stakeholder commitments to advance a rights-respecting digital ecosystem is more than a talking point and becomes the default way of doing business.

For this reason, at the third Summit for Democracy, USAID announced the launch of our first global partnership under ADD, the ADD Academy. In partnership with multinational technology companies, the ADD Academy will offer essential skills training in cybersecurity, data privacy, cloud computing, and responsible AI, among other topics. In the initial phase, the ADD Academy intends to work with technology partners Cloudflare, Google, and Microsoft.

Jennifer Lewis, Senior Anti-Corruption Advisor, at the launch of the Integrity for Development Campaign on the second day of the third Summit for Democracy. / Jessica Benton Cooney, USAID

Bolstering Resources to Constrain Corruption

As a global democracy community, we are facing unprecedented challenges — rising authoritarianism, closing civic space, and the expansion of transnational corruption, which steals from public resources intended for the public goods and undermines the futures of our youth.

Corruption also uniquely threatens sustainable development across all sectors — even reversing the positive outcomes achieved through development assistance.

In response, USAID launched the Integrity for Development campaign at the second Summit to increase the overall amount of resources for anti-corruption, especially in environments in which the international community is making major investments — such as climate finance — and the risks of corruption are high. The campaign seeks to mobilize a half billion dollars to the fight against corruption by the end of 2024.

At this year’s Summit, USAID announced that Norway and Sweden have joined the campaign as anchor partners, and continued to socialize the campaign, champion its progress, and secure additional partners.

During day two’s session on USAID’s Asia Investigative Reporting Network, USAID Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance Assistant to the Administrator Shannon Green delivered remarks on how network-based collaboration among independent journalists can advance democracy and anti-corruption. / Jessica Benton Cooney, USAID

Safeguarding and Strengthening Independent Media

Independent media is a cornerstone of a vibrant democracy — it plays a pivotal role in providing accurate and unbiased information, and promoting transparency and accountability, while giving a platform for diverse voices and opinions.

Around the world, investigative journalists are on the frontlines of combating corruption and abuses, increasingly in environments characterized by growing authoritarianism, closing civic space, online and in-person harassment, and significant personal and legal risks.

With this reality in mind, USAID has committed to a bold course of action aimed at safeguarding and strengthening independent media. Across all three Summits, we have been engaged in the Empowering the Truth Tellers initiative, under PIDR — and highlighted the work of the new Asia Investigative Reporting Network, or the AIR Network, in Seoul.

This new network is building ties between civil society actors and power networks of investigative journalists. They are working together across borders in Southeast Asia to expose abuses of power and corruption, foster transparency, and demand accountability from governments.

The Legacy of the Summit

President Biden has said that we are currently at an inflection point when it comes to the future of democracy, both within the United States and globally. The Summit process is one of several democracy-focused structures and forums committed to democratic renewal.

These efforts demonstrate our belief that fostering strong, resilient democracies and defending those fighting for a more democratic world, requires us to deepen existing partnerships, forge new ones, and push forward together.

USAID looks forward to working with our democratic partners — governments and authorities, civil society, the private sector, activists, and citizens — as we discuss planning for future summit gatherings.

About the Author

Jessica Benton Cooney is the Senior Communications and Outreach Specialist in USAID’s Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance.