About International IDEA

International IDEA’s capacity-building work

International IDEA’s mandate is to promote sustainable democracy around the world. International IDEA recognizes that sustainable democracy requires the participation of a broad range of national stakeholders, including:

• Government;

• Political opposition; and

• Civil-society groups.

Ethnic and religious minorities and women have historically been excluded from nation-building and transition processes, but are nevertheless integral constituencies in these processes.

International IDEA has worked in many countries emerging from civil strife and decades of authoritarian rule — for example, Bosnia, Burkina Faso, Guatemala, Indonesia and Nigeria. The Institute aims to facilitate dialogue amongst national stakeholders, helping them:

• Analyse their own context;

• Develop reform agendas that unite their communities; and

• Consolidate democracy and development.

Political dialogue is a sensitive process. It requires building relationships of trust and investments in time, patience and commitment.

Workshops on the South African Experience

International IDEA introduced Mr Nicholas (Fink) Haysom as a facilitator at two workshops held in Chiangmai, Thailand and New Delhi, India, which were attended by ethnic nationalities of Burma, participating in a National Reconciliation programme. He presented an analysis of the South African transition, with examples drawn from other African states; as well as his personal experiences as an activist and negotiator in the different aspects and processes of the South African transition.

The workshops were designed to stimulate discussion about:

• Conflict management in a fractured society;

• Prospects for building foundations that support democratic transition; and

• Prospects for building bridges that link democratic transitions.

Acknowledgement

International IDEA would like to take this opportunity to thank the International Development and Research Centre (IDRC) Canada for its generous support towards a series of workshops on conflict management in Burma from which this paper emerged.

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