A new course that aims to help individuals around the world build and improve democracy in their own countries will soon be available online. The free course will be taught by Larry Diamond, democracy scholar and director of the Center on Democracy, Development & the Rule of Law at Stanford University.

Legislative elections are fast approaching in Guinea and political tensions are on the rise. The anticipated May 12 polls will mark the West African country’s first competitive legislative elections, and there is increasing mistrust and suspicion between ruling and opposition parties.  In the past week, politically motivated riots have broken out in the capital, Conakry, leaving many people wounded and several dead.

In northern Central America, where homicide rates are among the highest in the world, lack of security threatens the stability of democratic institutions and often stymies development. Disparities in the way El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras approach the problem make regional security issues difficult to tackle, and organized crime and drug trafficking leaders easily cross borders based on which country has laxer procedures or laws.

NDI has announced that it will award its 2013 Madeleine K. Albright Grant to the Network of Support for Women Municipal Leaders (REAMM) of Mexico. The $25,000 grant goes to community-based organizations that create greater roles for women in civic and political life.