This year marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the peace accords that ended Guatemala’s 36-year internal conflict that deeply divided the country. However, in the two subsequent decades many of the accords’ goals remain to be achieved in critical areas such as rule of law, social justice, and the alleviation of poverty for marginalized groups including women, indigenous people, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) communities.

As the representative branch of government, parliaments often bear the brunt of public dissatisfaction, and, in many regions of the world, stand to benefit from a more open, responsive relationship with the public. Parliaments around the world are taking important steps to improve access to legislative information, create new mechanisms for citizen participation, and build public trust in the institution.

NDI's Gender, Women and Democracy (GWD) team has been working in partnership with Thomas Carothers, vice president for studies and director of the Democracy and Rule of Law Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, to explore the ways democracy assistance treats the issue of gender equality and women's political empowerment, in various political environments.

Every year more than  2,500 women die in Mexico due to gender-based violence. The National Citizen Femicide Observatory (Observatorio Ciudadano Nacional del Feminicidio, OCNF) cites that at least six women are targeted and killed every day in the country. These are the numbers that run through Meritxell Calderón’s head as she goes to work every day.