The Carter Center Blog

Delegation Observes Village Elections in China

A small Carter Center delegation is in China this week to advance the Center’s programming efforts there. The Center has worked to help standardize the vast array of electoral procedures taking place in local communities and foster better governance for more than a decade, at the invitation of the Chinese government.

Today, while continuing to monitor local elections, the China Program…

Experts to Discuss Recent Crises of Democracy in the Western Hemisphere on March 15

A series of experts, including Carter Center Americas Program Director Jennifer McCoy and former Latin American leaders, will convene on March 15 at Georgia State University (GSU) to analyze recent democratic crises in the region, including the Honduran coup and recent events in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

The speakers are part of the Friends of the Democratic Charter, a group…

Join Us for Conversations on Wednesday, March 10

In his new book, “Wars, Guns, and Votes,” Oxford economist Paul Collier argues that the international community – presumably including The Carter Center – focuses too much on holding elections and ignores the underlying problems of insecurity and lack of checks and balances essential for democratic development. Collier will discuss his concerns during a Carter Center Conversation on Wednesday from…

Winter Weekend Auction Raises $1,322,300 for Carter Center Peace, Health Initiatives

The Carter Center’s annual Winter Weekend auction, held Feb. 27 at Port St. Lucie, Fla., raised $1,322,300 — the second-highest amount raised in the event’s history — to benefit the not-for-profit Center’s initiatives to advance peace and health worldwide. The highest bid items at the fundraiser were two original paintings by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, which sold for $290,000…

Andean-U.S. Forum Aims to Strengthen Relations

For the past two days at The Carter Center, influential nongovernmental participants from the United States and the five Andean countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia have gathered for a dialogue aimed to strengthen the historically difficult U.S.-Andean relations and cooperation.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter addresses the group gathered at The Carter Center for the first Andean-U.S. Dialogue…

Mobile Monitors in Liberia Help Ensure Rural Citizens Have Access to Justice

In Liberia, a team of “mobile monitors” travels by motorbike from village to village to help ensure that those in very rural areas know their legal rights and have access to justice. Each monitor spends about 21 days per month in the field, conducting civic education on the rule of law and providing legal advice, mediation services, guidance about how…

Jimmy Carter, Carter Center Staff Focus on Historic Sudan Elections

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met with Sudanese officials to urge peace and stability in the nation as it prepares for its first multi-party elections in 24 years in April, which the Carter Center’s international election observation team will monitor. The meetings were part of a Feb. 9-12 tour of Sudan, to also encourage the country’s final push toward Guinea…

Fighting Guinea Worm in Molujore Village, Southern Sudan

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Central Equatoria State Governor Clement Wani Konga, and Commissioner Clement Maring Samuel today urged intensification of efforts to wipe out Guinea worm disease–a waterborne parasitic infection–in the remote village of Molujore, Terekeka County, Southern Sudan. The village visit was followed by a press conference at the Assembly Hall in Juba, with representatives from Sudan’s Ministry…

John Stremlau for CNN.com – Mandela Inspires

On the twentieth anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from a South African prison, Carter Center Vice President for Peace Programs John Stremlau writes for CNN.com that “Mandela must continue to embody the roles for South Africans that Washington, Lincoln and King serve in protecting and advancing democracy in America. And like them, Mandela’s example inspires others and has become a…

Southern Sudan: Guinea Worm’s Final Frontier

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, are in Sudan—the world’s most Guinea worm-endemic country—to personally appeal for completing eradication of the crippling waterborne parasite as soon as possible and to urge peace and stability in the nation as it prepares for its first multi-party elections in 24 years in April, which the Carter Center’s international election observation…