From her position as Chairman of NDI, Madeleine K. Albright, the former U.S. Secretary of State, has been a role model for and a key champion of the Institute’s work on women’s empowerment and gender equality.  In 2005, in recognition of her longstanding activism on the issue of women’s political engagement across the globe, NDI established the Madeleine K. Albright Grant, which each year provides a grant to a grassroots organization working on women’s political empowerment in one of our partner countries.  

Winners are selected from a competitive pool of applicants to receive $25,000 to support an initiative promoting women’s participation in civic or political life. The award builds on NDI’s Win with Women Global Initiative, which promotes strategies for increasing women’s political leadership worldwide. Political leaders  from more than 100 countries have become part of the Initiative. Recent recipients of the Madeleine K. Albright Grant include the Women’s Discussion Club of Kyrgyzstan; the Network of Support for Women Municipal Leaders (REAMM) of Mexico; Aswat Nissa (Women’s Voices) of Tunisia; and the Worker Women Social Organization of Afghanistan.

The Madeleine K. Albright Grant is made possible through the generosity of

the Melvin and Bren Simon Foundation. NDI is grateful to the foundation for

its commitment to the Institute’s women’s political participation programs.

 

2016 Awardee

Reactor - Research in Action of Macedonia

Reactor - Research in Action is an independent non-partisan and not-for-profit think-tank committed to providing timely and relevant research on the issues of gender equality, youth and urban development, civic engagement, human rights, social justice and EU integration, and to proposing evidence-based policy alternatives and actively working with the policy community. Reactor has previously seen success in their work using digital technologies to empower and educate citizens, and have prioritized women’s empowerment and gender equality in their work and research. They are the initiator and a founding member of the Gender Equality Platform, with other organizations working in the area of gender equality, the gender equality mechanisms in the country and women politicians.

Research - Reactor in Action will use the Madeleine K. Albright Grant to develop and implement a web-based tool for women politicians in Macedonia, through which they can access community support by connecting to each other across party lines, as well as expertise and resources from the Gender Equality Platform, including a rapid response mechanism that will be developed under the Grant to report discriminatory practices, attacks and biased practices. Ms. Tanja Maleska, Chairwoman of the Executive Board and one of the founding members of Reactor, will accept this award on behalf of the organization.