Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

Suriname

NIMD supports internal party development and offers training to members of political parties in Suriname.

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Programme news

Political youth discuss relation Suriname and The Netherlands

News Article - 26 October 2009

On Monday 19 October, political youth representatives of Suriname and the Netherlands discussed the future relation between both countries during a special edition of the youth television programme Gran Krutu in Suriname.

Suriname: Young Politicians programme honors first graduates

News Article - 04 June 2009

The guest house of the university of Suriname in Paramaribo was filled on Monday (June 1) as as the first group of young politicians to take part in Democracy Units Train-the-Trainer programme received their graduation certificates.

Suriname: The Young Politicians

Video - 2008

Young politicians speak about their experiences and hopes for democracy

Youth from Suriname visited the Netherlands

News Article - 25 January 2009

Four young people from Suriname visited the Netherlands from 26 till 31 of January, to engage with Dutch political youth and exchange valuable experiences on democracy and political youth participation.

Democracy training in Suriname

News Article - 23 July 2008

The Democracy Unit in Suriname, the local partner of NIMD, met with local political representatives, launching the first steps towards its young politicians training programme.

Suriname: the value of opinion polls

News Article - 08 April 2008

During a workshop political parties in Suriname acknowledged the value of opinion polls

Suriname: democracy centre opens its doors

News Article - 21 February 2008

A high number of guests were present at the ‘opo oso’ (open house) to celebrate the new “house of democracy”

Suriname: towards new party manifestos

News Article - 20 February 2008

Suriname political parties have showed broad enthusiasm to develop their party programmes with a new tool

Suriname: boost for NIMD democracy programme

News Article - 28 September 2007

With the launch of a political sounding board the Democracy Programme in Suriname can count on important backing of the major parties.

Programme information

In Suriname NIMD supports interparty dialogue, provides technical assistance to lawmakers, and facilitates a training programme on party development in which representatives of 21 political parties are participating.

Political parties in parliament

• National Party of Suriname (NPS)
• Progressive Reform Party (VHP)
• Pertjajah Luhur (PL)
• Suriname Labour Party (SPA)
• National Democratic Party (NDP)
• Civic alliance for Development (VVV): consists of DNP 2000, BVD and KTPL
• A-Combination: consists of ABOP, BEP and SEEKA
• Democratic Alternative ’91 (DA ‘91)
• Alternative 1: consists of PVF, D21

Key achievements 2008

• A political sounding board of NIMD’s Democracy Programme was installed in September, consisting of political representatives from almost all parties.
• In December the political parties issued a joint statement on the need for a law on political party financing. This is an important breakthrough, as lack of transparency in party financing is one of the causes for public distrust in democracy.
• Research was conducted on constituencies’ perception of democracy and internal party democracy. Based on the research findings, political parties agreed to the use of VoteMatch software, an instrument which assists them in developing party programmes with their rank and files.

Lesson learned in 2008

• With the installation of the political sounding board, the ownership of the programme by the parties and their commitment to participate have increased significantly.

Key national partners

• Democracy Unit (DU) of Anton de Kom University of Suriname
• Political parties (see annex)

Key international partner

• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)