Who We Are
The Global Democracy Coalition is driven by three core groups: The Secretariat, the Steering Group and the Wider Coalition. These groups are compose of organizations from diverse professional backgrounds, cultural contexts, and geographical regions. This diversity is our strength, enabling us to approach challenges from multiple angles and devise innovative solutions.
Below, you can meet the exceptional individuals from the Secretariat and the Steering Group driving our success. Their expertise, passion, and collaborative spirit are the cornerstones of our achievements, and we are proud to highlight their contributions to our shared cause.
The Secretariat
The GDC Coordinators
The GDC Coordination team oversees the Coalition’s daily activities, including planning events, facilitating knowledge exchange, maintaining communications, and managing partnerships. They also organize general meetings, ensure administrative and financial compliance, fundraise, manage projects, and foster external collaborations. Additionally, they support the Steering Group by overseeing financial planning and monitoring progress toward strategic goals.
International Institute for Democratic and Electoral Assistance
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) is an intergovernmental organization that supports sustainable democracy worldwide.
Elisenda Ballesté Buxó – Coordinator of the Global Democracy Coalition
Elisenda Ballesté Buxó is the Project Coordinator of the Global Democracy Coalition, a strategic multi-stakeholder alliance of organizations dedicated to advancing and protecting democracy. She has previously managed the EU co-funded Global Monitor of COVID-19’s impact on Democracy and Human Rights project and has produced analysis on democratic trends in the Middle East subregion.
Click here to read more about Elisenda’s work and background.
Annika Silva-Leander – Head of North America and Permanent Observer of International IDEA to the United Nations
Dr. Annika Silva-Leander leads International IDEA’s North America office and represents the organization at the United Nations. She has extensive experience in democracy assessment and has been a key contributor to global democracy debates through her analysis and speaking engagements.
Nicolette Karina Kalfas – Research Assistant for the Global Democracy Coalition
Nicolette Karina Kalfas serves as a Research Assistant for the Global Democracy Coalition, playing a pivotal role in the Coalition’s engagement with the Summit for Democracy. With a background in communications and political science, Nicolette has been recognized for her work in international disarmament and civil society.
The GDC Steering Group
The Steering Group provides strategic oversight and direction for the Coalition. It is composed of eight partner organizations, including a permanent seat for the Secretariat. Steering Group members prepare for and attend regular meetings, provide strategic oversight, lead working groups, initiate collaborations, and support resource mobilization. They are instrumental in advancing the Coalition’s mission and ensuring it meets its administrative and financial responsibilities.
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, economic conditions, and related issues in more than 35 countries in Africa. It is a network of researchers who do scientific citizen-attitude surveys aimed at ensuring that people’s views inform the decisions of policy-makers, academics, activists and others. The project was launched in 1999 by three African professors, and now covers 35 countries. The network is managed by the Center for Democratic Development in Ghana, the Institute for Development studies at the University of Nairobi, Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.
Felix Biga is Cheif Operating Officer of Afrobarometer and a veteran finance executive with more than 19 years’ senior executive-level experience, including managing boards and external stakeholder interests. He has been responsible for operational management of multimillion-dollar budgets and resources in blue chip and multinational environments in Africa. He has managed complex business situations and is well-known for his ability to create a congenial management environment and get things done. Felix has extensive experience in corporate finance, change management, and the development and deployment of long- and short-term strategies across territories in Africa.
The Alliance for Vietnam’s Democracy is an international network of pro-democracy organizations dedicated to advocating for democracy in Vietnam through peaceful means. The Alliance works to promote human rights, political freedom, and social justice in Vietnam, coordinating efforts among its member organizations to raise awareness and support democratic reforms.
David Tran is the Director of Communications for the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and has 40 years of community service experience. He is also a practicing child and adolescent psychiatrist and coordinates the Alliance for Vietnam’s Democracy. Tran serves on the Steering Committee of the Global Democracy Coalition.
The Alliance of Democracies Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 2017 by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former NATO Secretary General and former Prime Minister of Denmark. Our team brings expertise from international diplomacy and human rights to election integrity and strategic communications.
Danielle Piatkiewicz is the Deputy Chief Operating Officer for the Alliance of Democracies Foundation and founder of DEP Consulting. She is a research fellow at EUROPEUM, focusing on Transatlantic and Central and Eastern European security, democracy promotion, and NATO. Danielle is passionate about leadership and women’s development, having managed key initiatives like the Young Professionals Summit and served as a mentor. Her expertise includes foreign policy, security, human rights, and democracy promotion.
Asia Centre is a civil society research institute in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It was first established in Bangkok, Thailand in 2015, in 2018 a second Centre was set up in Johor Bahru, Malaysia and in 2024, a third Centre was established in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. In 2025, the Asia Centre announced an AI Hub for civil society organisations to be additionally set up in Bangkok, Thailand. The Asia Centre serves as a knowledge partner, undertaking evidence-based research outputs, delivering capacity-building activities, convening national and regional events as well as engaging in advocacy campaigns on issues affecting the Asian region. The Centre’s partners are CSOs, development aid agencies, INGOs, media workers, and policy-makers who serve marginalised end beneficiaries.
Dr. James Gomez is the Regional Director of Asia Centre. He is a highly qualified communications expert with over 30 years of international experience working for international NGOs, intergovernmental organisations, public and private universities, research institutes and think tanks. At Asia Centre, he is leading the efforts to make the Centre and its programming AI-ready and ensure its projects consider the impact of other technological developments. Specific initiatives undertaken by Dr Gomez include: digital transformation project to integrate AI tools into the Centre’s operations; policy research to help political parties track and positively influence AI legislation; addressing implications of technological developments for digital security; and planning for Asia Centre’s 2025 conference “AI and Governance in Asia: Civil Society, Democracy and Media.”
Fundación Multitudes is a Chilean NGO focused on promoting democracy, civil society participation, and transparency. They aim to bring citizens closer to public institutions, providing them with tools for advocacy and accountability, and increasing citizen participation in decision-making processes. Their work focuses on areas like citizen participation, civil society strengthening, combating disinformation, and promoting gender equality and rights.
Paulina Ibarra is the Managing Director of Fundación Multitudes and the first elected Chair of the Civil Society Pillar of the Community of Democracies. She has global experience in the areas of transparency, citizen participation and accountability and has worked in government, private sector and international organizations. In Washington, Paulina worked with the Open Government Partnership during the administration of President Obama and advised the World Bank on issues of education and digital activism. She was the first delegate of Citizen Participation for the Ministry General Secretariat of the Government of Chile and she contributed to the development of communication policies of the National Consumer Service. She is currently a member of four Advisory Councils of Ministries and Services, including the Council for Transparency.
PartnersGlobal, formerly known as Partners for Democratic Change, acts as a catalyst for fostering cooperation among individuals, communities, businesses, and governments to create a more peaceful, inclusive, democratic, and prosperous world. They promote democracy through advanced conflict resolution techniques and are pioneers in impact investment, with a strong history of building sustainable local organizations.
Kyra Buchko is the Co-Executive Director of PartnersGlobal, where she has been instrumental since 2017 in advancing programs related to justice, rule of law, and human rights. She became Managing Director for Program Portfolios in 2020, providing strategic oversight across all regions, and was named Co-Executive Director in 2021. Previously, Kyra served as Senior Technical Director at New Rule, LLC, and has extensive experience advising human rights institutions and government agencies in South Asia and Eastern Europe. She began her career with the American Bar Association’s overseas programming.
Political Watch is a Madrid-based think-and-do tank, part of the Salvador Soler Foundation, focused on advancing fairer and more sustainable societies through better public policies and corporate practices. It works to strengthen the conditions needed for change, including active citizenship, accountable governance, a responsible private sector, and informed media. Political Watch supports these goals by developing digital tools for transparency and civic monitoring, and by creating content and spaces that foster informed public debate on sustainability, inequality, and democracy.
Thai Jungpanich is Director of Strategic Partnerships at Political Watch and co-founder of Algorights and ParticipationAI. With extensive experience in public participation, digital rights, and human rights, she has led strategic advocacy, coalition-building, and policy initiatives at organizations such as Open Society Foundations and Oxfam. Her work focuses on inclusive governance, desirable futures, and the democratic governance of AI. She brings a multidisciplinary approach and a strong commitment to building cross-cutting alliances for equity and justice.
The Wider Coalition
The Global Democracy Coalition is a multi-stakeholder alliance of more than 150 democracy organizations from around the world committed to advance and protect democracy worldwide and to influence the Summits for Democracy and the Year of Action.
Being a partner/member in the Global Democracy Coalition provides access to a network of like-minded organizations and colleagues around the world, to share information on democratic innovations and good democratic practices, to identify opportunities for collaboration and to better coordinate their efforts, specifically in relation to the Summit for Democracy, but also in their democracy strengthening efforts more broadly. The Coalition enables partner organizations to have a stronger voice in influencing the Summits for Democracy and the global democracy agenda more broadly, as part of a collective effort rather than as individual organizations.
The Global Democracy Coalition does not pretend to substitute other issue-based global coalitions or Summit cohorts. Rather, it intends to bridge the issue-based discussions in other thematically organized coalitions and cohorts under the broader umbrella of democracy. It also aims to facilitate dialogue across Summit cohorts, to facilitate synergies and link them to the broader democracy agenda.
How can my organization become a partner of the Coalition?
A request is submitted to the Coalition coordinators, through a questionnaire. All applications will then be sent to the Coalition´s Steering Group for vetting. For more information, please email the GDC Coordinator Elisenda Ballesté Buxó (e.ballestebuxo@idea.int).
