From left, CIPE Executive Director John D. Sullivan, CIPE Chairman Greg Lebedev, ILD President and award recipient Hernando de Soto, Senator Lugar, and Representative Mack at the “Hernando de Soto Award for Democracy” reception.

CIPE presented the inaugural “Hernando de Soto Award for Democracy” in October 2009 to celebrate individuals and institutions who have profoundly contributed to democratic and economic freedom around the world. The award was named in honor of its first recipient and the president of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy – CIPE’s first partner – renowned Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto.

De Soto personifies CIPE’s proven belief that strong markets require high-quality governance and vice versa, and that open participation in both markets and government are a foundation of democratic governance. His work empowering and building the capacity of the poor to advocate for their own property rights has been a powerful catalyst for democratic, market-oriented reform around the world.

At the Capitol Hill award ceremony in October 2009, Indiana Senator Richard Lugar, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Florida Representative Connie Mack IV, ranking member of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, both offered remarks in honor of De Soto and assisted in the award presentation. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright provided a personal letter of commendation that was read at the event. The “Hernando de Soto Award for Democracy” will be awarded periodically on the basis of overwhelming merit and demonstrable impact.

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Drawing on a wealth of experience gained through 1,100 programs in over 100 countries, CIPE continues to refine its approach to strengthening democracy. CIPE undertook a 25-year evaluation to review accomplishments and lessons of the past ten years – building on the lessons of the comprehensive 15-year evaluation – to reflect a quarter century of progress. This internal review of all programs completed in 1999-2008 calibrated the impact of CIPE’s efforts and contributed to the understanding of what drives reform. The 25-Year Impact Evaluation presents an opportunity to incorporate this program knowledge into CIPE’s strategy for coming years.

The 25- and 15-year evaluations are available at www.cipe.org/programs/evaluations.

The 25-year evaluation identified 111 projects that rated high- or exceptional-impact according to CIPE’s standardized evaluation criteria. For CIPE, high-impact means that changes linked to the project were observed in areas such as passage of significant policy recommendations, new mechanisms for stakeholder participation in decision-making, strengthening of private sector organizations as advocates for reform, new channels for information dissemination, or support among decision-makers for market economics and democratic systems.

Key findings included strong performances among local partnerships, especially with local business associations, and among anti-corruption projects. The Eurasia region led in high-impact projects, which reformed taxation, improved transparency, strengthened chambers of commerce, and improved the business environment for small and medium-sized enterprises. CIPE also recorded a notable number of high- or exceptional-impact projects in countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Kenya, the Philippines, and Serbia. The full report contains other findings as well as important lessons and recommendations for future programming.

Some of the most exceptional CIPE projects in this study were:

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The last decade has brought about a significant change in democratic development. There is a growing recognition that free and fair elections are not enough to ensure that new democracies will flourish. Building democratic governance – the mechanisms that help democracies function throughout the election process, and between election cycles – is key to ensuring the survival of fragile democracies.

The recent global economic crisis and democratic reversals have demonstrated that it is not sufficient to focus on elections or economic growth alone. Democracies must provide good governance and public services, and they also must provide tangible economic benefits – jobs, the creation of wealth, the eradication of poverty – to citizens at all levels of society, especially the poor. This is democracy that delivers.

This belief has been a core value for CIPE since its founding. CIPE gathered key partners and leaders in Washington, DC in October 2009 for “Democracy that Delivers: Improving the Quality of Democratic Governance and Economic Growth,” a conference to further the meaning of democracy as it relates to inclusive and sustainable economic growth. CIPE partners, board members, and leading experts spoke throughout the day to an audience of nearly 300. The conference was also broadcast live, attracting several hundred viewers in Cairo, Egypt.

“Democracy that Delivers” provided a forum to reframe the development debate, focusing on what has driven CIPE’s first two- and-a-half decades of success. Building democracies that deliver is a strategy that is likely to redefine future development and democracy programs over CIPE’s next 25 years. More information is available at www.democracythatdelivers.com.

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation provided funding for this conference.

Hernando de Soto (left), president of CIPE partner Institute for Liberty and Democracy in Peru, joins Mike McCurry (center), CIPE board advisor and former press secretary to President Clinton, and Larry Diamond (right), senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

“Those same conditions that allow for the creativity and entrepreneurship that make markets work are also the same mechanisms that build a vibrant civil society and the mechanisms of accountability that make democratic institutions work.”

– DR. ANNE-MARIE SLAUGHTER,
DIRECTOR OF POLICY PLANNING,
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

“The failure of democratic governance may be the most intractable of systemic conditions because bad governments – be they repressive, corrupt, or ineffective – can negatively impact almost every aspect of society.”

– GREG LEBEDEV,
CIPE CHAIRMAN

“Let me give you an example of what market capitalism can do...[The Philippines] liberalized the telecom industry and now we are the texting capital of the world. This is what democracy means, this is what open competitive markets mean, this is what entrepreneurship means.”

– JESUS ESTANISLAO,
CHAIRPERSON OF CIPE PARTNERS
THE INSTITUTE FOR SOLIDARITY IN ASIA AND
THE INSTITUTE OF CORPORATE DIRECTORS AND
FORMER PHILIPPINES FINANCE MINISTER

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