These featured DemTools represent a short list of our preferred software, approaches, toolkits and guides. Click here to search the full library of tools.
Featured DemTools
Canva
Canva is a graphic design tool that enables users to drag-and-drop feature and layouts to easily design beautiful visual content and infographics.
Date Updated: Oct 18, 2022
CiviCRM
A contact relationship management (CRM) platform that has the ability store, track and segment large volumes of contact data and use it to take actions, like send messages via SMS and email. NDI hosts CiviCRM (or Civi for short) for partners through its DemCloud cloud-hosting service.
Date Updated: Mar 17, 2023
Co/Act: Human Centered Design (HCD) Toolkit
Human-centered design frameworks start by identifying who a product is for and then placing them at the center of the product strategy. The Co/Act toolkit adapts and expands this approach to design digital products, services, or campaigns through modular do-it-yourself style activities that are aggressively low cost, high impact, interdisciplinary, and focused on building the capacity of participants. Co/Act will help you design more powerful products, services, and campaigns by centering them on your community, stakeholders, and colleagues - ensuring that the end result is more inclusive and therefore democratic.
Date Updated: Jun 10, 2021
Critical Mention
Critical Mention is a media monitoring and media contact monitoring tool. Users have access to television, radio, print media, podcasts, online news, and social media. While the tool is in English, it draws from news sources in over 90 languages. Dashboards tracking media can be tailored to the user, and Critical Mention maintains good customer support with trainings, a help desk, and a willingness to work with clients to integrate new sources. The tool is cloud-based and works especially well with traditional media sources.
Date Updated: Oct 18, 2022
Cybersecurity Handbook for Civil Society Organizations
The Handbook is an open-source resource designed to help civil society organizations develop an understandable and implementable cybersecurity plan. It includes explanations of key security topics that organizations and their staff should be aware of, essential strategies and recommended tools to limit risk, and tips and links to additional resources that can help an organization implement such recommendations. The Handbook material is also available as an online course.
Date Updated: Nov 19, 2021
Cybersecurity Handbook for Parliaments
The Handbook is an open-source resource designed to help parliaments develop an understandable and implementable cybersecurity plan. It includes explanations of key security topics that parliaments and their staff should be aware of, essential strategies and recommended tools to limit risk, and tips and links to additional resources that can help a parliament implement such recommendations. The Handbook was produced by NDI and the House Democracy Partnership (HDP)
Date Updated: Jun 17, 2022
Cybersecurity Handbook for Political Parties
The Handbook is an open-source resource designed to help political parties develop an understandable and implementable cybersecurity plan. It includes explanations of key security topics that parties and their staff should be aware of, essential strategies and recommended tools to limit risk, and tips and links to additional resources that can help a party implement such recommendations. The Handbook material is also available as an online course.
Date Updated: Nov 19, 2021
Open edX
OpenEdX is an open-source learning management system (LMS). The platform allows administrators to create digital courses for online and remote learning. NDI hosts one instance of Open edX, but the instance can support multiple custom-branded "micro-sites." Micro-sites can be created at the request of NDI programs or partners for an initial cost, but long-term hosting is offered at no-additional cost. Alternatively, NDI programs and partners can make use of the ed.ndi.org micro-site to create courses at no cost.
Date Updated: Aug 05, 2024
Open Election Data Initiative
An initiative that applies open data principles to the context of elections. The Initiative contains two main components:
- The Election Data Guide outlines which open data principles are most important in elections.
- The Election Data Academy helps civic actors use and analyze available data.
Date Updated: Aug 31, 2021
Open Internet Democracy Initiative
A set of principles for an open internet and global network designed to empower and improve the digital rights literacy of activists and civil society organizations in the Global South.
Date Updated: Aug 31, 2021
Practical Cybersecurity for Organizations Online Course
NDI's Practical Cybersecurity for Organizations Online Course provides civil society organizations, political parties, and parliaments a unique online course opportunity to develop an understandable and implementable cybersecurity plan. The course, built off the material in NDI's Cybersecurity Handbooks, includes explanations of key security topics that these organizations their staff should be aware of, essential strategies and recommended tools to limit risk, and tips and links to additional resources that can help these groups implement such recommendations. Certificates are available for successful completion of the course and development of a cybersecurity plan.
Date Updated: Nov 19, 2021
think10
The #think10 safety planning tool provides women in politics guidance on how to enhance their personal security by combining scores from a self-assessment questionnaire and the country score from NDI’s new Women’s Political Participation Risk Index. The WPPRI calculates the risk to politically active women in 172 countries. In using the tool, women in politics can develop a safety plan relevant to their personal and professional profile, and in their political context. Each country’s ranking in the WPPRI is built from three indicators: the level of women’s political participation at the national level; the state of democracy in each country; and the likelihood of violence that women in that country face. NDI has based these indicators on data gained from the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Economist Intelligence Unit, and Georgetown University’s Institute of Women Peace and Security.
Date Updated: Oct 18, 2022