Blog - Center for International Private Enterprise

Voices of Youth: Meet the Essay Contest Winners, Part 1

In 2011, youth movements around the world confronted dictators, demanded economic opportunity, and fought for political inclusivity. Young activists on the front lines of protest movements from Egypt to Chile made international headlines and challenged the status quo. But youth are not only agents...

Friday Wrap-Up: Youth, Entrepreneurship, and Independent Media

This week on the blog: We published the first the winning essays from the CIPE Youth Essay Contest, "The World's Youngest Democracy" by Vikas Joshi. ChamberL.I.N.K.S. participants were in Washington to share the lessons they learned working at chambers and business associations in the United Stat...

Reflections on my Week in Bosnia Herzegovina

Simple statements don't do justice to the complicated reality of politics and daily life in Bosnia Herzegovina (BiH). The press release sounds like many others but there is so much more to say: "The Office of Public Affairs of the U.S. Embassy, as part of the Embassy's ongoing efforts to prom...

Capacity Building Continued with 4th All-Pakistan Secretary Generals’ Conference

“The Secretary Generals’ Conference provides an excellent platform for networking with fellow SGs from all over Pakistan, an opportunity for which we wait for the whole year. This year’s conference was particularly important for us because we realized the importance of governing do...

Democracy and Independent Media

For hundreds of years, a free press has been considered an essential component of democracy. Today, however, independent media around the world face a surprising paradox: though more countries in the world are democracies than ever before, the past decade has also seen a stark rise in the number o...

Sparking the Entrepreneurial Spirit: Teaching Youth How Democracy Delivers

Recent events around the world have shown the power of youth. The Arab Spring has been fueled by young people who became disillusioned with the status quo and are ready for change. In India, it was the youth that lead an anti-corruption protest movement. But young people are more than just a...

Lessons Learned From U.S. Business Associations

The participants of this year's ChamberL.I.N.K.S. program came together last week in Washington, DC to meet with various policy-makers, US Chamber of Commerce staff, CIPE staff, and other non-profit organizations. This was also an opportunity for the participants to reflect on lessons learned, and...

The World’s Youngest Democracy

Countries around the world are dealing with a fundamental demographic shift as the youth bubble continues to bulge. As the Arab Spring has demonstrated, young people can be energized, organized, and hungry for change. No longer content to wait on a future that might never come, youth are demanding...

Friday Wrap-Up: Taxis, Property Rights, and the New Middle East

This week on the blog: Africa Program Officer Yana Hongla continued his conversation with Frank the taxi driver, discussing Ghana's gender problems. Global Program Officer Anna Nadgrodkiewicz wrote about the important, but infrequently discussed, role that local institutions play in supporting (...

Beating the Drums of War and the Latest Oil Conflict in Africa

Sudan and South Sudan took one step back from an all out war on Friday when South Sudanese President, Salva Kiir, agreed to withdraw military forces from the contested oil-producing town of Heglig, which was occupied by South Sudanese forces after fighting on April 3rd. Heglig is claimed by both Su...