Office of Democracy & Governance
 Office of Democracy and Governance
Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance
U.S. Agency for International Development
Washington, DC 20523-3100
Phone: 202-712-1892
Fax: 202-216-3231
The Office of Democracy and Governance is tasked with supporting and advancing USAID's democracy and governance (DG) programming worldwide. The DG Office, which was previously known as the Center for Democracy and Governance (May 1994 - November 2001), helps USAID field missions design and implement democracy strategies, provides technical and intellectual leadership in the field of democracy development, and manages some USAID programs directly.
The DG Office's primary objective, working principally with USAID missions in the field and with regional bureaus, is to make democracy and governance programs more effective and strategic in scope. Where USAID has limited or no staff presence, for example in many post-conflict situations, the DG Office often leads democracy and governance assessment teams that help define objectives and establish new programs. The DG Office works closely with the State Department and the National Security Council on how democracy programming can contribute importantly to the achievement of U.S. foreign policy objectives in these and other countries.
The DG Office follows the Agency in using four categories to describe its democracy and governance activities: rule of law, elections and political processes, civil society, and governance. It is important to note, however, that this conceptual organization is not meant to be reductive. Democratization is much more organic and complex. In fact, when implementing programs, these categories are not easily separated. For example, the DG Office's anti-corruption programming aims to improve governance in part by mobilizing citizen action from civil society organizations. A successful program to increase the political participation of women helps women's advocacy groups petition the national legislature, thereby improving the transparency of political institutions.
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