Foundation for the Promotion of Democracy

Foundation for the Promotion of Democracy (FPD) has a mission to "promote freedom and further the principles of democracy, secularism, human rights and civil society. To achieve such goals, FPD conducts research, produces and disseminates materials and assists emerging democracies in nonviolent struggles towards popular sovereignty, transparent economies, self-determination, liberty and political freedom."

The FDP website was registered by Lance Copsey of Marsh Copsey & Scott (now Marsh Copsey & Associates), a Maryland-based "strategic communications firm" offering services in "political campaigns, issue advocacy [and] corporate re-branding."

Projects
The projects listed on their website, as of November 2007, are the Iraqi Kurdistan Project, Democracy Iran 2002 and Ukraine.

Iraqi Kurdistan Project
FPD has "conducted several independent surveys of political, cultural and economic attitudes within Iraqi Kurdistan," including on television viewing habits, news sources, participation in various elections, and "awareness of the Kurdistan Regional Government and the various departments under its control."

Democracy Iran 2002
"FPD has produced a number of programs in Farsi for pro bono distribution among Iranian television and radio satellite broadcasters into Iran," including the PBS documentaries "A Force More Powerful," about "20th century nonviolent struggles"; and "Bringing Down a Dictator," about "a daring group of young Serbian resistant [sic] leaders that through the use of non-violent resistance methods ... brought about the collapse of Slobodan Milosevic."

Other activities in this project include translation publishing, non-violent political activism training, and public opinion survey research.

FPD says it carries out its polling in Tehran, Iran's capital city, "in conjunction with its sister organization." FPD's current website does not name its "sister organization." However, an older version of FPD's website (from April 2007) links the worlds "sister organization" to the website of the group Iran Institute for Democracy (IID). The IID website has summaries of Iran surveys conducted in 2002 and 2005 by The Tarrance Group. The phone number listed on the IID website, 202-251-8531, is the same phone number listed on the FPD website.

FPD's activism training was a five day program, held in Washington DC in 2004, which was "attended by young Iranian political activists brought in from out of state and Europe." Workshops included "organizing rallies, demonstration and civil disobedience techniques," community relations and media relations.

Ukraine
FPD's Ukraine work includes "video and film production, media relations and specialized counsel on issues ranging from constitutional reform to accountability of politicians to the people, transparency, work with voters between elections and continual improvement of the electoral process."

Contact

 * 1332 Pennsylvania Ave. SE
 * Washington, DC 20003
 * 202-243-8383
 * Web: http://www.ffpd.org

SourceWatch resources

 * A Force More Powerful
 * Iran Institute for Democracy
 * Reza Pahlavi - Director
 * Kirk L. Clinkenbeard - Finance Director