The Secretary-General of International IDEA is Dr Kevin Casas-Zamora, whose leading role is to provide strategic leadership, report on the Institute’s activities, and represent the Institute externally and develop strong relations with the Member States and other constituencies. The Secretary-General's Office is organized in three areas: Communications and Knowledge Management and External Relations and the UN Permanent Observer.

Global Programmes is a key area in the realization of our mission and supports and complements the work of our Regional Programmes. It does this by (a) being a producer of relevant global comparative knowledge resources and practical tools; (b) being a provider of technical support to regional programmes; and (c) being an active contributor to agenda-setting and influencing at the global level through democracy assessment, political analysis and activities across the Institute’s impact areas. Global Programmes comprises of five teams: Constitution Building Processes, Electoral Processes, Democracy Assessment, INTER PARES | Parliaments in Partnership Program, and Democracy and Inclusion.  

The Africa and West Asia region is undergoing constant change which is a challenge for our teams in Ethiopia, Mozambique, Tunisia, and Sudan. Our role is to support multi-party elections that are mostly free, fair, and peaceful in the region. We also help actors at various levels that face problems like weak political institutions, the underrepresentation of women in political life and limited media freedom. 

The Asia and the Pacific region is a centre of political and economic change with vastly diverse societies: some are firmly established democracies, others are undergoing democratic transition, while some face a long and challenging road to any form of democracy and the rule of law.  We work with electoral management bodies to create space for the engagement of citizens in democratic constitution reform efforts at regional and country levels through our citizen-centred State of Democracy Assessment frameworks. 

The Executive Division supervises, manages, and supports all functions, staff, and services within the Institute. The areas involved in these tasks are Human Resources & Organizational Development, Budget and Programme Performance, Accounting and Treasury,  IT, Procurement and Facilities. 

In Latin America and the Caribbean, significant steps have been taken to strengthen democracy. However, with some of the world’s most blatant levels of inequality present in the region, people’s confidence in democracy can be easily shaken. We focus on electoral integrity and electoral justice, particularly money in politics and the funding of political parties. We also concentrate on constitutional reform processes and the interface between democracy and its capacity to deliver citizen security. 

At its liaison office to the European Union (EU), International IDEA represents our country programmes around the globe and our knowledge resources on democracy before EU institutions. Our goal is to impact their decision-making, restore faith in democratic institutions, and address the question of how to recapture the energy of our young citizens.