Martin Chungong made double history in 2014 by becoming the first African and first non-European to be elected as IPU Secretary General. He has more than three decades of experience and knowledge of parliaments at national and international levels. He has dedicated his professional life to promoting and building democracy worldwide. He has become a leader in his field through his work on developing programmes to help parliaments become more transparent, accountable, representative and effective democratic institutions. Martin Chungong has further contributed to establishing governance benchmarks to strengthen democracy, as chair of the Management Committee on Accountability of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Governance Network. He has also built an impressive portfolio in the promotion of dialogue and conflict resolution. His focus on helping countries emerge from conflict or in transition has been widely acknowledged by our membership and partners globally.