A founding ‘nucleus’ board was established that comprised Shridath Ramphal, Adama Dieng and David Steel. Bengt Säve-Söderbergh, who was instrumental in the process of creating International IDEA from the start, was appointed its first secretary-general. Due to practical difficulties and overlapping responsibilities between the board and council, this model later changed. International IDEA was able to immediately start work designing ethical codes and professional rules and guidelines for electoral processes, and developed three extremely useful handbooks in the very beginning on electoral system design, democracy and deep-rooted conflict, and women in parliament. As part of the institute's 20th anniversary celebration in 2015, Bengt Säve-Söderbergh wrote an essay, "The Birth of an IDEA", that captures how the organization was born and its relevancy. Säve-Söderbergh is the first secretary-general of International IDEA. International IDEA's mission is to “advance democracy worldwide, as a universal human aspiration and an enabler of sustainable development, through support to the building, strengthening and safeguarding of democratic political institutions and processes at all levels”. Additionally, International IDEA is dedicated to the following tasks:    International IDEA offers several online tools and databases including the Voter Turnout Database, Electoral Risk Management tool and the IntegriTAS Threat Assessment System. Anyone can access data on topics such as voter turnout, electoral system design, quotas for women and political finance laws and regulations. International IDEA has been granted UN observer status. International IDEA's founding member states were Australia, Barbados, Belgium, Chile, Costa Rica, Denmark, Finland, India, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, and Sweden. There are currently 33 member states. They are Australia, Barbados, Belgium, Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Finland, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Namibia, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia and Uruguay. Japan has official observer status. Member States host a Democracy Forum and invite dialogue across member states and with civil society actors, academia and youth. Past Democracy Forum topics have included anti-corruption, accountability, natural resource management and youth participation. International IDEA's nearly 200 staff members are located in various offices worldwide.