On 25-27 February 2008 in Khartoum, Sudan the project conducted the first of 2 training workshops on Party Policy and Manifesto Development” which was organised by project partner Canadian Parliamentary Centre and International IDEA. It was attended by thirty-two representatives of the six participating parties: the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the National Congress Party (NCP), the Popular National Congress Party (PNCP), the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP), the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Umma Party.
The topics covered in the training workshop included:
- Typology of parties (in terms of approach to policy-making)
- Policy-making as interest aggregation and articulation functions
- Policy-making trends in old and new democracies
- Policy congruence between parties and voters (responsiveness vs. responsible party model)
- Democratic policy-making in the Western tradition
- Policy-making in two parties in Canada
- Procedural mechanics of effective policy conventions
In terms of manifesto development, topics included:
- Typology of manifestos (UK)/ platforms (North America)/ election programs (Continental Europe)
- Functions of manifestos
- Varieties of manifesto-writing methods
- Findings of the Comparative Manifestos Project (based on a collection of 3000 manifestos from 780 parties in 50+ countries)
- Programmatic profiles of party families
- Tendencies in manifesto form and content
- Platform development in two parties in Canada
The training workshop was facilitated by the following experts:
- Ms Andrea Volkens, Research Fellow at Berlin’s Social Science Research Centre and member of Manifesto Research Group
- Mr John-Paul Harney, New Democratic Party, Canada (NDP), Chair of Canadian Studies at York University
- Mr Ryan Barker, Programme Officer, Canadian Parliamentary Centre
- Dr Atta Al-Battahani, International IDEA Sudan Project Manager
