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In Pretoria, South Africa, Eddie D. Jarwolo from Liberia (left) and Aiah Mattia from Sierra Leone discuss how to implement BRIDGE training in their countries.
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BRIDGE courses held in Africa in English, French and Portuguese
A strong and independent electoral administration is critical to a robust democratic system. One of the central components of IDEA’s work in supporting capacity-building of election management bodies in Africa is through the use of its BRIDGE electoral administrators training course. (BRIDGE stands for Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections.)
Developed in partnership with the Australian Electoral Commission and the United Nations, the BRIDGE course is a comprehensive capacity-building programme for electoral administrators. The curriculum covers all aspects of elections and uses an adult-learning methodology to build capacity and enhance professionalism. Participants and trainers at the conference in Pretoria, South Africa.
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Participants and trainers at the conference in Pretoria, South Africa.
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To ensure the sustainability of these capacity-building initiatives, IDEA also provides opportunities for national trainers to be taught how to deliver BRIDGE training. These courses – called BRIDGE Train the Facilitators courses – are a compulsory part of the formal accreditation process for all BRIDGE trainers. Three such courses have been held in Africa in 2004:
Pretoria, South Africa: The fourth international BRIDGE Train the Facilitators course was held 20 Sept.–1 Oct., in English. The course was administered with EISA and the South African Independent Electoral Commission, which hosted the training at its Pretoria headquarters. Twenty-six participants from 20 countries attended. IDEA member state Australia provided funding through a grant from AusAID.
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: In partnership with the Burkina Faso-based Centre for Democratic Governance, the first BRIDGE Train the Facilitators course was held 6-17 September, in French. The course was attended by 22 participants from seven Francophone African countries. The course is part of IDEA’s ongoing project in Burkina Faso, which is funded by member state Finland.
Maputo, Mozambique: With Mozambique’s Technical Secretariat for the Administration of Elections (STAE), the first BRIDGE Train the Facilitators course was held 17-26 May, in Portuguese. Twenty-nine STAE staff members from all provinces in the country participated. On 1-2 December, Mozambique will hold its third multiparty general and presidential elections. The course was part of IDEA’s ongoing project in Mozambique to support the electoral process, which is funded by Ireland and member states Finland and Norway.
For further information e-mail Assistant Programme Officer Margot Gould.
Gathering EMB feedback in Burkina Faso
Joram Rukambe, senior programme officer for election processes, and Kenneth Mpyisi, programme officer for West Africa, represented IDEA at the West African electoral management bodies (EMBs) conference 28-30 September in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Some 70 delegates from 25 countries attended the event, ‘Electoral Management Bodies as a Support for Emerging Democracies in Africa’. The Burkina EMB and the Association of Africa Electoral Authorities hosted the conference. Sponsors included the United Nations Office for West Africa, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Francophonie Agency and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa.
Mr Rukambe and Mr Mpyisi shared their experience based on IDEA’s EMB-structuring project, launched in early 2004 to study EMBs’ independence, financing, how election staff members are recruited and organized, and gender issues in election administration.
The IDEA staffers also consulted participants on electoral assistance issues. IDEA’s elections processes team is conducting a mapping exercise on electoral assistance for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Participants endorsed an ECOWAS initiative to set up an electoral assistance unit within its Abuja-based Executive Secretariat.
‘The audience welcomed the initiative’, said Mr Rukambe. ‘They believed ECOWAS is the appropriate institution, given its status as both a local and regional organization’. Attendees also identified technical assistance, capacity-building, and resource sharing as key areas in which subregional EMBs required ECOWAS support.
The conference – a prelude to the Francophonie 10th anniversary celebrations in Ouagadougou in November – was a useful forum for EMBs and related bodies, both in the ECOWAS subregion and from far afield (such as Mauritius, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Zambia), to meet and discuss issues of common interest, Mr Rukambe said.
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