The past 15 years has seen a rapid increase in the number of democratic states. As a result, the number of elections worldwide has increased dramatically. Capable and professional election administrators are essential for organizing elections, and without the right skills in place election processes can be undermined.
Building Resources in Democracy Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) is the most comprehensive professional development course available in election administration. It improves the skills, knowledge, and confidence both of election professionals and of others in the electoral process, such as members of the media, political parties and parliamentarians, and electoral observers and civil society organizations.
BRIDGE was developed by International IDEA together with the Australian Electoral Commission and the UN Electoral Assistance Division. In 2007, the partnership group has been widened to include the UN Development Programme and IFES, which will play a major role in implementing BRIDGE through their own programmes.
The BRIDGE curriculum is currently being significantly revised and expanded to 23 Modules (BRIDGE 2), enriched by more contributions from practitioners and experts case studies to keep it up to date and put in context of democratic governance and make it even more comprehensive. Underpinning course work and activities are international standards and principles, best practice, cross-cutting issues and the latest knowledge resources available such as International IDEA’s Handbook series and the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network.
To date, BRIDGE training has been conducted in 25 countries for people from almost 100 countries. The course has also been adapted to specific regional and country contexts and languages: Africa, the Arab World, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Caucasus.
