In 2010 the global training curriculum
for election administrators Building
Resources for Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE), won the UN
Public Service Award in the category Improving
the delivery of public services for contributing towards more effective and
responsive public administration in countries worldwide.
Developed in 2000, the comprehensive
BRIDGE training curriculum with its 24 modules and coupled with a facilitator accreditation
programme, is the result of partnership between five organizations: the Australian Electoral Commission, the UN
Electoral Assistance Division, the UN Development Programme, the International
Foundation of Electoral Systems (IFES), and International IDEA.
BRIDGE is not only a skills development
programme, but also increases knowledge and seeks to address attitudes in order
to improve the quality of elections administration and management.
The course is broken up into modules,
which were developed by practitioners and experts across the globe. It is
therefore highly adaptable to any political and cultural setting.
It emphasizes the principles underlying
all properly run elections, while drawing practical examples from different
countries. An interactive approach is used for learning since peer-learning and
sharing experiences with other participants is an essential part of the
training.
BRIDGE does not only focus on elections but also on
democracy and governance (DG BRIDGE), which can be used to complement the
elections curriculum and cater for more varied audiences through dialogue on
democracy or governance issues at a local level. In this case, IDEA has cooperated
closely with the Australian Electoral Commission to assist in rolling out DG
BRIDGE in Asia-Pacific and now in Africa.
Visit
www.bridge-project.org 
