Global training meets local needs

In 2010 the global training curriculum for election administrators, BRIDGE (Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections), 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 represents the most ambitious attempt ever undertaken to cover the spectrum of electoral processes. Coupled with a facilitator accreditation programme, BRIDGE is the result of a partnership between five organizations: Australian Electoral Commission, International IDEA, International Foundation of Electoral Systems (IFES), UN Electoral Assistance Division, and the UN Development Programme.

A decade on, BRIDGE is now available in a wide range of languages, its curriculum has been adapted to different regions, and countless thousands of electoral administrators have benefited from its training.

The course emphasizes the principles underlying all properly run elections, while drawing practical examples from different countries. A highly interactive approach is used for learning since peer-learning and sharing experiences with other participants is an essential part of the training.

Apart from the professional empowerment of successive generations of BRIDGE participants, there is a multiplier effect as knowledge is passed on to colleagues as local training is provided by BRIDGE accredited facilitators.

“In my opinion the BRIDGE training is very useful as it is based on the practical and implementation methods,” says Ghanashyam Bhandari, a district election officer from Nepal.

This is corroborated by others who undertake the programme. The Chair of Uganda’s Electoral Commission Dr Badru M Kiggundu says that BRIDGE training undertaken by his staff in 2009 has meant “an enormous capacity contribution to the human resource of my institution.”

And in Mozambique for instance, the consequence of BRIDGE training for members of the Technical Secretariat for the Administration of Elections during the lead up to the 2003 local government elections resulted in less administrative errors being reported in the polling stations, despite the occurrence of other irregularities.

Currently in its second version, BRIDGE now aims at expanding its success with Electoral Management Bodies and targeting others such as observer groups, media, civil society and the security forces. BRIDGE is also evolving to become more geared towards democracy and governance – trialled successfully in Bhutan and Vanuatu in 2009. The inclusion of democracy and governance into the BRIDGE curriculum will form an important new growth point for the programme, fleshing out the full name of BRIDGE.