BRIDGE workshop in Malawi on electoral technology, strategic and financial planning 

Starting today about 22 commissioners and senior staff from the Malawi Electoral Commission will meet in Lilongwe for a five day BRIDGE workshop focusing on electoral technology and strategic and financial planning.

The workshop is organised by International IDEA partnering with the AU Department of Political Affairs and the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), and is an integral part of the AU DPA’s post-election follow-up programme in Malawi.

Two thematic areas will be of primary focus; electoral technology, and strategic & financial planning. Notably, the two subjects are closely intertwined given the impact of the introduction or review of electoral technology in elections have considerable bearing on strategic but, in particular, financial planning processes.

The BRIDGE workshop is being organised in the context of the AU-IDEA Joint Activity Plan and its sub-component focussing on building capacities among Electoral Management Bodies in Africa.

BRIDGE – Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections – remains the world’s foremost training curriculum on electoral processes. BRIDGE training courses use an activity-based approach that maximizes retention of knowledge and skills learned. In addition, the courses are designed to promote or reinforce professional confidence, ethics, understanding of principles of best electoral practice, and access to networks of peers. BRIDGE is a partnership gathering five leading organisations working in the elections field, namely International IDEA, UNDP, the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division, IFES and the Australian Electoral Commission.