Transcript BRIDGE Project - International Institute for Democracy and

BRIDGE Project
Building Resources in Democracy,
Governance & Elections
www.bridge-project.org
The BRIDGE Project founding
partners are:
New partners joined in March 2007
So what is the BRIDGE Project?
 A professional development course in
electoral administration because…
 Capable and professional election administrators
are essential for organising elections, and
without the skills in place, election processes
can be undermined
 to achieve effective, sustainable electoral
administrations, the development of the capacity
of the staff needs to be prioritised.
A Capacity Building Tool
 …it builds the skills, knowledge and
confidence of participants
 …it also helps to build a sense of “the team”
 …it should not be seen as a “quick fix” for
electoral management bodies and their
stakeholders
The History of BRIDGE
 First Expert Advisory Group (EAG) meeting
in 1999
 Project first implemented in 2001in East
Timor
 Till that point there had been few formal
opportunities available for comprehensive
professional development in electoral
administration.
Original Aims of BRIDGE
 to strengthen election administrators’
capacity to conduct their work in an
effective and efficient manner
 to enhance electoral administrators
professionalism
 to build teams and networks
Potential BRIDGE Target Groups
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Electoral Commissioners
EMB Staff
Members of the Media
Political Parties
Parliamentarians
Security Forces
Civil Society Groups
Academics and University Students
Tailored to individual needs
 BRIDGE Project courses need to be carefully
tailored to the needs of participants and
organisations
 This can only be achieved by developing and
delivering them in partnership with local
bodies that can contribute to and/or drive the
tailoring process.
BRIDGE Methodology
 uses content developed by electoral experts
from around the world
 is not prescriptive, it encourages
participants to develop creative and
appropriate solutions to challenges
 is activity-based and focuses on practical
issues
 is flexible and adaptable, not designed to
be used “off the shelf”
Quality assurance
 BRIDGE can only be conducted by
facilitators accredited by the BRIDGE Project
partners
 2 phase of accreditation process:
 10-day TtF Program
 Assisted BRIDGE Project Course delivery in the
field
How/where to run BRIDGE?
 Conducting modules for the nationals of
one country;
 Conducting modules for an international or
regional group;
 Conducting modules with or through a
partner organisation
Version 1 modules
1. introduction to electoral
administration
6. contestants
2. electoral systems
7. preparation for the electoral
event
3. public outreach
8. polling and counting
4. boundary delimitation
9. electoral observers
5. registration of voters
10. strategies for sustainability
Expanded Content
 From 10 Modules to 23 Modules – covering
all aspects of elections
 Many more examples and case studies from
around the world
 New material for each module
More International Writers and
Editors
Addition of Implementation Manual
and Workshop
 Greater implementation guidance and
support for organisations wanting to use
and adapt BRIDGE material and courses
 Implementation Workshop (2-day) course to
assist implementers, project managers and
facilitators (for different courses) to
implement BRIDGE in the most effective way
BRIDGE Project statistics
 To date BRIDGE has been conducted:
 In about 20 countries
 For over 2000 people from more than 90
countries
 There are now:
 Over 400 people who have attended Train the
Facilitator programs
 Over 120 Fully Accredited BRIDGE Facilitators
The BRIDGE Project is fun, whilst
… the hard work is being done
Thank you!