News
September 23, 2008
The mountainous Kingdom of Lesotho ran its first BRIDGE course in July 2008. With a population of around 2 million, Lesotho was the first country to adopt a mixed member proportional system in Africa. This electoral system and its seat calculation was the source of an extended dispute settled by the courts just before the BRIDGE course began. With the Electoral Commission being central to the disputed results, this was a hot topic during the BRIDGE course that was held in Teyateyaneng’s Blue Mountain Inn, just an hour’s drive outside the capital of Maseru.
September 23, 2008
I watched my bag being lifted over the edge of the ferry into waiting hands, praying that it would not drop into the harbour waters below. For eight days I was resident on the famous Gorée Island, just 1 km and a 30 minute ferry ride off the Dakar coastline in Senegal. For about seven days the small population of Gorée was boosted by 26 participants from ACE regional centres. The regional centres are located in geographically strategic places around the world, acting as regional hubs collecting and processing election-related information.
August 18, 2008
This workshop/meeting was the second in a series of three workshops in 2008 related to the updating of the Implementation Manual and general implementation issues relating to V2 (basically to decide what Implementation/Customisation tools are needed and to develop a strategy and timeline for their development.)
August 15, 2008
Another successful BRIDGE module has been completed in East Timor with the staff from Secretariado Técnico Administração Eleitoral (STAE). The training was conducted in Dili for the 13 STAE district coordinators and 14 STAE Dili staff from Monday 28 July to Thursday 31 July 08. On this occasion there were some new facilitators and speakers who added an invigorating flavour to the sessions.
August 8, 2008
This training is intended to introduce BRIDGE to UN and UNDP staff, provide a taste of its methodology and content, and demonstrate how BRIDGE can be used as a tool of electoral assistance programming at the country level.
August 4, 2008
An AusAID funded BRIDGE Train the Facilitator Course (TtF) was conducted by the Electoral Studies section of the Pacific Institute of Advanced Studies in Democracy and Governance (PIAS-DG) at the University of the South Pacific (USP) in July 2008.
August 3, 2008
With the aim of contributing to the electoral reform process in Egypt, IFES and UNDP-Egypt in cooperation with the NCHR organized BRIDGE (Building Resources in Democracy, Governance, and Election) training in 2007. The workshop brought together selected participants representing various election stakeholders in Egypt to enhance their understanding of the principles that underpin the electoral process and share with them comparative experience from the region and other parts of the world as a framework in which to assess their own local experience and draw on best practices and lessons learned and was delivered by "IFES". IFES is one of the BRIDGE partners along with EAD, UNDP, IDEA and the Australian Election Commission (AEC). Based on the success of the 2007 BRIDGE training in Cairo, UNDP Egypt, in cooperation with NCHR, and IFES decided to offer further technical assistance to different electoral stakeholders in Egypt.
July 13, 2008
BRIDGE often employs learning strategies that use our every day life experiences to introduce us to sometimes complex and difficult electoral issues.
July 1, 2008
In a move to become more financially independent from the government and to build trust with stakeholders, the National Elections Commission of Liberia and IFES held an Electoral Democracy Training Conference with key stakeholders using the Bridge Curriculum.
June 29, 2008
From 8 to 12 June 2008 the second BRIDGE course was run in the heat of Aqaba in Jordan. With the blissful setting of the Red Sea in the background the searing temperatures were soon forgotten as 25 participants from the Ministries of Interior and Municipal Affairs got stuck into the Introduction to Election Administration Module.
June 10, 2008
Since 2005, Egypt has witnessed many reforms in the field of elections. Two of the most significant reforms were the first multi-candidate presidential elections in 2005 and the formation of the independent High Elections Commission (HEC) in 2007. Other reforms included the amendments to 34 articles in the constitution opening the door for further changes in the electoral system.
June 4, 2008
This year has already been an exciting one with the launch of Version 2 in New York, but it is also pleasing to see that the Project is still accrediting high-quality facilitators. And even more pleasing is the fact that we have been able to add 3 more Level 1 Facilitators to our ranks.
June 3, 2008
Running training in a shopping mall proved to be a good decision. The accommodation venue in Gaborone was filled to capacity and the option was to run the course in a marquee tent. Having been in a similar situation before, we opted for the mall. This was to be the first time a BRIDGE course was to be run in Botswana.
May 21, 2008
As you are aware, V2 (English) is now completed and available on the web. This includes all 23 modules and the Train the Facilitator program handbooks.The BRIDGE Project Office thanks the hundreds of people who contributed to this massive endeavour in making the curriculum truly international and inclusive of all segments of society. If you have any feedback about the curriculum, we would love to hear from you.
May 16, 2008
The new Foundation Module, Strategic and Financial Planning was conducted for the first time in Dili East Timor for 27 staff of the Secretariado Técnico De Administração Eleitoral (STAE) and funded through AusAID's East Timor Electoral Capacity Development Project.
April 23, 2008
The Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan following conducting the different BRIDGE modules in Afghanistan since 2006, from 2 Feb-17 Apr 2008 conducted the BRIDGE module 4(Boundary Delimitation) & 6 (Contestant) jointly in 3 different sessions with financial support of AusAID through TAF (The Asia Foundation) organization in Afghanistan). In total 77 participants were attended.
April 17, 2008
Together with its partners, International IDEA launched Version 2 of the Building Resources in Democracy and Governance (BRIDGE) Project on 26 March 2008. Aimed at supporting the professional development of Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs), BRIDGE is to date the most comprehensive curriculum on electoral processes.
April 10, 2008
The BRIDGE project partners launched Version Two of the Building Resources in Democracy and Governance (BRIDGE) Project in New York on March 26, 2008. The event drew dozens of international electoral experts and members of the diplomatic, non-profit and United Nations communities at International IDEA' headquarters.
March 25, 2008
The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC), with support from UNDP Malawi, are training the fourth group of secretariat staff at Hippo View Lodge in Liwonde, Malawi from 18th to 22nd February 2008.
March 24, 2008
After much hard work the upgrade of the BRIDGE Electoral Administrators Course curriculum has finally been completed, with the official launch of BRIDGE Version 2 to be held at International IDEA's office in New York on 26 March 2008, in the presence of representatives of the BRIDGE partner organisations and IDEA Member States.
February 17, 2008
Zomba, 11th February 2008 – The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC), with support from UNDP Malawi, are training the third group of secretariat staff at Hotel Masongola in Zomba, Malawi from 11th to 15th February 2008.
January 31, 2008
ABRIDGE training course was conducted from 17 to 22 November 2007 in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Twenty-six participants from Independent Election Commission HQ and field staff attended this training course.
January 29, 2008
The International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) in conjunction with the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), conducted a BRIDGE training session with 6 newly appointed Election Commissioners.
January 28, 2008
The Zimbabwe Elections Support Network (ZESN) hosted a BRIDGE course for the different organisations in its network in mid-January 2008. 36 participants from all over Zimbabwe joined together in Nyanga, in the eastern highlands of the country, to attend training in Public Outreach and Electoral Observation from 14 to 18 January. The setting could easily have been confused with Scotland rather than Zimbabwe, with trout fishing and a golf course set amongst forests and rolling mountains and a constant chill and misty days.
January 28, 2008
Since 2005, Egypt has witnessed many reforms in the field of elections. Two of the most significant reforms were the first multi-candidate presidential elections in 2005 and the formation of the independent High Elections Commission (HEC) in 2007. Other reforms included the amendments to 34 articles in the constitution opening the door for further changes in the electoral system.
December 16, 2007
Since 2005, Egypt has witnessed many reforms in the field of elections. Two of the most significant reforms were the first multi-candidate presidential elections in 2005 and the formation of the independent High Elections Commission (HEC) in 2007. Other reforms included the amendments to 34 articles in the constitution opening the door for further changes in the electoral system.
November 25, 2007
In the middle of the November spring rains in South Africa participants from southern and east African countries joined the first Implementation Workshop for BRIDGE to be held on the African continent. The 3-day Implementation Workshop is based on the BRIDGE Implementation Manual and aims to guide individuals and organisations responsible for designing and setting up training courses that use material taken from the BRIDGE Project curriculum.
November 13, 2007
From June to November in 2007, the IEC (Independent Election Commission) with financial support of TAF (The Asia Foundation ) conducted the Electoral Systems and Public Outreach BRIDGE modules.
October 9, 2007
BRIDGE came to Polynesia in September, following successful courses in Micronesia and Melanesia, when the Cook Islands hosted the Voter Information module. Participants from Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga and Niue joined their Cook Islands hosts at the Edgewater Resort for the four-day course.
June 27, 2007
International IDEA, IFES, and The National Elections Commission (NEC) of Liberia collaborated to bring BRIDGE training (Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections) to the Commission's staff from June 11 to 22, 2007. The training marks the first time that BRIDGE has been conducted in post-conflict Liberia, and exemplifies strong collaboration in the recently - expanded BRIDGE partnership.
June 5, 2007
The BRIDGE Introduction module was conducted in Guam between May 21 to May 25, for representatives of the Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) across Micronesia.
May 27, 2007
The BRIDGE course has been implemented in Afghanistan since 2005. The IEC (Independent Election Commission) of Afghanistan and other stakeholders (like FEFA) found the BRIDGE project to be the best and most productive curriculum to build up the election knowledge for the individuals that are actually involved with the running of elections.
May 25, 2007
Version 2 is on track to be substantially completed by the end of June 2007. Editing is continuing on a number of modules and we are about to send the first of the modules (the Introduction module) to the partners as part of the partner approval process.
May 25, 2007
A BRIDGE Train the Facilitators (TtF) was conducted betweem May 7 to May 18, 2007 in Pretoria.
May 13, 2007
The PIANZEA Network conducted their fifth Workshop in the very beautiful Iririki Island Resort in Port Vila Vanuatu. The PIANZEA Workshop is conducted biennially and is a meeting of electoral commissioners (or their representatives) from each of the 20 member electoral management bodies (EMBs) of the Pacific region plus associate members the University of the South. The focus of the Workshop was on boundary delimitation. The Workshop was facilitated by the AEC's Ross Attrill and Alistair Legge and administrative support was provided by Erik Scholte.
April 12, 2007
The Electoral Systems module of BRIDGE will be conducted for representatives attending the fifth PIANZEA (Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand Electoral Administrators Network) meeting in Port Vila, Vanuatu. This course is funded under AusAID's Pacific Governance Support Program and will commence on April 19 at the close of the PIANZEA meeting.
April 7, 2007
On March 29th at the GEO event held in Washington DC , IFES and UNDP signed up to be new partners to the BRIDGE Project and join founding partners the Australian Electoral Commission, International IDEA and the UN Electoral Assistance Division.
March 27, 2007
The parliamentary elections to be held in Armenia on 12 May 2007 will be an important indicator of democratic progress. Between 19 February and 2 March 2007, International IDEA and the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) in Armenia trained 29 persons (including 27 from Armenia and 2 from abroad) to become professional and ethical trainers in (BRIDGE Train the Facilitator Course) electoral administration in Yerevan, Armenia.
March 27, 2007
Voter registration poses some very significant challenges for the Melanesian electoral management bodies (EMBs) of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. These Melanesian EMBs are challenged by a widely dispersed population spread across some of the worlds most remote and rugged terrain.
March 27, 2007
The department of Political science at the Slavonic University in Yerevan intends to establish a new course of elections, based on BRIDGE-Armenia material and methodology and has initiated a presentation of BRIDGE-Armenia Manual in the University in March 2007. In order to have a better understanding of BRIDGE-Armenia materials, methodology and approach, one of the PhD students of the University attended selected sessions of BRIDGE Armenia TtF as an observer.
March 13, 2007
Afghanistan continues to use BRIDGE to train electoral staff. The third and fourth sessions of the Election Preparation module was conducted during January and February in Kabul.
March 13, 2007
The Implementation workshop was held in Scandinavian House (New York) on Monday 5th and Tuesday 6th March 2007, with 22 participants and 2 facilitators. The workshop was facilitated by Yvonne Goudie (BRIDGE Project Office) and Deryck Fritz (UNEAD).
February 7, 2007
In January 2007, International IDEA and the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia published the Armenia BRIDGE Manual, focused specifically on Armenia's election administration experiences and needs.
February 7, 2007
In summary, the most complete modules are: Introduction module (Introduction to Electoral Administration) Boundary Delimitation Pre-election Activities Media and Elections Electoral Systems Electoral Observation Access to Electoral Processes