BRIDGE is back in Burkina Faso

Participants:

Thirty-two participants attended this workshop. Twenty-eight representing different Burkinabe political parties and two representatives from the (CNE) of Guinea-Bissau and two representatives from the (CENA) of Benin. Five of the participants were women.

Facilitators:

The facilitation team was a mix of international and national facilitators;

• Ossama Kamel from Egypt
• Haoua Bissiri from Burkina Faso
• Boureima Savadogo from the CENI of Burkina Faso

Ms. Bissiri and Mr. Savadogo provided the Burkinabe perspective, context and legislations, while Mr. Kamel provided comparative examples and case studies from other countries.

Materials: Click here to see the Workshop Agenda

The following modules were partially covered during the ten days:

• Electoral systems
• Voter registration
• Election administration
• Contestants
• Voter information
• Polling and counting

The material used was mainly from the BRIDGE version 1 French translation, since version 2 hasn’t been entirely translated to French yet.

The participants’ folders were compiled by the CENI and included the French translation of the above-mentioned modules. In addition to that, participants were provided with the Burkinabe Constitution, election law and NDI’s guide to Political Parties’ agents. The CENI brought as well lots of real election material to be used in the training: ballot papers, indelible ink, voter registration forms, ballot boxes and election booth. 

Evaluation and Recommendations:
The daily and final evaluation sheets showed a high degree of satisfaction among most of the participants.
At the closing session of the workshop, the participants presented the following recommendation to the CENI and UNDP;

• Considering the place and role of EMBs and political parties in the democratization process in our countries (Benin, Burkina Faso and Guinea-Bissau).
• Considering the importance of training and the need to develop the capacities of the electoral stakeholders in the field of election administration.
• We, the participants of the BRIDGE training on election administration:
  Recommend the multiplication of similar trainings for political stakeholders in Africa in general and in Burkina Faso specially.