Timor Leste Hosts Regional BRIDGE Workshop on Financing Elections
Dili, Timor-Leste - The Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE), the National Elections Commission (CNE), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) are jointly organizing a Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) workshop on financing of elections on 26-28 August in Dili, Timor-Leste. The workshop is being generously supported by Japan and the Republic of South Korea.
The workshop coincides with Timor-Leste celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Popular Consultation in which the Timorese people exercised their right to self-determination and voted overwhelmingly for independence.
BRIDGE, a modular professional development program focused on elections, is designed to improve skills, knowledge and confidence through active-learning methodology on general principles of sound financial planning. BRIDGE, an initiative of five leading organisations – the Australian Electoral Commission, International IDEA, IFES, the UN Electoral Assistance Division and UNDP – has been conducted in more than 100 countries, for over 15,000 participants.
This three-day workshop intends to generate feedback on the financing of elections module before it is officially launched in late 2019.
Elections are a cornerstone of democratic governance and political stability. Democratic elections are the largest and most complex logistical undertaking a country faces in peacetime. Regardless of where they are, election management bodies face numerous challenges in organizing elections. They rely on committed, ethical and professional officials capable of delivering wide-range of tasks related to organizing elections.
Some 30 election professionals and electoral reform advocates from Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Malawi will participate at this BRIDGE workshop. Also participating will be officials from STAE and CNE, IFES Indonesia, the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), the Indonesian General Election Commission, the Union Election Commission of Myanmar, the Election Commission Malaysia, the Philippines’ Commission on Elections and the Election Commission of Thailand. Civil society is also well-presented with representatives from the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), NETGRIT, the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), Rainmaker Myanmar, and the Open Forum for Democracy Foundation.
Please contact Erik Asplund, e.asplund@idea.int if you have any questions about the Financing of Elections module.
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