From 17–21 May, commissioners and senior staff of the National Independent Electoral Commission of Madagascar (CENI) will meet up in Antananarivo for a five-day BRIDGE workshop on strategic planning and stakeholder relations.
Following five years of political crisis that emerged from the coup d’état in 2009, Madagascar organized national elections in 2013 and local elections in July 2015. These elections were managed by the Transitional National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI-T) of Madagascar. In October last year, however, the new National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) was inaugurated. The Commission has a few members from the CENI-T but comprises mostly commissioners that occupy the mandate for the first time.
The workshop will gather commissioners and senior managers from the CENI headquarters and district offices to learn and exchange information on a broad number of workshop topics. Among others, the participants will discuss international and regional obligations and commitments linked to the organization of credible elections and how such obligations and commitments influence electoral management and the work of the CENI in Madagascar. They will also look closely into strategic planning, communications and relations with key stakeholders, such as political parties and media. Finally, the electoral cycle approach will feature strongly in the training and serve as a tool to debate the various building blocks that constitute electoral processes.
The workshop is organized by International IDEA in collaboration with the African Union (AU) Department of Political Affairs in the context of the AU-IDEA Joint Activity Plan (JAP) and financed by the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
About 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 organizations working in the elections field, namely International IDEA, UNDP, the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division, IFES and the Australian Electoral Commission.
