The ACE Electoral Knowledge Network places a particular emphasis on the power of training; professional advisory services and peer partnerships—especially among electoral management bodies—to increase the capacity of election administrators to deliver elections that are credible, transparent and legitimate.  With this aim comes the commitment to the professionalisation of election administration. This can be brought about through the improvement of the professional capacity and ability of election managers.

The Capacity Development Facility, the third component of the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network seeks to build on wealth of knowledge and expertise both in the materials and the networks of the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network by making ACE more responsive and interactive in order to meet the needs of election practitioners. In this component, more emphasis is placed on the sharing of comparative knowledge, practical experiences and best practices in election administration. This component promotes peer learning and peer support as key principles for building the skills of election managers.

This component has a number of elements, namely

• Long Term Capacity Development projects to offer institution building support to EMBs
• Training programmes to enhance the professional capacity of EMB staff
• The provision of capacity development tools and formal educational programmes based on the ACE texts
  

As this is a more exploratory (as well as potentially resource-intensive) initiative, the component is being initiated firstly as a pilot programme beginning in 2007 and  The pilot is being implemented in the Southern African region and will be hosted and managed by EISA, one of the ACE partner organisations. The methodology and structure that prove successful in the pilot will form the basis for a model that will be used by other ACE partners and associates in ACE’s different regional focal points around the world.

Currently the following activities and target areas have been identified.

• Development of Capacity Development Tools and Materials.

• Regional Training Centre

• BRIDGE Courses

• Staff Exchange and Staff Placement

• Strengthening of Partnerships with  Regional Electoral Organisations

Mozambique, Swaziland and Malawi have been identified as the three countries where these methodologies will be applied.