INDEX

1. Introduction
2. A short history of the Practitioners' Network
3. What does the Practitioners' Network do?
4. Who are the members?
5. Who can join the Practitioners' Network?
6. Why join the Practitioners' Network?
7. Ask a Question
8. The Consolidated Replies
9. The Working Group
10. Disclaimer

Introduction

The ACE Practitioners’ Network is (in pair with the ACE Regional Centres) the backbone of ACE. It brings together election professionals from different countries - with diverse and complementary experience and specialisation - into the first ever online global knowledge network in the field of elections.

Members of the Practitioners’ Network are experienced professionals working in the field of electoral processes, and as such they share professional responsibilities, goals and interests related to the strife for credible and transparent electoral processes. Through their interaction, they generate new knowledge, share and disseminate best practices, encourage innovations, new ideas and approaches in the form of expert advice, lessons learned and peer review in the field of elections.

The aim of the Practitioners’ Network is to constantly generate new qualified electoral knowledge and to be cutting edge and push the field of elections forward. The network also offers an opportunity for its members to obtain peer advice and support and to extend their own professional networks. The Practitioners’ Network provides visibility to members, who can find out and be offered jobs and assignments by leading electoral assistance providers such as the UNDP and the European Commission. The list of members of the network is open to the public and can be used by any organisation interested in recruiting election professionals for jobs or assignments. 

A short history of the Practitioners’ Network

In 2006 the ACE Partners, by the initiative of International IDEA and with the support of the European Commission, launched a pilot phase of the global knowledge network of electoral practitioners, the so-called ACE Practitioners' Network. Initially, the members of the pilot phase of the Practitioners’ Network were identified jointly by all the ACE Partners. This approach had a double purpose:  first, it ensured that most of the top-level electoral experts known to these organisations were invited to join; and second, while a high level of inclusion was reached, quality control could be ensured by asking the ACE Partners to vouch for the experts they were nominating. In this endeavour, regional representation and gender balance was kept in mind and actively encouraged.  This pilot phase lasted until the end of 2007.

Since the end of 2008, after the pilot phase, participation in the Practitioners’ Network was extended to new members proposed by the ACE Regional Centres, who were tasked to actively identify experts and practitioners that would share regional experiences with the network and create local ownership and a regional dimension to the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network.

During 2009 the internal web platform for the Practitioners’ Network – the ACE Workspace – was redesigned in order to produce a more user friendly and accessible working environment for the members. Some changes were introduced in late 2009 while further improvements were set to be launched during 2010.

As of today the ACE Practitioners’ Network continues to expand its reach in order to bring together even more election professionals from all around the world, thereby offering a space for networking, discussion and generation of knowledge. 

What does the Practitioners’ Network do?

Through the Practitioners' Network and through an interactive private platform called the ACE Workspace, members have the ability to engage in a voluntary and non-compulsory basis in any of the following activities:

• participate in, or initiate, online discussions on pertinent matters with other network members, providing advice, promoting collaboration and mutual support;

• interact and collaborate with fellow members of the network;

• share relevant election-related information, such as job opportunities, electoral events, or news from the field of elections;

• promote their interests and expertise through their personal profile pages, for example by uploading their CV;

• Access advice, information and news customised in accordance with their areas of interest.

• Provide answers and commentaries to pertinent questions posed by ACE users and fellow network members through the Ask a Question feature. 

• Take part in Working Groups dedicated to specific tasks launched by the ACE Partner organisations or other organisations.

Who are the members?

The members of the Practitioners’ Network are experienced practitioners working in the field of elections, with proven professional and/or academic expertise. A member of the Practitioners’ Network might be working for an electoral stakeholder (such as an electoral management body, a political party or a civil society organisation), be affiliated with an organisation working in the field of elections or an academic with electoral expertise. Notwithstanding their affiliation, each individual participates in the Practitioners’ Network in his or her personal capacity and, thus, does not represent any organisation or institution s/he may be associated with. The opinions and commentaries expressed by members of the ACE Practitioners' Network do not necessarily reflect those of the ACE Partner Organisations. 

Linked to the ACE Practitioners’ Network is the ACE Expert Group, a selected group of professionals with unique expertise in the electoral field. Members of the ACE Expert Group have extensive experience in the field of elections and they hold or have held senior positions in one or several organisations in the field of elections. They have proven expertise related to a number of electoral topics and countries and they are long-term supporters of the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network. 

Want to know more about the members of the Practitioners’ Network? Any ACE user can easily access a list of the members, and by clicking on a member a user can find information about that member’s professional background and areas of expertise. It is possible to contact the members individually, for example regarding job opportunities or professional assignments.

--> Access the list of all members of the ACE Practitioners’ Network

Who can join the Practitioners’ Network?

Members of the Practitioners’ Network are required to fulfil a number of criteria illustrated below. Apart from these requirements, the ACE Secretariat seeks to promote gender representation as well as geographic diversity when approving membership to the ACE Practitioners’ Network.

A member of the ACE Practitioners’ Network fulfils one or both of the below criteria: 

• Having several years of experience of working in a senior position for one or a number of organisations within the electoral field, such as an electoral management body, an international organisation, a non-governmental organisation, a research institute or any other organisation working with issues related to electoral processes;

• Proven expertise in at least one of the following fields: Boundary Delimitation, Civic/Voter Education, Civil Society and Elections, Direct Democracy, Elections and Technology, Elections and Security, Electoral Assistance, Electoral Dispute Resolution, Electoral Integrity, Electoral Management, Electoral Observation, Electoral Participation, Electoral Standards, Electoral systems, Electoral Training, Gender and Elections, Legal Framework, Media and Elections, Minority and Refugee Voting, Out of Country Voting, Parties and Candidates, Vote Counting, Voter Registration, Voter Turnout, Voting Operations or Youth Participation.

Members should also be able to read and write English proficiently. 

Please note that people are members in their individual capacity rather than representing the organisations they work for. In some instances, ACE offers anonymous membership to certain members, for example Electoral Commissioners. 

--> Apply to become a member of the ACE Practitioners’ Network.

Why join the Practitioners’ Network?

There are a number of reasons and advantages for qualified election professionals/practitioners to join the ACE Practitioners' Network, such as:  

• Getting together, interacting, supporting one another, breaking geographical isolation and collaborating on projects and tasks with peers

• Producing quality electoral knowledge that is then shared, disseminated and adapted to be applied to local or regional  contexts

• Pushing the boundaries of election administration forward through the provision of policy recommendations, technical advice, comparative experiences and lessons learned

• Obtaining peer advice and support from experienced electoral practitioners

• Being part of a reputable global community of electoral practitioners that gathers experienced election professionals

• Contributing to the generation of new, cutting edge electoral knowledge

• Initiating and taking part in discussions on pertinent electoral matters

• Finding job opportunities and interesting assignments posted by organisations such as the UNDP and the European Commission

• Gaining visibility through a public profile page containing biography, CV and other details

• Accessing information on upcoming events related to the field of elections

• Taking part in assignments and consultancies through the ACE Working Groups

Ask a question to the Practitioners’ Network

The ACE Practitioners’ Network constitute a great source of knowledge and experience. You can tap into this knowledge by asking questions to the network through the Ask a Question function of the Electoral Support and Advice section. ACE users can ask any question as long as it is related to the electoral field and of technical rather than political nature. 

Before asking, check out the consolidated replies in order to make sure that your question has not already been answered.

When asking a question, remember to:

• Formulate your question in a clear and concise manner, covering election-related thematic subjects;

• Avoid using inappropriate, inflammatory or offensive language, or addressing political or controversial matters, otherwise your question will not be forwarded to the network.

Please note that the ACE Network Facilitators have the discretion to reject any question that they deem to be inappropriate, objectionable or irrelevant, and to edit questions before these are submitted to the Practitioner Network. 

What happens after a question has been submitted?

• STEP 1: when a question is received, before being forwarded to the Practitioners’ Network, it is evaluated by the ACE Network Facilitators;

• STEP 2: if the question is considered to be irrelevant (for example by being poorly formulated or covering areas without relevance for the thematic areas covered by the ACE network) it is rejected. If instead it is considered to be relevant - it is then forwarded to the ACE Practitioners’ Network members who have expertise in the topics or geographical regions that the question concerns. 

• STEP 3: The network discusses the question using an internal forum called The Workspace. The ACE Network Facilitators can, if requested, forward each new contribution in the discussion directly to the person who asked the question.

• STEP 4: the commentaries individually contributed by the network's members are incorporated by the ACE Network Facilitators into a consolidated reply and made available to the user who has submitted the question and retained for future use by others facing same or similar challenges.

The Consolidated replies

Consolidated replies gather the individual contributions made by the Practitioners’ Network to questions submitted by users. A consolidated reply consists of: a summary of the individual answers put together by the ACE Facilitators; an acknowledgement to those who have contributed to answering the question; links and reference to additional resources related to the question; and the contributions that have been individually provided by the members of the Practitioners’ Network.

--> Access the consolidated replies.

The Working Groups

Working Groups are initiated by the initiative of an ACE Partner organisation, an ACE Regional Centre, a member of the ACE Practitioners’ Network or as a collaborative effort between one of the above and any organisation working within the field of elections. A Working Group is normally initiated in order to use the expertise of the Practitioners’ Network for a specific purpose, such as: 

• producing new publications or reviewing existing ones;

• developing case studies;

• drafting policy papers;

• assessing electoral legislation and procedures;

• writing articles;

• developing new elements for the ACE website;

• drafting new issues for the ACE "Focus on..." section.

The initiators of the Working Group will identify Practitioners’ Network members to participate, based on their areas of expertise and their availability. A Working Group Facilitator must also be identified and tasked with the day-to-day facilitation of the Working Group (see the section on Facilitating A Working Group below). Before launching the Working Group initiators will need to consult with the ACE Facilitators regarding the objective, output, deliverables and deadlines of the Working Group tasks. A clear workplan with well-defined tasks and responsibilities should be developed based on these consultations.

Generally, participation in Working Group tasks takes place on a voluntary basis. However, for some tasks, the initiator of the Working Group could have the discretion to provide financial remuneration to those members of the Practitioners' Network who have been selected to work on that specific task.

Initiating a Working Group

The ACE Partner Organisations encourages organisations to propose Working Groups to the ACE Facilitators. In order to do so organisations should send an email to ace.facilitators@idea.int, outlining the basic details of the proposed Working Group (such as objective, specific tasks, outcome and deadlines). 

Is your organisation interested in initiating a Working Group? Contact the ACE facilitators. 

Facilitating a Working Group

All Working Groups are run by a Working Group Facilitator who will initiate, instruct and facilitate the discussions in the Working Group. A Working Group Facilitator is not necessarily one of the ACE facilitators, but often a representative of the Partner Organisation that initiated the group and that is very well familiar with the topic that is being dealt and discussed with in the Group. 

The task of the Working Group Facilitator is to initiate, instruct and facilitate the discussions in the Working Group. This includes creating a work plan with the tasks associated with the Working Group, writing instructions and guidelines to the participants and making sure that the contributions made by the participants are consolidated. The Working Group Facilitator should keep in continuous contact with the Working Group participants and the ACE Network Facilitators throughout the process.

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed by members of the Practitioners' Network do not necessarily reflect those of the ACE Partner organizations.  The collaborative activities, debates and services provided by the ACE Network Facilitators and the members of the Practitioners' Network exclusively focus on technical and policy election-related issues.

NOTE:Given its specific technical focus, Electoral Advice is not intended to address aspects of political nature.