By Sara Staino and Ola Pettersson - 14 July, 2008. 

In 2007, the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network increased, under the lead of International IDEA, its global geographical focus by launching the Regional Electoral Resource Centres worldwide. One year later, the ACE family has not only grown in scope, but expanded its vision and found roots in regional and local levels.

A workshop to assess the regional progress of ACE and to discuss future vision of the ACE Partners and the Regional Centres was held in Senegal 30 June to 4 July 2008. The aim of the workshop was among other things to assess the regional dimension of ACE and to discuss the way forward towards a more decentralised and regionalised ACE network. The ACE partnership recently decided to enhance the development of ACE-related activities at the regional level and to promote further the generation of electoral-related information with specific regional focus. The workshop also provided the opportunity for sharing with the Regional Centres some of the new management arrangement options for the future discussed by the Steering Board, including the creation of programme management unit with enough capacity for addressing current and future needs of ACE. Another aim was to present a new IT platform for the ACE website, including a new website design that would provide www.aceproject.org with a new look and feel. The first step towards a new IT platform has already been taken with the upgrade of the content management system of ACE from Plone 2.1 to Plone 3.0 in May, and the new website design is estimated to be in place in 2009.

The workshop also aimed at further introducing the Regional Centres to the BRIDGE project. BRIDGE (Building Resources in Democracy, Government and Elections) is a comprehensive professional development course in elections, developed by experienced electoral administrators with the aim to improve the skills, knowledge and confidence of key stakeholders in the electoral process (see www.bridge-project.org). The ACE and BRIDGE Partners* consider the two projects as natural complements to each other and the next step for the ACE Regional Centres would be to provide and/or facilitate capacity development opportunities for electoral administrators and key electoral stakeholders. Provided funding is available, customised capacity development opportunities would be offered by the ACE Regional Centres in collaboration with BRIDGE Partners. The customisation would be based on a thorough assessment of needs and challenges in the specific regions, something that to a certain extent is already part of the daily work of the Regional Centres.

The BRIDGE part of the workshop consisted of a BRIDGE Showcase. This short introduction to the BRIDGE curriculum was aimed to level the knowledge and understanding of BRIDGE methodology, application and implementation to senior managers of the organisations/institutions hosting the ACE Regional Centres. The BRIDGE showcase was facilitated by semi-accredited representatives from the Regional Centres, UNDP and International IDEA. Through this process, five Regional Centre representatives (ACE Focal Persons at regional level) received their full accreditation as BRIDGE facilitators. This newly acquired competence will provide the Regional Centres with great opportunities to add to the future development of BRIDGE in their respective regions.

The ACE/BRIDGE Workshop was successfully hosted by Gorée Institute, the ACE Regional Centre of West Africa.

Participants of ACE/BRIDGE workshop 2008.

Photo by Arpineh Galfayan.  

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* The ACE Partners are International IDEA, EISA, Elections Canada, the Federal Electoral Institute of Mexico (IFE), IFES, UNDESA, UNDP and the UN Electoral Assistance Division (EAD). The European Commission is an ex-officio member. The BRIDGE partners are International IDEA, the Australian Election Commission (AEC), UNEAD, UNDP and IFES.