Long term capacity development in the post election period, investment in EMB staff training and development is critical for improving overall EMB effectiveness. These are some tools and opportunities for training:

Electoral Cycle
The electoral cycle approach has proved to be a formidable learning tool for electoral officials. Effective electoral assistance requires adequate transfer of know-how, through long-term capacity building that enables electoral administrators to become more professional and to better understand, plan for and implement their core tasks.

The electoral cycle approach is a key instrument to facilitate understanding of the inter-dependence of different electoral activities, helping EMB officials and donors to plan and allocate resources for specific activities in a more timely fashion than in the past. In particular, it places an important emphasis on the post-electoral period as a significant moment of institutional growth as opposed to a vacuum between elections.Read more about the electoral cycle and its approach here.

BRIDGE professional development course
The most comprehensive professional development course available for electoral administrators is the Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) course, jointly developed by International IDEA, the UN Electoral Assistance Division, and the Australian Electoral Commission. BRIDGE courses are presented by accredited BRIDGE facilitators. The curriculum is made up of stand-alone modules, so any course can be tailored to any EMB’s specific professional development needs. All BRIDGE modules are available in English, with some or most of the modules also available in Arabic, French, Portuguese, and Russian. Read more about BRIDGE here.

There is a also a strong case for EMB staff gaining graduate or postgraduate qualifications in electoral management and governance. Although there are a number of universities around the world that offer courses on electoral management and governance, there is still no B.A. or M.A. to be attained in this field.

Operational EMB training
EMB staff requirements are cyclical, with very high peaks in the beginning of an election period and EMBs typically need to provide operational training quickly for large numbers of electoral event staff. Several training methods can be applied. Mobile team training requires a relatively long training timetable, and simultaneous training a relatively large number of trainers. Cascade training is commonly used, although it requires strict timing and quality controls to ensure that accurate and complete information reaches the lower levels of the cascade in a timely manner.

Operational training, especially for temporary staff, has been found to be most effective if it concentrates on specific technical processes, and includes simulations, backed by good-quality materials such as manuals and checklists, instructions, appropriate audiovisual aids, and rigorous training evaluation.

Read more about training methodologies in the Voting Operations topic area of the ACE Encyclopaedia.

eLearning
The European Commission (EC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) are pleased to announce the arrival of the pioneer eLearning Course on Effective Electoral Assistance. The Course has been developed within the Train4Dev initiative and in collaboration with International Organization for Migration (IOM), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Organization for American States (OAS) and the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affiars.

The overarching objective of the eLearning Course on Effective Electoral Assistance is to make the electoral assistance community to deliver more effective assistance in line with the main principles informing the Paris Declaration (2005) and the Accra Agenda for Action (2008) regards ownership, alignment, harmonization, results and accountability. Development of the capacities of electoral assistance providers (multilateral and bilateral agencies and international organizations) as well those receiving assistance (national electoral management bodies and other electoral stakeholders) is vital in improving assistance effectiveness.

The eLearning Course has been developed on the basis of the face-to-face Joint EC-UNDP-IDEA Joint Training on Effective Electoral Assistance.

The partners are currently preparing further eLearning Courses on Electoral Procurement and the Use of ICTs in Electoral Processes, Elections and Conflict Prevention and the Application of the FAFA in Electoral Assistance Programming.

To access the EC-UNDP-IDEA eLearning course please visit the eLearning portal.

Effective electoral assistance training courses
In 2005/06 a five day face-to-face joint training on effective electoral assistance was developed by the EC, UNDP and International IDEA. The overall objective of the training, which is intended for assistance providers (multilateral and bilateral), assistance recipients (electoral management bodies and other stakeholders at national level), and assistance partners (national and international civil society organizations), has been to deliver more effective electoral assistance by enhancing capacity to provide such assistance using the more sustainable electoral cycle approach and to encourage electoral assistance providers to share experiences and act in common cause wherever possible.

The participants learn about policies and strategies and familiarized themselves with issues relating to participation and the use of appropriate election technology. They focused on activities that are commonly implemented in support of the electoral cycle, such as legal framework and electoral management design, strategic and operational planning, civic/voter education and media, voter registration and assistance to political parties.

The training is held two-three times a year. For the next opportunity to attend the EC-UNDP-IDEA training on Effective Electoral Assistance, please visit the “Partnership for Electoral Assistance” page.