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LESSON

Lesson Learned: Development of Sustainable Voter Registration Methodologies in Sub-Saharan Africa

The incorporation of the specific voter registration findings matrix into other programmes also enhanceds sustainability. For example the BRIDGE programme has a unique curriculum designed to reach all direct and indirect electoral stakeholders, including CSOs, local observers, the media, electoral monitoring groups.
Project Partner
Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA)
Project Description
In recent decades, virtually every African country has at some point considered modernizing voter registration technology. New ICT applications have been adopted in many African countries, particularly in post-conflict situations. The project was based on a sound strategy that clearly identified the institutional weaknesses in voter registration models. In selecting partner countries, geographic balance, a variety of political contexts, linguistic diversity, and different levels of technical knowledge were sought. The project’s aim was to generate knowledge and disseminate it among experts and institutional stakeholders. However, the link between knowledge, capacity, and the actual election process, which depends primarily on political will, was not explicitly established in the project design, nor was it incorporated as such in the project strategy. All project activities were successfully implemented and even delivered beyond expectations. The project management team developed a strong organizational and logistical support mechanism to guarantee smooth operation of the database and provided easy and immediate access to it. The project had a number of positive impacts, including ongoing in-depth discussions of voter registration reforms.
Evaluation Date
November 2011
Country