After four decades of conflict and instability, political stability emerged in Angola in 2002 with the end of the country's civil war. Legislative elections were held in 2008 for the first time since 1992. Observer reports and post-election reviews highlighted a need for greater capacity development in Logistics management.

As the first of its kind, the seminar agenda combined broad topics from the Introduction module with very practical exercises focused on logistics management. The agenda culminated in a specifically designed 'capstone' activity where participant groups were given a complex logistical exercise to solve through detailed planning.

In evaluations, participants almost universally recommended that the BRIDGE program should be continued, and frequently commented that the broad focus on electoral processes was beneficial, and that the methodology was both innovative and effective. Pre and Post-course polling indicated a 112% increase in knowledge confidence after the 3 days seminar.

This seminar marks the first implementation of BRIDGE in the Portuguese speaking worlds since the launch of Version 2. The BRIDGE partners have committed to continuing Portuguese translation and development of more facilitators in the Portuguese-speaking world. In preparations for the seminar, IFES translated many materials from the pre-election module into Portuguese, which will be available on www.bridge-project.org.

IFES has been providing support to the Angolan electoral processes since 2001. It currently operates a permanent office in Luanda under the direction of Yinka Oyinlola.

Skye Christensen facilitated the seminar, with Matthieu Valot as expert resource and Pedro Jamba, as interpreter.

Skye Christensen is an Electoral Knowledge Facilitator for IFES.