Twenty-nine UN political and development officials came together under the umbrella of BRIDGE for two days in August to explore the details and impacts of electoral systems. The showcase workshop was a special effort to bring the award-winning BRIDGE curriculum to those working for the UN at a global level. With the technical objective of better comparative understanding of Electoral Systems, the workshop also aimed to build networks across different components of the UN’s electoral assistance system and to familiarize officials with the BRIDGE program.

The workshop included two highly rated sessions on the gender implications of electoral systems let by UNDP Gender Advisor Julie Ballington.

This is the second showcase workshop in UN Headquarters made possible through a collaboration between the UN United Nations Electoral Assistance Division of the Department of Political Affairs (EAD/DPA) and UNDP’s Democratic Governance Group of the Bureau for Development Policy (DGG/BDP).

The course met all objectives, and the participants evaluated the course extremely positively. They also unanimously requested further workshops of a similar nature in the future. This response is a clear mandate for the institutions to continue this collaboration.

The course was facilitated by Armando Martinez Valdes of the Electoral Assistance Division/DPA, Aleida Ferreyra of UNDP, and consultants Skye Christensen and Ruth Meyer. Julie Ballington served as a Gender Advisor throughout the preparations and implementation. The team congratulates Ruth Meyer on her accreditation as a BRIDGE workshop facilitator.