Train the Facilitator in the Mozambican Capital Maputo

Widening Perspectives and Deepening the Cooperation between the Mozambican Electoral Administration and the Pro PALOP-TL Project to carry out BRIDGE and Pro PALOP-TL activities

“An eye-opener” was how one participant described the Train the Facilitator (TtF) held from 13 to 27 July in the Mozambican capital, Maputo.  The 20 participants included members of the National Elections Commission (NEC) and the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE). 

This workshop was one of the activities of the UNDP Project in Support of the Electoral Cycles of the Portuguese Speaking African Countries and Timor Leste (Pro PALOP-TL).  Raphael Pouye, the Civic Education & Domestic Election Observation Expert of the Pro PALOP-TL project also participated to the course.

The two-week course, which was conducted in Portuguese at the National Assembly in Maputo, comprised many of the standard BRIDGE TtF activities related to facilitation. 

In addition, because of the functions of the participants, more substantive activities were included, such as a specific presentation on electoral systems.  The level of participation was quite high throughout.  Many noted that they also intended to apply the skills acquired during the course to activities outside of the electoral arena.

The facilitators for the course were Felisberto Naife, Director-General of the STAE, Claudio Langa Head of Civic Education and Training of the STAE, and Deryck Fritz, Training Specialist of the Pro PALOP-TL.  

The Pro PALOP-TL is geographically concentrated on strengthening electoral processes and institutions in Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, and Timor Leste.  It is fully funded by the EU with 6.1 million EURO, implemented by UNDP with the office in Guinea Bissau acting as chef de file and a liaison office in Brussels.

However, given the necessity to stay closer to beneficiaries and partners, the liaison office of the Pro PALOP-TL in Brussels was recently closed and another one opened in Maputo within the premises of the STAE in consideration of the close collaboration between the STAE and the Pro PALOP-TL project on diverse activities.

In this context, it is important to underline that Mozambique is the country that coordinate the activities of cooperation funded by the EU in favour of the PALOP countries and Timor Leste within the framework of the European Development Funds.

In consideration of the above, in July 2011 the Pro PALOP-TL project has signed an agreement with the STAE for three BRIDGE accredited facilitators of the STAE (Felisberto Naïve, Claudio Langa and Cesar Pereira da Silva) to work within the BRIDGE Pro PALOP-TL activities.

This is at the core of the capacity development and south-south cooperation approach of the Pro PALOP-TL project and presently Cesar Pereira da Silva is accompanying Fabio Bargiacchi, and Deryck Fritz in Dili to deliver the ongoing Train the Facilitator (1-12 August) while Felisberto Naife and Claudio Langa will accompany Fabio Bargiacchi, Deryck Fritz and Ricardo Godinho Gomes to deliver the TtF in Angola and Sao Tome scheduled for September-October 2011.

For more information on the BRIDGE strategy of the Pro PALOP-TL project see @

http://www.bridge-project.org/news/africa/916-bridge-and-the-portuguese-speaking-countries-in-africa-and-timor-leste.

For more information on the Pro PALOP-TL, see @ www.propalop-tl.org