BRIDGE TtF for NEC Staff in Rubavu

Since the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Rwanda has undertaken various governance reforms aimed at reinforcing good governance and electoral democracy. Credible, peaceful and transparent elections are the foundation of democratic governance and sustainable development. It is for this reason that the National Electoral Commission (NEC) of Rwanda has been building Election management capacities of its staff through BRIDGE.

The Rwandan National Electoral Commission (NEC) organized and held successful periodic elections that has been widely hailed for being well organized with high voter turn-out and largely peacefully. Professional election management, at all levels, is the foundation for credible electoral processes and systems. The National Electoral commission leadership has demonstrated commitment to continuously improve its own operations and procedures in line with the desire to achieve its mission and goals of preparing and conducting free and fair elections.

It is against this background that a Train the Facilitator (TtF ) course was conducted from 1-12 December 2014 in Rubavu , Rwanda.

The main objectives of the workshop was to strengthen the capacity building and experience of the National Electoral Commission staff, and strengthen in particular the capacities in order to conduct more credible, transparent and effective democratic elections.

The Lead Facilitator was Rindai Chipfunde Vava and the co-facilitators were from   NEC staff Glorioise Musekeweya and Jean Baptiste Munezero. The workshop was opened by the Executive Secretary of NEC Charles Munyaneza. He encouraged the participants to take the course seriously and urged them to be active participants and show 100% commitment.

The participants were from NEC staff, working at NEC Head – quarters, Provincial and District Co-ordinators. Participants appreciated the TtF BRIDGE course and below are some of the words they used to describe their experiences:

• The course was an eye opener and informative
• It gave thought provoking lessons that I would use in my daily duties
• Keep it up-this is useful and relevant training
• I applaud the facilitators for the level of preparedness, the presentations and the quality of the materials
• Practical application through the 1^st and 2^nd presentations makes it easy for me to apply it to my work
• The mix of theory and practice was stimulating and motivating.