A TtF for EMBs in East & Southern Africa

It was organised by International IDEA in Pretoria, South Africa for participants from 9 EMBs in East and Southern Africa: Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zanzibar.

This TtF was the second TtF held in the 2-year project which is funded by the Australian government through AusAID. The project is managed by Margot Gould from IDEA’s Africa & Middle East Programme.

The course was opened by speeches from Mr Phillip Green, Australian High Commissioner to South Africa, Dr Brigalia Bam, Chair of the South African Electoral Commission and board member of International IDEA and Dr Abdalla Hamdok, Regional Director of the African and Middle East Programme International IDEA.

The TtF was facilitated by Rushdi Nackerdien (Rushdi and Associated) Margot Gould (International IDEA) and co-facilitated by Ms Koki Muli (Kenya) and Jocelyn Mubita (Zambia) who were both awarded certificates of full accreditation.

The TtF introduced a number of changes to the curriculum which proved to be a great success. There were three main changes:

Updating of the TtF Curriculum: A restructuring and updating of the curriculum was done, in particular for the first two days which provide the basis of the BRIDGE methodology for the paired presentations and the curriculum writing activities. Participants responded well to the new structure and activities.

Participants Work Book: The Work Book gathered into one booklet the various handouts and forms that had previously been given out during the course. It also introduced a number of new handouts and documents. Participants found it to be a useful and practical tool.

BRIDGE Implementation: The final two days of the course focused on BRIDGE implementation and was designed to get participants to think about future plans for using BRIDGE in their home organisations. The 2-days provided an opportunity to cover the major steps needed in planning for BRIDGE projects. This was highly appreciated by participants.