IDEA organises a BRIDGE Implementation Workshop in Pretoria South Africa in March 2010

International IDEA as part of its ongoing partnership with the Africa Union organised a 5-day BRIDGE Implementation Workshop in Pretoria, South Africa from 15-19 March 2010.

The project is funded by a generous grant from the Australian Government through AusAID. AusAID is a strong supporter of BRIDGE in Africa as well as in other parts of the world.

There were twenty-two participants from 11 countries attended the workshop. Eight were women. The countries represented were:

1. Austria
2. France/Algeria
3. Ghana
4. Lesotho
5. Malawi
6. Mauritius
7. Seychelles
8. South Africa
9. Swaziland
10. Zambia
11. Zimbabwe

All participants had prior knowledge and experience of BRIDGE and almost all were semi-accredited BRIDGE facilitators.

Four BRIDGE facilitators participated in the preparation and delivery of this course:

1. Margot Gould (International IDEA – Australia)
2. Alexandra Hovelacque         (Consultant – France)
3. Sibongile Zimemo (consultant, South Africa)
4. Rushdi Nackerdien         (International IDEA – South Africa)

The workshop structure was extended from 3 to 5 days and the agenda followed the following framework (a full workshop agenda is attached to this report as Annex 1):

• DAY 1 – Introduction to BRIDGE: its philosophy, content, structure and methodology. How and when to use it in the Electoral cycle.
• DAY 2 – Framework and strategy for the implementation of BRIDGE: Needs assessments, scoping, setting objectives and elements of a strategy; Developing your strategy.
• DAY 3 – Project design and management: project cycle; identification and formulation; building partnerships; Proposal writing and budgeting; evaluation indicators; advocacy.
• DAY 4 – Course implementation and management: planning, agenda design, customization and translation, facilitation, logistics and contingency arrangements; collating materials; timeline and communication plans.
• DAY 5 –  Introduction to BRIDGE website, Presentations of countries’/regions’ BRIDGE plans, final group oral and written evaluation, closing ceremony and certificates.

 The agenda of the workshop was considerably amended as previously mentioned. This was necessary for 3 main reasons: 1) to extend the course duration from 3 to 5 days; 2) to focus on practical development of proposals for the participating countries; 3) to integrate and reflect the changes of the Implementation Manual from V1 to V2. 

The course was officially opened with a speech from Amb. Mustaq Moorad        , Regional Director of Africa and the Middle East, International IDEA and from Mr. Peter Budd, Deputy High Commissioner of Australia.