Yemen continues BRIDGE

The (SCER) is developing a tradition of using BRIDGE as a professional development tool for its Staff. The supreme commission first conducted a combination of BRIDGE and BEAT in 2005 and 2006 with support from UNDP and IFES. The process continued with a workshop in 2008, led by Sami Al-Othary, an accredited facilitator from the SCER and the director of the training unit.

In early 2009, political deadlock thrust Yemen into a period of electoral uncertainty. The parliament postponed elections by 2 years to consider electoral reform. In this period of uncertainty the SCER and IFES developed this series of bridge programs targeted for the possibilities of electoral reform. As any new system would require a substantial program of voter information, the agenda combined content from the electoral systems module and the voter information module.

Building on previous workshops, the facilitation team designed an advanced agenda including details of electoral formulas, district magnitude, and system comparisons. A capstone activity compared the implications of the different systems on the electoral administration structures in Yemen.

The facilitation team was led by Wael Al-Farag, Skye Al-Christensen, Sami Al-Othary, and Rabab Al-Medhwahi. Ms Al-Medhwahi completed her accreditation with 48 hours of facilitation.

Skye Christensen is an Electoral Knowledge Facilitator for the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.