Governance and Development Programme Events

Training of the Provincial Coordinators, Angola

30 October - 8 November 2006

The Training of the Provincial Coordinators of the Plataforma Nacional da Sociedade Civil Angolana para as Elieções (PNASCAE) was held from 30th October-8 November 2006 at the Instituto de Formacao da Administracao Local (IFAL) in Luanda. The training was attended by the provincial coordinators and members of the executive of the PNASCAE.

The training was part of the second phase of activities of a six month on the capacity of civil society on electoral processes. Ahead of the start of voter registration on 15 November, the provincial coordinators attended a 10 day course that covered Building Resources in Democracy Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) included modules on introduction to electoral administration, public outreach, voter registration and electoral observation. The course was facilitated by the members of the PNASCAE and the Ministerial of Territorial Administration who had just recently completed the Training of Facilitators (TTF) Course held in September 2006. The facilitators were supervised Kenneth Mpyisi, Governance and Development Programme, SaferAfrica and Cesar Pereira da Silva, Secretaradio Technico de Administracao Electoral (STAE).

Technical Support To Electoral Processes In Angola

10 - 28 September 2006
In November 2005, Angola 2000 was appointed the umbrella organization for the Plataforma Nacional da Sociedade Civil Angolana para as Elieções (PNASCAE), a permanent body composed of civil society organisations involved in electoral processes.

In December 2005, the President of the PNASCAE and Director of Angola 2000 requested SaferAfrica's technical and financial assistance for capacity building of members of the PNASCAE.

Angola 2000 and SaferAfrica have a Memorandum of Understanding that covers cooperation in the field of peace, security and good governance. SaferAfrica agreed to provide financial and technical assistance to the PNASCAE and to assist in the fundraising for the additional training.

The first Building Resources in Democracy Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) training workshop for election-related civil society organisations was held March 6 – 17, 2006 at SaferAfrica offices. This was aimed at building the enabling capacity of the PNASCAE to play an effective role in the electoral process in Angola. To achieve this aim, the training focused on selected components of the BRIDGE modules. The training was conducted in both English and Portuguese. This ABRIDGE workshop was funded and coordinated by SaferAfrica based in South Africa. The training was facilitated by Kenneth Mpyisi and Theophilus Dowetin. The topics treated included the following:

Code of Conduct for an EMB

An EMB and its Stakeholders

Political System and Electoral System:

Concept of Free and fair Elections

Voter Registration: Purposes, Types/Method, Criteria, Attributes, Stages,

Participation of Women Politics: Challenges and Possible Interventions

Electoral Public Outreach: Principles, Types & Design

General Principles of Good Boundary Delimitation

Preparing for an Electoral Event: Approaches to the Count

Sub Regional Electoral Initiatives & Guidelines for SADC

Role of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Election Administration in Africa - Case study of Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Legal and Institutional Framework Election Administration in Angola

Lessons Learnt from the African Experience for CSO Participation in Election Following the training in Pretoria Kenneth Mpyisi from the Governance and Development Programme traveled on two occasions in April and July 2006 to assist in fundraising and coordination of further training activities. In August 2006 the Embassy of the Netherlands agreed to financially support further capacity building activities.