As part of its mission to increase the capacity of Election Management Bodies (EMBs), IFES is releasing an updated guide to designing multi-year (typically 5-year) strategic plans, which allow EMBs to establish a clear course for improving the management of election administration and ensure that important milestones in this endeavor are being met in a timely manner. IFES is also introducing a companion workshop for EMBs and other stakeholders to maximize the plan’s benefits. The pilot course was recently implemented in Bali, Indonesia to good reviews.
A multi-year strategic plan encourages EMBs to evaluate their elections management process and determine how it needs to change to be truly efficient. Once improvements have been determined, strategic plans are written as tangible, operational roadmaps towards better elections with clear objectives and indicators of where EMBs stand at every step of the way. Strategic plans can address a plethora of issues including reforming electoral laws, restructuring the election commission, improving the voter registry, and training and budgeting. Clear strategic plans make it easier for donors and partner organizations to support EMBs. They also help build trust in the electorate as voters can follow the EMBs efforts to improve the electoral process.
Yet, despite the marked advantages of strategic plans, surprisingly few EMBs develop plans that are effective and implementable. The international donor community also rarely encourages them. This is mostly due to the widespread focus on elections as events rather than processes. Yet, seeing elections as ongoing cycles instead of as independent episodes is one of the best ways to ensure the election commission improves on past shortcomings and is sufficiently prepared to deliver valid elections.
To help EMBs design effective strategic plans, this year, IFES is introducing Strategic Planning for Effective Electoral Management. Written by Antonio Spinelli, a seasoned election expect who is currently IFES’ Country Director in Egypt, and based on the methodology put forth by Joe Baxter, one of IFES’ most experienced electoral experts, the guide is a powerful tool for strategic plan creation. The publication is composed of methodologies and case studies that help EMBs identify changes that need to be made, recognize possible blind spots in their performance assessment, and help create step by step plans for improvement. The guide also provides an international comparative perspective as it uses the experience of other EMBs facing similar challenges as examples.
Strategic Planning for Effective Electoral Management is supplemented by an accompanying 3-day course curriculum based on an interactive methodology that, like the guide, can be customised to suit the country’s context and the participants’ needs. The course was developed by IFES staff in Indonesia, IFES international consultant Paul Guerin, a team of BRIDGE-trained national facilitators (BRIDGE--Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections--is a comprehensive professional development course designed by and for election administrators to better understand the electoral process), staff from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Indonesian Election Commission.
From February 19-21, 2011, IFES and UNDP conducted the pilot course on strategic planning in Bali for 21 participants from Indonesia’s electoral commission, including all commissioners and senior staff members. The course was divided into three sessions. The first session included an overview of the country’s existing planning tools, the legal and administrative requirements for state institutions like the electoral commission, and lessons learned from post-election evaluations, surveys and observer reports.
The second session led the participants through the Strategic Planning for Effective Electoral Management’s methodology. It helped the Indonesian commissioners identify issues that need to be addressed, spot check for areas that might inadvertently be overlooked, and establish objectives for the next elections cycle. The methodology also helped the participants establish clear performance indicators.
The third session looked at the experiences other EMBs have had in strategic planning. Pakistan was used as an example as the Election Commission of Pakistan created an exceptionally useful plan.
On the last day of the program, members of Indonesia’s Electoral Commission discussed how the methodology could be incorporated into their current plans. They created a draft 6-month action plan, which would later be reviewed and elaborated on by the Election Commission’s Planning Bureau.
IFES’ Guide to Strategic Planning for Effective Electoral Management and the accompanying course can be used by EMBs all around the world to devise useful and operational strategic plans that are customized to the country’s particular needs. IFES is also creating a course on Leadership in Effective Electoral Management as a complement to the strategic planning course. As is the case with all the work IFES does, the aim is to build the capacity of the institutions with which we work so that they in turn can strength democracy in their countries.