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IFES, NAPE Partners Launch Anti-Violence Project For Elections

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ABUJA, Nigeria – JANUARY 19, 2007 – More than 400 Nigerians will monitor election-related violence and work to prevent it in the lead up to the country’s legislative and presidential vote in April. The monitors are receiving training from IFES, an international nonpartisan democracy building organization, and the Nigerian Alliance for Peaceful Elections (NAPE), an alliance of six Nigerian nongovernmental organizations.

 The Jan. 11-Feb. 5 training uses the Election Violence Education and Resolution, or EVER, methodology, which IFES has used to successfully document and mitigate violence in countries as varied as Ghana, Kyrgyzstan and Guyana. The project’s goal is to collect objective information on actual incidents of election-related violence and then analyze that data to produce recommendations on how to prevent such incidents in the future.

 Monitors will collect information in Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones from February until about a month after Election Day. Monitors will attend campaign rallies and other political events, monitor media reports and conduct interviews with sources such as election commission officials, community leaders, local government officials and law enforcement agencies.

 Once the data is verified and analyzed, it will be shared regularly with community leaders, members of the public and the media. In addition, IFES and NAPE will organize workshops with concerned parties to discuss the project’s findings and develop realistic solutions to the problem of electoral violence in Nigeria. The EVER project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development.

 About IFES: IFES is an international nonprofit organization that supports the building of democratic societies. IFES has worked in Nigeria since 1998 to educate voters, help election officials manage more efficient and credible polls and train citizens to monitor elections. www.ifes.org

 About NAPE (EVER): The Nigeria Alliance for Peaceful Elections includes six civil society organizations that will coordinate the EVER project in their respective geopolitical zones:

·         South-East: the Catholic Institute For Development Justice & Peace (CIDJAP)

·         South-South: the Centre for Environment Human Rights & Development (CEHRD)

·         South-West: the Women Advocates Research & Documentation Centre (WARDC)

·         North-West: the Strategic Empowerment & Mediation Agency (SEMA)

·         North-East: the Forward in Action for Education Poverty & Malnutrition (FAcE-PaM)

·         North-Central: the International Centre for Gender and Social Research (Inter-Gender)