Successful Bridge Training Held In Jordan
Amman, Jordan – July 31, 2008 – IFES/Jordan successfully hosted a BRIDGE (Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections) training workshop with the Jordanian Ministry of Interior (MoI) from July 20-24. The workshop was the third in a series of BRIDGE training sessions in Jordan and was attended by 20 MoI staff and 2 members of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. IFES was fortunate to have several participants from both the Saudi Ministry of Municipal Affairs and the Lebanese Ministry of Interior and Municipalities in attendance.
The event marked the first BRIDGE training in Jordan with delegations from multiple countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region participated. One Lebanese participant noted, “This is our first BRIDGE training and it has been such a wonderful experience. The material presented was very comprehensive, and the sessions were very engaging. You don’t want to miss a minute of it.”
The session covered the “Introduction to Election Administration” module, which familiarizes participants with BRIDGE curriculum and core concepts in election administration. It serves as the foundation for future modules covering electoral topics at greater depth and focused on:
• International standards for elections
• Electoral systems
• Electoral management and design
• Strategic and operational planning for election management bodies
IFES brought experienced Arabic-speaking BRIDGE trainers to facilitate the event, including Ossama Kamel from IFES/Egypt and consultant Emad Yousef. Other facilitators included IFES staff members Hermann Thiel (Chief of Party, Jordan) and Zeinab Abdelkarim (Deputy Director for Middle East and North Africa, Washington DC).
As the trainings have progressed, interest from other election management bodies in the MENA region has grown, and IFES looks forward to hosting other delegations for future BRIDGE trainings. The next training in Jordan is scheduled after the month of Ramadan 2008.
BRIDGE is a joint venture of IFES, the Australian Election Commission, the U.N. Election Assistance Division, the U.N. Development Programme and International IDEA and the world’s lead training program for election administrators.
CONTACT: Ambar Zobairi | azobairi@ifes.org | +1-202-350-6755
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IFES is an international, nonprofit organization supports to building the foundation of democracy.
