Rushdi Nackerdien

Senior Global Advisor, Training and Capacity Building
Center for Applied Research & Learning
General Inquiries
media@ifes.org
+1 (202) 350-6700

Rushdi Nackerdien is the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) senior global advisor for training and capacity building. With more than 25 years of experience in democracy and elections, Nackerdien is an experienced and visionary project manager who has led and pioneered complex international and national programs. He brings his collaborative approach and learning to diverse teams in multiple cultures, ensuring that programs meet and exceed their business objectives on time and within budget and that local capacity is strengthened. His work always seeks to uplift and empower stakeholders in their implementation, as he is an experienced facilitator who focuses on both the process and the outcome. His passion for work on the African continent and his global perspective have inspired important advances wherever he has worked.

From 2015 to 2021, Nackerdien served as the IFES regional director for Africa, overseeing complex program delivery in over 21 African presidential and parliamentary elections. He has worked and conducted training in a number of countries, including Armenia, Australia, Belgium, Bhutan, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Nigeria, Peru, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Sweden, Tanzania, Thailand, the United States, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

His work has focused on electoral reform, capacity development, strategic planning, project and program evaluation, targeted organizational and integrity assessments, expert advice in elections, and the development of e-learning materials. He was a founding member of the Electoral Leadership Institute and previously served as senior program officer for electoral processes at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA).

Nackerdien contributes to the development of curriculums, tools, and other resources. These include several Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) modules, Benchmarks for Assessing Elections in Southern Africa, Evaluation of United Nations Development Programme Contribution to Strengthening Electoral Systems and Processes, curriculums for the Bhutan Electoral Commission and African Union Commission, and IFES’s first and the first African elections training curriculum, the Basic Election Administration Training. He has also guided the African Union in revising its election observation approach to incorporate a more comprehensive long-term framework.

He has testified before the U.S. Congress on democracy support strategies in Africa and democracy and governance in Liberia and briefed the United Nations Security Council on electoral matters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His writing has been published by the Huffington Post, Brookings Institution, Wilson Center, and Institute for Security Studies. He has been interviewed by Voice of America and the U.S. Institute of Peace, presented at International IDEA, and regularly speaks at African Union events.

He holds a master's degree from the University of Cape Town and speaks Afrikaans and English.

You can connect with Nackerdien on LinkedIn.