Project
Engaging Civil Society in a Democratic Election Process in Sudan, Bahrain, Tunisia and Jordan
The project aimed to strengthen electoral processes by focusing on election monitoring by independent civil society organizations. The project established a regional expert group on elections monitoring, carried out training sessions and provided election monitoring services. In Tunisia, the group established – the Arab Working Group on Elections Monitoring – carried out a limited number of trainings in the four countries, and engaged in elections monitoring in Tunisia. Because of some political challenges, not all of the activities planned in Bahrain, Sudan, and Jordan, were undertaken. In general, training and monitoring focused more on the quantity than the quality of monitoring, a strategy that can be defended but may pose problems for longer terms sustainability.
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- Community activism
- Bahrain Jordan Tunisia
- January 2011
In some countries, working to promote democracy, community activists may often find themselves operating in difficult circumstances. However trying to circumvent procedures can be counter-productive. The expedient of sending trainers to one country on tourist visas when work visas were denied – placed the trainers, the trainees and the grantee at risk. When working in difficult environments, do not engage in practices that may put community activists, the grantee or other project participants at risk.
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- Community activism
- Bahrain Jordan Tunisia
- March 2011
There was no evidence that the project sought to coordinate with other donor-led initiatives in the democracy field. Such coordination would have to be initiated by the grantee. In the current context, Arab countries are enjoying a surplus of offered democracy support aid for community activism.
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- Community activism
- Bahrain Jordan Tunisia
- March 2011
The expert group on elections monitoring, trainings, and provision of elections monitoring services that was developed as part of the project should be formalized in terms of its membership, procedures and web presence.
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- Community activism
- Bahrain Jordan Tunisia
- March 2011
There does not appear to have been any attention to what newly empowered community activists would do after the end of the project. The continued progress of the expert group on elections monitoring, trainings, and provision of elections monitoring services seems to be something that was not explicitly considered in project planning. This poses a significant problem for sustainability.
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- Community activism
- Bahrain Jordan Tunisia
- March 2011
The project created tightly networked, mobile elite of regional experts on elections monitoring, trainings, and provision of elections monitoring services. This made elections expertise more accessible in the region. At the individual level, the people who received training were more likely to continue to be engaged in community activism.
