Country: Austria
Registration deadline: 20 Jan 2020
Starting date: 17 Mar 2020
Ending date: 25 Mar 2020
This IPT Specialisation Course is designed to support the development and consolidation of pluralistic, democratic societies through preparing participants for observation and assistance tasks in electoral missions. Topics to be dealt with include different electoral systems, different institutional approaches to election observation, voting and new technologies, elections and election observation in different societies, tasks of Short-Term Observers (STOs), Long-Term Observers (LTOs) and Election Supervisors
While STO- assignments are usually very short, the responsibility and scope of LTOs is far more complex and requires much greater understanding of the various steps and processes in the organisation and running of elections. A long-term observer (LTO) is expected to gain first-hand knowledge about the effectiveness and impartiality of the pre-election administration; the implementation of the election law and regulations; the nature of the campaign; and the political environment prior to voting day as well as the relevant preparations for the arrival and deployment of STOs.
This course employs a mixture of theory and practice to equip participants with state-of-the-art methodologies derived from on-the-ground experience, also taking into account the working environment of the participants. The participants will be involved in lectures, inter-active discussions, and simulations. Election observation methodologies and approaches of relevant multilateral organisations will be presented. Complex election day observation exercises will be carried out and analysed. As such, this training has been carefully designed using an activity - based approach to maximize the learning experience.
Participants will:
- Understand the concept of elections as part of the democratic process
- Become familiar with concepts and practises of democracy
- Understand the relationship between elections and human rights and the democratic standards for elections
- Analyse the complete election cycle in a complex simulation exercise
Trainers:
Anne Grandvoinnet Serafini (France) started to be involved in elections in 1997 in Bosnia Herzegovina. Since then she participated in more than 20 election observation missions with both, the EU and OSCE/ODHIR as STO, LTO and Core Team member in Asian, American, European and CIS countries. She worked for three years for the CNCCFP (Commission Nationale des Comptes de Campagne et Financement Politique), the French National Commission in charge of controlling candidates’ electoral expenses. She has been teaching in the framework of the Election Administration Certificate in Paris I, Pantheon Sorbonne for 10 years. She has been involved in this specific course since 2011. Anne successfully completed the BRIDGE Training of Facilitators and participated in more than 20 trainings with BRIDGE, EU, IDEA, OSF and Council of Europe for members of Electoral Management Bodies as well as national and international observers in English, French and Spanish. She is particularly interested in women’s participation in the electoral process and represented the Venice Commission during various conferences on this issue. Anne holds a degree in Economics and in Japanese
Michael Lidauer (Austria) started to work in international peacekeeping and peace building with the OSCE Mission to Georgia in 2003. At the same time, he started to be involved in election observation with OSCE/ODIHR in the South Caucasus, followed by several EU EOMs as STO and LTO in sub-Saharan Africa and in South and Southeast Asia. He was on the EU EOM Core Team in Sudan in 2010 and with ANFREL in Thailand in 2011. Michael has been following the political transition in Myanmar, both academically and as a consultant for international organisations, and was the IFES Senior Elections & Conflict Advisor between 2014 and 2016. More recently, he also works in Europe with OSCE/ODIHR. Together with colleagues, he has founded the Austrian citizen observer and electoral reform advocacy group wahlbeobachtung.org and has launched the initiative Election-Watch.EU to observe the 2019 European elections. Michael was the IPT Coordinator at the ASPR between 2007 and 2009 and enjoys returning to facilitate the Specialisation Course on Election Observation and Assistance. He holds a degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology with specialisation on Southeast Asia from the University of Vienna.
How to register:
Please apply via: https://www.tfaforms.com/4773544