The European Partnership for Democracy is delighted to welcome the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES) to our well-established Community of Practice.
All the partners are geared at delivering multidisciplinary and comprehensive democratic assistance packages, ECES will contribute greatly to achieving EPD’s objectives.
“I am thrilled to be welcoming ECES in the EPD Community in Practice,” said Mr Rougy, EPD’s Executive Director.
“We consider ECES’ expertise in electoral support and sustainable democratic development invaluable for strengthening this dimension of our work, while our partnership brings great added value to our knowledge-sharing network and our continuous strong emphasis on dialogue,” he added.
ECES is a non-profit private foundation headquartered in Brussels with project offices in Antananarivo (Madagascar), Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo), Moroni (Union of Comoros) and Conakry (Republic of Guinea). ECES is providing electoral support through advisory services, operational support meant to sharpen the capacity of all electoral stakeholders alike, ranging from CSO’s, EMB’s, political parties and media. So far, ECES and its core staff have delivered activities in more than 40 countries worldwide, mostly but not limited only to Africa and the Middle East.
“ECES joining the Community of Practice came as a natural step in consolidating our cordial and rewarding collaborations which date back to 2012 in Libya, where we worked together with EPD, Club de Madrid and NIMD to deliver election materials and to support the reconciliation and dialogue in the post-revolution context,” Mr Fabio Bargiacchi, ECES’ Executive Director noted.
Mr Bargiacchi highlighted ECES’s ambition to strive towards excellence and to be in the forefront of its field and stressed that the EPD’s Community of Practice provides an intelligently composed and innovative forum with a clearly defined goal.
ECES’s work also includes strategic, operational and financial planning, leadership development along with research and policy recommendations. The Centre’s commitment to capacity-enhancing activities and sharing of best practices embraces the spirit of the EPD’s Community of Practice.
ECES joins Club de Madrid, NIMD, FRIDE, DEMO Finland, EESC, the Portuguese Catholic University and ‘People in Need’ in the Community of Practice.
With ECES’ partnership, the Community of Practice now boasts eight partners, and strengthens its capacity to deliver support throughout all stages of the electoral cycle. This will complement its existing operations in other areas of democratic support such as civic education and constitution making.
“This is the continuation of a fruitful partnership, one that will not only enrich the Community’s knowledge pool but one that will also provide a new perspective in our multidisciplinary and multidimensional democracy support,” Mr Rougy concluded.
For more information on ECES’ work, click here.
