In December 1999, a group of prominent electoral experts from around the world met in Canberra, Australia to discuss the potential structure and content of a short capacity building program for electoral administrators. They were asked to reflect on everything which, with the benefit of hindsight, they wished they had known when starting work on their first election. The knowledge they identified formed the basis for what has become the BRIDGE curriculum. BRIDGE is a modular professional development program with a particular focus on electoral processes. It represents a unique initiative where five leading organizations in the democracy and governance field have jointly committed to developing, implementing and maintaining the most comprehensive curriculum and workshop package available, designed to be used as a tool within a broader capacity development framework. The five partners are the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), International Foundation of Electoral Systems (IFES), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division (UNEAD)

Modules

FOUNDATION Introduction to Electoral Administration Stragetic Planning for Electoral Management Institutional Strengthening and Professional Development Introduction to Electoral Administration Stragetic Planning for Electoral Management Institutional Strengthening and Professional Development ARCHITECTURE Legal Framework and Reform Boundry Delimitation Electoral System Electoral Dispute and Resolution Legal Framework and Reform Boundry Delimitation Electoral System Electoral Dispute and Resolution ADMINISTRATION Operational Planning Voter Registration Election Day and Results Management Budgeting and Financing of Elections Operational Planning Voter Registration Election Day and Results Management Budgeting and Financing of Elections PARTICIPATION Parties and Candidates Disability Rights and Elections Gender Equality and Elections Media and Elections Voter and Civic Education Electoral Contestants Disability Rights and Elections Gender Equality and Elections Media and Elections Voter and Civic Education

Objectives

• to promote internationally accepted principles of democracy and good electoral practice
• enhance the skills and confidence of stakeholders in the electoral process
• increase the awareness of tools and resources available for the building and maintaining of a sustainable electoral culture
• develop a support network for stakeholders in electoral processes and encourage a culture of sharing information and experiences

Methodology

• acknowledges the importance of building local electoral administrative capacity in countries
• acknowledges and values diversity of experiences and operational environments
• encourages dialogue, sharing of knowledge and participation to identify excellence in electoral administration
• is supportive, rather than prescriptive, in building individual participants’ skills and expertise
• encourages participants to be responsible for their own learning
• encourages local ownership of the curriculum so that client groups eventually have the ability to conduct BRIDGE for themselves.

Curriculum

The BRIDGE curriculum is comprehensive, representing the most ambitious attempt ever undertaken to cover the spectrum of electoral processes and their effective administration. Written by a large international team of experienced democracy professionals associated with the partner organizations, the curriculum includes major sections on stakeholders in the electoral process, coverage of cross cutting issues, and in-depth exploration of complex issues relating to credibility, ethics and institutional culture.

The curriculum concentrates on the principles underlying all properly run elections, while drawing examples of different practical approaches from many countries.

It does not seek to prescribe any one model for implementing those principles, but rather encourages participants to learn from the diverse examples presented. In some of the modules the aim is to develop skills in areas that are important in an electoral administrator’s day-to-day work, with an emphasis on understanding the relationships between tasks in order to meet tight deadlines effectively. In other modules the main focus is exploring structural, ethical or social issues. ``
Each module includes examples of activities, literature, case studies, election materials, websites, and audio-visual aids as workshop resources. It provides access to and draws from resources such as the ACE and Partner organization handbooks and manuals. It also offers access to regional and global electoral networks.