EISA has become an active member of the ACE Knowledge Network, the most reputable global election network, an online information resource covering all aspects of election administration. It features information on nearly every aspect of elections brought together under one portal, targeted at electoral practitioners, electoral management bodies, government officials, political parties, civil society and non-governmental organisations, academics, researchers and students. EISA is both the ACE partner and a Resource Centre for the SADC Region. Network members include Elections Canada, EISA, European Commission (ex-officio), Instituto Federal Electoral - Mexico, International Foundation for Electoral Services (IFES), International IDEA, United Nations Development Programme , United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and United Nations Electoral Assistance Division.
EISA continues to support the ACE Project where, as part of its mandate to provide and disseminate knowledge on Sub Saharan Africa and its electoral processes, EISA updated the country pages for The Gambia and Zambia. EISA also manages the ACE email inbox and shares data on ACE Facebook page by providing news on elections in Africa. EISA supports ACE through its participation the ACE Steering Board and on the Co-ordinating Committee, which is responsible for uploading data on to the site.
EISA continues to provide support to the ACE project by providing content for the English practitioner's network. EISA also attends regular ACE coordination meetings. As the focal point for the dissemination of knowledge on electoral processes in Sub-Saharan Africa within the ACE co-ordination unit, EISA updated electoral materials for African countries where elections were held during the period under review on the ACE platform, including Cote d'Ivoire, Tanzania and Uganda.
EISA continued to provide support to the ACE project by facilitating the English practitioner's network. As the focal point for the dissemination of knowledge on electoral processes in Sub-Saharan Africa within the ACE co-ordination unit, EISA updated electoral materials for African countries where elections were held between November 2019 and March 2020 on ACE platform (Guinea Bissau, Cameroon, Togo, Burundi and Malawi). EISA again updated election materials for African countries for elections held during the period 1 December 2020 to 31 March 2021 including for Côte d'Ivoire, Tanzania and Uganda.
EISA also facilitated the ACE email inbox and continued to use the ACE Facebook page to share news on elections in Africa whilst profiling the content on the ACE website.
EISA took on an additional role within the ACE project coordinating unit as the facilitator of the English practitioner's network, commencing on February 2019. As the focal point for the dissemination of knowledge on electoral processes in Sub-Saharan Africa within the ACE co-ordination unit, EISA updated electoral materials for African countries (Nigeria, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Comoros, South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique, Botswana, Mauritius and Namibia), where elections were held (on ACE platform), and the country pages of countries that were due to hold elections.
EISA also continued to use the ACE Facebook page to share news on elections in Africa whilst profiling the content on the ACE website.
The year 2018, marked the 20th Anniversary of the ACE Electoral Knowledge as the world's largest online source of electoral knowledge aimed at promoting credible and transparent electoral processes.
As the focal point for the dissemination of knowledge on electoral processes in Sub-Saharan Africa within the ACE co-ordination unit, EISA updated electoral materials for African countries where elections were held in 2018 on the ACE platform and updated country pages of countries that would hold elections in the year (Sierra Leone, Mali, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Cameroon, Rwanda, Madagascar and the DRC).
EISA also continued to use the ACE Facebook page to share news on elections in Africa whilst profiling the content on the ACE website.
Ilona Tip, EISA's Operations Director, attended the ACE Steering Board meeting held in Mexico City on 24 October 2018. The meeting coincided with the formal celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the ACE electoral knowledge platform. The steering board meeting covered the launch of the revamped website, coordination and facilitation of membership roles, content development, development of a workplan for 2019 and membership contributions. EISA offered to take on the responsibility of facilitating the English ACE practitioner's network.
EISA conducted a tracking exercise of 32 academic publications published in 2015 and 2016, that referenced the ACE project to identify which sections of the ACE knowledge platform are the most relevant for academics, EISA continues to update the mapping table, as more publications are reviewed by EISA.
EISA developed a guidance document on the procedure for uploading election materials and observation reports on ACE website. EISA also actively participated in discussions between ACE partners on how to further improve and develop ACE website. Furthermore, EISA developed a concept note with a proposal on ideas to be pitched to donors that could contribute to fundraising for the ACE project. EISA also contributed to the development of a list of priorities for updates and translation of 'Topic areas' sections into French. The translation of ACE content from English to other languages has been conducted by interns from ACE partner organisations. EISA also attended the ACE Steering Board meeting held in Ottawa on the 27 June.
EISA continued to take part in the implementation of the ACE social media strategy by uploading posts in French and English on ACE's Facebook page twice a week, on issues related to elections in the Sub-Saharan region. As part of its responsibilities for the management and development of content related on sub-Saharan Africa, EISA continued to upload materials on African elections in French and English on the ACE network platform and the ACE Facebook page. Furthermore, EISA continues the focal point for sub-Saharan Africa within the ACE Coordinating Unit. This responsibility entails ongoing update of comparative data and election observation reports and other election materials from African countries and elections, and updates the relevant pages for African countries that held elections during 2017.
EISA developed a topic page on electoral assistance, and was designated to undertake the updating of the "Focus on" page on effective electoral assistance in the future and contributed to the finalisation and publication of the annual ACE French newsletter. In line with ACE's strategy to improve the project's website, EISA also contributed to the development of a quality survey for the website's visitors.
As part of its responsibilities in the ACE Coordination Team, EISA peer reviewed three country case studies (Botswana, Namibia and South Africa), on the theme: 'Elections and Youth - Removing Barriers to Youth Participation in Electoral Processes: Entry points for Electoral Management Bodies. As part of its responsibilities as Regional Resource Centre, EISA continued providing updates on elections in the continent to be uploaded on to the ACE website. All country pages of countries that held elections in the first half of the year were updated before the elections.
EISA's contribution on the Network continued during the period under review. Updates on elections and related topics were uploaded and shared on the ACE website. One staff member of the EPP department is the focal person for the ACE network with EISA continuing to provide all relevant information relating to the SADC region. A Virtual Steering Board meeting was held by ACE Partners on 22 April 2015 where EISA was represented.
EPP continued to co-ordinate EISA's contribution to the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network as well as hosting the Southern African Regional Resource Centre of the ACE Project. Materials on ACE are constantly updated through the support of ACE Regional Resource Centres (RERCs) and practitioners throughout the world. In addition, EISA contributed a case study to the ACE encyclopaedia on:
As the ACE Southern Africa Regional Resource Centre (RERC), EISA strengthens regional networking in expanding the Practitioners' Network by identifying, inviting and continuously communicating with regional experts and disseminating EOM reports issued by Southern African institutions and other relevant documents on the ACE website. In the past year EISA updated two topic areas of the encyclopaedia, namely, voter education and voter registration.
In 2012, EISA, ACE partner organisations and electoral experts through ACE Secretariat updated the encyclopaedia and other ACE contents. Specifically, EISA updates the voter registration and the civic and voter education content of the encyclopaedia. ACE users can access the materials online through the ACE website, www.aceproject.org, post questions and have responses from experienced electoral practitioners who belong to the ACE Electoral Practitioners' Network.
EPP continued to coordinate EISA's contribution to the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network. EISA also participated as a member of the ACE Steering Board and ACE Advisory Board.
EISA hosts the ACE Southern African Regional Resource Centre (RERC). As a partner and a Regional Resource Centre, EISA participated in the annual ACE Regional Centres workshop held in Lima, Peru, on 16-19 November 2010. The purpose of the workshop, co-hosted by Jurado nacional de elecciones (JNE) and International IDEA, was to discuss the previous year's findings and recommendations, as well as the upcoming year of activities by regional Centres.
EPP continued to co-ordinate EISA's contribution to the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network. EISA hosts the Southern African Regional Resource Centre. EISA has since established a regional Electoral Knowledge Network which has undertaken to update the ACE website, source and upload electoral material, publish a newsletter and produce and regularly update comparative data for all the Southern African countries on the ACE website.
EISA was responsible for the Capacity Development Facility project, a pilot research project to assess the capacity of electoral management bodies in the SADC region and to identify gaps and make recommendations to close these gaps; in 2008 the capacity assessment was undertaken and finalised. The Southern African Regional Resource Centre, which is hosted by EISA, continued to update the ACE website providing information on electoral issues and events in Southern Africa, to publish a newsletter and produce and to regularly update comparative data for all the Southern African countries on the ACE website.
EISA was given the responsibility of the Capacity Development Facility project in 2005. The groundwork for a pilot programme has been laid for this project initially working in Malawi, Mozambique and Swaziland. The second area of activity of the ACE Knowledge Network is the Regional Resource Centre, which EISA has since established to update the ACE website, publish a newsletter and produce and regularly update comparative data for all the Southern African countries.
EPP successfully coordinated EISA's participation in the ACE Knowledge Network. This entailed three main milestones. Firstly, EISA managed to complete the updating of the voting and vote-counting operations topic area of ACE. This was subsequently uploaded to the website and is now part of this comprehensive electoral online resource. Secondly, EPP coordinated EISA's attendance at all statutory ACE meetings in 2006. Finally, EISA completed the Capacity Development Base Project, initiated in 2005, in partnership with the UNDP/NY and secured funding. Over and above these three main areas, EISA has contributed to articles for the Election Today publication of the ACE Network.
EPP coordinated EISA's participation in the ACE Knowledge Network and was responsible for the updating and editing of ACE Core Text in the areas of Voting Operations and Vote Counting, which was uploaded onto the ACE Editing website. In addition, Capacity Development, conceived to enhance election management by building key competencies in election management bodies, will test methodologies of technical advisory services, training and promote peer partnerships for information sharing and improved performance. This component, to be spearheaded by EISA, is to be implemented as a pilot over three years in the 14 member countries of SADC. EISA was identified because of its location and experience of working in the SADC region and its partnership with the SADC Election Management Bodies over the past ten years. EISA developed a concept for the component on the basis of which a fundraising campaign will be embarked on in the course of 2006.
EISA was invited to be a partner in a project aimed at producing a revised version in the Administration and Cost of Elections Project (ACE), which is a worldwide electronic electoral information resource originally conceptualised by International IDEA, the United Nations and IFES. ACE provides information on elections and makes it available to anyone who may require it through its website www.aceproject.org. EPP took part in a content design meeting aimed at identifying responsibilities for each partner organisation as well as areas of focus in updating the material. EISA was given the topics of 'Voting' and 'Counting' to update.
EISA's work
