EISA's Governance Institutions and Political Processes department lends its support to other institutions in the elections space. These include Regional bodies, citizen observor groups as well as local and international non-organisations
GIPPS staff are assisting the STEP programme with contacts and concept note advice in preparation for a political party conference in December.
22 - 24 Nov 2021
GIPPS staff assisted the Abidjan office with preparations for the 2021 EISA Symposium, which included: the development of a concept note, drafting of the programme, invitations, selection of speakers, advise on logistics and preparations, and speakers briefs.
Oct 2021
Two wrap-up activities related to the National Democratic Institute (NDI)-subgrant project training party poll watchers in Ethiopia were cancelled at the last moment in late October 2021 due to the deterioration of the security situation in Ethiopia. After consultations with NDI and local partners on the ground, the decision not to send EISA staff to conduct a post-election review workshop and a series of Monitoring & Evaluation meetings was viewed as the safest option given the serious nature of the military action and its proximity to Addis Ababa. Consultations with NDI have not yet resolved whether an extension to the grant or returning outstanding funds will be necessary, as EISA's sub-grant expires at the end of November 2021. These discussions are ongoing as of the time of this report.
21 - 27 Sep 2021
GIPPS assisted the Sudan Country Director Mukenyi Badibanga during a scoping mission to Sudan from 21 - 27 September 2021. EISA's field office in Sudan was established in early October. However, due to the recent coup d'etat in Sudan, matters such as the registration of the office, opening of an EISA Sudan bank account and the living conditions of the EISA staff in Sudan have been significantly impacted. Grant Masterson and Mukenyi Badibanga have been in regular contact, and additional security information has also been sourced through GIPPS contacts about the evolving and highly volatile situation in the country at present.
Sep 2021
GIPPS staff assisted EISA Tanzania with trainers during four capacity building workshops training 100+ peace monitors from Tanzanian civil society in September 2021, data analytics on the ongoing data collection for peace monitoring, and support during by-elections held in the country during the reporting period.
Aug 2021
Both key outputs of this project were concluded during the period, namely: (a) a 3-country validation meeting, held online simultaneously with study participants from Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia, received feedback on the draft report prepared and presented during the validation meeting; and (b) the final report was finalised, edited and published. The project was completed during the reporting period with all activities concluded, the only outstanding matters to deliver the final project report and financial report to the donor along with these outputs in August 2021.
5 Jun 2021
With the announcement of the Ethiopian elections for Saturday 5 June 2021, EISA's previously delayed support to political parties in the country can proceed. The training manual for poll-watchers and political party legal officers has been finalised and translated in Amharic. Supplementary training videos are being prepared and will be rolled out ahead of the election. Trainings in Addis Ababa are being planned for April 2021. The training manuals, trainings of party agents and legal officers, as well as the videos are all outputs of this project.
Mar 2021
During the month of March 2021, GIPPS developed a peace monitoring checklist to assist the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC) long term peace agents in reporting peace events covered by the media in all the 34 dioceses. The peace monitoring checklist is available on Popola and long-term peace agents have started sending in their reports on a weekly basis. The checklist forms part of TECs efforts to monitor levels of peace in the country during the post-election period. This activity is funded by the European Union. The output of this project will be an analysis of post-election insecurity across all 34 dioceses in Tanzania since the 2020 elections.
Mar 2021
In March, three online focus group discussions in Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia were conducted with CSOs from each country to elicit opinion on the medium-term impact of the COVID19 virus on the civic space, as well as the issues facing CSOs which support elections and democratic governance specifically. The focus groups included 8-10 organisations in each country, for 2,5 hour focus group discussions conducted in hotel board rooms via Zoom and recorded for research and analysis purposes. The focus groups highlighted some key concerns that have emerged as common across countries for CSOs as a result of the pandemic, and government responses to those. A research report into these is being prepared and finalised for the Open Society Institute of Southern Africa (OSISA). This will also be the major output of this project.
13-17 Jan 2020
The GIPPS team undertook a fact-finding mission to Ethiopia in order to better understand the political environment ahead of the elections and to introduce EISA as the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS) partner to political parties. The team primarily met with NDI to discuss the political party landscape, the new legal framework and its implications for the project and the methodology for the participation of political parties in poll watching and legal officer trainings. EISA also attended a USAID subgrant meeting with all other subgrant partners including IFES, IRR and INDI.
The GIPPS team was pleased that three (ECIMA, OLF and All Oromia People's Democratic Congress) of the six major political parties that it met with expressed interest and believe that both the poll watcher and legal officer trainings will add value to their capacity to monitor elections. Two political parties met also raised challenges with regards to the complexity of the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) process of registering political parties (especially the smaller parties and coalitions) to the extent that many felt they would not be ready to contest the elections in May. Their sentiments were further exacerbated by change of the legal framework in October 2019 which led to NEBE calling for political parties to re-register for the 2020 elections in November (parties had first registered in May 2019 under the old law).
The GIPPS team found that due to the postponement of the general elections to August and changes to the electoral calendar there is need to relook at the timeline, budget and political party dynamics for rolling out the poll watcher and legal officer trainings which fall under EISA's responsibility under the NDI subgrant.
Oct 2020
GIPPS supported the work of the EISA Tanzania staff during the 28 October 2020 national elections in Tanzania and Zanzibar. This support included citizen peace monitoring through the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC), citizen observation through the Centre for International Policy - Tanzania (CIP) and Zanzibar Family and Youth Council (ZAFAYCO), support to the East African Community and African Union Election Observation Missions and the EISA Election Observation Mission. With assistance from Mr Justin Doua (EPP), GIPPS also trained European Union embassy staff to carry out a diplomatic watch during the elections. Mr Doua was seconded to the diplomatic watch to assist the EU in the use of the EISA Popola system during the elections.
The EISA IEOM was lead by Adv. Pansy Tlakula, with Grant Masterson as Deputy Head of Mission. Mrs. Noxolo Gwala supported the East African EOM as a technical expert, while Mr Sandile Khuboni supported the work of the TEC during its citizen observation through trainings and technical advice.
28 - 31 Jan 2020
GIPPS together with the Executive Director met with the representatives of the EU delegations in Tanzania and Kenya respectively. The meetings were aimed at sourcing funding for election related activities in Tanzania which would see EISA supporting local civil society groups by managing a grant on behalf of the EU under its Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP). The meeting solidified the EU and EISA's commitment to supporting the 2020 general elections in Tanzania despite the tense political environment. EISA will therefore focus its energies on building the capacity of civil society groups in Tanzania to monitor the elections, conduct civic and voter education, and monitor the pre- and post-election environment for early warning signs of violent conflict and unrest in mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. The mission also led to a better understanding of the needs of the two local partners that EISA work with namely, the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC) and Tanzania Civil Society Consortium on Election Observation (TACCEO). The information gathered from partners and the donor enabled EISA to proceed with submitting a comprehensive proposal to the EU.
13 - 17 Jan 2020
The GIPPS team undertook a fact-finding mission to Ethiopia in order to better understand the political environment ahead of the elections and to introduce EISA as the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS) partner to political parties. The team primarily met with NDI to discuss the political party landscape, the new legal framework and its implications for the project and the methodology for the participation of political parties in poll watching and legal officer trainings. EISA also attended a USAID subgrant meeting with all other subgrant partners including IFES, IRR and INDI. The GIPPS team was pleased that three (ECIMA, OLF and All Oromia People's Democratic Congress) of the six major political parties that it met with expressed interest and believe that both the poll watcher and legal officer trainings will add value to their capacity to monitor elections. Two political parties met also raised challenges with regards to the complexity of the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) process of registering political parties (especially the smaller parties and coalitions) to the extent that many felt they would not be ready to contest the elections in May. Their sentiments were further exacerbated by change of the legal framework in October 2019 which led to NEBE calling for political parties to re-register for the 2020 elections in November (parties had first registered in May 2019 under the old law). The GIPPS team found that due to the postponement of the general elections to August and changes to the electoral calendar there is need to relook at the timeline, budget and political party dynamics for rolling out the poll watcher and legal officer trainings which fall under EISA's responsibility under the NDI subgrant.
Jan 2019
In January 2019, EISA’s GIPPS department finalised and published a research report titled Citizen Inclusion in Transitional Societies (looking at the experiences of Kenya and South Sudan), in collaboration with the Oslo Centre and National Democratic Institute. This report summarised the findings of an 18-month research project which collected the views and opinions of Kenyan and South Sudanese citizens about what their government could do to enhance their sense of inclusion in the governing of their country. The report was widely disseminated in Kenya and South Sudan, and was publicised.
22 - 28 Jan 2018
Grant Masterson, with Olufunto Akinduro and Kerryn Kotler, helped the EISA Mozambique office to conduct a comprehensive parallel voter tabulation (PVT) of the mayoral by-election in Nampula district between 22 and 28 January 2018 and another of the run-off elections in March. The PVT gave EISA its first opportunity to test the efficacy of its Popola data collection system. Head Office staff provided backroom technical support for this exercise and have subsequently engaged the Popola contractor about refinements and amendments to the system which will make it more useful for PVT exercises in future. GIPPS will continue to offer backroom technical support for that exercise.
27 March 2018
GIPPS participated on behalf of EISA in a live broadcast seminar in Gaborone on 27 March 2018 to discuss the merits and demerits of introducing electronic voting machines for Botswana’s 2019 elections. The seminar was rated highly both for attracting listeners and for its engagement with the issues.
