OVERALL PROJECT OBJECTIVE

The overall objective of the project is to prevent electoral violence in Southern African Countries, through support to ESN-SA, with the following two specific objectives:

• The first specific objective of this project is to strengthen the capacity of member CSOs to the network, and stakeholders, in elections-related violence and prevention.
• The second objective is to support the establishment of an Observatory of electoral violence and carry research and sensitization in order to prevent and mitigate electoral violence and advocate for legislative enforcement for electoral dispute resolution.

To meet these objectives, the implementation of the project has been designed into three implementation phases.

• The capacity assessment phase is implemented during the first months of the project and entails a thorough evaluation of capacities among the ESN-SA member organisations in the target countries.
• The capacity development phase builds on the former and entails the delivery of BRIDGE (TTF and module) and "Leadership and Conflict Management for Electoral Administration" (LEAD) and "Democracy, Elections and Conflict Management" workshops, as well as an eLearning Course on "CSO Engagement in Electoral Processes and Conflict Management".
• The focus in the Observatory and research phase is on establishing the ESN-SA Observatory on Elections-related Violence and dedicated information and communications mechanisms, as well as the drafting and publication of the "Handbook on Elections-related Violence in the SADC Region". The phase also includes a conference on Elections-related Violence and a related Joint Action Plan.