Lead DRC

In the framework for the PEV-SADC project, ECES with partners EISA and SADC-ESN carried out a Leadership and Conflict Management Training for Electoral Stakeholders (LEAD) in the Democratic Republic of Congo.The participants were primarily organizations from the civil society focused on electoral observation, namely RENOSEC, ROC and REGED. Since one of the objectives of the LEAD training is to have a mixed participant group, the training included members from the Central Electoral Commission (CENI) in DRC and representatives of the security forces, the media and the justice sector.

This heterogenic participant group is thought to be particularly valuable when sharing self-experienced examples relating to leadership and management of conflicts, coming from different fields. The projects Deputy Director, Mathieu Merino was one of the facilitators alongside Corneille Nangaa Yobeluo, a longstanding partner to ECES. The LEAD training was then delivered at three locations in DRC, namely Kinshasa on 26 – 31 August 2013, Lubumbashi 2 – 6 September 2013 and Bukavu 9 – 13 September 2013. During the training, a comprehensive study of all issues related to leadership and conflict management was approached in different ways including:case studies such as Kenya and Guinea Conakry on fragile moments of the electoral cycle; the screening and discussion of the film "An African Election" directed by Jarreth Merz depicting the elections in Ghana; various interactive thematic seminars and exercises; in-depth analysis of election observation methods through the case studies from Zimbabwe and DRC; familiarization with the SWOT analysis, SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, and helped diagnosing the challenges the organisation has to face as well as the assets it can count on to overcome them and develop a strategy to reach the decided goals.

The first training carried out in Kinshasa during the week of August 26 to 31 was very successful and reflected positively on the progress of the training.