Electoral stakeholders and trainers from various civic society organizations from Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Malawi and Swaziland were congregated at the Pandhari Hotel in Harare, Zimbabwe for the Leadership and Conflict Management for Electoral Stakeholders (LEAD) training. The training workshop, a first of its kind to be held in Zimbabwe took place from 23 November, 2015 to 1 December, 2015. The training was organized within the framework of the project “Preventing Electoral Violence in SADC Region (PEV-SADC)” and was hosted by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN).

The training welcomed 25 participants and covered a number of topics on conflict management for electoral stakeholders including an introduction to electoral conflict and violence, leadership, facilitation skills, the various types of electoral violence, sources of electoral conflict, strategies for electoral conflict prevention, stress management, communication and early warning in electoral processes among other issues. Participants expressed expectations for the workshop to greatly enhance their capacities as trainers and stakeholders in electoral processes.Participants highlighted that they hope to learn from the sharing of various experiences from the different countries on how to deal with electoral related conflicts.

The objectives of the training was to equip the participants with knowledge and tools to manage electoral conflicts in their countries.

At the conclusion of the workshop, participants were certificated as LEAD facilitators on leadership and conflict management.