International IDEA in Southern Africa

Introduction

The theme of International IDEA's work in the Southern African region is building sustainable democratic institutions. This theme was identified in May 2000, when International IDEA co-organized a conference titled 'Towards Sustainable Democratic Institutions in Southern Africa' with SADC Parliamentary Forum, SADC Electoral Commissions Forum and the Government of Botswana. A conference report is available here (see links to right).

A consultative process in 2001 with partners and International IDEA member states (South Africa, Namibia, Mauritius, Botswana) established that the focus should be on the areas of election management, women's participation in politics and support for political parties.

The main activities undertaken include:

• Training election administrators using the newly developed BRIDGE curriculum, which will be held in collaboration with the SADC Election Forum.
  

• Also in co-operation with the SADC Election Forum, as well as other partners, International IDEA is planning to focus on developing strategies for election observation. The examples of electoral conflicts in Lesotho (1998), Mozambique (1999) and Zimbabwe (2000) have been named as evidence of how critical quality elections are to democracy. The general consultations also endorsed support to political parties and women in politics.
  

• The third activity, to be co-ordinated with the SADC Parliamentary Forum on women in politics, will focus on the role of political parties in enhancing gender equality.
  

Research studies are available in full here (see Research Papers above). A report with outcomes and recommendations of the conference has been published and is available here (Acrobat format, 2.5 MB).

Contact:

Margot Gould