a collaborative effort the ACE Project a collaborative effort The ACE Project is the result of a major collaborative effort undertaken in 1995 By three organisations, namely: IDEA, UN DESA and IFES It was an attempt to find a meaningful solution to address a gap originated by the end of the cold war

the “knowledge gap” THE KNOWLEDGE GAP some countries were largely unprepared to go through major democratic transitions that featured crucial elections electoral institutions not always possessed the necessary experience and knowledge to deliver and guarantee credible elections electoral practitioners had virtually no access to comparative knowledge, best practices and lessons learned in the field of elections In fact, the challenges most commonly faced by practitioners during the 1990's could be summarised as a “gap in electoral knowledge”. Some countries… there was no coherent electoral administration methodology, the field lacked of common standards

the ACE Project a complete and systematic collection of information on all aspects relating to the organization of elections The ACE Project, as a sort of an electronic encyclopaedia online, sought to codify the field of election administration in 12 main themes providing (X) a complete and systematic collection of information on all aspects, options, choices and implications relating to the organization of elections

target audience media representatives policy-makers and legislators academics election administrators researchers and students The ACE Project has a broad audience, made of electoral practitioners the civil society members of parliament multilateral institutions political party representatives donor agencies

new needs and priorities the new challenges However, - as soon as the first version of ACE Project was complete, the project faced new challenges (X), new needs and priorities were arising which were not there when it was initially conceived new needs and priorities

? THE KNOWLEDGE GAP CREDIBILITY GAP the changing needs building the trust of the various stakeholders in the electoral process creating transparent and sustainable electoral systems and processes addressing problems of lack of retention of their institutional memory solving political, financial and logistical challenges undermining their work and the credibility of the elections That is: the needs changed, (X) with the knowledge gap turning into a gap of credibility electoral management bodies confront a whole set of new challenges, like:

expanding the ACE partnership the ACE Project could no longer provide all the appropriate responses to address the new challenges ACE Project evaluation an evaluation process determined that the ACE Project (X) could no longer... and that - to continue to fulfill its goals – it had to be significantly transformed the first important decision in this direction was to expand (X) the partnership, so that Became project partners

1 2 3 T H E E L E C T O R A L K N O W L E D G E N E T W O R K KNOWLEDGE BASE PRACTITIONERS’ NETWORK CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT 1 2 3 The vision for the new ACE is founded on three main dimensions: 1. The KB: is the repository of electoral knowledge, where such a knowledge is acquired, codified, retained and made accessible 2. The PN is the networking dimension, built around a network of electoral professionals and a network of regional resource centres as the “source” for the generation and sharing of knowledge 3. The CD dimension is where the generated knowledge is adapted to be applied to local contexts acquire and manage knowledge generate and share knowledge adapt and apply knowledge

THE ACE KNOWLEDGE BASE ACQUIRE AND MANAGE KNOWLEDGE existing online databases, tools, publications and libraries Practitioners’ Network centralized repository for electoral knowledge knowledge knowledge acquisition produce and share knowledge The first dimension is centred on building X - a centralized repository for electoral knowledge, a comprehensive and systematic body of electoral knowledge covering all aspects of election administration X - It consists of the already existing online databases and tools, and of publications and libraries and of new ones to be developed as part of the project X - and it is based on the 12 topic areas of the ACE Project The knowledge base is where the electoral knowledge produced by the Network is acquired, codified, retained, disseminated and re-used both by the networks and by the ACE Users new databases, publications, tools and services to be developed as part of the project retention codification dissemination

ELECTORAL COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE REGIONAL RESOURCE CENTRES THE PRACTITIONERS’ NETWORK GENERATE AND SHARE KNOWLEDGE ELECTORAL COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE a group of electoral practitioners sharing common interests, common professional responsibilities and common goals THEMATIC North Africa Europe a network of Electoral Resource Centres, strategically established in different regions worldwide to collect, share and make knowledge accessible in the form of comparative data, resource materials, case studies and events REGIONAL RESOURCE CENTRES North America This dimension builds on 2 main elements: a thematic and a regional network Thematic: is an electoral community of practice, a group of electoral practitioners sharing common interests, common professional responsibilities and common goals Their interaction generates electoral knowledge and advisory services Regional: focuses on the establishment of a worldwide network of electoral resource centres to be established at reputable electoral institutions or regional electoral associations affiliated to the Project. These centres collect, share and make knowledge accessible through comparative data, resource materials, case studies and events Asia Central America Middle East Oceania Southern Africa REGIONAL South America West Africa Europe REGIONAL RESOURCE CENTRES

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT FACILITY (CDF) ADAPT AND APPLY KNOWLEDGE CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT FACILITY (CDF) long-term capacity development projects to assist electoral management bodies to reach higher levels of professionalisation regional training programmes to strengthen the professional capacity of electoral administrators training, professional advisory services, and peer partnerships targeted assistance activities for electoral management bodies requiring to strengthen their policy and legislation frameworks The third dimension of the ACE electoral knowledge network builds on the establishment of a CDF based on the model used by UNDP in public administration focusing on: training, professional advisory services, and peer partnerships It builds on On … (BRIDGE) On … capacity development tools and formal educational programmes on electoral administration based on the ACE texts, leading to the awarding of formal certificates/diplomas by academic institutions affiliated to the Project