ANOTHER set of 20 regional experts has successfully completed an intensive training on ECOWAS Long-Term Election Observation guidelines and methodology in Accra, Ghana.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the 13-16 August 2017 workshop, Remi Ajibewa, director of Political Affairs at the ECOWAS Commission, said the training was part of efforts by the Commission and its partners to professionalise electoral observation as a tool for conflict prevention and the improvement of electoral integrity for democratic consolidation in West Africa.

The regional experts in political and electoral affairs, gender, the media, civil society and development, who had served in previous ECOWAS election observation missions benefited from the training, a collaborative initiative by the ECOWAS Commission and the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa, EISA.

In their remarks, Ajibewa and Francis Oke, head of ECOWAS Electoral Assistance Division, thanked the EISA for its support and urged the participants to put into good use the knowledge gained from the training, including the use of data analytical tablets designed to ease the work of Long-term election observers, the Core Team and Mission Coordinators.

Justin Doua, director of the EISA Somalia Field Office, expressed the organisation’s willingness to continue collaboration with ECOWAS towards the delivery of credible elections in the ECOWAS region and for sustainable democracy in Africa.

Participants were later presented with certificates, while the EISA team also received gifts in appreciation of the mutually beneficial ECOWAS/EISA partnership.

The workshop sought to strengthen the capacity of the ECOWAS Long-term electoral observers and staff of the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions, ECONEC, to serve as Core Team members during poll observation missions.