What We Do.
Governance Institutions and Political
& Processes
While there are many forms of representative democracy and many criticisms of the system itself, the quality of the available choices offered to the voter on a ballot paper is often linked directly to the quality of the democracy itself.
What We Do.
Political Institutions
& Processes
While there are many forms of representative democracy and many criticisms of the system itself, the quality of the available choices offered to the voter on a ballot paper is often linked directly to the quality of the democracy itself.
Political parties, although nominally private entities, therefore, serve a very public function in democratic states as the intermediaries through which many public representatives are elected and selected for public office.
The role of legislatures as oversight bodies is crucial to ensuring that the interests of a country’s citizens are protected and advanced through effective legislation and adequate oversight and monitoring of the Executive.
The role of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) in managing and facilitating credible elections is central to the perception of trust (or lack thereof) that public representatives enjoy.
In the increasingly interconnected world of the 21st century, the importance of regional and sub-regional blocs encouraging and supporting a broad human rights agenda and strengthening democratic norms and standards is a necessary additional pillar to the foundations of representative democracies.
When a state fails to uphold its own obligations, it is sometimes through external reproval and dialogue that such failures are overcome.
Governance Institutions and Political Processes Projects
Africa Democracy Strengthening Programme
Through the Africa Democracy Strengthening (ADS) Programme EISA works towards enhancing sub-regional level governance, by providing support to Regional Economic Communities (RECs) as well as democratic governance stakeholders at the national level. The ADS project interventions complement and augment the work EISA carries out at the regional level with the African Union and other partners.
Key beneficiaries supported by EISA through the ADS Programme at the national level include state and civil society stakeholders. The project places significant focus on building socially cohesive and inclusive societies, which is a key pillar of democratic development and conflict mitigation initiatives. At various points, national level interventions and sub-regional activities of the ADS project do intersect – allowing a broader impact of both – and enhance lesson-learning and experience sharing.
The overall objective of the ADS Project is to contribute to credible electoral and democratic political processes in Africa, with greater citizen inclusion and participation at the regional, sub-regional and national level.
The specific objectives of the project related to national level governance include supporting:
- Representative institutions to develop more inclusive, representative, and responsive approaches to the citizenry
- Political actors to adopt policies and implement changes that improve their inclusiveness, responsiveness and representativeness.
Networks and Partners
