Project profile — Strengthening Electoral Processes in Zambia

• Zambia (100.00%)

• Government And Civil Society, General: Elections (15151) (100.00%)

• Gender equality (not targeted)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

The project aims to enhance effectiveness of the Electoral Commission of Zambia to conduct transparent and fair elections. More specifically, it aims to: enhance accuracy of the voter register; increase capacity of the National Voter Education Committee to coordinate, plan and implement continuous voter education; strengthen participation by women as candidates and strengthen organizational capacity of civil society organisations working in the area of women's political rights in Zambia; strengthen capacity of the Electoral Commission of Zambia to engage the media; and revise the legislative framework and code of conduct to ensure a viable and fair means of redress in the event of electoral malpractices.

N/A

Results achieved as of the end of the project (March 2012) include: (i) registering 86% of eligible voters before the 2011 national elections (of whom 51% in North Western Province and 52% in Southern Province were women); (ii) 100 women leaders participated in a conference on women’s political leadership, which led to an action plan and more women ready to stand as candidates in the 2011 elections; (iii) training 26 staff members from the Electoral Commission of Zambia , 672 District Electoral Officers, and over 50,000 polling staff to effectively manage election day; (iv) training 186 media practitioners in ethical reporting and reducing elections-related violence; (v) training 1,442 voter education facilitators (including training to promote youth participation); (vi) training 185 traditional leaders in civic and voter education; (vii) developing a new results management system to facilitate the transmission of election results to the public within 48 hours after the closing of voting polls; and (viii) developing a legislative review process for electoral proceedings to ensure their fairness and transparency. These results contributed to strengthening the overall integrity of the electoral process in Zambia, particularly the credibility and transparency of the tripartite elections held on September 20, 2011. The results also helped to improve the effectiveness and coordination of the Zambia's Electoral Commission and Department of National Registration, civil society organizations, and media.

• Proactive disclosure