Supporting Elections for Ethiopia’s Democracy Strengthening (SEEDS)

This project supports the conducting credible inclusive and peaceful elections in Ethiopia in 2021. It is Canada’s contribution to the multi-laterally funded United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) electoral assistance project. The project supports the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) in the planning and delivery of the 2021 general elections. The project focuses on the belief that technically capable independent and trusted institutions make for the conduct of credible inclusive and peaceful elections. Project activities include: (1) strengthening the NEBE as a cohesive institution through professional development training and supporting gender-sensitive reform and procedure drafting; (2) introducing and strengthening the NEBE’s various systems procedures standards tools and protocols; (3) building staff capacities related to electoral processes; (4) building NEBE capacities for transparent and timely communication with the electorate; and (5) building NEBE capacities for detecting and resolving election-related disputes. The project’s strategic approach is to support the NEBE in ensuring inclusive participation of all groups including women youth and ethnic groups from all regions.

The expected outcome of this project includes enhanced capacity of NEBE to perform its electoral monitoring and oversight functions more effectively and inclusively as a result of institutional and individual capacity building delivered through this initiative.