ECES is proud to announce the launch of a new project in Mali funded by the European Union:Projet d’Appui à l’Observation citoyenne du cycle électoral de la Transition 2020-2022 au Mali’ (PRO Observation Mali)!

Fully financed by the European Union, it will last 18 months and will benefit all Malian people by contributing to the integrity of the national electoral process by supporting the most important network of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to carry out their election observation activities nationwide.

The goal is to deploy an observation mission capable of observing each phase of the ongoing electoral process in the context of the political trnasition in Mali, while building CSOs' capacity over the long term. The project will support the network of the CSOs to observe the constitutional referendum, the presidential election and the legislative elections scheduled in 2021 and 2022.

The activities have three main objectives:

  • Align the election observation standards of the consortium of civil society organisations -Mission d'Observation Des Élections au Mali (MODELE MALI)- with those of the international and regional Election Observation Missions (EOMs) by updating the election observation tools and strengthening the capacity of observers;
  • Support MODELE Mali in the deployment and conduct of professional, methodical and non-partisan EOMs in all phases of the electoral process;
  • Capitalise on the lessons learned from the observation of the entire electoral process and the elections observed.

This project will be implemented by ECES in partnership with a consortium of Malian civil society organisations called Sinergy 22, which includes the Observatoire pour les élections et la bonne gouvernance au Mali, the Association des jeunes pour la citoyenneté active (AJCAD), the Communauté des Bloggeurs du Mali, the CONSORTIUM ELE-Citoyenneté Droits Humains Inclusifs and Tuwindi Foundation.

As highlighted by ECES Founder and Executive Director Fabio Bargiacchi:

‘PRO Observation Mali marks an important crucial milestone in ECES’ engagement with Sub-Saharan Africa and in the Sahel. ECES will provide its extenstive comparative experience in electoral support gained in the last 11-years and in more than 50 countries in order to support the watchdog role of the CSOs in their domestic election observation activities’ in order to contribute to a peaceful political transtion and electoral process".

‘I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the European Union for confirming once again its trust in ECES work and commitment to design and implement projects and activities in line with the values and policies of the European Union and its Member states.