ECES @ EU Development Days

ECES is participating for the third year in a row to the European Development Days (EDD 2018). Since 2006, the EDD has established itself as a key event in the world's development calendar and is now widely considered as the 'Davos of Development'. Like previous years, the EDD event will take place at Tour&Taxis in Brussels from the 5th to the 6th June. ECES will be present at the EDD Village Stand n°25 in the vincinity of the main entrance and the bar.  

This years EDD theme will aim at bringing together the EU's commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Gender equality and women empowerment are at the core of European values and enshrined within the EU's legal and political framework. This is why the event will focus on the vital role of women and the need for their full and equal participation and leadership in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

When it comes to elections, women are often already underrepresented in the social sphere, and suffer from an even more passive role in electoral processes. The potential for Women’s leadership is largely unexplored due to cemented gender stereotyping. ECES colleagues present at the stand will showcase achievements of how electoral assistance funded by the EU and EU member states has bolstered women's involvement in political agendas, using practical examples of relevant activities implemented by ECES.

You can click on this link to access all to the ECES Background Documents, Videos, Project Resumes and other material from ECES projects relevant to the subject of our stand.

ECES’ stand will be a hub for exchange, allowing ECES to interact with visitors and illustrate its activities and future strategies as well as lessons learn from other organizations receiving constructive feedbacks on the work done so far in the field of supporting more broad-based participation in electoral processes. We hope to welcome colleagues and a wise range of professionals from the international cooperation sector and the EU institutions. In particular, ECES' presence at EDD will focus on “EU Electoral assistance to enhance political and electoral space for women” and will illustrate a concept note produced to gather the lessons learned of ECES in this field.

In this context, part of ECES Management Board and Management Unit (Monica Frassoni, José Manuel Pinto Teixeira, Fabio Bargiacchi, Lino Francescon, Camille Rouaud, Victoria Florinder and Gorka Gamarra) and representatives of our partners and beneficiaries (Aous Qutaishat, Chief Technical Advisor of the Independent Electoral Commission of Jordan and Mamadou Bocar Niane, Chief Technical Advisor to the Director General for Election at the Ministry of Interior of Senegal) will be more than happy to welcome you in our stand. We will be delighted to share our experiences and lessons learned from different countries and discuss crucial gender and elections related topics such as:

• Women's Political and Electoral Participation and Electoral Technical Assistance;

• Lesson Learned from the 'EU Support to Jordanian Democratic Institutions and Development, EU-JDID' project: A transversal operational model for the pre-electoral phase;

• Lessons learned from our projects implemented in 35 countries so far such as in Burkina Faso, South Africa, Benin, Union of Comoros, Jordan, Senegal, Nigeria, Conakry, Libya, Madagascar, all the other countries of the Southern African Development Community etc…

• ECES best operational practices to improve women's political and electoral participation: A holistic approach model for integrating a gender perspective into the electoral cycle;

• Women and elections related violence;

• The role of women in elections and their inclusion in public life

Its worth noting that this year marks the birth centenary of globally renowned South African icon, Nelson Mandela. Lindiwe Zulu, South Africa’s Minister of Small Business Development and Youssou N’Dour, the international acclaimed Senegalese singer, will pay tribute to his legacy with words and music. This special address will remind us of his lifelong struggle to end apartheid, and pay homage to his worldwide impact for a more just and equitable society, including the empowerment of women.

Click the following link to access the official page of the ECES stand within the web site of the EU Development Days 2018 EUDEVDAYS 2018