Over the past two days, we had the pleasure of participating in the 2026 annual meeting of the “Team Europe Democracy” (TED) network in Brussels, alongside Monica Frassoni, president of ECES, and Jacopo Ardito, deputy program director.
The “Team Europe Democracy” initiative is a global initiative launched by the European Commission to promote democracy, human rights, and democratic governance worldwide. It brings together EU institutions, 15 EU Member States, and specialized implementing partners—including ECES, whose secretariat is jointly managed by GIZ and Enabel—in close cooperation with the “Team Europe Democracy” coordination team within the Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) of the European Commission.
One of the highlights of this meeting for us was the opportunity to organize and facilitate a working group within the “Electoral Support” thematic cluster, titled:
“Rethinking Electoral Assistance, Democratic Governance, and Resilience Twenty Years After the 2006 EC Methodological Guide.”
The discussion provided an opportunity to revisit the 2006 EC Methodological Guide on Electoral Assistance, a reference document that, along with similar publications developed by International IDEA and the UNDP, helped establish and popularize the electoral cycle approach that continues to shape electoral assistance worldwide. I was particularly pleased to revisit this discussion twenty years later, reflecting on the lessons learned and the evolution of electoral assistance alongside colleagues and practitioners from around the world. It was also a personal privilege for me, having coordinated and co-authored that publication while serving as coordinator of the joint EC-UNDP working group on electoral assistance.
The session brought together representatives from Italy, Ireland, France, Poland, Belgium, Enabel, DG INTPA, the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), International IDEA, and many other organizations committed to promoting democratic governance worldwide.
There was broad consensus that, while the election-cycle approach remains entirely relevant, current challenges—including the decline of democracy, political polarization, the shrinking of civic space, disinformation, manipulation, and foreign interference in information (FIMI), cyber threats, and artificial intelligence—require a more integrated approach that combines electoral support with political dialogue, mediation, conflict prevention, information integrity, and democratic resilience.
The discussion also highlighted the growing importance of regional ownership, peer-to-peer cooperation, and strengthening partnerships with regional organizations and electoral networks. Participants emphasized that sustainable democratic governance can only be achieved when efforts to promote democracy and provide electoral support are genuinely led and owned by local stakeholders, institutions, and regional actors. This principle of local ownership lies at the heart of both the European Union’s “Global Gateway” strategy and Italy’s “Mattei Plan for Africa”, and is increasingly becoming a cornerstone of effective international partnerships.
Participants also expressed keen interest in launching a structured reflection process—including webinars and expert exchanges—that could contribute to the first major revision of the EU Methodological Guide on Electoral Assistance since its publication in 2006.
For ECES, these discussions echo the vision we have been promoting for sixteen years through the development and implementation of twenty-two copyrighted methodologies and tools, including leadership and capacity-building programs, support for conflict prevention and mediation, training frameworks on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, electoral political economy analysis (EPEA), peer-learning initiatives, and other innovations designed to strengthen democratic resilience through electoral processes.
We are also pleased to announce the upcoming publication of a new ECES policy paper titled:
“Implementing a European Response Beyond the Electoral Cycle Approach Since 2010.”
Drawing on sixteen years of practical experience in supporting electoral and democratic processes in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America, this publication will reflect on lessons learned, new challenges, and new opportunities for electoral assistance to contribute to democratic resilience in an increasingly complex geopolitical and technological environment.
We look forward to continuing our active engagement within the “Team Europe” Network for Democracy, contributing to the collective discourse, learning from our partners, and further enriching the global debate on the future of democracy support.
