ECES and the Somali Federal Electoral Implementation Team (FEIT), supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the framework of the Innov-Elections project, launched its first training yesterday.

The Italian deputy Chief of Mission to Mogadishu, Massimiliano Bertollo, stressed the commitment of the Direction General for Mundialization (DGMO) of the Italian MFA towards the people of Somalia through the Institutional support to the delicate electoral process in the country. He remarked the value and the urgency of this kind of training meant to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, in particular, the fair electoral management through institutional bodies and the construction of a trustful environment in electoral processes, in order to achieve transparent, fair and peaceful elections

As Bertollo put it, “we are proud to support Somalia through this training right before their next electoral process, namely the election of the House of the People, and we are confident that this action will also generate sustainable capacity-building strategy in the medium and long term”.

ECES Founder and Executive Director Fabio Bargiacchi had likewise the honour to open the session joint with Mohamed Hassan Mohamed, Chairman of the FEIT.

 “The governance system of Somalia is recovering from the civil war, and that is why we are grateful to collaborate with the Italian Embassy and the Italian Foreign Affairs Ministry regarding the technical support to conflict management and dispute resolution”, the Chairman commented.

Sponsored and facilitated by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the innovative Leadership and Conflict Management Skills for Electoral Stakeholders Training takes into consideration the fast-approaching Somali elections and was particularly conceived to be completed ahead of the upcoming electoral process.

The innovative tools developed by ECES aims to develop capacities at the crossroads between leadership and conflict management and to provide support and capacity development on prevention and mitigation strategies of electoral violence and dispute resolution.