Political Party Strengthening in Sudan

EISA has embarked on a project on political party strengthening in Sudan. This is a joint project implemented by a consortium of four organisations: EISA, International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), The Parliamentary Centre (PC) (a Canadian-based NGO) and Partners in Development Services (DPS) (based in Sudan). The project is funded by DIFD.

The overall purpose of the project is to assist in developing and strengthening political parties in Sudan so that they

• perform as effective actors of democratisation and good governance, trusted by voters
• are representative and responsive to public needs and concerns
• contribute to public debate
• are equipped to support government and a constructive opposition
thus playing an effective and representative role in the elections agreed in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Objectives

• Enhance political parties' ability to engage their constituency through the development of a membership strategy, a party platform and an election campaign strategy.
• Strengthen political parties' internal capacity in terms of organisation, administration and day-to-day functioning through training and resource materials development.
• Enhance political parties' capacity for fiscal responsibility and accountability through training on party financing and accounting procedures.
• Increase political parties' knowledge of the electoral processes, with particular emphasis on the workings of the electoral system, the roles of the various electoral stakeholders, and the rights and obligations of the parties (including monitoring and complaints procedures).
• Strengthen the ability of political parties to interact with the key stakeholders in the electoral process, including the election management body, the media, election observers, the international community and voters.

Project Components

• Political party models
• Funding of political parties
• Internal functioning of political parties and intra and inter-party relations and gender
• Election campaigns
• Policy/manifesto development
• External regulatory framework
• Media relations