Electoral Support Project Phase II (ESP-II)

Summary

The Electoral Support Project (ESP) provides long-term institutional capacity development of the Election Commission, Nepal (ECN) and other stakeholders for conducting credible, inclusive and transparent elections.

The project is aligned with the Strategic Plan of the ECN (2015- 2019) and contributes to Sustainable Development Goals 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions), 5 (Gender Equality) and 10 (Reduced Inequalities). ESP has been working toward this end since 2008.

The core outputs of ESP include:

• The ECN capacity-building: the project provides sustained institutional strengthening and professional development assistance for ECN to function as a permanent, professional and independent electoral management body.
• Credible and sustainable elections: ESP provides technical assistance and critical operational support to ECN during elections.
•  Increased democratic participation of voters: the project increases the awareness of democracy, the electoral system and processes, especially of vulnerable groups (women, people living with disabilities and ethnic minorities), for them to meaningfully participate in the different stages of the electoral cycle.

Summary 

The Electoral Support Project (ESP) provides long-term institutional capacity development of the Election Commission, Nepal (ECN) and other stakeholders for conducting credible, inclusive and transparent elections.

The project is aligned with the Strategic Plan of the ECN (2019- 2024) and contributes to Sustainable Development Goals 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions), 5 (Gender Equality) and 10 (Reduced Inequalities).

The core outputs of ESP include:

• ECN capacity-building: the project provides sustained institutional strengthening and professional development assistance for ECN to function as a permanent, professional and independent electoral management body.
• Credible and sustainable elections: ESP provides technical assistance and critical operational support to ECN during elections
• Increased democratic participation of voters: the project increases the awareness of democracy, the electoral system and processes, especially of vulnerable groups (women, people living with disabilities and ethnic minorities), for them to meaningfully participate in the different stages of the electoral cycle.

Background 

Following the extensive support of the international community to Nepal’s 2008 Constituent Assembly election, notably through the United Nations, the Electoral Support Project implemented by the United Nations Development Programme has been the major technical assistance provider to the Election Commission of Nepal  in the critical period from 2008 to 2021.

In the context of Nepal, ESP facilitates the institutional strengthening and professional development endeavors of the ECN to build the capacity of human resources, to contribute to organizing credible elections. It focuses on providing technical assistance as well as operational support, primarily to the ECN. This includes advice focusing on strengthening the electoral institutions, operational support to the election authority, materials support and mobilization of resources.

The project supported the 2013 Constituent Assembly Elections; 2014 by-elections in four constituencies 2015 by-election in one constituency; the 2017 elections at the three levels that were held to implement the 2015 Constitution: the local level, the provincial level and the federal level; 2018 National Assembly elections; 2018 Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections; 2019 by-elections; and 2020 National Assembly elections

•  ECN registered some 10.1 million eligible citizens in Nepal, consisting of approximately 51.2% of women by 2011. This was approximately 70% of the eligible population according to preliminary 2011 census data. For the 2017 elections, ESP supported the data integration of the 15 million (85% of the eligible population) registered voters into the central database.
• The project's massive civic engagement helped to exceed the target of 67% voter turnout in both 2013 elections (80%) and 2017 local elections (74%) and the House of Representatives elections (69%).
• The Commission provided trainings to enhance public outreach, civic and voter education reached a total of 1,923 (Female: 468) people. In addition, ESP supported ECN to conduct around 8,000 voter education events that reached 200,000 voters directly across 29 districts in the run up to the 2017 elections. The majority of these were women (56%) and from marginalized communities. In total, 6897 (F: 2006) ECN officials and  electoral stakeholders have been trained in different electoral procedures.
• Through the Commission’s various trainings on democracy and elections, a total of 17,044 people were trained with ESP support, including 4,857 female trainees. On average, 77% participants across all capacity building trainings reported an increase in their knowledge after the training.
•  In order to enhance ECN public outreach, ESP collaborated with UNESCO to work with the Ministry of Education’s Community Learning Centres (CLCs). ESP and UNESCO worked with 298 CLCs across 31 districts where the 2019 by-elections were held to impact civic and voter education at the grassroots. In addition, ESP supported ECN in drafting and publishing a set of 18 civic and voter education booklets and a guide on how to use them so that community-level organizations such as the CLCs can conduct continuous civic and voter education. These booklets are being distributed to the 2,151 CLCs across the country.
• ESP delivered professional development trainings through Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) trainings, technical trainings and peer-to-peer knowledge transfers. The ESP-supported modular trainings reached 1,214 ECN staff and other stakeholders, with 390 female participants. In addition to this, ESP led the support for three BRIDGE train-the-facilitator courses, in which 60 people (20 women) were trained, thus creating a pool of accredited BRIDGE facilitators in Nepal.
• ESP supported the formulation of ECN’s first ever strategic plan (2009-2013), the plan’s translation and action plan for its implementation. The project also supported ECN with its second strategic plan (2015-2019), and action plans (for 2015-2016 and 2017-2019), to implement the plans and to conduct reviews. The Election Commission drafted the third strategic plan (2019-2024) largely by itself, with ESP supporting the translation and publication of the plan.
• The Election Commission adopted a standard operating procedure and conducted, together with the National Judicial Academy, capacity-building on electoral dispute resolution for 553 (Female: 72) election officials, the judiciary and other stakeholders. These efforts culminated in Nepal’s first resource book on electoral justice that was launched by the President of Nepal in 2020.
• Additionally, the project supported a mobile application on electoral education, Nirwachan Skishya (for Android users here and for IOS users here); an animation that uses a school election to explain the different steps in the electoral process in simple terms; a one-hour movie entitled Ek Vote, demonstrating the importance of transparent elections to support democracy and governance.
• The project provided operational support during the 2013 Constituent Assembly elections at national and sub-national levels such as through the establishment of a Joint Election Operation Centre, the Media and Observer's Resource Centre, the Call Centre and the Event Tracking System. ECN has taken full ownership of all of these and operated them for the 2017 local elections without external support
• ESP has developed tools for the ECN to promote continuous electoral education by supporting the creation of the Electoral Education and Information Centres (EEIC) in Kathmandu, Dangadhi, Biratnagar, Surkhet and Pokhara, and the inclusion of electoral education in the school curricula. The centres are also equipped with three sets of mobile EEIC to extend coverage to remote areas. The Election Education and Information Centre has reached more than 30,444 (female: 45%) potential voters thus far, with an average of 500 visitors visiting per month.
•  ECN was able to locate more than 10,000 polling locations across the country using a google earth-based polling location mapping tool. The system was then implemented at the Joint Election Operation Centre, Media Centre and Elections Observation Centre. A total of 130 ECN staff, at the headquarters and at the districts, were trained on use of GIS, GPS and Google Earth tools as well as Electoral Risk Management.
• To facilitate electoral knowledge exchange in Nepal as well as its own archiving, ESP also technically supported the upgrade of the global ACE Electoral Knowledge Network website and created a version in Nepali language. Public electoral knowledge products of the ECN and the project are uploaded to the website. 
• The project has also provided conceptual support to the Commission, which has resulted in a Social Media Policy and human resources policy at the Commission.

Gender and Social Inclusion

Gender and social inclusion are a core component of the project. ESP has established a Gender and Social Inclusion Unit at the ECN and supported the development of the Gender and Social Inclusion Policy and the Gender Action Plan for ECN. Additionally, ESP supported the following:

  Supported development and implementation of GESI Policy, Strategy and Action Plan for ECN.

·         Reviewed election directives and procedures (both LLE and HoR/PA elections) from GESI perspectives including forms used in these elections.

·         Supporting publication of GESI report of LLE election with fact and figures.

·         Designed and implemented targeted programmes for GESI groups specially women, Dalit, PWD, Madhesi, Muslim, Tharu and youth.

·         Produced and broadcasted accessible IEC materials with sign language and captions and in different local languages.

·         LLE 2022 election result ensured 41.21% of women representation at local level reaching Nepal's roadmap for the SDG 5 targets for 2022

Documents

  Project Document (Phase I)

  Project Document (Phase II)

  ESP Factsheet 2021