One of the strategies used by the Council of Europe to strengthen democratic development in Eastern Partnership countries is to promote the professionalisation of electoral administration through the establishment of Training Centres for electoral stakeholders.

Such centres have been successfully established in Republic of Moldova, Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The training centres possess broad autonomy, and operate on the principles of independence and professionalism in carrying out their tasks.

One of the main purposes of the Training Centres is to provide standardized, high quality instruction of election officials, ensuring that they obtain the necessary expertise and competency to make election procedures that comply with international standards. Other objectives include training of civil society organisations in charge of monitoring and evaluation of elections as well as training of media and political parties. The Training Centres also elaborate civic education programmes for the purpose of strengthening democratic culture among the general population.

Training centres