Chapter 3: Complaints Adjudication Training for Election Management Bodies and Political Parties concerns to be taken into account. Their cooperation and involvement in developing, arranging or participating in the training sessions encourages their buy-in. vi. Training opportunities are not always provided to EMBs EMB members will often be unaccustomed to attending a comprehensive training program. Most often, the “training” EMB members receive is a short, large-group briefing in which they are given a brief lecture by a judge or national election commission member, and provided a copy of the country’s electoral code. This type of training passes on little information and does nothing to build competency. As a result, members might be annoyed when attending their first comprehensive training program, since it may require a greater amount of time (and a night or two away from home and work) and possibly necessitate a trip to the national or regional capitol. The best way to minimize these and other unforeseen challenges is to engage in a planning process that carefully drafts the training invitation and engages key stakeholders. The more that all parties to a potential electoral complaint understand the objectives of the training and the reasons for having an electoral complaint process, the more likely that the process will be respected when parties disagree with the decisions. One example of a carefully crafted and comprehensive training program for EMB members is BRIDGE (Building Resources in Democracy, Governance, and Elections). BRIDGE is a modular professional development program with a special focus on electoral processes, and it can be tailored to specific learning needs, such as complaints adjudication processes.1 BRIDGE has been used by IFES, for example, in Nepal since 2008 to train appointed Election Commission staff on a range of elections topics. The program in Nepal was designed to provide an intensive overview of international standards and practical application of electoral processes, with specific sessions targeted at electoral justice and complaints adjudication. BRIDGE represents a unique initiative where five leading organizations (IFES, Australian Election Commission, International IDEA, UNDP, and the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division) in the democracy and governance field have jointly committed to developing, implementing and maintaining the most comprehensive curriculum and workshop package available, designed to be used as a tool within a broader capacity development framework. For more information, visit www.bridge-project.org. 1 143