ECES and IMAGINE FOUNDATION, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at Strengthening the cooperation between the Parties in the areas of Prevention of Electoral Violence, and Promotion of Electoral Integrity.

This document marks a key step in the partnership between the two organizations thanks also to the long standing cooperation between our Founder and Director, Fabio Bargiacchi and the President of IMAGINE, Fabio Melloni former head of the Italian cooperation agency in Mocambique (where they met back in 2000...) Kenya, Ethiopia, Lebanon etc.. The MoU proposes to further consolidate the cooperation between ECES and IMAGINE, corroborating the potential complementarities in the promotion of good governance, peace and stability, especially the prevention of extremism towards the promotion of democracy.

Among other initiatives, ECES will collaborate with IMAGINE in three macro-areas:

• The promotion of inclusivity through the engagement of Youth and the inclusion of Women and other marginalized groups in the political and electoral processes, especially through civic education, awareness campaigns and dedicated workshops elaborated by ECES and IMAGINE.

• The enhancement of electoral processes and acceptance of election results, increasing the level of trust of the population in institutional bodies and other electoral stakeholders.

• The implementation of Leadership and Conflict Management (LEAD) workshops and lessons, the Electoral Security Threat Assessment (ESTA) and the Electoral Political Economy Analysis (EPEA). At this regard, IMAGINE expertise will reinforce ECES’s ongoing and future initiatives.

Funded to promote development and integration for vulnerable social groups, IMAGINE covers a pivotal rule in the sedimentation and promotion of information, engagement and empowerment throughout the civil society.

Driven by the objective of sustaining democratic development, ECES considers the implementation of this MoU as the possibility to further foster democracy during the pre-electoral, electoral and post-electoral phase, contributing so to the common objective of more inclusive and peaceful elections.