The project "Pro-Electoral Integrity: Project in Support to Electoral Integrity in Africa" is funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and via the African Union Commission’s Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security (AUC-PAPS)  aims at contributing to peace and security through the development of a common culture of resilience and shared values around integrity in electoral processes, by strengthening the capacities of African EMBs in conducting their own credible andinclusive elections.

In furtherance of actualising provisions of the MoU signed between ECES and the AUC-PAPS in May 2021 and also following exchanges between ECES and the AU-PAPS as per the priority of the first year of implementation of the MoU, the "Pro-Electoral Integrity" project was conceived and designed to provide technical support to a broad range of electoral stakeholders on the African continent with the overall objective of contributing to the conduct of credible, and inclusive elections in African Union Member States fostering the prevention of electoral conflicts and promotion of electoral integrity.

The project has an overall implementation period of 12 months and will support the AUC – PAPS to mainly build the resilience of Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) and networks of EMBs to contribute to the challenges of electoral contexts to effectively organize elections in accordance with national and international norms and standards of democratic elections. In the framework of this project the Italian MFA has already supported the implementation of the following activities of the AU:

• The meeting for the "Validation of the AU strategy for the inclusion of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance in the school curricula” in Abidjan – Ivory Coast – from the 12th to the 14th of August,
• The workshop on the "African Union Guidelines on Constitutional Amendments" in Niamey – Niger – from the 24th to the 26th of August,
• The 6th Edition of the African Transnational Justice Forum titled: "The State of transnational justice in Africa: Transnational Justice and Social Capital in Africa" in Lome – Togo – from the 7th to the 9th of September.

Thanks to this project and via the African Union, ECES has established a solid partnership with the Association of African Electoral Authorities composed of 45 electoral management bodies in Africa whose permanent Secretariat is the electoral commission of Ghana and whose Presidency is with the Independent Boundaries and Electoral Commission of Kenya. In this context in the upcoming months the project will also support: 

• The  General Assembly of the Association of African Electoral Authorities will be held in Maputo on the 14th and 15th of November,
• The African Union 7th annual continental forum of EMBs titled: "Building Resilience of Election Management Bodies to Safeguard Democracy in Africa".