The Challenge of Managing Democratic Elections in Africa – Making Election Management Bodies (EMBs) Work as Project Oriented Organizations (POOs).

Abstract

Many African Election Management Bodies (EMBs) are finding it necessary to implement better election management practices. This realization often comes as a result of frustrations in managing successful elections. Recent electoral challenges in Nigeria are a clear testimony to electoral establishments needs to embrace project management best practices. Political turbulent in Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Egypt and others are partly due to challenges of managing election activities – managing these as programmes and projects. This paper raises issues of project management best practices which are relevant in electoral processes. It provides help to those who are involved in managing African Election Management Bodies (EMBs) to learn how to create an environment that can help avoid these challenges/or failures. When electoral activities/programmes challenges create a focus on the need to change the way election programmes are managed, people soon learn that this change profoundly affects the entire electoral establishment. Successful elections require participation from many parts of the EMB; the development of successful election management practices cannot be accomplished in one or two departments alone. Skills in practices require a coordinated effort involving all departments in an electoral establishment. The change must be systematic and system wide. This paper explores best practices in political election management through the domain of strategic project management best practices. The paper examines the need for project management in electoral organizations and the development of new, project-based EMBs; it also examines one of the components of successful environment: linking electoral projects to organizational strategy; it examines upper-management practices of EMBs that thwart the successful development of managing electoral projects; it further addresses the problem of organizing the electoral project management effort; it covers the importance of information in the successful electoral project management environment; furthermore, the paper discusses electoral project managers selection and development; the basic principles of the EMB as the learning organization are also addressed; and finally examples of how to implement the needed changes in managing EMBs are given.