CEPPS in Guinea

CEPPS has been working in Guinea since 2008 to support Guinean political and civil society actors for peaceful and transparent elections, and establish more participatory and accountable political processes.

CEPPS Overarching Goals:

CEPPS works with political parties, government officials, civil society organizations (CSOs), the media, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) to support political dialogue, and increase transparency, inclusivity and peaceful participation in electoral processes.

CEPPS Approach:

CEPPS supports political parties, civil society and government institutions to engage in multi-stakeholder dialogue, encourage peaceful citizen engagement in the electoral process, and bridge divides between government officials and citizens once elected through capacity building activities with local elected officials and members of parliament. Through non-partisan domestic election observation, we support enhanced credibility and accountability in electoral processes.

CEPPS has worked with political parties since 2008 to establish, promote, and monitor adherence to a code of conduct for peaceful elections, seeking to promote inter-party political dialogue at all levels and encourage constructive citizen engagement in electoral processes.

CEPPS provides technical assistance to the CENI, civil society partners, and government institutions like the Constitutional Court to promote professional and credible elections.

Through work with journalists and radio networks, CEPPS supports media and civil society actors to engage in issue-oriented elections discourse, providing training and technical assistance to journalists to enhance their ability to use objective, conflict-sensitive reporting techniques and engage citizens in public debate.

CEPPS Key Achievements in Guinea:

CEPPS supports civil society and political parties to monitor and advocate for peaceful, transparent elections in Guinea:

For the 2015 presidential elections, CEPPS assisted political parties and CSOs in training and deploying, respectively, nearly 15,000 party poll watchers and 3,100 citizen election observers.

CEPPS has provided support to the monitoring committee for a political party Code of Conduct for peaceful elections for more than a decade. 134 political parties are currently signatories to the Code of Conduct, and CEPPS provides support to the national inter-party committee to conduct systematic monitoring of respect for the code of conduct’s principles throughout the electoral process.

CEPPS promotes issue-based political discourse and dialogue between key stakeholders in electoral processes:

Prior to the 2018 local elections and 2020 legislative elections, CEPPS brought together over 1000 citizens through public forums across Guinea to share their perspectives and policy priorities with political party representatives and local officials.
During the 2020 legislative elections, CEPPS established a radio synergy network of 64 radio stations across Guinea to promote factual reporting on the electoral process and issue-based public discourse. Elections-related radio programming reached approximately 8 million Guineans throughout the electoral process.

CEPPS increases the inclusion of women, youth, people with disabilities, and marginalized groups in Guinea’s political process:

Working with regional CSOs in Guinea, CEPPS established a network of Electoral and Civic Education Centers (CECE) in the 7 administrative regions of the country. Since 2012, The CECEs work to encourage citizen participation in democratic life and promote the inclusion of vulnerable and marginalized groups in electoral processes.
CEPPS provided training to women and youth candidates ahead of the 2018 local elections to equip them with skills and knowledge to effectively campaign for elected office.
In advance of the 2020 Legislative Elections, CEPPS hosted a series of trainings on Electoral Dispute Resolutions (EDR) with over 50 Constitutional Court members, magistrates, and support staff. EDR awareness and trainings were also held for representatives of 37 CSOs in conjunction with the judiciary trainings.