Commonwealth Secretariat
  1. Democracy Home
  2. Working for democracy
    1. Democracy Experts
    2. Government and Opposition – Roles, Rights and Responsibilities
  3. Election Reports
    1. Being an Election Observer
    2. Election Observation
  4. News Archive
  5. Publications
  6. Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group
    1. CMAG Meetings & Statements
  7. Conflict Prevention
    1. Secretary-General’s Envoys

Democracy Experts

At the request of member countries, we send experts who promote democracy and strengthen democratic processes and institutions.

Expert in Cameroon 2004The provision of technical assistance and training is another important way in which the Commonwealth Secretariat promotes democracy and strengthens democratic institutions.

At the request of member governments, we deploy experts through our "Democratic Advisory Services" programme. 

Some visits are relatively short. For instance, a media expert may visit for a fortnight to help ensure that in the pre-election period the contesting parties all get their fair share of impartial media coverage. A voter registration expert may advise an election body for a week on best practice in the use of Voter ID cards.

Other assignments are much longer: one Commonwealth expert provided election advice to a Commonwealth election management body for a full 18 months leading up to an election. This tailored provision of experts is a growing area of work and we foresee even greater use of this facility by member countries in the future.

Thirteen experts were sent to six countries in the period June 2002 to June 2003 alone. Examples from the period July 2003 to August 2004 include:

United Republic of Tanzania
South African Ilona Tip and Malawian Georgina Chikoko ran training sessions in conflict management for the Zanzibar Election Commission.

Sierra Leone
A team from Ghana's Centre for Democratic Development trained the domestic election observers of the National Elections Watch, ahead of the May 2004 local elections.

Solomon Islands
In July 2004 a two-person team, Keith Hathaway of Britain and Dinanath Gadjahar of Trinidad and Tobago conducted an Assessment Mission at the request of the Election Commission.

Malawi
British media advisor Tim Neale advised the Election Commission on ways of achieving a level media playing field prior to the May 2004 General Election and supervised the Commission's monitoring of the media.

Cameroon
Chairman of the Ghana Electoral Commission Dr Afari-Gyan and three of his senior officals advised the Ministry of Territorial Adminstration on election management.
The National Elections Observatory was assisted by three experts from the Ghanaian NGO Centre for Democratic Development, who trained trainers in election observation.
South African Louise Olivier advised on conflict resolution.
Canadian Paul Breton advised on media matters.
Trinidadian Joycelyn Lucas advised on civic and voter education.
Briton Tim Sheehy advised on ways of tackling the abuse of incumbency.

The Gambia
British experts Richard Carver and Colin Marshall advised the Independent Election Commission, respectively on media arrangements and overall election management.

Fiji Islands
In September 2003 the Chairman of the Ghana Election Commission, Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, advised on election planning and budgets.