Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

Programme summary

NIMD's Africa Regional Programme (ARP) aims to stimulate interaction between political parties on the continent on themes which influence national democratic reform agendas. The objective of the peer exchange is to share experiences and best practices and to identify appropriate solutions to challenges that involve a wide range of political institutions, political parties and other relevant stakeholders.

In 2009 various country-to-country exchange programmes were organised under the auspices of ARP, including programmes between Kenya and South Africa on electoral reforms, between Mali and Benin on constitutional reforms and between Zambia and Tanzania on the participation of women in politics.

Also very successful was the exchange visit by CMD-Malawi to Mozambique in September 2009, during which Malawians shared their experiences on the effectiveness and desirability of setting up dialogue platforms during elections. This was later followed by the set-up of an informal dialogue platform on elections in Mozambique.

In June 2009 ARP also facilitated peer learning and interaction between political parties by organising a regional conference in Kenya on the role of political parties in 'deepening voice and accountability'. Furthermore ARP organised a multi-stakeholder workshop in Ghana on “African Elections; Best practices and Cross-sectoral collaboration”, in close collaboration with various international organisations.