ECES is a not for profit private foundation headquartered in Brussels with a global remit. ECES promotes sustainable democratic development through the provision of advisory services, operational support and management of large projects in the electoral and democracy assistance field. ECES works with all electoral stakeholders, including "electoral management bodies, civil society organizations involved in voter education and election observation, political parties, parliaments, media, security forces, religious groups and legal institutions confronted with electoral disputes resolution".

 

ECES has crafted and copyrighted its strategy called "A European Response to Electoral Cycle Support - EURECS". This is an innovative and alternative delivery mechanism to implement electoral and democracy assistance activities that are consistent with European values and EU policies and targets the implementations of the recommendations of EU election observation missions and it is built to help prevent, mitigate and manage electoral related conflicts. EURECS is implemented via  specific methodologies and tools developed and also copyrighted by ECES such as its Standard Operation Procedures, the Communication & Visibility Guidelines, the Electoral Political Economy Analyses, the project approach to contribute Preventing Electoral Conflicts and the cascade training curriculum called "Leadership and Conflict Management Skills for Electoral Stakeholders, LEAD"

ECES developed a partnership with the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies of Pisa to promote customised, accessible and innovative capacity building programmes for all electoral stakeholders, including the Master on Electoral Policy and Administration – MEPA.
 

ECES is also part of a consortium led by the College of Europe to implement the ERMES project (European Response on Mediation Support) to provide a tool for the EU to advance its objectives and role in the field of mediation and dialogue. The project will be implemented under the supervision of the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments of the European Commission and in close consultation with the Mediation Support Team of the European External Action Services which will ensure the political steer.  The ERMES project office will be within ECES heaquarters' premises in Brussels. 

 

ECES is a member of the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) and is part of its Board of Directors. EPD is the most important network of European civil and political society organisations working on democracy assistance. It comprises fourteen among European foundations and civil society organisations from eleven EU Member States woring in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America with funding of EU and EU Member States.

ECES is also member of the Federation of European and International Association established in Belgium (FAIB) and is part of the EU Transparency Register and of the Transational Giving Europe Network.