The overall objective of the PEV project is to prevent, mitigate and manage conflicts that may arise during the electoral cycle by assisting non-state actors (NSA) in addressing root causes of political and election related violence and conflict.

The specific objectives are distilled into four main strands, namely:

• Specific objective 1: Enhancing knowledge and develop skills amongst electoral stakeholders, NSA’s a priori, of root causes and appropriate responses to electoral conflict and violence focusing on exclusion and building strategies for inclusion.

• Specific objective 2: Support the establishment of a CSO platform composed by NSA’s bringing together organisations working towards inclusiveness, tolerance and peace at the grassroots, regional and national level and plug this work into the electoral cycle for a meaningful contribution towards electoral conflict and violence prevention.

• Specific objective 3: Capacitate NSA’s to revive, coordinate and utilize an early warning network composed by local electoral conflict mediators, managed by a Conflict Coordinator per province;

• Specific objective 4: Capitalise on networks, platforms and NSA’s with focus on women and youth associations, formal and informal, to craft and disseminate peace messages in a coordinated multi-stakeholder response to a conflict-free electoral process.