LEAD Gauteng: ToT

A Leadership and Conflict Management (LEAD) workshop is currently being held in Johannesburg, South Africa from 4 of February until 8 February, 2019. This 5-day LEAD Training of Trainers (ToT) is part of part of the PEV-RSA national project, funded by the European Union. The PEV RSA project (www.democracy-support.eu/southafrica) is 24 months (2018/20) and is implemented by the European Centre for Electoral Support in partnership with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

The opening ceremony has speeches from the acting Provincial Electoral Officer for Gauteng, Thabo Masemula. Masemula brought up the importance of the preventing electoral violence in all its forms, including intimidation, killings and the creation of ‘no-go’ zones. As this election will most likely be one of the most competitive, having meetings and trainings like this are of vital importance.

Participants to the training come from across Gauteng, Limpopo, and North West, which will help create a sustainable network of trainers and conflict mediators in these three provinces. This can be drawn upon at demand, setting the groundwork for future success and allowing a great chance to further develop the early warning network that is part of the PEV-RSA mission.

This is the 10th LEAD training, marking a milestone for PEV RSA as the project continues to raise the capacity of electoral stakeholders across South Africa. Past trainings have taken place in Johannesburg with national staff, Centurion, Cape Town, Polokwane, and across KwaZulu Natal. This training is part of the PEV RSA project’s capacity building component.

The curriculum on Leadership and Dialogue was crafted by ECES in partnership with Centre for Creative Leadership, CCL. CCL is based the US and delivers high-end executive education for world leaders. Such trainings are usually very costly and require far more time than what one usually can afford. The partnership between CCL and ECES emerged to make leadership training accessible and affordable for electoral stakeholders.

Leadership training blended with dialogue techniques has so far proven to be a winning concept. Leadership, both for the individual and organizational level, are essential components of electoral processes.

The LEAD workshop in Johannesburg is meant to explore various ways how exchange between stakeholders of difference of opinion, beliefs or ideologies can be carried out almost conflict-free by making use of technical skills.

In sum then, this workshop in Johannesburg is a forum whereby members of the electoral stakeholders in Gauteng, Limpopo, and NorthWest can further develop skills in leadership and dialogue and make use of the very fact that participants come from different backgrounds to bring out as many perspectives are possible on how to succeed with dialogue.

The workshop is being facilitated by Provincial Advisor, Rindai Chipfunde Vava, Vice Chair of the Election Support Network of the SADC (ESN-SA) and Executive Director of the Zimbabwe Support Network from Zimbabwe, ZESN, Eldred De Klerk, Election Conflict Management Advisor and Joyce Pitso, Capacity Building Advisor.