LEAD KwaZulu Natal: Panelist Training
A Leadership and Conflict Management (LEAD) workshop for panelists and district coordiantors in KwaZulu Natal (KZN) is currently being held in Durban, South Africa from 21 to the 22 of February 2019. This 2-day LEAD training 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 workshop was officially opened by Ntomb’futhi Masinga, Senior Provincial Manager of Electoral Operations for the IEC. She stressed that the need to monitor and prevent the periphery issues that might not directly be involved with the election, but will affect the environment and context nonetheless. Masinga also went through the election calendar, showing the complexity and coordination that is necessary for a smooth national election.
Participants are the district coordinators and electoral staff from across KZN. These staff will be part of the provincial pool of mediators for PEV-RSA, able to monitor local situations and hotspots, and work with ECES experts to intervene if necessary. This modality ensures that responses remain sensitive to the local context, while still retaining the international scope and expertise that ECES is well known
This is the 12th LEAD training nationally and the 6th to happen in KZN, with training already occurring across South Africa. In the provincial context, a LEAD training of trainers has occurred for electoral stakeholders, as well as a cascading training across the province afterwards. 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 Durban 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 Durban is a forum whereby mediators and conflict prevention coordinators in KZN can further develop skills in leadership and dialogue and learn new skills and approaches on how to succeed with dialogue.
The workshop is being facilitated by Zefanias Matsimbe, Senior Lecturer at Eduardo Mondiane University and a senior expert at EISA, Rindai Chipfunde-Vava, Host Director of the Election Support Network of Southern Africa and Executive Director of Zimbabwe Election Support Network, Joyce Pitso, Capacity Development Advisor, and lastly Mxolisi Nyuswa.