NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RECENT TRENDS IN THE USE OF ELECTORAL TECHNOLOGY: SANT’ANNA SCHOOL DIRPOLIS INSTITUTE DIRECTOR INVITED SPEAKER IN ABUJA

Andrea De Guttry, Director of the Sant’Anna School DIRPOLIS Institute, is one of the keynote speakers at the international conference entitled “Opportunities and Challenges in the use of Technology in Elections. Experiences from West and Southern Africa”, in Abuja, Nigeria, on April 9-11, 2018.

The conference will bring together members from ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) and SADC (Southern African Development Community) countries, election management and electoral assistance experts, representatives of international organizations, and diplomats.

The objective of this conference is to provide a platform to introduce the usage of Information and Communication Technology in South and West Africa elections for strengthening the credibility and transparency of electoral processes (general elections in Nigeria will be held in February- March 2019). Participants will examine the current voting process and identify strategies to support the African community adopting new technologies in the next decade elections.

The conference is organized by INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria), and ECONEC (ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions), in partnership with ECF-SADC (Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC countries), and ECES (European Center for Electoral Support - Bruxelles), a non-profit private foundation, which promotes sustainable democratic development through the provision of advisory services in election monitoring consistent with European values and EU policies. The conference will be held within the framework of the “EU Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria” project to contribute to the reinforcement of democracy in Nigeria through building legitimate democratic institutions and to develop standard requirements for transparent electronic voting across the continent.

Professor Andrea de Guttry will present the Sant’Anna School Master Program in Electoral Policy and Administration (MEPA). In January 2018, ECES and Sant’Anna School have partnered to promote customised, accessible and innovative capacity building programmes for all electoral stakeholders.