Training
Genuine elections are part of the bedrock of a functioning democracy, which is, in turn, a crucial factor in sustainable development. That is why supporting election processes has become a key component of the EU’s external relations policy. This requires skilled and trained election observers.
Training for observers is organised by Member States (mainly for short-term observers) and by Commission services with the support of NEEDS (the Network for Enhanced Electoral and Democracy Support). NEEDS is conducting a series of training seminars for EU long-term observers and core team experts for EU EOMs. NEEDS trainees are selected by Member States and by the European Commission on the basis of their profiles, experience and language skills. There is also the need to strike a balance between the nationalities and gender of the participants.
The overall objective of NEEDS is to support the strengthening of the democratic electoral process in the EU’s partner countries by bolstering the capacity of the EU and civil society organisations to conduct election observation missions, thereby enhancing the transparency and credibility of observed elections. In addition, NEEDS is conducting a series of seminars for domestic observer groups in Africa, the MEDA region, Asia, Europe and Latin America. NEEDS is also producing a series of methodological guidelines and templates to strengthen the coherence of EU EOMs.
Evaluation on the NEEDS projects 
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Training on effective electoral assistance
Since 2000, more than €300 million of EU electoral assistance has funded 75 projects in 40 countries. This illustrates the need to implement training in electoral assistance. Thus, in April 2006, the Commission and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) signed the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of Electoral Assistance .
Since then, they have developed, with the support of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), a joint training initiative on the subject of effective electoral assistance. It aims to introduce Commission and UNDP field staff to the current policy framework that governs both EU and UN involvement in elections, lessons learned, and the electoral cycle and new approaches in electoral assistance with a view to building capacity for programming, identification, formulation, implementation and evaluation of electoral assistance projects.
In September 2006, the Commission and the UNDP organised a pilot training workshop in effective electoral assistance which took place in Brussels. It helped to test the training materials developed so far and finalised the training package for regional rollout. The first regional training session took place in Tanzania in November 2006.