Papua New Guinea Electoral Commission Launches Strategic Plan
The Papua New Guinea Electoral Commission (PNGEC) officially launched its 2018-2022 Corporate Plan on August 17, 2018. This document will guide the PNGEC’s efforts to prepare for and conduct effective, inclusive elections, including the 2022 national election. The PNGEC will tackle critical needs for improving the Papua New Guinea electoral processes by establishing eight key strategic pillars of focus for the next five years: legal framework, restructuring and decentralization, organizational capacity, financial management, voter enrollment, election management, voter awareness and civic education, and gender equity and social inclusion. Each area will be addressed through targeted, monitored activities to guide progress. The plan was developed through a PNGEC-owned, inclusive, feedback-driven strategic planning process which began in October 2017 with support from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).
Throughout the process, IFES provided focused mentoring and guidance to the PNGEC strategic planning core team to support their development of the planning framework and build their capacity to lead its implementation. The core team designated inclusion of staff at all levels in the plan’s development as a key priority, and almost half of the PNGEC’s staff in the headquarters and provincial offices engaged in the process. Staff noted that this represented the most inclusive strategic planning process ever conducted by the PNGEC. One key innovative element of this planning process was the conduct of eight strategic working groups, which brought together representatives from PNGEC headquarters, provincial offices, and local external stakeholders to map priorities and activities over the next five years for each pillar, guided in best practices by international advisors from IFES and the Papua New Guinea Governance Facility.
The PNGEC took ownership over the process and Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato affirmed at the launch that “this plan will not gather dust but will be our guide toward better elections in 2022.” Minister of Constitution Office and Bougainville Affairs William Samb echoed this optimism, noting that he is “confident the launching of this new corporate plan…will give the PNGEC a new direction in effectively administering democratic elections.”
For further information on the strategic working groups, please click here.
IFES’ work in Papua New Guinea is generously funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade through the Electoral Systems Strengthening Project.
