USAID

The Political Processes Support program is a five-year, $8.8 million activity, launched in October 2010, which aims to enhance the ability of key actors, including the government, political parties, parliament, and civil society, to develop institutional capacities and strengthen relations between institutions within the political environment. Political reforms will increase the government’s accountability and public faith in democracy. Continued work with democratic parties will promote internal transparency, responsiveness to constituencies and participation of women and minorities in political processes.

Project components include:

• Encouraging greater transparency and inclusiveness of the electoral reform process, and promoting compliance with subsequent legislation;
• Strengthening the representative, legislative, and oversight functions of elected officials in cooperation with civil society;
• Enhancing the participation of youth, women, minorities, and marginalized populations in the political process;
• Assisting small, regional, and minority political parties in crafting responsive, issue-based campaigns, and assisting all parties in devising strategies in response to Serbia’s election framework and electoral conditions;
• Building a professional and effective policy development community;
• Enhancing political stakeholders’ understanding of political and campaign finance regulations;
• Creating the framework for improved accuracy of the national voter registry.

Expected results include:

• Serbian parliament enacting electoral reform legislation consistent with European standards that increases citizen input into the electoral process and improves government accountability to voters at the local and national levels;
• Citizens, government, parliament, and civil society representatives increasing their understanding of electoral reform legislation;
• Political parties initiating internal party reform, incorporating citizen input and abiding by the newly-enacted reform legislation;
• Serbian political parties consistently crafting informed and responsive policies based upon stakeholder and citizen input;
• Local executives and municipal councilors developing a culture of seeking and utilizing local citizen input, as well as collaborating with relevant governmental institutions and NGOs to formulate and implement policies;
• Ministries and parliamentary committees increasingly connecting across institutions and communicating regularly on the intent, content, and oversight of legislation and laws, contributing to a more effective legislative process;
• Youth participants of the program increasing their understanding of the political system and becoming more engaged through parties or civic organizations;
• Creating a framework for accurate voter registration.

The program is being implemented by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) (http://www.ndi.org/), the International Republican Institute (IRI) (http://www.iri.org/), and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) (www.ifes.org)