ZIMBABWE ELECTION SUPPORT NETWORK ANNUAL REPORT 2010 Monitoring and Observation Programme Barbra Nyangairi Monitoring & Observation Programme Officer Introduction The Monitoring and Observation programme has the mandate of observing elections and closely monitoring political developments. The department had a number of exciting events to monitor during the course of the year. The constitution making process particularly the outreach process which was monitored in collaboration with Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) and the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZHLR), was a novel experience for the programme. In addition to monitoring the constitution making process, the programme had 45 long term observers deployed in remote and rural areas particularly those where violence and intimidation of magnitude was experienced in the previous elections. ZESN also provided commentary and analysis on political developments such as the call for elections that began earlier in the year and intensified as the year came to an end. The organisation introduced a new component to its monitoring efforts through the introduction of training in political finance monitoring. In addition, the organisation continued to monitor political developments in the country and serves as credible information of political and electoral related developments in the country. and drew experiences of monitoring political finance from Kenya and South Africa. Methodology workshop with Electoral Resource Persons (EROs) in political finance The workshops objectives were to come up with a methodology for monitoring political finance in Zimbabwe. Participants shared experiences of political finance issues they felt were important to be monitored. By the end of the workshop, a checklist on monitoring political finance had been agreed on. One month pilot study in political finance monitoring After LTOs had been trained in political finance, a one month pilot study was conducted. The pilot was meant to provide insights into the data collection tool and its usability for monitoring political finance. The pilot was hugely a success as the observers were able to report on 2 political party events and one government event. Activities From January to December 2010 the following activities were carried out by the programme; A political finance think tank A workshop was organized to bring awareness on political finance issues and implications of political finance in electoral processes. The workshop brought in experts in political finance 7 Participants at the Political Finance Workshop Review workshop in political finance monitoring A one day review workshop was conducted to review the instrument for monitoring political finance. PROMOTING DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS IN ZIMBABWE