The EC-UNDP partnership in electoral assistance is unique for its scope, for its achievements and ambitions. It builds on a history of sector experience, specific attention to the lessons learned in previous projects and a mutual understanding of each other’s approaches, roles and capacities.

The partnership is proving to be of increasing value to electoral assistance operations to the beneficiary countries, as it allows to rationalize interventions in the area and leads to better and timelier formulation, implementation and monitoring of projects, and is in line with the concepts of enhanced donor coordination from the Declarations on Aid Effectiveness of Paris 2005 and Accra 2008. The resulting projects are consequently more effective, sustainable and in harmony with overall EU and UN objectives.

The EC and UNDP have been collaborating in the field of electoral assistance since 1995. However it is since just 2004, with the implementation of the project in support of the electoral processes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, that the collaboration was strongly intensified. This lead to the signature of the "Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of Electoral Assistance Programmes and Projects", reviewed and updated in December 2008.

The EC-UNDP partnership in electoral assistance relies heavily on the strong cooperation between services at the level of headquarters for the quality support mechanisms available. These include, through a dedicated Joint Task Force, formulation and monitoring missions, support for the selection of experts and procurement of election material, joint trainings, development of guidelines, gathering of lessons learned and participation to specialized electoral networks.

It was proven that the partnership also contributes to the better comprehension and improvement of the management of the complex set of interactions among EC and UNDP services, Electoral Management Bodies, other multilateral and bilateral development agencies, partner countries’ governments, civil society organizations, political parties, media and service providers. The appreciation of the sensitiveness and the proper management of these delicate relationships is one the core issue to be dealt for the provision of effective electoral assistance and require the development of specific skills that go well beyond the pure technical advice on electoral matters and financial support.