The Africa Liberal Network recently held its third training working for its member parties. Ellen Kelly (Acting Director, International Office) and Nelson Muffuh (Africa Network Officer) travelled with three trainers (Jenny Shorten, Alex Folkes and Colin Ross) from the Liberal Democrats to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to train members of the parties in the African Liberal Network.

Forty-three participants attended the workshop from fourteen different countries ranging from Tunisia in the North to Zambia in the South and from Seychelles in the East to Senegal and Cote D’Ivoire in the West. It was conducted in three languages – English, French and Portuguese. The participants came from parties at very different stages of development, ranging from governing parties to parties which can only rely on the support of a small percentage of the population.

Holding a workshop with such a diverse range of participants can present a struggle but it really works. The more developed parties are able to relate their experiences using the techniques that are being trained and they communicated this successfully to the less well-developed parties. For example, Lamine Thiam (MP) from the Parti Démocratique Sénégalais and Mr. Salva Rweyemamu, a leading expert in media relations, were able to talk about the importance of campaigning methods such as residents’ surveys, regular focus leaflets, grassroots campaigning, effective structures, and successful communication and media relations.

The workshop also covered many of the theoretical aspects of campaigning, such as team dynamics and leadership skills. These are important because it is vital that a campaign team understands the process of development and that they will go through productive periods as well as tougher times. A team that does not understand that tougher times are part and parcel of the development process is more likely to get disheartened and give up.

Another key part of the three-day workshop was training in media and public speaking skills. The workshop was a mixture of the theoretical and the practical and the participants were asked to take part in residents surveying and to take action photos, which might be useful in campaigning. This exercise was designed both to show to participants how easy residents surveying is and that people value politicians who ask them for their opinion. It also reinforced the need to talk about issues, which matter, to voters rather than those about which the party is most fond of talking.

The final session of the weekend was a look at campaign literature and the wide variety of different styles used in a single campaign. The basis for this discussion was the literature used in previous elections by the Liberal Democrats in the UK. The participants were sent away with a set of the literature and examples of leaflets from previous campaigns.

As well as the formal sessions, the workshop had a social side to it as the participants got to know each other and shared campaigning experiences. One of the key aims from the beginning was to create a strong network between the countries, regardless of their background, language or stage of party development. It was felt that problems could be more easily overcome if a solution from another African country could be found, rather than having to rely on ideas from Western Europe.

The highlight of the social side was the formal cocktail held on the Friday night. The leader of Tanzania’s Civic United Front, Prof. Ibrahim Lipumba, and the Head of FNS in East Africa, Mrs. Eva-Maria Kohler-Renfordt were able to attend and gave moving speeches to the participants. The guests were also treated to some entertaining traditional dancing.

Among the participants were Dr. Momar Diop – Resident Country Director for NDI, and Veni Swai and Kylie Hatton from the FNS. All were instrumental in the smooth running of the workshop and the evolution of the discussions and were able to share their extensive knowledge of campaigning and of working on a pan-African basis.

As well as equipping the participants with skills for future campaigns, the workshop boosted the profile of the host party, CUF. Four reporters attended the last day of the workshop from local newspapers who had been encouraged to come by the Director of Information of CUF, Paul Hiza Tambwe.

The next planned event for the member parties of the ALN is training for trainers workshop in the summer. It is hoped that this would boost the quality and number of trainers from within the Network. It is also hoped that such events will go a long way in advancing the goal of implanting liberal democratic principles in Africa by strengthening the capacities of the members of the ALN.