The Inter-American Network of Electoral Information and Practices (RIPE for its Spanish acronym) is a meeting space within the framework of the project Strengthening the Installed Capacity of the Hemisphere’s Electoral Authorities. RIPE was created by the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (GS/OAS) through the Department for Electoral Cooperation and Observation

Background

DECO has initiated a systematic and integrated process to strengthen the institutional capacity of members of the region’s electoral authorities. The first component of this initiative was the organization of the First Inter-American Electoral Training Seminar, which took place in November, 2008, in Mexico City. The training seminar was a technical and academic exercise to initiate knowledge sharing on the administration and organization of electoral processes for electoral management body staff.

A second component of the project consists in establishing the Inter-American Network of Electoral Information and Practices (RIPE), which will serve as a mechanism for exchanging information between the hemisphere’s electoral authorities and as a means of sharing information about the actions they undertake to strengthen their processes and electoral systems. In addition, RIPE will be an important instrument for follow up on the lessons learned by participants in the First Inter-American Electoral Training Seminar and for future training sessions.

Objectives

• To disseminate knowledge on electoral material based on the content of the Inter-American Electoral Training Seminars.
• To establish a mechanism for exchanging information, models, tools, and knowledge between the electoral authorities of the hemisphere and other interested parties.
• To promote inter-institutional cooperation between electoral authorities, given that knowledge on initiatives implemented by electoral authorities to improve and modernize their electoral systems may be requested by another authority for comparative purposes.