IRI-EXECUTED HRDF PROJECT TRAINS NEW POLITICAL LEADERS AND ELECTION MONITORS

UNCLAS MANAGUA 001519 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CEN, DRL JFARRAR AND NTONGOUR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL NU KCRM KDEM KWMN SUBJECT: IRI-EXECUTED HRDF PROJECT TRAINS NEW POLITICAL LEADERS AND ELECTION MONITORS ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On June 28, Foreign Affairs Officer and FSN met with International Republican Institute (IRI) Program Officer Ivania Vega, and with Academic Director William Genet and General Manager Jorge Luis Ayestas of American College to discuss progress on the Nicaragua portion of the "Regional Party Renovation" project. The Nicaragua component, which began in September 2005 and ends in September 2006, has received $21,000 out of a total DRL Human Rights and Democracy Fund (HRDF) grant of $400,000 also being used by IRI in Ecuador, Argentina, and Bolivia. During a June 15 meeting with Foreign Affairs Officer, Gilberto Valdez, IRI Resident Country Director for Nicaragua opined that "Regional Party Renovation" was the "best project" he had been involved with in his current position at IRI due to the project's prognosis for sustainability; he wished that a larger portion of the $400,000 had been allocated for the Nicaragua component. The three-phase project is actively training a new generation of qualified political leaders and poll monitors for the November 5 elections. Gilberto Valdez has requested a one-year extension of between $20,000 -- $40,000 to ensure project sustainability after the November 2006 elections. END SUMMARY. STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONAL WEAKNESSES WITHIN POLITICAL PARTIES - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶2. (SBU) The party renovation project addresses institutional training weaknesses among the nation's political parties by providing a three-part university-level training course for young politicians and political functionaries with a view to creating a future corps of qualified, professional and democratically-oriented political leaders. IRI has partnered with American College (AC),a private Nicaraguan higher-level academic institution located in Managua. The AC course instructors have created a manual entitled Democratic Leadership ("Liderazgo Democratico.") It contains sections on Nicaraguan political history, current political affairs as well as exercises and multiple choice tests. The manual, which is the basic course text resource, is distributed to all participants. The instructors elaborate upon the information in the manual through power point presentations, lectures by party leaders, interactive seminars and testing for all participants. FOUR SMALLER PARTIES PARTICIPATE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶3. (SBU) The three phases of the course include leadership skills, vote defense, and political management. Participants who take all three phases will receive a diploma that can be used as credit toward a one year masters at the American College. Due to budgetary and other considerations, the project concentrated on building leadership skills among four smaller political parties: Camino Cristiano (CCN); Sandinista Renewal Movement (MRS); Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN); and, Movement for the Republic (APRE). PARTIES SELECT THE COURSE CANDIDATES - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶4. (SBU) Course participants are selected by their own political parties based on aptitude, interest and potential for party leadership. The AC representatives said that 70% of participants were between 17 and 25 years of age. For the leadership skills phase, each of the participating political parties nominated 30 candidates from their own ranks to undertake a two-day (Saturday and Sunday, from 8 am- 5 pm, 16 hours total) intensive seminar with lectures, group exercise, pre-and post-course testing, and feedback sessions. AC and IRI representatives noted that due to inter-party antipathies, party leaders from each of the participating parties gave lectures only to course participants from their own party. Ayestas averred that the dropout rate after the first day of the leadership skills phase was generally no more than 6% for participants from all parties. Foreign Affairs Officer and FSN viewed a video recording of several different seminar sessions including separate seminars for APRE and Camino Cristiano participants. The sessions appeared to be lively, highly interactive and well attended. NOTABLE SUCCESSES AND REMAINING CHALLENGES - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶5. (SBU) IRI and AC representatives identified the following as successes to date: almost 120 young politically active individuals have completed the leadership skills phase; IRI and AC built into the course curriculum knowledge and training weaknesses identified by the participating parties; approximately 95% of participants improved in their professional skills and understanding; and, after learning in the course about their own parties' by-laws and constitutions, graduates of the course have begun to demand that party leadership behave more transparently and comply with their own rules. Valdez noted a substantial lack of coordination within participating parties and lack of enthusiasm for the project among some members of party structures. He explained that these weaknesses have impeded efforts to inform participants about the availability dates for the leadership skills course, adding that many participants possess very little knowledge of the historical backgrounds or political philosophies of their own parties. A few individuals appeared to have joined their parties purely for social or personal advancement reasons. PHASE TWO WILL TRAIN ELECTION POLL MONITORS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶6. (SBU) American College completed the leadership skills phase in April, and during June had begun the ambitious vote defense phase, which seeks to create a qualified cadre of 8000 "fiscales" (election poll monitors) from among members of the four participating political parties in preparation for the November 2006 elections. The project has not yet started the political management part of the course, but expects to have 60 participants in that phase, with all participants having already undertaken the leadership skills and vote defense components as a prerequisite. EFFORTS TOWARD SUSTAINABILITY - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶7. (SBU) IRI's relationship with AC under the HRDF grant will end in September. Gilberto Valdez asked Foreign Affairs Officer if DRL might be willing to give a six-month to one-year extension of between $20,000 -- $40,000 to ensure project sustainability after the November 2006 elections. The AC will begin charging for the three-phase course as one of the academic offering among the other course it regularly teaches. The AC representatives informed Foreign Affairs Officer and FSN that at present they are seeking future funding assistance from local private sector leaders interested in improving the quality of the nation's politicians, and from other USG sources. In addition to training political leaders, the AC representatives want to expand the course's leadership skills component to focus on vulnerable youth on the Atlantic Coast who need leadership and self-esteem skills, as well as to support leadership capacity building among women. TRIVELLI