[EODS] Election Observation and Democracy Support

Election Observation and Democracy Support (EODS) is the capacity-building project for EU Election Observation, funded by the European Commission. The current EODS III project is implemented by a consortium led by GIZ, which includes Democracy Reporting International (DRI) and MEMO 98 as partner organisations. We focus on:

• Strengthening the EU Election Observation Mission methodology
• Building the capacity of EU election missions to assess the impact of social media on elections
• Coordinating the communication strategy for EU election missions
• Training election observation specialists in EU methodology and key election principles 
• Developing tools to support the operational aspects of EU election observation

Election Observation and Democracy Support (EODS) follows the principles of the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation commemorated at the United Nations in October 2005.

With the objective of supporting and strengthening the EU’s election-related efforts, the first Network for Enhanced Electoral and Democracy Support (NEEDS) project was launched in 2002, followed by NEEDS II and NEEDS III, the latter finishing at the end of 2012. The program was continued under a new name, ‘Election Observation and Democratic Support (EODS)’ from 2013 - 2016, through a Consortium led by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). EODS II was implemented through a Consortium led by IBF International Consulting from 2017-2020. For more information, also visit the EODS website.