eTraining via satellite in support of African Electoral Cycles begins in Congo

The SatElections project is closely interacting with the activities of the Global Training Platform on Effective Electoral Assistance lead by  a Joint European Commission - United Nations Development Programme Task Force (EC-UNDP) on Electoral Assistance and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA). This represents the first step toward validating the fulfilment of the operational communication and data transmission needs required by most African electoral management bodies.

With financial support from the Governments of Belgium, Luxembourg and Italy, the SatElections system is being developed by an industrial consortium coordinated by the European Space Agency (ESA) in the frame of the Industry Partnership Telecommunications Programme which is the 4th Element of ESA’s Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) Programme. The industrial consortium includes OpenNet Technologies S.p.A. from Italy, SES ASTRA from Luxembourg and Newtec from Belgium.

The SatElections satellite network is based on the broadband IP technology of Newtec’s Sat3Play, which has been developed through ESA’s ARTES programme. It is operated by SES ASTRA using the Network Operation Centre located in Betzdorf, Luxembourg, using the Ku-band capacity provided by SES-ASTRA on the Southern African beam of its NSS7 satellite.

Thanks to the cooperation of the industrial consortium, the IEC-DCR, the Joint EC UNDP Task Force and International IDEA, the SatElections project aims to:

• produce the first ever eLearning modules on effective electoral assistance and electoral administration
• assess the feasibility of broadcasting the modules with appropriate, cost effective and sustainable satellite technology
• assess the feasibility of using the same satellite technology for creating an internal network for Electoral Management Bodies and for their electoral data transmission
   

The project will demonstrate, through the real case opportunity of the 2008-2011 Electoral Cycle of the DRC, that the SatElections system and associated services can provide an effective, sustainable and scalable solution for audio, video and data transmission in support of African Electoral Cycles.

For more information, see the links located in the right column of this page.