Description of company 

Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) is the UK public body dedicated to supporting democracy around the world. WFD partners with UK political parties, parliaments, electoral and financial audit institutions to help over 30 developing countries make their governments fairer, more effective, and accountable. 

WFD’s head office is based in London, and the organisation currently has approximately 140 staff working from its head office and 25 country offices worldwide. 

The aim of this Call for Experts 

WFD is issuing this Call for Experts (“Call”) to procure expert services in accordance with the conditions detailed.   

Project context 

Although Kenya has enjoyed a multiparty system since 1992, elections have been characterised by persistent electoral malpractices and conflict over the credibility of results. The 2017 elections were no different with several Election Observation Missions (EOMs) concluding that despite high levels of voter participation, the electoral process contained multiple systemic challenges, which fed claims of manipulation of results and resulted in post-election violence and a landmark court decision annulling the August presidential poll. 

Final reports of international observation missions on the 2017 elections  – including from the Africa Union, Carter Center and EU - highlight a number of key technical and procedural issues. 

In response to these the challenges, Kenya has put in place additional electoral reforms including a review and amendment of electoral laws (Elections Amendment Act 2021 and the  Elections Campaign Financing Bill 2021) and related policies to address perennial electoral challenges such as: insufficiently trained staff; improper management of voter registers; delayed voter registration processes due to insufficient biometric voter registration equipment; and corruptible procurement processes in the acquisition of election materials. The IEBC is also introducing some new features for the management of results transmission and reporting and to enhance transparency by more comprehensive media reporting. 

With less than six months to go and in what is undoubtedly a critical stage within the elections phase as the IEBC finalises procurement, suppliers and other pre-election arrangements, it will be important to understand the Commission’s administrative and technological readiness for the elections. During the course of WFD’s preliminary assessment and discussions with FCDO, WFD has identified the need for a strategic expert-led intervention, the purpose of which will help the High Commission and FCDO to: 

• Understand the extent to which the IEBC has addressed priority recommendations from the 2017 EOM reports and ensure the failures identified by the Court in 2017 have also been addressed. 
• Assess the IEBC’s overall pre-election readiness in respect of critical functions for the 2022 elections (including training of staff, securing KIEMS kits and traceable forms etc). 
• Assess the extent to which changes introduced for the 2022 polls enhanced integrity and confidence in the polls. Such reported changes include, enabling Returning Officers to transmit results from constituency-level offices if required to avoid connectivity problems undermining transmission; the printing of ballots at the central level to ensure consistency; the introduction of new security features, such as serial numbers and tamper-proof features - for results reporting forms to prevent copying; media reporting of results in collaboration with the IEBC.  
• Assess any remaining weaknesses in IEBC preparedness, assess the risks (real and perceived) of manipulation. 
• By liaising with national and international stakeholders, be aware of concerns raised with regard to the integrity of the process and any associated risks. 
• Monitor the process of results management following the 9 August poll, including both physical and electronic vote transmission and tallying. This will include a focus on understanding the transparency and accountability of the process and an assessment of the significance of any problems that do occur and which may impact the integrity/credibility of the poll and results announced. 

Engage strategically and effectively in constructive messaging with the IEBC before, during and after the elections in order to advance FCDO’s support for stronger democratic processes in Kenya.The purpose of this assignment is to add value to the existing election observation efforts and fulfil an important strategic goal by deploying a small expert team to conduct a forensic analysis. The Expert team will focus on specific aspects which can be major determinants for the actual and perceived integrity of the process and the level of confidence in the IEBC’s management of it. This strategic intervention will help to inform the UK on the integrity of the IEBC’s management of the process, and notably results processes to be able to better respond to potential risks and challenges. 

The national election expert will be deployed for five months and will work with international election experts providing national context and access to different political and civil society contacts. The Kenya Election Expert Mission will comprise of international Elections Expert (mission lead); an international Election Management Technology expert and the national Elections Expert. 

The closing date for this Call for Experts will be 17h00 EAT on Friday 22nd April 2022. WFD intends to issues a consultancy agreemnt for the abvoe expert services, to be completed to WFD’s satisfaction, by 2nd May 2022.  

Proposal submission  

All expert proposals should be in a format that complies with the requirements of this Call.  

Proposals should be submitted by email to: Maureen Oduori at maureen.oduori@wfd.org  and cc Joyce Barasa at joyce.barasa@wfd.org. The email subject should read “Proposal – Kenya Election Expert Mission”. We recommend that proposals are submitted in PDF format where possible, except spreadsheets.  

Proposal should refer clearly to the ITT reference number.  

Should you require any further information or clarification on this proposal, please contact Maureen Oduori at maureen.oduori@wfd.org.