Purpose of this Guide
Nonpartisan citizen election observation groups and civil society organizations (CSOs) work hard every day organizing citizens, collecting and analyzing data, and making the case for democratic reforms. In closed environments, they also must push back against infringements by authoritarian power structures. Authoritarians have taken steps to block, muffle, or discredit these groups and their findings. This guide is intended to provide best practices for organizational communication in places of closing political space.
While the guide is mainly focused on election observation groups, the principles of communication are applicable to any number of causes and contexts. CSOs that work on issues other than electoral integrity can use this guide to create impactful communications plans that spur action on the issues they care about. International practitioners can use this guide and the process it lays out to develop effective trainings and provide technical assistance to groups that want to strengthen their communications and outreach.
