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To increase the planning and
strategic thinking skills of candidates
and campaign Officers in the lead up
to a potential national election
in Lebanon in 2013.

To create a space whereby men and women from different class, political and religious backgrounds could come together to learn through interactive sessions. PCDD overturned the conventional wisdom that suggested that it would be impossible to bring together such a diverse group of participants, given social norms regarding women's participation and political enmities.
To address the crucial need for such an intervention, as decision making and planning in Lebanon are often spontaneous rather than a product of structural and well-defined electoral campaign approaches.
 
Our approach, funded by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, was a nationwide call to skill any candidate or their campaign Ocers (regardless of political aliation) or independent running for oce with the skills to run an eective and engaged electoral campaign. This took shape as the 'Plan and Win' series of workshops conducted nationwide to equip candidates and their campaigns with the knowledge, tools and skills needed to plan for elections in a more systematic and technical way.
 
We trained candidates on successful electoral campaign structures, strategic communications and articulating a mission and vision in all governorates in Lebanon. PCDD approached this through practical exercises for building a structured campaign, focussing on tactics and issues rather than personalities and parochial politics. Some topics of the sessions included:

1) The role and responsibilities of an MP (legislative, follow-up and monitoring, executive)
 
2) The strategic thinking process - Why do I want to run? Why would voters choose me? What am I striving to achieve/accomplish during these four years? What is my vision for my country?)

3) Managing campaign resources - people/volunteers,money, time, information/data)

4) Elements of strategic planning - Research, strategy, target audiences, outreach plan, human and financial resources, timing, campaign messaging, electoral platform

5) Analysis of the current electoral campaigns of some candidates to better understand the practical implications of strategic thinking and planning skills
 
1. More than 120 participants representing most political parties in Lebanon attended workshops conducted nationwide, this was notable given the critical security situation in Lebanon at the time
2. Participants from often adversarial backgrounds worked together eectively in our participatory workshop sessions, which was unique given the complex context of Lebanon

3. The turnout of registered participants was high despite a general lack of confidence in the likelihood of their being an election and a further reluctance to engage on potentially sensitive topics