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The Electoral Support Project (ESP) phase II is a continuation of the Electoral Support Project Phase I that was initiated in August 2008, following the first Constituent Assembly elections. The Phase II of ESP provides technical assistance focused on a long-term institutional capacity development of the Election Commission of Nepal (ECN) for conducting credible, inclusive and transparent elections.

The Electoral Support Project, with a total budget of 10.5 Million euros, started on January 2012 and ended on December 2018. . The project was implemented by UNDP under the Direct Implementation Modality and in partnership with the European Union, United Kingdom Aids, Norway and Denmark. The key stakeholders of the Action were the Electoral Commission to Nepal as final beneficiary of the action, UNDP as implementing agent of the action and Norwegian Embassy as co-funder of the action.

The three key outputs of the project are the following:

1. The ECN capacity-building: The project provided sustained institutional strengthening and professional development assistance for ECN to function as a permanent, professional and independent electoral management body.
2. Credible and sustainable elections: ESP provided technical assistance and critical operational support to ECN during elections.
3. Increased democratic participation of voters: The project focused on increasing awareness of democracy, electoral system and processes, especially of vulnerable groups (women, people living with disabilities and ethnic minorities), for them to meaningfully participate in different stages of the electoral cycle.

In order to achieve these three broader outputs, ESP provided technical and operational assistance to Election Commission of Nepal (ECN) in the following thematic areas: voter registration, operational and technical support in planning and conduct of the elections, trainings (including BRIDGE), civic and voter education, electoral mapping and geographic information system, electoral dispute resolution, promoting peaceful elections and gender and social inclusion.

The main objectives of this evaluation to be to provide the relevant services of the European Union, the interested stakeholders – particularly the ECN, development partners and UNDP - and the wider public with

1. An overall independent assessment of the past performance of the Electoral Support Programme, paying particular attention to its results measured against its expected objectives; and the reasons underpinning such results
2. Key lessons learned, conditions and related recommendations in order to improve current and future Actions.

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