Program Components

Pilot Programs prioritize learning and innovation by providing the opportunity to take measured risks in testing new approaches and implementing creative new activities to address elections and political processes’ challenges.  We test innovations and creative solutions and/or target distinct issues or solve specific problems, including in countries not undergoing transitions.   

This may include: 

• Implementing a new type of technical approach or intervention, using an experimental site selection model to compare sites implementing the new approach to those implementing existing approaches or no current intervention;
    
• Translating a well-documented and successful program model or approach from one geography and applying it in another to see if the results are transferable across contexts;
    
• Participatory action research project which engages local stakeholders in program design, implementation and results measurement; or 

• Explanatory research project to answer a DEPP Learning Agenda question or subquestion. 

Rapid and Flexible Response (RFR) activities allow CEPPS to respond to unanticipated needs, emerging opportunities, and critical gaps in programming.  Through RFRs, we provide rapid startup of activities in time-sensitive, rapidly evolving situations. We also address specific, targeted needs through a short-term intervention that would generally not be of sufficient scale and scope to necessitate an Associate Award (see below).   

This may include: 

• Immediate deployment of experts to assess challenges and opportunities for engagement in support for democratic elections and political processes within and/or across any of the nine DEPP objectives;
    
• Subgrants – including to local or regional civil society organizations; or
    

• Targeted technical assistance and/or operational support. 

Targeted Interventions (TI) are more focused and narrower in scope than RFRs. Whereas many RFR activities seek to address external windows of opportunity driven by forces outside of CEPPS’s control, TIs generally seek to take advantage of internally identified and motivated opportunities through complementary short-term interventions, often alongside Associate Award programming.   

This may include: 

• Conducting a feasibility study or other assessment such as an election integrity assessment, pre-election technical assessment, etc. that will improve CEPPS’s ability to engage members of marginalized groups;
    
• Organizing multi-country, regional, or thematic learning events across multiple Associate Awards to support mechanism-level learning that would facilitate a smooth handover of a training or other intervention model from CEPPS to our local partners;
    
• Short-term technical assistance that substantially advances progress toward and results achieved within an Associate Award or other existing DRG programming; or
    
• Small, rapid action subgrants to in-country partners to address specific needs or opportunities the local partners have identified during a participatory inquiry learning session. 

Leaders with Associate Awards (LWA) such as DEPP allow USAID’s overseas missions (or other offices) to issue one or more separate awards to CEPPS called Associate Awards (AAs). These awards accomplish two goals: (1) support for sustainable democratic development in a specific country or region; and (2) the development of lessons and results that advance democracy on a global scale. All AAs contribute to the overall objectives of the LWA, and prioritize gender, inclusion of marginalized groups and local partners, anti-corruption and sustainability. 

For more information about where CEPPS has implemented this type of programming, see “Where We Work.”