The Association of Central and Eastern European Election Officials (ACEEEO) proposes to develop and implement a "Media and Elections" training seminar. The Association represents institution managing the elections in 18 countries from Central and Eastern Europe. In this way the ACEEEO also represents the electorate as a whole in each of these countries. For nearly ten years the ACEEEO has been a vehicle for exchanging experience and offering professional development opportunities. The ACEEEO has an established professional connection with many international organizations such as The International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), USAID and Council of Europe.

The goal of this project is to ensure that accurate election-related information is provided to the voting public in a transparent and balanced manner by credible media sources. Over the period of a full week, 60 representatives from the mass media and election officials from Southeastern Europe would be gathered in Gyor, Hungary together with a cadre of international media experts to discus relevant issues in both large and small group sessions.

The proposed project has been designed to do the following:

1. Build a stronger relationship between the media and electoral bodies and other sources of election related information.

2. Equip Central European journalists with the tools needed to understand and process election-related information.

3. Encourage journalists to cover elections in an accurate, balanced, and credible manner.

In order to increase the efficiency of this project, the ACEEEO is committed to reach as wide of audience as possible. Therefore, it is designing the training curriculum in such a way as to make it easier for participants to take what they have learned back with them to their colleagues in their home countries. The ACEEEO will also utilize the Internet to share information, materials and lessons learned about the event on its website (www.aceeeo.com).