VZCZCXYZ0022
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMU #1519/01 1921358
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 111358Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6943
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS MANAGUA 001519 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CEN, DRL JFARRAR AND NTONGOUR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL NU KCRM KDEM KWMN
SUBJECT: IRI-EXECUTED HRDF PROJECT TRAINS NEW POLITICAL LEADERS AND ELECTION MONITORS

¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: On June 28, Foreign Affairs Officer and 
FSN met with International Republican Institute (IRI) Program 
Officer Ivania Vega, and with Academic Director William Genet 
and General Manager Jorge Luis Ayestas of American College to 
discuss progress on the Nicaragua portion of the "Regional 
Party Renovation" project.  The Nicaragua component, which 
began in September 2005 and ends in September 2006, has 
received $21,000 out of a total DRL Human Rights and 
Democracy Fund (HRDF) grant of $400,000 also being used by 
IRI in Ecuador, Argentina, and Bolivia.  During a June 15 
meeting with Foreign Affairs Officer, Gilberto Valdez, IRI 
Resident Country Director for Nicaragua opined that "Regional 
Party Renovation" was the "best project" he had been involved 
with in his current position at IRI due to the project's 
prognosis for sustainability; he wished that a larger portion 
of the $400,000 had been allocated for the Nicaragua 
component.  The three-phase project is actively training a 
new generation of qualified political leaders and poll 
monitors for the November 5 elections.  Gilberto Valdez has 
requested a one-year extension of between $20,000 -- $40,000 
to ensure project sustainability after the November 2006 
elections.  END SUMMARY. 
 
STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONAL WEAKNESSES WITHIN POLITICAL PARTIES
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¶2.  (SBU) The party renovation project addresses 
institutional training weaknesses among the nation's 
political parties by providing a three-part university-level 
training course for young politicians and political 
functionaries with a view to creating a future corps of 
qualified, professional and democratically-oriented political 
leaders.  IRI has partnered with American College (AC), a 
private Nicaraguan higher-level academic institution located 
in Managua.  The AC course instructors have created a manual 
entitled Democratic Leadership ("Liderazgo Democratico.")  It 
contains sections on Nicaraguan political history, current 
political affairs as well as exercises and multiple choice 
tests.  The manual, which is the basic course text resource, 
is distributed to all participants.  The instructors 
elaborate upon the information in the manual through power 
point presentations, lectures by party leaders, interactive 
seminars and testing for all participants. 
 
FOUR SMALLER PARTIES PARTICIPATE 
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¶3.  (SBU) The three phases of the course include leadership 
skills, vote defense, and political management.  Participants 
who take all three phases will receive a diploma that can be 
used as credit toward a one year masters at the American 
College.  Due to budgetary and other considerations, the 
project concentrated on building leadership skills among four 
smaller political parties: Camino Cristiano (CCN); Sandinista 
Renewal Movement (MRS); Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN); 
and, Movement for the Republic (APRE). 
 
PARTIES SELECT THE COURSE CANDIDATES 
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¶4.  (SBU) Course participants are selected by their own 
political parties based on aptitude, interest and potential 
for party leadership.  The AC representatives said that 70% 
of participants were between 17 and 25 years of age.  For the 
leadership skills phase, each of the participating political 
parties nominated 30 candidates from their own ranks to 
undertake a two-day (Saturday and Sunday, from 8 am- 5 pm, 16 
hours total) intensive seminar with lectures, group exercise, 
pre-and post-course testing, and feedback sessions.  AC and 
IRI representatives noted that due to inter-party 
antipathies, party leaders from each of the participating 
parties gave lectures only to course participants from their 
own party.  Ayestas averred that the dropout rate after the 
first day of the leadership skills phase was generally no 
more than 6% for participants from all parties.  Foreign 
Affairs Officer and FSN viewed a video recording of several 
different seminar sessions including separate seminars for 
APRE and Camino Cristiano participants. The sessions appeared 
to be lively, highly interactive and well attended. 
 
NOTABLE SUCCESSES AND REMAINING CHALLENGES 
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¶5. (SBU) IRI and AC representatives identified the following as successes to date: almost 120 young politically active individuals have completed the leadership skills phase; IRI and AC built into the course curriculum knowledge and training weaknesses identified by the participating parties; approximately 95% of participants improved in their professional skills and understanding; and, after learning in the course about their own parties' by-laws and constitutions, graduates of the course have begun to demand that party leadership behave more transparently and comply with their own rules. Valdez noted a substantial lack of coordination within participating parties and lack of enthusiasm for the project among some members of party structures. He explained that these weaknesses have impeded efforts to inform participants about the availability dates for the leadership skills course, adding that many participants possess very little knowledge of the historical backgrounds or political philosophies of their own parties. A few individuals appeared to have joined their parties purely for social or personal advancement reasons.
 
PHASE TWO WILL TRAIN ELECTION POLL MONITORS 
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¶6.  (SBU) American College completed the leadership skills 
phase in April, and during June had begun the ambitious vote 
defense phase, which seeks to create a qualified cadre of 
8000 "fiscales" (election poll monitors) from among members 
of the four participating political parties in preparation 
for the November 2006 elections.  The project has not yet 
started the political management part of the course, but 
expects to have 60 participants in that phase, with all 
participants having already undertaken the leadership skills 
and vote defense components as a prerequisite. 
 
EFFORTS TOWARD SUSTAINABILITY 
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¶7.  (SBU) IRI's relationship with AC under the HRDF grant 
will end in September.  Gilberto Valdez asked Foreign Affairs 
Officer if DRL might be willing to give a six-month to 
one-year extension of between $20,000 -- $40,000 to ensure 
project sustainability after the November 2006 elections. 
The AC will begin charging for the three-phase course as one 
of the academic offering among the other course it regularly 
teaches.  The AC representatives informed Foreign Affairs 
Officer and FSN that at present they are seeking future 
funding assistance from local private sector leaders 
interested in improving the quality of the nation's 
politicians, and from other USG sources.  In addition to 
training political leaders, the AC representatives want to 
expand the course's leadership skills component to focus on 
vulnerable youth on the Atlantic Coast who need leadership 
and self-esteem skills, as well as to support leadership 
capacity building among women. 
TRIVELLI