The Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS) is a nonpartisan organization that observes and supports fair elections around the world. It consists of three organizations: the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, the International Republican Institute, and the National Democratic Institute.

CEPPS has “partners” in over 140 countries and has observed elections in 40 countries. ¹ The organization is solely funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Much of CEPPS’s leadership formerly worked for the National Democratic Institute, including managing director Jerry Lavery, senior administrative director Kira Ribar, and database manager Dad M. Hamdard. ^{2 3 4}

Funding

From 2016 through 2020, the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Global Elections and Political Transitions (GEPT) award. In January 2022, the GEPT award was ended at USAID. Soon after CEPPS was given USAID’s Democratic Elections and Political Processes award to continue its funding for five years. ^{5 6}

CEPPS managing director Jerry Lavery was previously a democracy fellow at USAID. ²

Spending

The Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening divides its funds among its three members. In 2020, CEPPS gave $35,859,246 to the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, $34,885,508 to the International Republican Institute, and $49,362,871 to the National Democratic Institute. ⁷

Online Violence Against Women

The Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening documents, analyses, and works to prevent incidents of “online violence” against women. CEPPS does not define “online violence” on its website, ⁸ though it links to a report by the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development which refers to doxing, trolling, online harassment, online name calling, online “hate speech,” and threats of rape and death as forms of “online violence.” The report states that online violence against women is “a problem of pandemic proportion” and that “57% of Americans experiencing harassment online are women.” ⁹

1.  “Our Story.” CEPPS. Accessed May 3, 2022. https://cepps.org/about-us/our-story/.
2. “Jerry Lavery.” CEPPS. Accessed May 4, 2022. https://cepps.org/staff/jerry-lavery/.
3. “Kira Ribar.” CEPPS. Accessed May 4, 2022. https://cepps.org/staff/kira-ribar/.
4. “Dad M. Hamdard.” CEPPS. Accessed May 4, 2022. https://cepps.org/staff/dad-m-hamdard/.
5. “Focus Areas.” CEPPS. Accessed May 3, 2022. https://cepps.org/what-we-do/focus-areas/.
6. “Beyond the Ballot: January 2022.” CEPPS. January 2022. Accessed May 3, 2022. https://cepps.org/story/beyond-the-ballot-january-2022/.
7. “Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening 990.” ProPublica. Accessed May 3, 2022. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/521943638/download990pdf_09_2021_prefixes_45-52%2F521943638_202009_990_2021090318814339.
8. “Online Violence Against Women.” CEPPS. Accessed May 3, 2022. https://cepps.org/online-violence/.
9. “Cyber Violence Against Women and Girls.” Broadband Communications. October 2015. Accessed May 3, 2022. https://www.broadbandcommission.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/WGGender_Executivesummary2015.pdf.