Institutionalising Electoral Training: How ICPS SkillWise Helps EMBs Move Beyond Short-Term Cycles

Across the world, Election Management Bodies (EMBs) are grappling with unprecedented pressure: heightened scrutiny, rising operational complexity, and growing expectations for transparency and integrity. Yet one of the most persistent—and often overlooked— challenges sits beneath the surface: how to build, maintain, and continuously develop a skilled electoral workforce in a system largely dependent on temporary staff.

Recent academic studies, including Election staff training: Tracing global patterns of institutionalisation by Toby S. James et al., highlight a truth EMBs know all too well: the quality of an election is directly tied to the quality and continuity of its people. Institutionalising training is no longer a “nice to have”—it is a strategic necessity.

At ICPS SkillWise, we are responding to this challenge with solutions grounded in research, informed by global practice, and built for long-term institutional resilience.

A Global Challenge: High Costs, High Attrition, and

Fragmented Systems

The challenges of training and retaining temporary election staff are not new—but their impact is growing. As highlighted in recent analysis on the hidden costs of mobilising temporary workforces, one of the least acknowledged but most expensive elements of any election is the mobilisation – and remobilisation – of thousands of temporary staff.

Across many jurisdictions, once election day ends, trained poll workers, clerks, field agents, and observers disperse until the next cycle. Engagement decays, contact is lost, and skills fade, making each election a fresh, resource-intensive restart.

Research from James et al., International IDEA, Jeffrey Karp, Alessandro Nai, and Pippa Norris all point to the same structural issues:

  • Variability in training institutionalisation: Standards differ widely across jurisdictions.
  • Limited mandatory training and certification: Preparedness often depends on local resources rather than national standards.
  • Gaps in continuous professional development: Once training ends, progression stalls.
  • Lack of formalised organisational infrastructure: Few EMBs have dedicated, long-term training units.

Combined, these issues create a costly cycle of attrition, retraining, and revalidation — a cycle that EMBs repeatedly describe as one of their biggest operational burdens.

A Research-Informed Response: ICPS SkillWise

ICPS SkillWise brings advanced competency-tracking, digital learning, and staff accreditation technologies directly into the public services sector—supporting EMBs in building consistent, repeatable, and long-term training frameworks.

At the core is Electoral Manager, a platform designed to help EMBs shift from episodic training to true institutionalisation. The platform provides:

Competency-Based Certification

Ensuring every election official—permanent or temporary—meets clear, standardised criteria before serving.

Structured Learning Pathways

Customisable training sequences aligned with national frameworks or local operational models.

Scenario-Based and Simulated Testing

Helping staff practise complex procedures in safe digital environments, reducing errors on election day.

Auditable, Long-Term Training Records

Preserving institutional memory between cycles and reducing duplication of training efforts.

Support for Temporary and Permanent Staff

Ensuring skills and experience are retained, even as personnel rotate in and out of the workforce.

Rather than replacing local knowledge or policy, SkillWise provides a flexible framework that EMBs can adapt—strengthening standards while preserving autonomy.

Building Sustainable Capacity: A Lifecycle Approach to Electoral Readiness

The greatest hidden cost in election administration is not equipment or logistics—it is the silent decay of a temporary workforce between cycles. Each time trained staff drift away, EMBs face renewed recruitment pressure, increased training costs, and reduced continuity.

SkillWise helps reverse this cycle.

By institutionalising training, preserving staff records, supporting continuous development, and reinforcing competency standards, EMBs can build a more resilient and capable workforce—one that strengthens election integrity year after year.

ICPS SkillWise stands ready to support EMBs as they transition from short-term, event- driven training models to sustainable, long-term workforce preparedness. We welcome collaboration, dialogue, and co-development with electoral bodies seeking to enhance operational continuity and reinforce trust in their democratic processes.