Secondments to election observation missions

FBA is commissioned by the Swedish government to second Swedish personnel to international election observation missions led by the EU, OSCE, OAS and The Carter Center. Election observation contributes to democratic development and can help preventing electoral violence.

Swedes have participated in a large number of international election observation missions since 1989, observing both presidential and parliamentary elections as well as local elections and referendums all over the world. Since 2016, FBA is tasked with recruiting, training and seconding Swedish personnel to international election observation missions. We are the only Swedish government agency with this task.

FBA deploys personnel to election observation missions led by the EU, OSCE, OAS and The Carter Center; four internationally renown actors with long experience within the field of election observation.

An election observation mission is initiated when a country is planning to hold elections, and invites the EU, OSCE, OAS or The Carter Center to observe the voting process.

If an organization accepts the invitation, the staff contributing states of the organization will be requested to deploy personnel to the election observation mission to be held. The Swedish government does a yearly review of requests for Swedish participation in international election observation missions, and decides which missions Sweden will contribute personnel to.

Thereafter, it is FBA’s task to train and prepare personnel for deployment to those missions. Each year, some hundred Swedes are being deployed from FBA to international election observation missions.

The personnel deployed from FBA to election observations missions are representatives for Sweden abroad and part of Sweden’s efforts for international peace, security and development, just like the personnel deployed from FBA to peace operations.

FBA only deploys personnel of Swedish nationality.

New research grants for 2025 – part of FBA’s evidence-based approach

The assessment process for FBA’s Research Grants 2025 has been completed. Six policy-relevant research projects have been awarded funding. The selected projects concern, inter alia, local self-governance in Ukraine during the full-scale Russian invasion, the Colombian population’s view of the peace process, coalition building in authoritarian regimes, and sieges carried out by non-state armed groups.

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Read our publications

Beyond Vulnerability: A Guidance Note on Youth, Climate, Peace and Security

In recent years, young people’s crucial role in preventing conflict and maintaining peace has become increasingly recognized as the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agenda has gained momentum. At the same time, the Climate, Peace and Security (CPS) field is developing rapidly at the research and policy levels. CPS is also increasingly becoming an entry point for programming; recognizing the interactions between climate change and existing vulnerabilities, which compound risks of insecurity, including violent conflict and the erosion of social cohesion.

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Beyond Vulnerability: A Guidance Note on Youth, Climate, Peace and Security

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