Sylvestre Somo is a senior electoral expert, senior trainer, senior project manager and accredited auditor at the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES), where he works on various projects. He is a researcher and human rights activist. He worked at the Independent Electoral Commission of the DRC at its creation in 2003 as Senior Personal Assistant to the President of the Commission, coordinating interaction with civil society, political parties and facilitating collaboration with technical and financial partners. From 2013 to 2016, he worked as Chief Technical Advisor for CENI, providing technical support and advice to the Commission.
With over 22 years' experience in the electoral field working with EMBs and other stakeholders around the world, he has gained knowledge of project management working with NGOs and state programmes such as the DRC Stabilisation and Reconstruction Programme (STAREC).
For the peace-building process in the DRC, Sylvestre actively participated in the peace negotiations in Goma 2008 and Kampala 2013 as a member of the technical team for the dialogues.
Sylvestre Somo has taken part in more than 25 election observation missions in Africa, North America, South America and Asia since 2003 as a long-term and short-term observer.
Sylvestre Somo holds a degree in computer science from the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (Puc-Minas), a postgraduate diploma in electoral law and an MBA in project management from the same university. Sylvestre holds several specialist training certificates, including Civil Service, Human Rights and Gender Awareness from the Peace Operations Training Institute (POTI), and is a certified trainer in ‘Leadership and Conflict Management Skills for Electoral Stakeholders (LEAD)’ and Lead Auditor in Quality Management.
He speaks French, Portuguese, English and Swahili.
