ECES is an independent, non partisan and not for profit Foundation headquartered in Brussels with a global remit. ECES was established at the end of 2010 and has implemented activities already in more than 50 countries, mainly, but not only, in Africa and the Middle East, primarily with funding from the EU and EU Member states. ECES promotes electoral and democratic strenghtening through the provision of advisory services, operational support and management of large projects mainstreaming capacity and leadership development via peer exchanges and comparative experiences, dialogue and the prevention and mitigation of electoral conflicts. ECES has obtained the TRACE certification for its financial management transparency and the ISO 9001 certification for its Quality Management System. ECES has crafted and copyrighted its strategy called "A European Response to Electoral Cycle Support - EURECS", which is implemented via specific methodologies and tools also copyrighted by ECES. EURECS is an innovative delivery mechanism to implement electoral and democracy assistance activities that are consistent primarily with European values and EU policies targeting the facilitation of the cooperation on electoral matters between the EU, the EU member states and their partners' countries. ECES together with the College of Europe, Interpeace, Mediateur, Foundation Hirondelle and the Institute of Research and Education on Negotiation (ESSEC) is implementing on behalf of the EU the ERMES project, the European Resource for Mediation Support. ECES is providing the key expertise and the office for the project that is a strategic tool for the EU role in mediation and dialogue. In this context ECES is also a member of the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office network, the biggest and leading civil society European platform of 40 independent organisations and think tanks from 16 European countries committed to peacebuilding and the prevention of conflict.