Using Existing Resources for Education Programmes

Education programmes have to work within the constraints of available resources. This need not be a limitation if educators consider the question of resources carefully prior to setting objectives and establishing their educational strategy and programmes.

In addition to the obvious resources of people and money, educators need to consider what else the country has to offer in terms of infrastructure and social capital.

In many transitional societies, particularly due to war, civil strife, or economic stagnation, the quality of the infrastructure may pose one of the biggest challenges to the implementation of a voter education programme, especially with respect to distribution.

There may also be disagreement about who is responsible for covering the costs of certain activities or commodities. In some instances, for example, election law may require state-owned mass media to air official voter education messages. Unless the provision of free airtime is clearly and unambiguously stated, differing interpretations are likely to arise between the media outlet and the election authority about whose budget covers the costs of broadcasting.

Once an assessment has been made of available resources, it may be found that they are sufficient to conduct the necessary programmes.

However, some serious limitations may emerge. In this case, an election authority can act as the catalyst for resouce development. It need not remain passive in the face of disadvantage or scarcity, even though it may need to develop strategies, especially educational ones, that account for scarcity of existing resources. There may be some possibility of obtaining resources from the private sector (see The Private Sector) as well as International Support) or of leveraging resources by forming strategic parnterships with civil society (see Mechanisms for Partnerships in Voter Education  and the section on Existing Social Organization). Ultimately, the parameters of the voter education programme must reflect a honest accounting of resources. The voter education budget cannot jeopardize other preparations for elections, while overall election administration cannot overreach national resources that are needed for other purposes.

Educational System

The educational system of a country is one of the most important resources available to voter educators. Whatever system exists in a country, voter educators will want to consider the resources available to them in terms of curriculum, training opportunities, staff and volunteer recruitment pools, as well as possible learning sites.

National Education System

An educational system includes both formal and informal educational institutions at the primary, secondary, and university level. Formal institutions are those conducting, either privately or on behalf of the state, a graded curriculum that results in a state-recognised certificate, diploma, or degree that might also have international currency. Informal institutions are those conducting shorter vocational, professional developmental and personal enrichment programmes that are not necessarily recognized by the state even though they may issue certificates of successful completion. Such certificates may be recognised by a professional or vocational association. The gap between formal and informal education is often one of scope.

Primary education consists of the basic educational grades normally offered to children in a compulsory system. Secondary education, often called high school, will generally include a more differentiated curriculum in preparation for graduation and perhaps college matriculation. Finally, higher education includes colleges and universities, as well as vocational and technical education. Often these institutions combine a series of formal courses with a range of less formal educational opportunities. In some educational systems, vocational and technical training may be offered at any one of these levels of education. In addition, there may be a variety of continuing education and training opportunities, particularly in countries that have substantial private or civil society sectors.

Some countries have an articulated educational system regulated through a national certification framework. In these countries, education and training throughout the myriad institutions considered above might enable people to move around the system and achieve certificates and integrated educational opportunities. In other countries, the systems are more rigid and the various institutions determine progress and outcomes independently.

Curriculum

There will need to be consideration of whether the educational system provides universal opportunities for people to learn about government, politics, voting behaviour, or general societal rules and standards. If this is the case, educators will have to assess whether this will replace any part of an informal voter education programme for adults or whether the formal curriculum has been designed to reduce or inhibit people's participation in democratic activity.

In many cases, primary and secondary education will have provided skills, attitudes and knowledge that provide a foundation for more detailed education in support of democracy or elections. In some cases, however, national education systems may have been forged to ensure support for a regime that is not democratic and where difference is not welcomed. In such cases, primary and secondary education may have left a heritage that severely compromises people's ability to engage in democratic behaviour: whether resolving differences, making decisions, voting, or participating in democratic institutions. In situations like this, voter and civic education programmes may have to be extensive.

Training Opportunities

Educators operating in election and civic spheres face considerable handicaps in obtaining training for themselves or finding trained colleagues. In fact, the majority of people working in this field enter it laterally with either a social science, political or a general educational background. Because adult education often includes work with disadvantaged people, and because overcoming disadvantage requires political action at various levels, such people may enter the field more readily.

The education system of a country will provide these informal training paths, and may also provide more formal training paths to a greater or lesser degree, depending not only on the extent that the country has a consolidated democracy, but also on the extent that the system interacts with social movements and evolving learner needs. It is interesting to note that some of the most vital training opportunities, and the most innovative programmes, are available in countries that have marginal democracies and intense social conflicts.

Those responsible for developing educators will want to discover training opportunities within the system and, where necessary, supplement these with short term informal training on the job.

Staff and Volunteer Recruitment Pools

Voter education programmes require large numbers of staff over a very short period of time. At the most, these personnel may receive orientation about the material available in conjunction with limited adult education skills. In large programmes, having a pool of trained teachers from whom to draw at short notice is obviously advantageous. There is a caveat, however. Formal education demands certain types of skills and behaviour. There is often a gap between the classroom and the voter education site that not all teachers are able to comprehend.

So educators will want to look carefully at the educational system in order to identify what levels of the system provide the most likely candidates for their programme. They will also note the dates of formal system terms of matriculation, including examination schedules, so that unrealistic expectations are not created about the extent to which teachers and instructors from formal systems can move into the voter education programme.

Learning Sites

Almost as important as obtaining staff and volunteer recruits will be obtaining cheap and accessible sites for conducting the voter education programme. Apart from those aspects of the programme that capitalize on bringing it to places where there are large groups of people, there will also be aspects of the programme that require seminar and conference room facilities (e.g. training of educators, workshops and briefings, preparation of materials, and running of focus groups). Educational institutions, whether private or state-funded, can often be made available at low cost. In some cases, they may also provide residential facilities for extended programmes.

Once again, as with other aspects of voter education programmes, there may need to be a balancing of the costs and convenience against public perceptions of some or all of these institutions.

Importance of Mass Media in Education Programmes

Without good access to national and community media all public education programmes may be disadvantaged. It is possible to consider programmes that rely entirely on face-to-face education, but even these can be hindered if there is not a supplementary programme of advertising for events and news coverage to increase motivation as well as printed material to "leave behind." As such, assessment of available media options should be conducted.

Media Directories

In some countries, media registration may have resulted in a publicly-available directory. In others, NGOs and government media agencies may have collected such information. Or advertising agencies may keep books that give details on media outlets, including their market share and target audiences.

Early on, educators may want to develop a "brainstorm" list and subsequently their own directory, that analyzes available media outlets in terms appropriate to voter education programming. Criteria they may want to use include:

• Is the media owned or controlled by the government?
• If controlled by the government, is it obligated under election law to provide free space or airtime for voter education messages?
• If privately owned, is the management ammenable to running public service announcements, such as voter education messages either free of charge or at a discounted rate?
• What are the published advertizing rates of the outlet?
• Is the media national or community-based?
• Is the particular medium capable of preparing its own copy or producing its own spots?
• What is the policy and the protocol of the particular medium for taking spots or copy prepared by the education programme?
• In what format must spots or copy prepared by the education programme be presented to the media outlet in question?
• What is the outlet's market share, ie. what is the size of its viewing or listening audience or readership?
• What are the characteristics of its audience?
• How are the size or characteristics of the audience affected by date and time and by programming, ie.what are the most popular shows or are papers read more during the week or at week-ends?
• How many hours does the outlet broadcast per day?
• What is the print schedule, ie. twice daily, daily, several times per week, weekly, monthly, per quarter?
• Does the outlet's editorial board have a particular political orientation, or is the outlet associated in any way with a specific political party?
• In what languages does the outlet broadcast/print?
• Who are the contacts for the particular media and what is the street address, phone number, fax number, and e-mail address.

An adequate database will need to be prepared for this information. Because of its importance, educators will also want to cultivate expertize within their own teams in this field and, in addition, develop appropriate contacts amongst outside practitioners.

Power Supply and Other Commodities

Particularly in transitional settings, educators will want to take note of any shortages or disruptions in the supply of valuable commodies such as electricity, gas, paper or ink. If power is in short supply, it may not make much sense to invest in pricey television commercials. Radio may still be an option, however, as radios can be operated on battery power. In such circumstances, print and direct contact may take on an increasingly important role. Educators will also need to take into consideration how power shortages or interruptions may affect production processes: if service providers do not have an independent and reliable power source very often this will extend the amount of time required for production. If paper or ink are difficult to obtain, then print activities may need to be de-emphasized. Even where these supplies exists, fuel shortages might hinder the ability to deliver and distribute print materials. Thus, educators must assess the availability of key commodities and the impact that these will have on the types and mix of media used.

Careful Planning and Assessment

Countries with vibrant media infrastructures are essential to the development of democracy. To the extent that voter education can enhance this by careful selection and promotion of media, it will have long-term impact for future programmes.

Communication Mechanisms

Countries are not uniform in their abilities to communicate internally or between one another. During the twentieth century, advances in communication technology went through a number of waves, and while all previous advances remain in place, countries place different degrees of reliance on them and have different needs and limitations.

It is important that educators do understand the communications logistics in a particular country and do not attempt to establish programmes that rely on high technology systems, for instance that cannot be maintained or even implemented. At the same time, because technology tends to overlap, it results in some strange arrangements. Developing countries, for example, may leapfrog over developed countries, as some have in the use of mobile or cellular telephones or fax machines in recent years. And e-mail may be more reliable and available than traditional postal services.

In addition to communications messages, educators will also have to move people and materials. Unfortunately these do not yet travel down a telephone line, although even this is changing. [1] So educators must also understand the transportation infrastructure.

Moving People

What facilities exist to bring people into the country? In most places this will include international airports. In some, like St Helena, a harbour may be the only port of entry. And, more importantly, what facilities exist for moving people around inside the country? Are there local airlines? And do these connect with other forms of transport? If not airlines, is there a train system? Or are there domestic bus services connecting towns and cities? Within a town or region, is there public transport such as buses, subways or cable cars. Are taxis an option? And what condition are all these systems in? In some countries, there may be two separate transportation systems, private and state (including military forces). Educators will want to know which of these they will have to use or whether both are available. And what about remote locations? Will helicopters be required, for example, to take people into mountainous villages?

If primarily reliant on travelling by road, what is the conidition of the country's road system and how will this affect the amount of time needed to travel from one place to another? In some countries, traveling 240 kilometres (200 miles) may take two hours on a freeway. In others it may take all day. And how many miles of freeway are there? To what extent will travel need to be undertaken on narrow or poorly paved roads? Are certain roads impassable in bad weather, and what weather is to be expected during the operation? Are there appropriate motor vehicles available for purchase or hire? What condition are they in? How will the availability and price of fuel affect tranport?

Moving Goods

Moving goods can be as easy or as problematic as moving people. Virtually all of the considerations outlined above will also need to be taken into account with respect to bulk materials. In many cases, small amounts of material can travel with educators. But larger quantities of material will require freight services, and weight and space requirements will need to be taken into account. Freight services may be provided by sea, river, road, rail, or air. Each has its advantages and disadvantages; and costs will need to be weighed in terms of speed and reliability.

Moving Messages

Educators may consider the following possibilities for conveying messages that assist them in managing their programmes:

Oral transmission:

Very simply, messages can be passed on from person to person. In some circumstances, in fact, this may be essential. Where it is, the skills necessary to craft memorable messages and to recall these will have to be developed. Societies that have shifted away from such oral traditions may have to rely heavily on individuals linked to more traditional societies. Where literacy can be taken for granted, written messages can be conveyed by hand.

Postal services:

Postal services are not uniform. For educators, such services must be reliable. In many countries, but not all, there is a single government-owned or controlled postal service. The service usually includes receiving, transmission, and delivery of letters, bulk post and parcels. All of these may to some extent differ in reliability, service, and cost from country to country. They may also vary in the extent to which they remain part of a single monopoly service.

Educators will have to consider the extent to which recipients can obtain the post that is sent to them. Many rural communities do not have postal deliveries and must collect mail from depots. Often this can mean that a separate message must be sent alerting the recipient to the arrival of the postal item.

Where postal services have been degraded, theft, loss and delay can seriously affect critical programmes such as voter education.

In any case, the postal service normally remains one of the most cost-effective systems available.

Radio:

Radio networks can vary from the transmitter/receiver systems typically used by the police, military, rural communities and freight haulers to commercial broadcasting stations capable of conveying messages to large numbers of people with easily available commercial radios. Radio is capable of two-way communication across extensive distances. Because of the importance of this mode of communication in environments where other systems may not be available, it should be considered an essential part of an election management strategy that educators can use. And educators will want to consider ways they can use studio-based radio and television conferencing facilities that are available in some countries.

Telephone:

The telephone may be the most critical tool for communication in managing voter education programmes. It can also provide a potential educational medium itself. So an understanding of the possibilities and limitations of the existing telephone system is essential.

In particular, educators will want to know about the availability of "land lines", instruments such as handsets and PABX's, regional exchanges, and alternatives to land lines such as cellular systems or even satellite instruments. With respect to cellular systems, terrain may also be an important consideration that affects range.

In some countries, there is difficulty laying the necessary copper cabling. In others, fibre optic lines are being introduced. In some, manual exchanges and rotary dial telephones are all that exist. Other countries combine these with more advanced systems that may or may not be compatible with the older systems. Separate fax lines may exist, or fax machines may use existing lines.

Computer:

With the arrival of the Internet, and with it Internet service providers, electronic mail (e-mail), and other services have become available at least to those who have access to a computer, telephone and modem. The pervasiveness of the Internet, however, has obscured the fact that electronic mail and file transfer programmes can be used on much smaller and slower telephone and computer systems. E-mail is not synonymous with the World Wide Web. [2] It is entirely possible to set up an e-mail system using slow modems, pulse telephones and DOS-based computers. Obviously, those who have access to fast computers, modems and telephone lines will have access to the Web and to the facilities available there.

Computer-based technology:

As communication technology becomes more integrated, telephone and computer systems are providing managers with a range of additional facilities that enhance productivity and, where the basic infrastructure and maintenance skills exist, reduce costs. Amongst these are the ability to fax directly from the computer to one recipient or to broadcast to a group of people, the ability to use the Internet for chat sessions or telephone services, and the ability to use video conferencing for a small group of people in different locations.

On the telephone side, automated calling and voice mail systems capable of providing callers with touch tone options to obtain messages or fax documents are providing ways of making telephones more like the World Wide Web. At its most basic, the Web provides a way to deposit information and have the user collect it when required rather than have to have a real-time communication.

All these options are available to educators in societies with advanced communication systems. Each country will have to investigate just what is available to them when they begin to plan their programmes.

Technology and Tradition

While modern telecommunications and computer technologies may be increasing the range of communication options open to educators, cultural considerations about their use will still come into play. The population at large, or some groups in particular, may be suspicious of or uncomfortable with certain modern technologies. There may be some that they consider, for whatever reason, inappropriate for educational purposes or elections.

Notes:

[1] Countries with good telecommunications systems and reliable electricity can make use of video conferencing facilities to get people in touch with one another without having to move them around. Originally this required access to a television studio and broadcast system: but the Internet is increasingly establishing possibilities which are low cost and desktop bound. As far as documents go, e-mail and desktop publishing options make it possible for documents to be sent electronically and then reproduced rather than freighted.

[2] The World Wide Web with its high resolution graphics and home pages is most often though of when people speak of the Internet - but other smaller and older software packages are available for electronic communication across the net.

Venue for Education Events

Voter educators will have to find and secure venues for a wide variety of activities. Doing this introduces a number of issues related to the costs and administration of their programmes.

Cascade training, press conferences, coalition meetings for a voter education consortium, voter education workshops, election briefings, planning sessions, community gatherings, televised debates or discussions, music festivals, drama rehearsals and productions, and mock elections are just some of the kinds of meetings or events likely to take place as part of a voter education programme. And educators will be competing for meeting space with every other participant in the election, including political parties, election administrators, NGOs, and the press.

It is often surprising how difficult it becomes to obtain public venues - to identify them, book them, obtain them at low cost, and keep them available when the programme is still in development but may require them at some point in the future. It is also likely to be a challenge to find a space appropriate to the needs of a particular activity. A conference, role-playing exercize, televised event, dramatic production, or planning session are likely to require different types of spaces. For some, theatre style seating may be fine. For others, educators may need to move furniture around to encourage participation. Or an interesting backdrop, open floor space, lots of table space for coallating materials, or multiple power outlets may be required.

Even those countries that have large tourist and convention industries may have venue problems outside tourist resorts in more isolated or less congenial parts of the country. There may even be competition in resort areas if elections are being conducted at times when conventions are in town. So early access to a reliable team of people who can be creative in their search for suitable venues is essential.

Amongst the less obvious venues, and certainly outside the normal experience of professional travel agents, are church and religious assemblies and retreat centres, camps, educational institutions, fairgrounds, and sports fields. Where venues are needed with overnight accommodation, they are even more difficult to find unless it is possible to arrange hospitality with local people.

Such alternative sites, however, are often difficult to reserve from a distance, and payment, where required, is often on a cash basis. So having local contacts and having to carry large amounts of money may conflict with the centralized and administratively convenient systems that national voter education organizations and election authorities often put in place.

Hotels and commercial conference centres become the preferred educational venues, rather than the public spaces that will ensure the events operate from a community base and with community support. Unless it is possible to persuade the owners of such venues to donate their use, voter education programme costs can balloon and discourage organizers from conducting public events.

Existing Social Organisations

The concept "social capital" provides a shorthand way of thinking about the human resources that may be available to a voter education programme. Unfortunately, it is a term that has become a buzzword in political circles so it requires some further discussion. Once understood, it can be used to provide additional information about a country.

This section looks at what constitutes social capital and how social capital could be used in voter education programmes in order to improve democratic practices within countries and communities. It will also briefly examine the shortcomings of social capital as a tool with which to approach a community in order to bring about higher levels of democracy.

Its advent into modern day politics comes at a time when all aspects of our existence are often judged in economic terms. Are we being "productive" as employees? Is the government "delivering"? Are we making enough "input" into social practices?

Democracies all over the world have been evaluating themselves in the 1990's. Despite optimism early in the decade, there is some scepticism about the longevity of newly emerging democracies.

The big question in politics these days revolves around how we can strengthen or consolidate democracy. How can the success of democracy in one area be transferred to an area of the world where it has not been successful, or even in existence, for decades?

One of the factors raised in this quest is the role of civil society in democratic countries. As Robert Putnam emphasises in most of his writings and especially in Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, the levels of interaction between civil society and government determine the levels of democracy within a country. [1] This implies that the higher the levels of interaction, the stronger the democracy will be and vice versa. Civic Traditions traced twenty years of political and associational life in Italy, comparing the results of the northern regions to those in the south. Putnam concluded that the southern regions were less democratic than those in the north because of the existence of patron-client relationships with the mafia. The north supported more civic-minded organizations and groupings.

Definition of Social Capital

The concept of social capital was initiated by James Coleman and further developed by Pierre Bourdieu. Coleman used the term to describe a resource of individuals that emerges from their "social ties", and Bourdieu used it to refer to the advantages and opportunities accruing to people through membership in certain "communities". [2]

The definition of social capital is quite simple. It is the currency that enables a society to operate more effectively. This includes intangible factors such as values, norms, attitudes, trust, networks, and the like. Putnam says social capital is comprised of those factors found within a community that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit. [3] This means that if one works in a community that has trust, values, networks and the like, the outcome will be more effective than work done within a community without those variables. This has great impact on non-governmental organisations' interactions with communities with regard to voter education.

Francis Fukuyama, the author of The End of History and The Last Man, Trust, the Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity, and a large number of articles, believes "the vitality of [social capital] is essential to the functioning of both the market and democracy." [4] This means that both government and communities should make sure that high levels of existing trust, norms, and values should be maintained and nurtured within that society in order for their work to be easier and more successful.

Voter education is designed in order to get a message about voting and elections out to the majority of eligible voters prior to election day. It is an expensive endeavour. Consequently, ways that would minimise costs are sought by those who are in the business of conducting voter education programmes. If social capital facilitates community cooperation then surely those factors should be used to make voter education easier and more effective in its outreach.

Norms and Values

Norms and values within a community refer to the attitudes among citizens that make their interactions easier with each other. If all citizens in a community, for example, believe that each person should be treated with respect and valued as a participant, the community will involve everyone in discussions about issues that affect all citizens. These attitudes will be evident in the norms of that society. People will respect each other's property, views, and rights. We could also say that these citizens will know and understand that they have to pay their taxes, pay for services, and participate in democratic discussions.

When an organization conducts voter education programmes within that society, their work will be that much easier because of those existing norms and values. The educators will not have to go into great detail about allowing for differences, creating a safe space for discussion, and calling for people to do their civic duty by voting. The community already has those values and norms.

This community's social capital can be used to facilitate the transfer of information about voting. Educators should use the existing norms and values within that community to make learning easier. Those norms and values should be reinforced by examples of the duties of citizens in the voting process.

Norms also refer to common practices within communities and organizations. People may have certain practices which are culturally determined. In traditional African communities, for example, the chief is the most powerful person. If the chief has not been consulted, the community may not be open to that programme, either physically or psychologically. The programme staff may be barred from entering the area, citizens may feel that the programme staff do not respect their culture and practices and therefore not listen to the information being provided. It is important for educators to find out about the practices of a community, to respect those practices, and to conform to them while working in that area.

Some areas may also have informal leaders. Those people should be consulted in order to facilitate work within that community. Sometimes religious leaders have that status, as do teachers, or healthcare providers. It is important for educators to know who those people are and to respect those norms and values within each community.

Networks

A second factor in social capital is the system of networks. Every society has networks. These could be around work, church, sport, and any club or group found in that society. Networks could be used to make voter education programmes more cost-effective and reach a larger number of people with a minimum amount of input from the educators. Networks involve a large number of people who identify with a common cause, goal or interest. The network also allows for people to spread their expertize within a sector and to transfer skills.

Networks may be widespread and reach a large number of people from different sectors of the community and with different interests. Voter educators could use those networks to disseminate their information. A single point of entry into the society is all that is needed. A soccer club may have a meeting once a week. Voter educators might meet with that group of people once. Information from that meeting may then be relayed socially by those members through the networks to which they belong. One member may be part of a reading group while another may be part of a volunteer group. This information gets spread through the community via such networks.

Voter educators should use these networks strategically and supply enough information (printed and verbal) at the point that would make the most impact on the community. Information leaflets should be given out at that entry point in sufficient quantities for people to take home. Information should also be placed at venues like shopping centres, churches, schools and gyms to support the verbal relay. In rural communities where the tradition of storytelling still exists and illiteracy is high, networks may be used very effectively. Voter educators who may not be able to stay in an area for an extended period of time, therefore, should inform those people who have the most contact with the majority of the community, such as teachers, religious leaders, health workers, and even shop owners.

Trust

Trust is a major factor in the success of democracy. Francis Fukuyama believes people who do not trust one another will end up cooperating only under a system of formal rules and regulations, which have to be negotiated, agreed to, litigated, and enforced, sometimes by coercive means. [5] Trust can only be obtained through longstanding practices. People trust one another only if they have had a relationship over a period of time. Trust needs to be established through experience and repetition. If you tell someone a secret and that person keeps the secret, for example, more trust will be forged between them. And the next time, a higher level of trust may be placed in that person.

The flow of information will be more effective in societies where there is a high level of trust. People will trust the teller or educator not to mislead them and, therefore, will be more likely to believe the information. Trust is inherent in networks and, therefore, both factors become complementary. Within a network it is in the group's interest to keep trust levels high. Voter educators can harness those high levels of trust for their programme. Educators should contact and work with the people who are most likely to be trusted by the majority of the community. The community trusts these people and would listen to them without doubt or mistrust.

Voter educators should make use of the social capital that is found in communities. It could assist them with the important but difficult task of informing people about elections.

Even though social capital does have many positive aspects, there are negative issues that may arise.

Problems

Norms and values assume that people know what they are and follow them. If a new person comes into a community, however, these norms and values have to be learned and assimilated before that person is accepted. This means that, at any given time, there may be people in the community who may be excluded due to their lack or limited knowledge of accepted norms. Sometimes those norms are not obvious, and educators may accidentally ignore or neglect a norm and upset the community. While cultural values can be very specific, they can also be very complicated.

Networks also may imply exclusion. If one belongs to a group with a network, it means that there are other people outside that group who don't belong to the network. These structures also tend to assist only the people who belong to that network. Not being a member, therefore, could put other sectors of the community at a disadvantage. Tightly knit communities are more difficult to penetrate, obviously, than those that are open to outside influences. Educators should examine a community carefully to learn which are the most constructive and effective networks. Those may be the ones with the most contact with the people.

Trust also may be difficult to establish for outsiders, such as an educator from an organization like a statutory body that is not represented within the community. In this case, training programmes should be developed for trainers in the community. These local trainers should be people who are accepted and trusted by the community and, therefore, facilitate communicating information to that group of people.

Social capital is a concept with great potential to enable educators to think through effective ways to communicate. Those involved in civic education will also want to consider ways in which they can exploit the benefits of social capital.

Assessing social networks

Every country has social capital, just as it has other resources. The purpose of conducting an assessment or survey of social networks is to render the invisible visible. This allows those planning and implementing voter education programmes to gain access to the cultural associations that may enhance democracy and to better plan ways of coping with those forces that may hinder it.

While there are a number of ways to conduct such an assessment, the simplest may be to place one or more teams into the field in order to conduct interviews and enter information into a simple contact database or index card system. These teams will begin by selecting an obvious range of nodal organizations in a geographic area and requesting information from them. A second set of interviews will be conducted with individuals and organizations referred to in the first set of contacts.

Once a full set of contacts has been collected - inclusive to the extent possible within the time and financial constraints set by the educational programmers - teams from the field may find it helpful to develop a graphical representation of the social networks in debriefing sessions. This is done by using large sheets of paper, writing down an initial contact and then using a logical connector to place other contacts on the network or map. This may entail simple references such as "Referred to by [someone]" or "Referred to [someone]" or "Works closely with [someone]", or whatever may be appropriate. Such a network can assist educators in understanding the "social fabric" of a geographic region.

This contact information will then be supplemented by survey data regarding political and social culture and norms. Those who have conducted the assessment may then want to prepare a narrative report for those tasked with planning the voter eduction programme, that includes qualitative information including anecdotes, typical stories, photographs of those interviewed and descriptions that give a good sense of place. Such reports provide a deeper view of the area into which a programme is being inserted and can be of help even to those who reside in the area concerned.

Places to Survey

An assessment of social networks can start just about anywhere, provided that the right questions are asked of those being interviewed. There are certain individuals and organizations, however, that are more likely to be connected to the social networks than others. Amongst these will be religious or cultural organizations, clubs with large and significant memberships, and associations of residents, workers, businessmen and other professionals. It will be important to ensure that the field teams penetrate behind the most obvious organizations to those that even local people may take for granted.

Nodal organizations are those which, in addition to their own work or in order to conduct their own work, hold together one or more networks by providing coordinating, secretarial, and home services for these networks. Such organizations may be mentioned often by interviewees. Nodal organizations should not, however, be assumed to be spokespersons for the community or to replace the networks that they support.

Questions to Ask

Field teams will want to get basic contact information from each person they interview. This information should include:

• an accurate rendition of the name, acronym and all common naming conventions of the organization that the person represents. In many societies, organizations will be referred to by a variety of appellations, and field workers may end up believing that different organizations are being discussed.
• all contact information including the actual postal addresses as well as phone numbers and fax coordinates and e-mail addresses where applicable. In the case of informal organizations, additional information may be required such as the name of the location where a telephone message can be left or a postal address where a second letter is required in order to ask the recipient to pass on the primary letter, and so on.
• details (to the extent known) of the key individuals and organizations with whom the interviewee works or associates on a regular basis. This information should include the names of organizations in which the individual and his or her organization is a member.

Redundancy

It is possible that the assessment of social networks will be conducted at the same time as other aspects of the programme. These other endeavours may include focus group research, pilot studies, and registration drives. Because of the importance of understanding the social fabric in advance of programmatic interventions, however, it may be wise to consider this as an initial step prior to additional programme assessment activities.

Notes:

[1] Robert D. Putnam, Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993).

[2] A. Portes and Landolt, "Downside of Social Capital" in The American Prospect, no. 26 (May/June 1996), 18 -21.

[3] Robert D. Putnam, "The Prosperous Community: Social Capital and Public Life" in The American Prospect, no. 13 (Spring 1993).

[4] Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man (New York: Free Press, 1992) or Francis Fukuyama, Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity (New York: Free Press, 1995).

[5] Francis Fukuyama, Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity (New York: Free Press, 1995).

Statutory Authorities

While the national election authority may have a legal mandate to undertake voter education programmes, they also represent one of the most obvious resources available to unofficial voter education initiatives. There may also be opportunities to pursue joint voter education activities through the formation of a strategic partnership between the election authority and civil society, among others. The role of election officials is described in some detail in Election Officials in Voter Education. Apart from those election authority officials designated for the task, however, there are likely other government agencies that are often overlooked, for example ministries of information and education, bodies responsible for the registration of voters, special executive or legislative committees responsible for civic education, or government support services, to name a few.

Other branches of the state should be considered as additional resources. They may provide skilled educators and communicators, large pools of volunteers or at least seconded workers, and perhaps access to information and experience that may be essential during the planning and implementation of the voter education programme.

Government directories may provide the background information necessary for the assessment, but obtaining access to the staff and resources of government departments requires personal contact and support from cabinet ministers or ministers of state and, more importantly, from senior state officials or civil servants.

Election planners will want to work with election authorities in ensuring that government departments and their senior staff are kept informed of and feel able to contribute to the programme from the outset. This is especially important if, for some reason, the civil servants previously responsible for elections, voter education, or broader civic education programmes have been excluded in the present programme or dispersed to other departments between one election and the next.

It may be that there is some hesitation about making use of civil servants in transitional situations where there has been too close an association of the civil service with one regime. If this is the case, more care will have to be taken in evaluating the advice given and the staff recruited. Nevertheless, state experience is not easily gained, and in many cases it is not written down in a form that can be used by the inexperienced.

As with all programme assessments, there will have to be a balancing of the usefulness of the resource in relation to the purpose of the programme, as well as with the impact that the use of the resource will make on cost, efficiency, and public legitimacy.

The Private Sector

The primary aim of business is to make profit. In order to make profit, however, commercial interests have to concern themselves with the stability and prosperity of markets and their reputation in the eyes of present and future consumers. Those with a long term outlook will also be concerned with the cultivation of educated and responsible citizens.

Elections are also substantial commercial ventures, in their own way, so there are redoubled reasons for businesses to become a rich resource for educators. Private businesses can be considered as a source of financial donations for the voter education programme. At the same time, they should also be viewed as partners in the venture and may be approached for support in the areas of secondary and senior staff, facilities, personnel, materials and so on. In some cases, larger business enterprises may even be encouraged to run education programmes of their own.

The private sector may be a rich and diverse resource. Economic activity may include street vendors, multinational representatives, and peasant farmers selling their surplus. At the start of the twentyfirst century, the variety of economic activity is expanding even though each individual company would no doubt prefer (as would each politician) to be the only player in the field.

Because of this, it is not possible to consider the private sector as a monolith. Any assessment of the sector as a resource will have to consider the texture of the country rather than take a predetermined view of what can be achieved. The assessment will also have to take into consideration the extent to which the private sector has partisan interests, and if and how these can be overcome to assist a nonpartisan programme. In a similar vein, the assessment will have to consider the public image of the business community and the extent to which that might affect the credibility and legitimacy of the programme.

Educators will also want to look beyond the private sector as there may be some non-profit organizations in civil society with commercial, business, and professional interests. For more on these types of associations, see Organised Civil Society as Stakeholders in the Voter Education Mandate.

Ultimately, it is difficult to imagine any country in which it is possible to operate a national education campaign without some support from the private sector, even if it is only financial support.

International Support

There is an increasing number of international agencies and individual consultants ready, willing and able to provide election administration assistance and, in particular, civic and voter education. Obtaining international assistance requires a knowledge of these resources as well as the specific tasks for which international support is required.

International Government Organizations

Electoral support has become a core activity of the United Nations (UN) family, which has established a number of specialist units capable of responding to a wide range of necessary activities – from election observation and administration to civic and voter education. With the publication of the seminal UNDP Human Development Index “Human Development Report: Deepening Democracy in a Fragmented World”, the UN recognized a growing trend by its members to support democracy and governance activities in parallel or as foundations to development. With the establishment of the Democracy Support Fund in 2006, a global consensus emerged in which countries act in solidarity with one another to promote democracy.

These global initiatives have been stimulated by or tracked by regional and sub-regional initiatives. The African Union and the Organisation of African States both established mechanisms by which countries could be held accountable for deepening democracy.

All of these initiatives have encouraged a partnership for electoral support and civic education.

Obtaining support

Despite the increasingly joined up architecture of institutions at a global level, international governmental organisations (IGOs) do still operate within different spheres of influence and with different frames of reference. Further information can be obtained about each of these IGOs from local or regional offices or from their web sites.

Regional bodies such as the European Union (EU), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Organisation of American States (OAS), and the African Union, and international organisations, such as the Commonwealth and the United Nations, all provide different levels of election support to their members and, on occasion, to donor countries and those requesting assistance. The United Nations family provides an online note at http://portal/undp/org/server/nis/4649027220113235. A number of individual countries also provide assistance through government development agencies, for example the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the British Department for International Development (DFID), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and their embassies abroad. On occasion, individual countries may be asked by IGOs to act on their behalf. In general, support from governments will have to be sought by the government or someone representing an inclusive community of interests within a country.

International Nongovernmental Organizations

Apart from governments there are a number of NGOs or consortia of NGOs that provide assistance in support of democracy. These include the partners in the Administration and Cost of Elections (ACE) Project. Many of these in addition to providing small grants, maintain websites providing information on donor organizations, technical assistance provided (organized by assistance area, such as voter education), and regional information resources.

Unlike government funding agencies, international nongovernmental organizations may opt to fund only those projects being undertaken by fellow nongovernment organizations, thereby supporting the development of the nongovernmental sector as a whole. For this reason, it will be important for those seeking grants to adequately understand the orientation, goals, and priorities of the organization from which funding is being sought.

Preparing for Support

Resources can be obtained only if the organization has specifically identified the type of support that may be required and matched this to a donor with complementary programmatic goals and funding priorities. Support might take the form of technical assistance, for example advice in developing, implementing, or evaluating a voter education programme, via training of trainers (TOT), through the provision or necessary equipment, in the form of a grant, or by covering the costs of a specific activity such as the printing or delivery of materials. Once a proposal has been prepared, any of the ACE partners will be willing to refer people to potential areas of support.

South-South Cooperation

The global enterprise of civic education and voter education has reached a stage where, as a result of waves of effort by international foundations, it is difficult to separate the collaboration of organizations in the traditional South from that of those in the North.

Indeed much of the experimentation and innovation in civic education and voter education is being done in the South by domestic institutions. In parts of the world, this work is being financed by national budgets and local solidarity funds, but much of it is still being financed by international development aid.

There is, however, an increasing number of regional democracy and election funds, some in private hands and some established by regional inter-government organisations. But apart from attempts to create indigenous sources of funds, the flow of intellectual capacity through election observation missions, sharing of best practice, and the mobility of academics, NGO staff, civil servants and election administrators has meant that the international partnership for civic education and electoral support is not a simple flow of resources from the North to the South.

Political Parties in Voter Education

Political parties remain an essential component of a democratic political system in a 21st century state.

There has been an unfortunate tendency to ignore the contribution that political parties can make to voter education and should make to a more general civic education. Voter apathy is directly related to the efficacy of political parties in developing and communicating policy positions which invigorate citizen interest in public affairs and government, and which, because of their responsiveness to individual and societal needs, place choices before people which they consider sufficiently compelling to get out and vote.

This tendency has been driven by a belief that those with a particular party interest are not to be trusted to inform voters of their rights or to assist them in making choices, and are generally going to attempt to seduce and dupe them by providing one-sided information or even misinformation. Strange that one can trust such parties to govern but not to have the public interest in mind at other times.

However, even if individual parties do behave in this way, the free flow of information and the standards under which modern elections can and should be conducted allow competing messages and information to reach voters. There are thus some systems in which it is assumed that the combined effort of campaigning parties and an efficient decentralized election management body provide sufficient voter information and education for any particular election.

Hence the apparent paucity of voter education in democracies of long standing, and the emphasis on voter education only at transitional moments. This is obviously an increasingly short sighted approach, and overlooks the numerous institutions in such long-standing democracies that conduct educational programmes at election times without referring to them as voter education.

Educators responsible for voter or civic education programmes should therefore consider carefully how best to involve political parties in contributing to their programmes, whether through a direct provision of the jointly determined curriculum, through encouraging their supporters to participate in programmes, through establishing and conducting their own educational programmes as is done by many party foundations  or merely by taking seriously, between and at elections, the need to communicate ably and vigorously with the public about their own programmes and about the constitutional context that both binds them to particular forms of organization and behaviour and gives them the freedom to exist and compete.

In countries where political parties are very poor, educators may even consider non-partisan ways in which these campaigns can be strengthened. Amongst possible options are:

• Joint candidate and party training in campaign management and conduct
• Independent publishing and distribution of collections of party manifestos
• Lobbying for free access to state-run media
• Providing parties with nonpartisan voter information pamphlets to which they can add limited information of their own, reducing their own printing costs
• Holding public education events at which candidates and parties can introduce themselves to the public

An assessment of the role that could be played by political parties' educators will want to consider the extent to which the parties presently represented in various legislatures represent the citizens at large, and whether, through anomalies in the electoral system or as a result of socio-economic cleavages and exclusions, there are formally constituted parties, whether registered or not, or informal political groupings and alliances, which should also be drawn into their educational venture. Interacting with such parties will depend on the institutional place of the educator. If part of a statutory body they may not be allowed to interact with any but registered parties: but if this is the case, they should consider other ways to make sure that the educational programme is not systematically excluding people who because of their political allegiances may not be accessible even by some more non-partisan but official educational programmes.

Time and Money

It is important during the assessment of the context to ensure that those tasked with planning for the voter education programme have full knowledge of the financial and time constraints. These are not always obvious or fully enunciated. There may also be significant changes to the environment in which the voter education programme is being conducted or the audience to which is it being directed. These changes are likely to affect the time and money needed for the current undertaking relative to past allocations. So educators will want to enquire into the details as early as possible. Seasoned educators will advise you that there is never enough time and always too little money.

Saving Time and Money

Education programmes will have to consider ways to reduce costs and save time. Mainly, this is done by increasing voluntary support and the number of organisations contributing to the undertaking. As noted elsewhere, forming strategic partnerships between election authorities, civil society, and the private sector helps to leverage costs, while financial support can be sought from international organizations. Tasks can also be simplified through appropriate planning and regulatory mechanisms. This can also be done by doubling up on resources and staff. One training event or manual can fill more than one need or reach more than one audience.

Cutting to Suit the Cloth

Unfortunately, election-related tasks cannot be slowed down or given a new deadline because an educator feels that the time available is not sufficient. Rather, the objectives of the programme have to be streamlined and the consequences of this explained to the client, whether a sponsor, an election authority, a government department, or a group of learners. Their expectations will also have to be managaged throughout the course of the project. This is, in fact, one of the most difficult areas for non-educators to grasp - that learning is time-related. Materials development, production, and distribution as well as orientation and training of educators, and the actual education time itself are all time-intensive and often difficult tasks to perform within established deadlines. Those who conduct programmes which are cyclical in nature will obviously find it easier to meet deadlines than those constantly preparing from scratch each time a campaign or election is held.