Education programmes being established from scratch, and particularly voter education programmes in transitional societies, may lead to the creation of new organisations and institutions because existing ones may not have the necessary experience or resources or even the appropriate mandate for this type of work. So there may be situations where it is necessary to create new organisations and institutions to meet educational needs.
The mushrooming of new civic education organisations in Eastern Europe and Latin America may suggest that it is the appropriate direction. The difficulty of setting up new institutions is often underestimated, however, as is the time required to ensure that they are sustainable and can establish a place in the country's political and social culture. Educators will want to consider, therefore, whether or not existing organisations can take on voter education tasks that are complementary to their current activities or educational institutions can assume specific curriculum interests of the voter education programme.
Good Reasons for Using Existing Organisations or Institutions
Existing organisations and institutions already have an infrastructure, a reputation, contacts, and a constituency. Their staff know the context in which they have to operate. If they have been engaged in voter education programming in the past, they will also have the benefit of an institutional memory. With respect to national election authorities or other statutory bodies, they may even have a legal mandate and state funds to conduct voter education.
At the same time, such institutions may be weak or limited in their programme or outlook. They may have resource constraints that limit their ability to implement all their programmes or to increase their staff. They may have legal constraints: both over their areas of activity and over their access to resources. Yet, some constraints can be overcome through training, by using international pressure to increase access, and by investing in the organisation. There may also be opportunities to build strategic partnerships between organisations in order to leverage resources, establish a division of labour, and increase access both at the top and the grass-roots.
Good Reasons for Creating New Organisations or Institutions
There may be situations, however, in which there are no suitable existing institutions or organisations. There may be no permanent election management authority or it may have no legal mandate to conduct voter education. Its integrity might be in question or its resources and capacity severely limited. Depending upon the country's political history, there may be virtually no civil society groups. Or, perhaps those organisations that were permitted are absolutely compromised and ineffectual. All of these would constitute good reasons for starting a new organisation. Another instance in which it may be appropriate to found a new organisation is when that decision is made by a representative and well-informed group of stakeholders that includes those institutions that might otherwise spearhead a programme. This evaluation of the capacity and potential of existing institutions and the possibility of forming a new organisation should be made cautiously.
Poor Reasons for Creating New Organisations or Institutions
There are, however, moments when those who want to run an educational programme overlook existing institutions for the wrong reasons. In the first place, they may not do their homework and may be unaware that there are institutions that could be reformed, transformed, or informed in ways that make them suitable. There have been occasions when organisations are founded despite the existence of entities that have appropriate goals and suitable infrastructure. There are also those who found organisations because they do not have the energy or confidence to negotiate with existing ones. Or there may be a prejudice against existing organisations that is unsubstantiated or untested by actual interaction with them. There are also those who form new voter education programmes because they want to own them, and feel that they may not be able to control existing organisations to the same extent. The decision may also be motivated purely by a desire to access government or private funding within the country or internationally.
None of these are reasons that can stand up in situations where there are limited resources and where a programme has to be implemented with general national acceptance. They result in competition over resources and over programme participants, leaving a legacy of redundant efforts and weakened and more complex organisational arrangements either in the public sector or in civil society.
