A number of further education and
informal education providers offer opportunities for youth to enhance their
knowledge and understanding of electoral politics, as well as offering programs
that fit into the broader area of democracy education. Many of the most effective
programs link the intended learning with the practice of democracy in real-life
processes.
Learning programs encompass a broad
range of formats, such as democracy camps and capacity development workshops.
Example: Transparency Maldives in partnership
with IFES ran 6-day Democracy Camps with young people to enhance the
participants’ knowledge on civic education, rights and responsibilities of
a citizen, democracy, human rights, and various social issues. See ACE
Election Materials: IFES Maldives Democracy Camp Booklet.
There are Master programs in electoral administration such as the Master
in Electoral Policy and Administration (MEPA), offered by the Scuola Superiore
Sant’ Anna University in Italy. [i] The EMB in Moldova offers a MA in Political and
Electoral Management.
There are several informal learning programs
that target youth or could be tailored to youth. See Annex: Civic/Voter Education
for Young Adults and Annex: IDEA Youth Democracy Academy flyer.
Example: Promoting Political Leadership of
Youth with Disabilities in the Dominican Republic. In 2018, IFES delivered a
participatory course to youth with disabilities based on Building Resources in
Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) “Disability Rights and Elections”
module and the “She Leads” women’s empowerment curriculum. Classroom learning is
supplemented with hands-on learning and visits to Dominican government
institutions and guest lectures from regional experts. See Annex: IFES in
Dominican Republic.
Example: In Myanmar, IFES supported a
training program for youth 15–21 years old who were to be first-time voters in
the 2020 elections and had no previous civic education either in schools or
through other trainings. “Your Voice, Your Vote, Your Future” is a
two-and-a-half-day civic education training program that focuses on three key
areas: knowledge development, leadership development, and community
mobilization. The first two days of training covered topics such as “Elements
of Democracy,” “Decision-Making
Processes,” “Introduction to Elections” and “Building Your Self-Confidence.”
See Annex: Your Vote, Your Future: A Youth Civic Education Program in
Myanmar.[ii]
Example: In Kosovo, a
wide-ranging integrated social media, web and activity-based program was
developed and implemented by youth-led CSO Peer Educators Network (PEN),
assisted by IFES and with the concurrence of the Kosovo Election Commission,
whose staff participated in some of PEN’s activities. See PEN’s final report on
this in ACE Electoral Materials: Final Narrative Report PEN IFES, and
a video overview of the program at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btBMU5zdyu8.
Major components of the program were:
- The social media (Facebook https://www.facebook.com/speakinthenest/)
and web platform “Fole ‘n Fole” – featuring news, quizzes and videos. Youth
were encouraged to contribute to the platform through monthly prizes for
video selfies and other contributions; participants’ status upgrades, depending
on the number of contributions made, gave access to events with political
leaders. Much of the content was video-based: a full-time video journalist was
employed to film and post the program’s activities and interviews with youth.
- Meetings of youth with local mayors,
and national political party leaders
- Public debates between prominent
politicians and youth
- Development of a “Superchangers
Guidebook” for youth engagement (see ACE Electoral Materials:
“Superchangers”)
- Mock elections in schools in
cooperation with Kosovo State Election Commission municipal offices
- Community-based project
development workshops for youth organizations
- Development of a multi-player video
game simulating election activities: “Aktivomania,” where participants could
role-play as candidates, observers, election staff or voters, and try to win
constituencies. This is downloadable for Android and Mac mobiles.
Additionally, IFES implemented a
youth research internship program in which young undergraduates developed
quantitative and qualitative studies on youth-related election issues. These
were done in cooperation with the Election Commission, which provided full
access to its data. See ACE Electoral Materials: Youth Voter Turnout, Impact
of Hate Speech on Youth, and Participation of Youth in Political
Parties (also available through the IFES website)
Example: In Timor-Leste’s 2017 and 2018 elections, the National Election Commission
(CNE), with IFES assistance, produced music videos featuring Marvi, the
most popular young Timorese pop star, promoting youth electoral
participation.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV8OuvoE6d4 for
the 2018 election video and https://www.facebook.com/2018EdukasaunSivika/videos/645585595651064/
for the 2017 election.
In 2018, CNE produced another video
with IFES assistance that explained how, when and where to vote, featuring
well-known young sports stars. See https://www.facebook.com/2018EdukasaunSivika/videos/765310710345218/.
These videos were posted to multiple
social media platforms: CNE, the Technical Secretariat of Election
Administration (STAE), UNDP, various CSOs including the Timor-Leste Youth
Parliament Alumni (APFTL), and diplomatic missions. They were also broadcast on state
and private TV stations and in movie theatres. The audio from the videos was
used on national and community radio stations, and on loudspeaker trucks in all
local government areas. CNE also organized a youth entertainment segment in its
televised election candidate debates, and in 2018 STAE produced
theatre-based voter education events in universities in the week before the
election.
The Youth CSO Timor-Leste Youth
Parliament Alumni (APFTL), assisted by IFES, developed and implemented a social
media and community event–based program of civic education for
youth. APFTL met regularly with the CNE and STAE to coordinate messaging
and arrange CNE and STAE participation in APFTL activities, and works
cooperatively with the Secretary of State for Youth. Major activities have
been:
- A civic education social media
platform for young people – https://www.facebook.com/pg/2018EdukasaunSivika/.
This features election information and news, and is increasingly using video
selfies and vox pop video interviews with young Timorese, and also promotes CNE
and STAE activities
- Community radio talk-show
programming, featuring local youth representatives
- Youth Democracy Festivals in each
municipality, featuring some interactive workshop content, quizzes with prizes,
live music, dance, theatre, competitions for (mainly) school and university
groups designing election-related posters and news magazines for youth, and in
Dili a national band competition for an election song.
- Close regular liaison with teachers,
and high school and university-based events to promote voter registration and
electoral participation
- Targeted SMS blasts to youth in the
three weeks before election day
- In the post-election phase: setting
up a Youth Parliament Watch program, coordinated with other governance CSOs.
This has included workshops for young people in all local government
areas, training them to monitor the activities of their
representatives.
[i]
https://www.santannapisa.it/it/formazione/master-electoral-policy-and-administration
[ii] International
Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), "Your Voice, Your Vote, Your
Future: A Youth Civic Education Program in Myanmar," (IFES, July 6, 2018),
http://www.ifes.org/news/your-voice-your-vote-your-future-youth-civic-education-program-myanmar.
