Through the establishment of
information centers, EMBs can strengthen citizens’ knowledge and understanding of democracy and electoral processes and motivate them to participate in elections. To make information centers appealing for youth, EMBs could set up exhibitions using different forms of
art (video, photo, music, multimedia installations, story-telling) and create an interactive experience with games and mock polling exercises.
Example: In 2012, with support from UNDP, the Election Commission of Nepal
established the Electoral Education and Information Center (EEIC). As of April
2016, some 22,000 visitors had visited the EEIC, of whom 18,000 were high school students.
At the EEIC a 25-minute
documentary, Democracy and Election, is shown to the visitors, highlighting Nepal’s election history. The center has a thematic area,
installed with interactive games to educate visitors by engaging them in
touch-enabled games they can play to learn more about electoral processes.
To increase outreach and promote electoral education in remote areas,
mobile EEIC kits are taken to rural and marginalized areas to give users the
opportunity to learn more about Nepal’s political history, democracy, and electoral
process through seeing, touching, and hearing methods. See UNDP Youth Participation in Electoral Process:
Handbook for Electoral Management Bodies, UNDP, 2017.
Other examples of information centers
are:
- Australia: National Electoral Education Center https://education.aec.gov.au/visit-us/
- India: India International Institute of
Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM), also runs Electoral Literacy Clubs
https://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/iidm.aspx
- South Korea: Korean Civic Education Institute for
Democracy, comes under the umbrella of the National Election Commission of
South Korea http://www.civicedu.go.kr/eng/
- Thailand: Democratic Education Center,
https://www.ect.go.th/dec/main.php?filename=index
- Nigeria: National Orientation Agency in
Nigeria, a government agency that acts both as a vehicle for civic and voter
education and as a conduit to feed public sentiments and views back to
decision-makers http://www.noa.gov.ng/
- Georgia: Center for Electoral Systems Development, Reforms and Trainings
http://www.electionreforms.ge/eng
- Zambia: Voter Education Resource Center (correct spelling)
See ACE Consolidated Replies: Civic
and Electoral Education Centers
