In most societies it is unlikely that
youth not enrolled in schools, illiterate youth, young people without access to
the internet and young people not interested in electoral processes, will be
attentive to traditional voter education programs. EMBs thus need to identify
more creative solutions to connect with them. Sport is a great tool to reach
some of these groups of young people. EMBs frequently use popular sports
players in their media campaigns. Using sports players from marginalized groups
has also proved effective to reach those marginalized groups represented by the
sports player.
Example: Kenya: KESOFO, a sporting NGO in Kenya, was
formulated in 2006 as a way of forestalling incidents of post-election
violence. Targeting youth, KESOFO aims to promote peace and tolerance, through
a programs incorporating civic education, peaceful elections, voter education
and election-violence monitoring using soccer as its medium.[i]
[i] Kesofo
Community Sports Foundation (web page), (InsideKE.com, accessed August 2018),
http://www.kesofo.insideke.com/.
