Education programmes, and especially voter education programmes, tire people. And, under pressure, they find it hard to perform at their best. This section suggests some ways to help people perform well.
Indeed, while the programme itself may be going along quite well, some staff may start showing the symptoms of burnout and depression. They become defensive and egocentric, and the programme begins to demonstrate the same characteristics.
Dealing with this under stressful conditions is not easy, and there may not be the resources or time available to give people a real break. But there are certain things that can help both staff and volunteers.
Affirmation
Managers and team leaders have to develop systems for recognising and affirming good performance. They will identify this performance in a number of ways in order to ensure that they do not start focusing only on a narrow band of behaviour.
Small Teams
Construct and then maintain small teams in which people can find support for their own work and assist in providing support for others. Such teams are likely to be objective based rather than specialized in orientation. But, across such teams, an organization might construct affinity groups, which draw together researchers or administrators with a particular focus.
Both such gatherings of people should meet during working hours: the time spent on maintenance should not have to happen during people's own time.
Celebrate
Team leaders will find opportunities for celebration. Birthdays, holy and high days, especially those that commemorate human rights and democracy milestones, and other similar moments provide an opportunity for people to gather and celebrate the importance of their work and that of other people. Interestingly, the election day and its aftermath can be a major letdown for voter education workers. The nonpartisan nature of their work leaves them outside the real contest and its emotions; and the fact that they work through the last-minute administrative preparations often means that they do not hold election staff positions in polling stations.
In South Africa, a special T-shirt was produced for workers so that they would not feel out of place in all the hullabaloo.
When it is not possible for education programmes to free their staff to participate fully on election day, special arrangements should be made to ensure that staff and volunteers do have a chance to celebrate the closure and likely success of their enterprise.
Be Administratively Competent
Cheques paid late for services rendered, misspellings of names on certificates, being left off internal mailing lists, late decision making about policy and practice, having to wait for stationery and the materials necessary to do the work: all of these have a debilitating effect on people. These situations can be avoided by ensuring adequate and professional administrative backup to the programme.
Manage Terminations and Closure
The morale of the staff and volunteers is important. No programme can afford to have people leave during the last days of its life.
It should be noted, however, that many programmes end not only with an election but also with the termination of employment. So, in the most hectic moments, staff members have their thoughts on future employment or the insecurity of unemployment. Programmes should either schedule contracts so that they run through an election or ensure that people resolve their futures early. It helps to have absolutely clear and unambiguous statements and contracts that determine the period of employment, but it may be necessary to start quite early in stating the obvious to people, so they do not leave their arrangements to the last minute and do not get distracted when it is least appropriate.
