The Question

This question was posted on behalf of Yvonne Goudie, member of the Practitioners' Network.

Hi Colleagues,

I am researching civic and electoral education centres, and would be grateful for any advice on centres that any of you know about. Specifically I want to find out:

• countries that have physical civic and electoral education centres (attached to government agencies, universities, CSOs and so on)
• mandate/objectives of centres (scope and kind of programs, and target groups)
• funding and partnership arrangements
• statistics on program use
• establishment and annual budgets
• existence of evaluations conducted on effectiveness of programs

I have information on the EEC in Australia, but not in other countries – so any leads will help!

Many thanks,
Yvonne Goudie

Summary of responses
Several examples are cited of countries with civic and education centres:
• In Nepal, there is the Electoral Education and Information Centre with the objectives of increasing voter awareness and participation. Among other things, the centre has an electoral museum, a small theatre, a library and media centre.
• Georgia has the Center for Electoral Systems Development, Reforms and Trainings.
• In Fiji, there exists the Fiji National Initiative on Civic Education (NICE) project.
• In Bangladesh, the Electoral Training Institute was established in 1995.
• The Korean Civic Education Institute for Democracy falls under the umbrella of the National Election Commission of South Korea. The Institute has civic education programmes for teachers, general voters and opinion leaders. It also runs a Democratic Governance Academy with the aim of enhancing democratic leadership among certain target groups.
• In India, a national resource centre focused on elections and election management was founded in 2011: The India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM).  The institute also has developed a training curriculum.
• The National Orientation Agency in Nigeria (a government agency) acts both as a vehicle for civic and voter education and as a conduit to feed public sentiments and views back to decision makers. In addition, there exists the Electoral Institute Oghara Center (tied to the election commission) which is responsible for training election commission workers. The institute collaborates with three universities for its training programmes.
• The election commission of Zambia will soon open a voter education resource centre. The target audience is chiefly secondary and tertiary education institutions, as well as the general public.

Examples of related ACE Articles and Resources
Encyclopaedia:
• Voter education: Statutory Authorities 
• Election Officials in Voter education 

External Resources
• The Center for Electoral Systems Development, Reforms and Trainings (Georgia)

• India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) 
• The National Orientation Agency (Nigeria)

Names of contributors
1. Bhojraj Pokharel
2. Marija Babic
3. Kiros Beyene
4. Abdul Alim
5. Noor Mohammad
6. Hadija Miiro
7. Priscilla Mulenga Isaac

With the support of the Australian government,  Election Commission of Nepal has recently started education information center within its own umbrella. I suggest you to contact them directly and get relevant information. 

Bhojraj

Georgia could be a good example. Their Center for Electoral Systems Development, Reforms and Trainings exists since 2010 and has a rather broad mandate set by the Electoral Code. They work on civic education, voter education, training of election officials, certification of election administration, etc. 

Check out their website for more details (http://electionreforms.ge/index.php?ln=2), or contact me if you need further information.

Marija

Between 2010-2011, I worked as project manager and advocacy specialist for the UNDP Fiji National Initiative on Civic Education (NICE) Project. Mid-term review and final evaluation as well as impact assessment were conducted in 2011 and I think you better contact UNDP Fiji Governance Team leader for copies. 

Kiros Beyene  

Hi, I am providing three examples for you which may help you.

Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC) has a training institute called Electoral Training Institute (ETI). ETI is a permanent body established in 1995.

BEC has a separate branch which is known as Public Relations Branch. According to BEC’s job description, the branch is responsible to initiate all kinds of voter and civic education programme. Lead by a Deputy Secretary level official, the branch prepares posters, stickers, leaflet, TV spot, PSA, Short film and take necessary action to distribute, publish and broadcast those materials. The branch is responsible to build partnership with NGOs and CSOs in relation to voter and civic education. The total number of officials and staff in this branch are seven. During the time of voter registration the branch also conduct campaign among the eligible voters to be included in the electoral roll.

Generally, BEC prepares event-wise budget for each of the civic and voter education. Moreover, the budget of the branch varies, in election year, the budget become higher compare to non-election year. You know, budget for voter and civic education may depend on the number of voters, number of materials produce.

South Korea

The National Election Commission (NEC) of South Korea has a separate institute entitled ‘Korean Civic Education Institute for Democracy”. The Institute has three major civic education programmes: (1) civic education for elementary, middle and high school teachers, (2) civic education for general voters, (3) civic education for opinion leaders. In addition, the institute has a Democratic Governance Academy to enhance democratic leadership programme for female leaders, college student leaders, youth leaders, and future leaders. 

Nepal

In 2011, Election Commission of Nepal (ECN) has established  the Electoral Education and Information Center (EEIC) with a view to enhance awareness and participation of voters in the electoral system, processes and procedures by making electoral education more interesting and accessible to voters. The EEIC has an electoral museum, mini theatre and other voter and civic education programme such as include interactive voter education, opportunities to partake in mock elections, display of the electoral museum and information, electoral library, media centre and facilities for training and capacity building of the Commission‘s staff and stakeholders.

All the Best

Alim

Election Commission of India has started India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) in 2011.  The conceptual framework is available at

http://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/current/IIIDEM_Project_Document.pdf

It has prepared International Training Modules on the lines of BRIDGE modules and the National Module is under preparation. A web-based knowledge portal is also being developed in collaboration with UNDP.

Meanwhile a number of training programmes have been organised for the national and the international participants.

Hi Bhojraj, Marija, Kiros, Mohammad and Alim,

Thanks so much for your prompt and helpful information:

Nepal – I am aware of this new centre (and saw the centre when it was being built about a year ago) and know that their AEC-like-model has been well adapted for the Nepalese context. It is also great to see E and DG BRIDGE included in their programming – and I can’t wait to see what the ‘democracy bus’ will look like!

Bangladesh – I have also visited the Electoral Training Institute (ETI) in Bangladesh – but I was not aware that they run programs for youth – so I will definitely look further into this.

Fiji – I have seen the NICE civic education manual and will try to obtain the evaluations from UNDP there (not aware that they run programs through NICE, but I’m curious if they do have links with the government there, such as the parliament, election commission and or the education ministry.)

South Korea – I have seen the promotional materials for the ‘Korean Civic Education Institute for Democracy’ but hadn’t heard about the Democratic Governance Academy – I’ll definitely look into this program.

Georgia – I hadn’t heard of the Center for Electoral Systems Development, Reforms and Trainings, but I did meet one of the electoral commissioners recently who mentioned the civic education work through the courts/justice system – so I’ll definitely look into the center you mentioned.

India – Nice to make contact with you again Dr Noor! (I met you at a visitor program for Australian elections). I am delighted to learn about the IIIDEM (and that BRIDGE is included). I will look at the framework link you sent – thanks.

This is very helpful information – thank you again. I am conducting this research for an IDEA paper I am writing, but my hope is to ultimately research this area more broadly. I have heard several colleagues in electoral management bodies who have expressed interest in building electoral and civic education centers and or developing programs for electoral and civic education centers (for example I understand there is current interest to do this in Bhutan, and I know the Thailand electoral commission also has a similar center which is now up and running.) My interest/goal is to develop a set of guidelines for the establishment and programming of electoral and civic education centers (for the school and adult sector). If there are any agencies out there who would be interested in this initiative, please let me know!

Also, if anyone else knows anything about centers in other countries (Afghanistan?) – please let me know!

yvonne

The National Orientation Agency-Nigeria is an established government agency with a mandate to enlighten and re-orient the attitudes of Nigerians on government policies, programmes and activities and to provide a feed back to government on people's feelings and and reactions towards policies and activities. This responsibility includes the conduct of civic education including voter education. It acts as a venue for information dissemination and provides space for public input into government decision making processes.

There is a lot of information you can benefit from on

• mandate/objectives of centers (scope and kind of programs, and target groups)
• funding and partnership arrangements
• statistics on program use
• establishment and annual budgets
• existence of evaluations conducted on effectiveness of programs

From their website at http://www.noa.gov.ng/

The Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria INEC also has an electoral institute (Electoral Institute Oghara Center) responsible for training the needed labor for INEC including Voter education staff. The Institute collaborates with three universities for training and retraining programmes geared towards human capacity building for INEC staff and State Independent Electoral Commissions as well as election management bodies outside the country.

Dear Yvonne

The Electoral Commission of Zambia will be launching its voter education resource centre next month. We also got the idea following a study visit to the Australian Electoral Commission a few years ago. We are excited and looking to opening of the centre which will target primary and high school students and teachers, college and univesity students and the public in general. We will also be establishing pilot voter education clubs at nine selected schools across the country next year. We have received support from donor countries under the electoral cycle support project which coordinated by UNDP.

Going forward the centre and the clubs will be sustained by the Commission and once the centre is underway and later the clubs, I will give you more information on the activities, the budget etc.

All the best

Priscilla Isaac

Director, Electoral Commission of Zambia

many thanks Priscilla!

I remember when you visited the EEC in Canberra - so pleased to hear this centre inspired you! All the best and hope to visit your centre one day.

Please send me your email address so I can email you,

regards

yvonne