On 10 and 11 April 2017, in cooperation with the EU-funded Support to the 2015-2018 Liberia Elections Cycle project, the National Election Commission (NEC) organized a lesson-learnt exercise focusing on the civic and voter education campaign.
[one_half]This national campaign, supported by the joint EC-UNDP electoral project and organized by the National Election Commission of Liberia, aimed to raise awareness on voter registration.
An estimated 700,000 potential voters were reached, out of which 54% are women. To accomplish this, various communication channels were used including community radio programming, town hall meetings, theatre performances, concerts and door-to-door visits. This lessons-learned exercise has enabled UNDP and NEC to identify weaknesses and produce a set of recommendations and actions, to be integrated in the next phases of the civic and voter education campaign.
Key recommendations included strengthening the cooperation between the field campaigners and electoral officers, increasing the use of the vernacular language and extending the monitoring tools for field officers.[/one_half]
[one_half_last]Another lesson-learnt exercise on how to improve electoral operations was held from 10 to 14 April 2017.
Following this event, NEC staff members have been trained on asset management and inventory and warehousing procedures.
In addition, a debriefing session was organized for managers and regional field coordinators to improve the functioning of the systems prior to the voter registration period.
The recommendations from the exercise also included a review of the voter register exhibition and candidate nomination forms. Both have been updated to address gender issues and ensure compliance with the regulations.
Manuals for trainers and staff have also been developed in collaboration with the NEC on the application of the procedures.[/one_half_last]
The project “Support to the 2015-2018 Liberia Elections Cycle” responds to the needs and builds capacity of the NEC to deliver transparent and credible elections. A total of nine outputs aim to increase the long-term capacity by improving training tools and methods, and assisting the NEC to introduce modern administration systems. The project also supports the NEC in producing a new voter register in advance of general elections in October 2017, increases the role of women in elections and political life, supports civic education activities and strengthens the NEC capacity to engage stakeholders and resolve disputes in an effective and transparent manner. This project is implemented by UNDP and is funded by a joint basket fund supported by our partners, the European Union, Sweden, Canada and Republic of Ireland. It is coordinated through the One UN policy with other United Nations agencies.