Support to the Electoral Program in Afghanistan

Counterpart International (Counterpart), in partnership with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), is implementing a comprehensive and multi-level voter and civic education program in Afghanistan. The goal of the two-year USAID-funded Support to the Electoral Program in Afghanistan (STEP) program is to entrench democratic electoral principles and engage the citizens of Afghanistan in the electoral process. The civic education program focuses extensively on the need for providing voter educational training services to the people of Afghanistan, with a particular emphasis on youth (ages 16-25), religious and tribal leaders, people with disabilities and women.

Counterpart and its local partners work with the International Election Commission (IEC) and government ministries to develop comprehensive sets of election-related materials for dissemination. Due to the extremely low literacy rate in Afghanistan (15-20 percent), Counterpart relies heavily on direct communication and radio broadcasts to promote civic education throughout the country.

STEP's major civic education activities include the following:

• Extensive Community Outreach through Existing Social Infrastructure: In coordination with IFES, Counterpart and its local partners will work with and through its existing civil society organization (CSO) networks, as well as with and through Ulemas (or Islamic Legal Scholars) and Mullahs (or Islamic Cleric). Instrumental to the outreach effort is the disbursement of Community Outreach and Civic Education Grants given to each of Counterpart's ten local partners.
• Civic Education Message Development: The NGO partners are conducting field tests to measure the overall effectiveness of civic education materials developed by the IEC on the following topics:
• Voter Rights and Responsibilities
• Voter and Electoral Fraud Guidelines and Reporting Information
• Addressing various target groups of women, youth and people with disabilities. 
• Elections Movies & Community-based Information Dissemination: STEP continues to develop educational films on elections in Afghanistan. Each film produced is intended to help everyday Afghan citizens identify with the electoral process and how political participation can have a positive impact on their communities.  Films incorporate skits and music to generate interest amongst potential voters.
• Radio Outreach: In coordination with local partners, Counterpart is implementing a two-pronged approach to elections radio programming. Community based programs are developed at both the regional and national level: 
• Community-based Radio: STEP continues to develop radio programs based on a series of weekly roundtable discussions. The topics for these roundtable discussions on civil society issues include: democracy, elections, and public service.  Local partners, tribal leaders, village elders, and members of the women-led Shuras (or Consultative Body) are all engaged in the planning process, to ensure that programs cover topics relevant to all segments of Afghan society. 
• National Radio Program: STEP is also working in close coordination with several large national radio broadcasting stations based in Kabul to develop quality programming, including: Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA); Radio Azadi; Voice of America/Radio Ashna; BBC; and Arman FM. Radio broadcasts often feature interviews with male and female government officials, IEC officials, and members from the private sector.

Since the beginning of the project in August 2008, STEP Civic Education Program has reached a total of 439,358 eligible and future voters. In August 2009 alone, Counterpart, through its partner NGOs, conducted 3,973 face to face civic education activities and community meetings in 31 provinces in Afghanistan with a total of 136,595 eligible and future voters, of these 85,997 male and 50,598 female. That same month, as part of its broader media campaign, STEP produced and broadcasted seven Public Service Announcements (PSAs), three roundtables, and six episodes of its 24-part drama series.  The media campaign activities will continue into December 2009 in order to complete the set target of 12 PSAs, 24 drama episodes and 12 roundtables, in Pashto and Dari.

Counterpart recently worked in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth to organize a celebration of International Youth Day on August 11th. Over 900 youth leaders from across the country attended the event, representing various youth councils and NGOs. The STEP team emphasized the importance of youth's role within the context of citizen participation and the electoral process.

Photos: © Counterpart International.