Awareness Campaign on Voter ID distribution in Somaliland

Project Purpose

The Bringing Unity, Integrity and Legitimacy to Democracy (BUILD) project seeks to invite its current grantees in Somaliland to submit applications for supporting the voter education and information efforts aimed at increasing voter engagement and participation in the upcoming presidential elections of Somaliland scheduled for November 13, 2017.

Project Background

Somaliland has held six elections since 1991, and although all were deemed peaceful and credible by citizen and international observers, there have been areas of deficiency and confusion including: generally low levels of literacy among citizens; limited knowledge about the election process, particularly for pastoralists; andpoor coordination in voter education activities between the NEC and civil society, despite efforts at coordination. Voter education is especially important because of Somaliland’s very young electorate who are new to participation in the electoral process.

From April to August 2017, BUILD issued grants to local civil society organizations (CSOs) throughout Somaliland to implement activities aimed at raising awareness among registered voters/communities about the NEC’s voter identification (ID) card distribution process for the upcoming presidential election in November 2017. Through support to local CSOs in Somaliland, these grants worked to accomplish the following objectives:

• Disseminate information about the Somaliland voter ID distribution process
• Foster increased collaboration between CSOs, the NEC, and communities on voter ID distribution efforts
• Identify lessons learned during implementation of activities under those grants, which could be used to strengthen voter education efforts and increase collaboration between CSOs, NEC, and communities during future election activities and cycles.

BUILD seeks to build off of these recent voter education campaigns through a subsequent cycle of grants. In this grants cycle, BUILD will issuefollow-on awards to current grantees that, through their response to this technical application, demonstrate the capacity to implement activities that support the project objectives and illustrative activities described below in the same geographic regions targeted during the first round of grants. Such activities will aim to motivate Somaliland citizens to fully participate in elections, by informing them about their political rights and responsibilities within a democracy, including where and how to correctly cast their vote.

Project Objectives

BUILD is seeking partner organizations to develop and implement a coherent voter education campaign aimed at increasing voter engagement and participation in the upcoming presidential elections of Somaliland scheduled for November 13, 2017.

The main objective of the voter education campaign is to provide accurate information about the election process such as the date, time of the upcoming election, and when and where to vote in the election.

Applicants must demonstrate a strategy to effectively and efficiently reach as many communities and individuals as possible in the region(s) they propose to implement voter education activities. Applicants should have a strong presence in the region(s) of Somaliland they are applying for. Applicants should demonstrate the ability and willingness to coordinate with local organizations including youth and women’s groups.

The campaign should be targeted to the population at large, though preference will be given to campaigns that will reach grass root communities and marginalized groups such as women, youth, persons with low literacy, and persons with disabilities.

Illustrative Activities

Voter education activities supported under any grant(s) awarded under this opportunity may include but not be limited to the following:

• Community meetings with Community and Religious leaders
• Face-to-Face activities e.g. Workshops, meetings and Launch
• SMS messaging via text or voice
• Vehicle based announcements
• Distribution of IEC materials
• Somaliland special events – Events that can be used to bring people together in support of a cause. E.g. Marathon, football, netball etc.

Project Beneficiaries

Partners and beneficiaries of the project includes the National Electoral Commission of Somaliland (NEC), political parties, Non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations and registered voters.

More specifically, the project intends to focus on the following groups:

• Women and people living with disability, including registered voters living in rural and remote areas
• Youth and newly registered voters
• Community and traditional leaders in each region of Somaliland

Furthermore, the project intends to disseminate information on the election process to the following approximate number of registered voters/communities in the following regions

• Sanaag – 85,000
• Togdheer – 178,000