On 22 July 2016 the Central Election Commission of Georgia (CEC) presented the project “Electoral Development Schools” that it will implement with the support of the Council of Europe (CoE). The CEC Chairperson Tamar Zhvania, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia, Cristian Urse, and the Deputy Chief of Party of the International Foundation of Electoral Systems (IFES), Ketevan Maisuradze, made opening remarks at the presentation.
According to Ms. Zhvania the project “Electoral Development Schools” is the most successful out of the various projects that CEC implements with the aim to raise civic awareness.
The learning course is designed for the youth who are between the ages of 18 and 24 years and will commence in 20 municipalities on 25 July 2016; some 680 young citizens are already registered to take part in the courses. During the 10-day learning courses the participants will receive information on issues such as: electoral systems, election administration, democratic electoral principles, elective bodies in Georgia, electoral stakeholders, transparency and accountability of elections, gender equality.
The learning course will be conducted by the members of the District Election Commissions and trainers of the election administration. The CEC Training Center conducted a training of 46 trainers (ToT).
“The project objectives refer to increasing civil engagement and raising awareness. The most important is that elections will be promoted among youth, and the quality and level of their participation will increase. This will significantly contribute to the development of the future professional resources and development of the country” - stated the CEC Chairperson to the journalists after the presentation.
While making comments for the media, Cristian Urse underlined the importance of the close cooperation between the Election Administration and the CoE. He emphasised that the CoE will support the CEC to successfully implement the full cycle of three elections in 2016-2018. “Within the framework of cooperation on this particular project, we aim at engaging more youth in election processes”- stated Mr. Urse.
The project was successfully piloted in 2015 in 10 election districts and involved 627 participants. Following the success of the project, the number of electoral development schools has been doubled and courses will be conducted in 20 municipalities this year: Gurjaani, Sighnaghi, Telavi, Rustavi, Gardabani, Marneuli, Dusheti, Gori, Borjomi, Akhaltsikhe, Ambrolauri, Sachkhere, Zestaponi, Kutaisi, Ozurgeti, Senaki, Zugdidi, Poti, Batumi, and Kobuleti. The CEC plans to further expand the project and cover whole Georgia in the future.
