Three webinars on the development of election related awareness raising measures for youth were held as part of the Council of Europe’s support provided to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Ukraine within the framework of the Council of Europe project "Supporting the transparency, inclusiveness and integrity of electoral practice in Ukraine". Representatives from the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine were also invited to take part in the webinars as their activities are closely related to the issues covered during the webinars.
The representatives from the CEC of Ukraine and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine learned which awareness raising measures can be used to engage young people in country’s public and political life, in particular, the electoral process (formal and non-formal education, communication strategies and campaigns). They also learned how to increase the effectiveness of these measures based on the profiling of young voters’, understanding their attitudes, values and views.
"As the webinars’ participants have correctly mentioned, lifelong habits are developed from an early age. If our voters treat the elections responsibly and realize that it is about their future, and these processes are important for their lives, then, we will finally achieve the goals set out in the Constitution and Ukraine will become a truly democratic, independent, rule-of-law state. This is especially important on the eve of the local elections, when the way to move forward will be set at the level of localities where young people live”, – Victoria Glushchenko, CEC member, shared her impressions in the course of the webinars.
The Council of Europe new toolkit "Vote outside the box" was also presented during the webinars. The toolkit was commissioned by the Council of Europe’s Division of Elections and Civil Society in support of its role to provide advice and technical assistance to the member States on various aspects of elections. The toolkit is designed to enable electoral management bodies to develop strategic approaches to raising awareness of electoral processes and building electoral knowledge amongst young people, and in particular first-time voters. A public presentation of the toolkit is planned.
