Launch of community outreach programme |23 February 2017
Civic education gets big boost
A community outreach programme has been officially launched as part of a national project aimed at enhancing civic awareness and building capacity for citizens to be more involved in the democratic process and good governance in Seychelles.
The programme is being implemented by the Citizens Engagement Platform Seychelles (Ceps) in partnership with two local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – the Citizens Democracy Watch Seychelles (CDWS) and the Association for Rights Information and Democracy (Arid). It is being financed by the European Union (EU), whose ambassador to Seychelles, Lina Marjaana Sall, and project manager Rajesh Parboteeah were also present at the launch ceremony. The chairperson of Ceps, Jules Hoareau, presented Ambassador Sall the media kit to be used during the sessions in the community.
The EU and Ceps signed a grant agreement in July 2016 to ‘Build the capacity for citizens’ participation in the democratic process and good governance in Seychelles’. It is financed under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights Budget to the tune of nearly €100,000.
Guests of honour at the event were Vice-President Vincent Meriton and Designated Minister Macsuzy Mondon.
Addressing the audience, Mr Hoareau said the session comes at an opportune time when the people are witnessing an interesting development in our democracy especially on the balance of the two sides, the executive and the legislative.
“We are citizens. We are the key players in the democratic process. Civic participation is more than just taking part in an election. It is about we, as citizens, becoming the promoters, becoming the ones who actually defend human rights. It’s about playing the oversight roles and about engaging in a very meaningful manner,” he said.
He said the awareness session has two main reasons: One is that citizens are being given the platform to be able to take part and secondly to learn more about their roles as citizens in the democratic process of our country.
He expressed the wish that citizens are better informed after the process.
Ms Sall reminded all on the three main components of the programme which are developing a training of trainers programme, followed by on-the-grounds civic education awareness sessions in communities on the three main islands; producing and publicising educational spots, articles and programmes on the national radio, television and newspapers; providing refresher training courses to 50 local election observers, followed by training of another 50 local election observers; and training of political parties on their rights and obligations. The programme is expected to be completed this year.
“Since the electoral reform in 2014, there has been improvement in the electoral process. However further improvements are recommended by the international elections observers’ missions. The EU project intervenes in this context. The objective of the project is to assist government in implementing some of these recommendations namely regarding civic education,” said Ambassador Sall.
Brief presentations were made on the three arms of government – executive, legislative and judiciary.
The launch was animated by songs and poems from local artists.
It is worth noting various activities have been launched as part of the 12-month project, some of which were held in the latter part of last year. They were in line with the electoral and outreach programmes for first-time voters. This year training of trainers was conducted to enable trainers to conduct awareness sessions in the community on the three pillars of government, and on the responsibility of each party.