LocationsThe NEC hosts a workshop to validate the Baseline Survey on Citizens’ Awareness of the Electoral Process and Access to Information
February 3, 2025
NEC Commissioners, State High Election Committee (SHEC) representatives, and the Baseline Survey Steering Committee members, including representatives from the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Peace and Reconciliation Commission, Ministry of Youth, Ministry of Gender, and Civil Society Organizations, and international electoral assistance partners including Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), EU partner Democracy Reporting International (DRI) and the UN Integrated Electoral Assistance Team (UN IEAT) including UNDP, UNMISS and UN Women.
Following the recent conduct of a Baseline Survey on Citizens’ Awareness of the Electoral Process and Access to Information, the National Election Commission (NEC) organized a validation workshop on Thursday, January 30, 2025, at the Eric de Mul Hall, UNDP Country Office to review and finalize the survey’s findings. The workshop brought together NEC Commissioners, State High Election Committee (SHEC) representatives, and the Baseline Survey Steering Committee members, including representatives from the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Peace and Reconciliation Commission, Ministry of Youth, Ministry of Gender, and Civil Society Organizations, and international electoral assistance partners including Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), EU partner Democracy Reporting International (DRI) and the UN Integrated Electoral Assistance Team (UN IEAT) including UNDP, UNMISS and UN Women.
The workshop’s objective was to validate the baseline survey’s report, data and analysis, ensuring that the survey findings are comprehensive, accurate, relevant, and align with the local context and contribute to the development of inclusive civic and voter education strategies. NEC’s Commissioner Amos Ochieng opened the meeting highlighting that “the survey is important as it captures opportunities and challenges that will be strategically applied for planning and implementing Civic and Voter Education (CVE) in South Sudan’’.
JICA Representative, Kasumi Shiraishi, in addition to the Chief Technical Adviser of the UNDP South Sudan Electoral Support project and Deputy Chief of the UN IEAT, Costanza Lucangeli, both underscored the significance of the baseline survey report for implementing inclusive and effective civic and voter education campaigns in South Sudan.
Following the opening statements and presentation on the survey findings, participants engaged in discussions in separate working groups and presented observations and recommendations for enhancing the outcome of the report during a plenary session. The NEC Commissioners and the SHEC Members actively participated in the workshop, proffering guidance on various contextual perspectives to consider when finalizing the document.
As the next steps, the NEC, JICA, DRI and UN IEAT will work with the survey’s consulting firm to oversee the report’s revision and provide feedback to the Steering Committee to finalize the report for publication.
This workshop underscores NEC’s commitment to ensuring that its activities, especially on civic and voter education, are coordinated with other electoral stakeholders and accurately reflect the experiences and needs of South Sudanese. Moving forward, the NEC will use the report’s findings to inform the development of a curriculum and other policy and strategic documents for the implementation of inclusive and effective CVE campaigns across South Sudan.
