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News from the Field: Supporting the engagement of civil society in Morocco’s local elections

An important step on the road to strengthening Morocco’s electoral democracy took place in Casablanca on 15 - 18 January when the Moroccan Centre for Civic Education held its second National Train the Trainers’ Workshop.

The workshop was part of an UNDEF-supported project aimed at promoting civil society engagement -- particularly women and youth -- in Morocco’s local elections in June 2009.

Mr. Elarbi Imad, President of the Moroccan Center for Civic Education, invited the participants to reflect on the importance of participating in public affairs, politics and elections in the democratization process underway in Morocco. He spoke of the impact such involvement can have on decision-making processes and local, regional and national development plans.

The training seminar, called “Project Citizen”, attracted experts in civic education, representatives of civil society, academics and students, who will later conduct training seminars for women and youth in citizen involvement in the. The participants explored issues such as electoral participation, laws governing elections, candidates’ education levels, the role of political parties and NGOs. There was also an analysis of electoral absenteeism, loss of confidence in political parties and deficiencies of political communications.

The participants set out a number of priorities:

Increasing efforts to convince reluctant women and youth to vote in the upcoming elections;

Launching an intensive national media campaign to regain public confidence in political institutions;

Effective coordination between political parties, civil society organizations and the Consultative Council on Human Rights and all concerned governmental institutions, with a focus on implementing the strategies to bring citizens closer to their political institutions;

Implementing an intensive national education programme in schools to sensitize citizens at an earlier age to the importance of voting.

Participants of the national training of trainers' workshop

 

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