Below are details of the most recent Civic and Voter Education project AYISE has conducted, for the 2009 Presidential Elections. This is a typical project of its type and so is representative of other projects we have conducted.

AYISE conducted Civic and Voter Education in six constituencies in Tyolo and Mulanje Districts.
The following activities took place:

• Strategic meetings for District Officials for Tyolo and Mulanje
• Strategic meetings for chiefs in all constituencies
• Mobile Van campaign meetings (Civic education) in all six constituencies
• Identification of grassroot civic educators

The strategic meetings with district officials were conducted prior to any action being taken on the ground. The meetings covered the issues AYISE would deal with, the areas of emphasis, and our methods – in line with Malawi Electoral Commission procedures and recommendations. The District Electoral Commission officials requested that they be included in all our efforts so as to evaluate AYISE’s operations. The meetings were very well attended, by high level individuals, including the District Commissioner in Mulanje.
Meetings were held with Chiefs in all traditional authorities; namely Thyolo East, Thyolo South West, Thyolo Thava, Mulanje Bale, Mulanje North and Mulanje Pasani. At these meetings AYISE discussed its plan of action, and how the Chiefs can facilitate free and fair elections. Chiefs, and the citizens, were encouraged to judge the candidates on the following areas:

• Morality: Do they try to buy voter I.D.s? If so report them to the authorities as this is an offence.
• Knowledge of issues that really matter in your constituency and an improvement plan
• Approachability
• Merit of the candidate Vs Merit of their party
• Visibility in the community – do they visit regularly?

The Chiefs were also encouraged to:

• advise their communities of the fact that only one candidate can be successful,
• encourage new candidates if they wish to compete,
• be non-partisan and non-biased,
• encourage people to vote
• encourage people to inspect the voters roll when it becomes available
• set a good example by voting
• encourage people to attend rallies and thus to become aware of the manifestos available to them
• encourage youth to vote
• discourage people from selling their voter I.D.
• discourage partisan and insulting songs and behaviour
• discourage youth and others from disruptive behaviour during rallies and campaign meetings

11 meetings were conducted in all the 6 constituencies, and questions were answered to clarify the issues for the voters.

Another very important activity that AYISE instigated in all constituencies was that of civic education meetings using a mobile van. A team of organisers went ahead and booked meetings with chiefs, and raised awareness of the meetings among the community using face-to-face meetings and posters. The locations were recommended by the chiefs as hotspots to attract the greatest number of people. These meetings discussed the importance of the elections, and how they could affect the area. All the topics covered at the Chiefs’ meetings were also covered, but this time using the media of drama, presentations, leaflets and posters. Again, questions were answered to enlighten the community.

These meetings were also used by the community to select would-be grassroot civic educators to receive our training.

Turn out was very good at all the meetings, and attendees were requested to assist their country by passing on the information to those who could not make it to the meeting, and to ensure the posters we had erected were left up for all to see.

OUTCOMES

Achievements:

• AYISE has managed to establish good working relationships with key stakeholders at District level
• Stakeholders at district level have joined a team of civic educators in the field
• AYISE has established good working relationships with the District Commissioners at Mulanje and Tyolo
• AYISE involved the media from Information and Zodiac
• Some meetings attracted aspirant candidates who appreciated and supported our work

Challenges:

• Poor weather made some roads impassable, affecting our schedule and reducing numbers of attendees
• Many of our educational and marketing materials pasted on trees were removed to be used as domestic decorations, reducing the number of people who could view them
• Appropriate forms were not available from the Malawi Electoral Commission for the most part of AYISE’s project
• Many Chiefs expressed concern that they were being pressured by some politicians to block certain candidates. After our meetings and discussions they were happier that they were legally bound to permit all candidates to compete
• Most of the constituencies had experienced identity fraud, which worried the residents about their right to vote. After meeting with us they were motivated to vote and to verify the voters register to ensure their right to vote.

Conclusion: The project started very well, and as such most of the planned activities were successfully implemented.