The
mere concept of democracy implies that it is a system wherein members of the
society come together to discuss on solutions to a common benefit or threat
allowing each participant to have equal role and the minority accepts the
resolution of the majority before moving to practice. The process ensures the
consideration of minority views, respecting of majority vote and equality of
votes.
Election
is the main feature of a democratic system. Election is one and the main
features of sovereignty for the existence of popular constitutional system that
ensures the protection of human and democratic rights. This is because the
people are the source of governmental power and the government is accountable
to the public. As a result, the public needs to have developed civic knowledge
and skill for discharging this huge national duty.
Upon
taking over office on June 26, 2007, the current National Electoral Board of
Ethiopia identified the problems in the office and set forth the means of
addressing those issues. One of the identified problems is the way of providing
voters and civic education. To address this problem, the Board prepared voters
and civic education manual after a process of two years in collaboration with
stakeholders. This teaching manual has already been accepted for implementation
after the approval of the Board.
In
order to maximize this civic knowledge of the public, the Board has prepared
voters and civic education manual having national scope and consistent content
and strategies. This teaching manual was used during the 2010 election and
showed remarkable results. It has been further developed in this year with
consultation and discussion of stakeholders and has been approved by the Board
as manual. The teaching manual is now being translated in the working and
learning languages of the regions. This manual will help all citizens to
develop their civic knowledge and skill and make informed and objective
decisions during voting.
The
Board has been using different mechanisms to allow access to this manual to the
entire public. In this regard, progress has been made in using national and
regional mass media radios to broadcast the education through different
languages. In this respect, the Board has finalized its preparations to
conclude a one year long contractual agreement with Amhara Region Mass Media,
Oromia Region Mass Media, Somali Region Mass Media, Addis Ababa Mass Media,
South Region Mass Media, Fana Broadcast Corporate and Tigray Demtse Woyane
Radio to broadcast the education in different languages.
The
education shall be broadcasted twice a week for two consecutive days within a
year and the Board is already prepared to train members of the selected mass
media on how to broadcast the program in attractive and interesting manner.
After this training, it is expected that voters and civic education will be
offered permanently in all regions.
Civic
education develops the understanding and knowledge of citizens about
government, democratic system, public power, human and democratic rights,
social and constitutional rights and duties, domestic development, natural
resource, poverty reduction, etc…
The education
enables citizens to make informed choices and contributes for building
democratic system, registering social and economic growth, prevalence of good
governance and eradicate bad practices and address any current problems in a
civilized manner whereby ensuring sustainable development.
In
this regard, every citizen should be civically developed and the voters and
civics education plays important role in this regard by inspiring citizens to
rise for social growth, increase their social participation, respect and cause
the respect of rights and duties, develop the values of transparency and
tolerance for the flourishing of the democratic system.
Civic
education is important in this area. In this regard, all citizens need to learn
the political condition of the country, legally provided rights and duties,
social and economic interactions of the society, social problems and solutions
and contribute their part for building a democratic system.
Cognizant
of this fact, the Board is now moving to intensify the civics and voters
education so that the entire peoples of Ethiopia develop their civic knowledge
and skill and play active role in the democratization process of their country
and this is an indication of the importance of the issue.
Voters’
education is mainly offered to voters so that they could be well prepared
before the election and make informed choices. The education teaches citizens
of 18 years and above qualified for voting about the meaning and importance of
election, system and procedure of election, stages of election process,
registration of voters and voting process, etc…
Though
the voters’ education is offered during election time, it is very crucial to
provide continuous awareness development teachings so as to develop the civic
knowledge and skill of the public until the next election. The Board is therefore, based on this concept
that it embarked on launching civil knowledge and skill development education
throughout the country. Hence, the provision of voters’ and civics education in
the country contributes highly for the process of democratization and enables
the voters to make informed choices without any interference, fear, pressure or
inducement.
