The
2007 Election Assistance Programme
In anticipation of the forthcoming presidential and legislative elections,
in response to a request fr om the Government of Kenya, UNDP Kenya
developed an election assistance programme which has two main goals:
• Independent assessment of the elections as free and fair.
• Increased voter turn-out.
The 2007 Election Assistance Programme is supported by many donors:
Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands,
Norway, Sweden, The
European Union, The United Kingdom, and the United States of
America.
The programme aims to strengthen the overall capacity of the Electoral
Commission of Kenya (ECK), civil society, media, and other agencies
critical to the achievement of free and fair elections, and improvement
of citizens' participation in the electoral process and understanding
of their rights and duties.
Through support to voter education, media training, media campaigns
and media monitoring; to the reduction of hate speech; to improved
political accountability and to domestic observation processes,
the programme contributes to the development of an open and accountable
political system of governance and the conduct of a peaceful and
informed electoral process by encouraging competitive issue-based
politics, education and tolerance.
The Kenya Election Assistance Programme is guided by principles
including harmonisation and complementarity with on-going programmes;
local ownership and focus on long term capacity building; and accessibility,
especially for the disabled, non-urban dwellers and the illiterate.
In partnership with the ECK and with the expert assistance of SOUTH
Consulting, an extensive voter education initiative is underway
that engages non government organisations throughout Kenya as local
voter education facilitators.
The Kenya Election Domestic Observation Forum (KEDOF) has been established
by faith based and civil society bodies to conduct a unified domestic
observation exercise that looks to issues-based and thematic, well
as polling-day observation of the elections.
[top]