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Description
In this project, we raise civic awareness in the community and encourage citizens to get involved in the electoral process at the local level. We are preparing people to act as community electoral observers, trusted persons and members of the ward electoral commissions. We are also implementing an educational campaign on the electoral process aimed at all voters. The problem addressed by the project is the residents’ low knowledge and awareness of the electoral process. The problem is important especially in the context of widespread disinformation that influences voting decisions. Public observation and the role of a trusted person or a member of the ward electoral commission is an activity available to all citizens. It is also a way of education in action through which any person can learn how the electoral process works. The project is aimed at two main groups of beneficiaries. The first one includes active people who want to get involved in the election process but do not have sufficient knowledge or skills. The second one is made up of people from NGOs or informal groups from the Mazovian, Warmian-Masurian and Kuyavian-Pomeranian provinces who are involved in civic activities at the local level and want to increase their knowledge of electoral processes and civic control over elections. As part of the project, we are preparing educational materials for members of ward electoral commissions, trusted persons and community electoral observers. For the general electorate, we are developing guides that explain, step by step, how the electoral process works. We carry out instruction meetings (online and in-person in the provinces covered by the project) and trainings on how to conduct social monitoring of the electoral process for NGOs and informal groups.
Summary of project results
The project was to respond to the crisis of citizens'' trust in elections that we identified - in October 2022, trust was at an alarmingly low level of 45%, and in the following months it dropped to 40%, and in April 2024 - after the parliamentary and local elections, the level of trust increased to 76%. We believe that the educational activities we conduct; as well as encouraging citizens to actively participate in the electoral process as the Electoral Commission, the Ministry of Health and the SOW contributed to this success. The training materials we created helped organize and systematize knowledge, and convey it in a much more accessible way than official institutions responsible for training committee members, for example. The project included 20 information meetings and 5 in-depth training sessions on civic monitoring of the electoral process, attended by a total of almost 530 people, which allowed us to spread reliable knowledge about elections beyond the main urban centers.
During the implementation of the entire project, the following were prepared and published: - the "Confidence Builder" report regarding the knowledge and perception of the functions of the Social Election Observer, shop steward and member of the electoral commission, - information materials for voters - the materials were viewed over 650,000 times on the Foundation''s social media alone. times; - e-learning courses for social election observers and representatives of the parliamentary elections, - educational materials for candidates for members of district electoral commissions, - Essentials for social observers and shop stewards, In total, the Guide for committee members and Essentials for social observers and trustees were downloaded from the Foundation''s website over 13.5 thousand times. - 20 information and educational meetings for voters were organized and 5 out of 3 planned trainings for organizations on conducting independent citizen monitoring of elections.
The materials developed by the Foundation were used by, among others: 30 thousand people. Thanks to this, the Foundation had an influence on shaping the attitudes and knowledge of people working in electoral commissions and observing their work during the voting day. This had an impact on the quality of the voting day, but also helped the Foundation build the reputation of an organization that works for the benefit of all people working in elections - regardless of their political views. Thanks to the simple graphics and infographics informing about the elections prepared in the project, the Foundation reached over 650,000 recipients with reliable information about the elections - mainly women and men aged 18-44, especially via Instagram. The results of our research show that 95.2% of the beneficiaries of our project feel that through their role during the last elections, they contributed to ensuring the fairness and correctness of the voting process. However, it is the result of 98.4% of respondents who believe that there is a need for social observers and shop stewards to also observe the next elections in Poland, which best shows that the Foundation''s activities are and will be needed to further combat polarization and build trust and co-responsibility for the elections.