Details

Through the public dialogue and the following workshop pragramme, civil society actors and members of the networks formed to promote democracy in the district are assisted to gain a deeper understanding of democracy promotion strategies in politically sensitive environments and on the approaches to project design, management, resource mobilisation and reporting.

The dialogue generally proved to be a welcome platform for local actors to share their views on the state of political pluralism and democracy. In particular, in light of the upcoming elections participants expressed concern that political leaders are interested in the local issues only when looking for vote. After elections they never return to the electorate and also never keep in their campaign promises. Participants emphasised that there is a challenge of corruption which is most cases only looked at within institutions like the police, while other important aspects like voter bribery are not paid attention to. To this effect, a participant pointed out that the very common way to collect votes from the grassroots is to buy them. In consequence people are used to being paid for their votes and participation in the local issues and expect money from all politicians at any event. For this reason political education at the grassroots is needed so that the citizens would be able to objectively cast their votes and demand their rights and accountability from the elected leaders after elections.