“President Horta congratulated the UN and particularly the UN Electoral Support Team for the assistance provided throughout the process. In addition, the President specially mentioned the voter and civic education campaigns aimed to inform and educate voters on the electoral process. President Horta commended the quality and visibility of the materials utilized in the outreach activities namely: posters, banners, flyers, newspapers ads which all contributed to the high voter turnout and good knowledge of the electoral process.”

 

- UNEST Management Team

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Client: UNDP Support to the Timorese Electoral Cycle (UNEST)

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Project: Timor-Leste Community Leader Elections (Suco) 2009

Voter and Civic Education campaign

Stickers & Banners

 

Products: Posters, leaflets, banners, stickers, training manuals and flipchart

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Language: Tetum

 

Timor-Leste is divided into 13 districts, 65 sub-districts, 442 sucos (villages) and 2225 aldeias (hamlets). The Suco election determines the community leaders of each village. The country has a strong tradition of community power structure and decision-making process, albeit with almost a complete absence of women’s participation. Traditionally, the political, ritual and conflict mediation in communities has been the domain of men.

 

To ensure women’s participation in decision-making, the National Parliament and the Government adopted affirmative action policies for the 2009 Community Elections through the reservation of seats for women. This resulted in a large number of women elected in the village councils.

 

To increase voter’s participation and awareness in the 2009 Community Elections I designed and developed an electoral campaign focusing on voting rights, the role and responsibilities of the voters, the relationship between elections and democracy and the secrecy of the ballot. The project gave particular emphasis to the empowerment of women as candidates and the importance of their vote.

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Photographs: Karen Kelleher Carneiro, Martine Perret,

Toby Gibson, Andres del Castillo