The CEC signed today eight agreements with local CSOs concerned with the issues of democracy, human rights and elections to finance activities within the second phase of the project “strengthening Palestinian electoral participation” funded by the Italian Cooperation Office.
The implementation of activities will extend to two months commencing October 2011 in all Palestinian districts including Jerusalem. Various training sessions on electoral systems and election observation will be organized. Activities will also include the production and broadcast of audio visual materials designed to raise the public awareness and political participation among Palestinians, especially women and youth.
The signing ceremony was attended by CEO, Mr. Hisham Kuhail, and a number of CEC officials as well as Nadia Harhash the project manager from the Italian Cooperation Office and participating CSOs. The ceremony included presentations for the projects to be implemented.
On his part, Mr. Kuhail thanked the office of the Italian Cooperation for supporting these projects, stressing their importance in contributing to the increased public awareness of the issues of democracy and elections, and strengthening the role of civic society organizations in their efforts in enhancing democratic practice, and monitoring the transparency and integrity of the electoral process.
It is worth mentioning that the first phase of the project included the implementation of workshops with 26 CSOs in all Palestinian districts. However, in this phase eight institutions were selected out of 20 which have submitted requests for funding within the ‘Election Participation Support Fund’ which was established recently in order to raise election awareness in Palestine.