This project, financed by the Foundation for the Future, furthered the CEC’s efforts to educate the Palestinian people, especially Palestinian youth, on elections-related issues. The CEC signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Education to reaffirm both parties’ readiness to cooperate for the benefit of this project and also to reiterate previous cooperation. The CEC, for its part, made a considerable effort to educate Palestinian society on the electoral process. The project targeted ninth-grade students in 106 schools throughout the West Bank, including Jerusalem, through civic education textbooks. The teachers, trained by CEC staff, supervised mock elections conducted by the students during the summer term, which emulated all stages of the electoral process, from voter registration to the announcement of results.
The project was divided into four stages:
1. First stage: 15 September to 28 October 2008
Coordinating with the Ministry of Education to select the schools where the project would be carried out, planning and preparing the materials needed for the following six weeks.
2. Second stage: 1-2 November 2008
Training the teachers on how to conduct mock elections; introducing teachers to the vision and objectives of the project; preparing, printing, and distributing materials to the electoral districts as planned. The Ministry of Education delivered the materials to the schools.
3. Third stage: 3 November to 15 December 2008
Implementing the project, delivering an introduction to the electoral process in Palestine, conducting mock elections in selected ninth-grade civic education classes.
4. Fourth stage: 15 December 2008 to 25 January 2009
Evaluating the project and preparing the final report.
Main objectives of the project were:
• To raise the Palestinian youth awareness about the electoral process
By distributing 65,000 brochures on the elections to ninth- grade students in the West Bank, including Jerusalem.
• To underline the meaning of elections through mock elections
1. To conduct mock elections for approximately 10,000 students.
2. To distribute 500 promotional posters to 106 schools.
3. To distribute gifts to the students who participated in the project.
• To improve elections education among ninth-grade civic education teachers:
1. To conduct training workshops for 150 teachers about the electoral process.
2. To provide targeted teachers with printed guidebooks and manuals to use as references.
For further information, click on:
Elections in Palestine Guide
The project in photos