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IFES - Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone

Since 1999, IFES has conducted various activities designed to improve the ability of Sierra Leone’s National Electoral Commission to conduct effective, free and fair elections. These activities include assessing the country’s electoral infrastructure, advising the commission as it restructured, helping improve the voter registration process and assisting as the commission created a consultative committee composed of political party representatives. IFES’ work in Sierra Leone has been supported by USAID and DFID.

Current Projects

Increasing Voter Turnout Through Civic Education

The 2007 presidential and parliamentary elections are Sierra Leone’s first consecutive elections under civilian rule. They also mark the first time in 40 years that an elected head of state will hand over power through multiparty elections. 

IFES is working with the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to broaden citizen participation in the elections as it plans the voter education campaign and trains civic educators. The NEC’s voter education materials focus on procedures within polling stations in order to increase the orderly conduct of the elections. This information may be disseminated through guides, posters, leaflets, or the media. IFES is also coordinating with the NEC to provide voter education materials to political parties to ensure that these key stakeholders are knowledgeable about each step of the electoral process.

As successful voter education requires coordination among the different groups offering it, the NEC (together with IFES) is meeting regularly with civil society organizations that are also educating voters. Such meetings allow for coordination of efforts as well as feedback from the civil society groups as to the effectiveness of the NEC’s efforts.

Ensuring Everyone Can Exercise Their Right to Vote

IFES is working with the NEC, the National Democratic Institute, and domestic civil society organizations to promote electoral access for citizens with disabilities. This work builds on IFES’ 2002 pilot project, which provided tactile ballot guides (TBGs) to selected polling stations to enable visually impaired voters to mark their ballot papers in secret. For the 2007 elections, IFES has provided technical advice to the NEC and civil society organizations working to provide TBGs on a nationwide basis for the 2007 presidential and parliamentary poll. 

Offering tactile ballot guides to blind and visually impaired voters is an important step towards ensuring people with disabilities have full access to the electoral process. Another critical area is voter outreach to ensure that all know their rights to participate and are familiar with election-day procedures. IFES is assisting civil society organizations and the NEC as they work together to design outreach programs that target voters with disabilities.

Strengthening Sierra Leone’s Capacity to Regulate Political Parties

In advance of the 2007 elections, IFES is working with the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) to ensure this young institution is ready to register parties. IFES is also helping the Commission procure needed equipment and prepare for other important duties. 

As part of the Code of Conduct created by the PPRC and political parties in late 2006, monitoring committees (with membership from all parties, the PPRC, civil society and the police) have been established in Sierra Leone’s 14 districts. IFES is supporting these district-level committees and providing them with a range of tools they can use to carry out their functions. These committees offer major election stakeholders a forum to discuss and resolve conflicts that could lead to violence at the local level (this work is based on IFES’ Election Violence Education and Resolution program).

Building on experience with its Money and Politics program, IFES worked with the PPRC to develop regulations mandating political parties disclose their campaign finances. Through a series of consultative meetings with political parties, the PPRC (with IFES’ assistance) has created a system in which both political parties and candidates report on their finances before and after the elections. In coordination with the NEC, IFES has distributed several thousand forms and guides to help political parties and candidates fulfill this requirement.

Past Projects in Sierra Leone »