Philippines

From 2006 to 2013, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) worked with the Commission on Elections in the Philippines (COMELEC) and multiple civil society partners to strengthen the transparency and credibility of the Philippine electoral processes. IFES’ work with COMELEC introduced international standards and best practices in election administration and management and promoted staff professionalization, including a gender audit, gender-sensitivity trainings and focus group discussions to determine factors that led to the disenfranchisement of women in the 2010 automated elections. IFES also provided on-going education to the judiciary on election adjudication and supported the development of a voter registry database integrity test. With local civil society partners, opportunities were created for citizen input into the electoral reform process, to encourage public disclosure of campaign spending and to generate infrastructure changes to ensure the accessibility of schools used as polling places. Through democracy camps and targeted voter education, IFES increased youth engagement and leadership in Bangsamoro, the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. Additionally, IFES supported the inclusion of indigenous people in electoral processes through special provisions for voter registration and identification.