Continuous civic education would help to engage the young and women to politics

Laura Wache

Maputo, 19 May 2010 - Laura Wache (photo) is Mozambican civil society activist that would know “the remedy” for poor participation of Mozambicans in the electoral processes. “We need continuous civic education that would include all the groups of the civil society. Young, women, old, illiterate – all of them should be sensitized and mobilized at every turn”, she suggests.

This was her main message to STAE (the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat) when attending a workshop on civic and voter education that was that was held by STAE and City of Maputo in Maputo, last week. The capacity building concerned the poor participations of the youth and women, the turnout and its causes, the electoral process, civil education in rural areas, and the full and equal participation of women in political activities.

The purpose of these provincial workshops, organized with the support from UNDP, is to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations in their participation in the civic and voter education. "We expect that this knowledge would increase turnout and reduce tension and intolerance”, says UNDP’s Chief Technical Advisor Abdoulaye Kourouma, working at STAE.

Laura Wache from AMOPROC (Mozambican Association for Promotion of Citizenship) would like STAE and the civic society organizations to put more emphasis on women’s education.

“We have a relatively high representation of educated women in politics on central level but the rural and women lacking higher education need continuous information in-depth on their rights and the electoral system. There are women and young people that are not fully aware of all the concepts; having a right to choose the party or fulfilling your citizenship by voting is sometimes misunderstood that you have to be a member of a party, and that is not the case.”

Rafa Valente Machava Elections and CSO 110510

But one of the main reasons for the low election participation of the youth and especially of the women, from her perspective, is structural. As Laura puts it, it is “the lack of inclusion of these groups in the electoral planning process from the start”.

Ms. Rafa Valente Machava from Muleide (a NGO aiming at improving the status of women in Mozambique) agrees with Laura.

"Rural and uneducated women should be able to exercise their rights fully. Bringing electoral information accessible to all of us with the means that are understood is a long process that should start from home and school, and continue in women groups for example with a manual that trains women to political activities (picture)."

At the moment, only 18 percent of the Provincial Government members are women, when on the ministerial level 23 percent are women. About half of the Mozambique’s population of 20 million is young, below the age of 18.

General Election turnout in Mozambique