Voter and Civic Education workshop in Armenia

UNDP Armenia with the financial support of EU, Governments of Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK conducted a BRIDGE modular workshop on Voter and Civic Education V3.

The workshop aimed to examine approaches on civic education, electoral education and voter information. Participants were trained on how to build effective voter education programs and build long term strategies on civic education. The practical part included the development of the voter education complex program for Armenia local elections scheduled for autumn 2021. Therefore, the workshop was constructed on Eight Step approach of implementing the VCE program.

The workshop was conducted on August 31- September 03, 2021 in Yerevan, Armenia and facilitated by international facilitators Iuliia Shypilova and Tetyana Bibik. Twenty-one participants from the civil society, territorial election commissions, academia and UNDP attended the workshop.

Special attitudes and approaches were developed to engage participants in the training. Energizers and group work was under the special emphasis for such special target group. The participants marked both formats and content of the workshop, making a special emphasis on the dynamic of the workshop. Participants underlined the importance of civic education in Armenia, emphasizing the need to formulate election messages based on values and necessity to disseminated them to reach out various groups of voters. They valued a large number of examples of civic education campaigns and cases form other countries.

The workshop has met its objectives. Final evaluation was arranged by targeting the stakeholders’ learning outcomes and future usage of the knowledge. Participants marked the value of mixed groups of participants where there is a place to develop broader civic education programs. Many participants noted the value of the international experience given within four days. Also, participants marked interactive approach of the workshop and lots of practical exercises.

At the end, all the participants have received certificates in recognition of completion of 4-day VCE workshop.