Voter and Civic Education workshop in Kyrgyzstan

UNDP Kyrgyzstan in cooperation with the Central Election Commission of Kyrgyz Republic, and with the financial support of Government of Switzerland, 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 Kyrgyzstan local elections scheduled for April 2021. Therefore, the workshop was constructed on Eight Step approach of implementing the VCE program.

The workshop was conducted on January 26-30, 2021 at “Ak Maral” Hotel, in Issyk Kul, Kyrgyzstan. The workshop was facilitated by international facilitators Iuliia Shypilova and Tetyana Bibik. Thirty-nine participants from the CEC of Kyrgyz Republic, local NGOs, educational institutions and academia attended the workshop.

The sessions engaged the participants with high interaction and enabled them to discuss the various steps of development and implementation of the Voter and Civic Education Programs. Some of the sessions encouraged participants to be creative and engaged them to develop their own voter education programs for the upcoming elections. CEC Kyrgyzstan emphasized on the importance of such workshop as the basis for establishing the curricula for the CEC’s Center for Civic Education.

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 five 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 5-day VCE workshop.