Nice outlines post-election plans
National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust has outlined its plans for the post-election period.
Nice national programmes manager Gray Kalindekafe said Nice will shift from civic education which only raises awareness to an empowering and transformative approach.
Speaking during the Northern Region training and planning workshop on Wednesday, Kalindekafe said Nice expects this to have a bigger impact on mindset change as most people would get out of the socio-cultural and political straight jacket and have self-confidence.
He said the trust will also put special attention towards consolidation of the local governance system with the presence of councillors.
Kalindekafe said Nice will embark on a comprehensive civic education campaign clarifying the different roles of Members of Parliament (MPs), councillors and traditional authorities (T/As).
He said: “We will also endeavour to contribute towards moving Parliament closer to the people through the facilitation of establishment of constituency citizen forums which will provide a platform for communication for enhanced dialogue, mutual trust and collaboration.”
In his remarks, Nice civic education manager (North) Enock Chinkhuntha said Nice wants people to have a voice; therefore, the facilitation of citizen forums will strengthen democracy.
He said because of the civic and voter education campaign during the May 20 Tripartite Elections, the Northern Region recorded a reduction in null and void votes from four percent in 2009 to 0.65 percent this year.
