Paving the Way
for Peaceful Elections
in Tanzania
The Tanzania 2010 election and
the Zanzibar 2010 referendum on
constitutional change stand out as
milestones for the country, for Africa
and for elections and democracy
around the world.
Tanzania successfully held a multi-party general election on 31 October 2010, peacefully choosing the national and Zanzibar presidents and parliaments. UNDP played an important role throughout the five-year election cycle that began in 2005.
A $12 million UNDP programme assisted Tanzania's election management bodies, parliaments and political parties in the years between elections. UNDP worked with the Government on developing the new election law, building up the institutional capacity of the National Electoral Commission and the Zanzibar Electoral Commission and improving the voter registry. UNDP also provided technical advice on the review of the legal framework for elections, including the introduction of an Election Expenses Act aimed at curbing corruption in campaigning and voting.
Starting in 2009 an additional $28 million election-support project bolstered a range of activities in preparation for the 2010 polls, including technical assistance to election management offices and procurement of electoral material and voter-registration equipment. In Zanzibar, where every election since independence has been marred by fatal violence, UNDP worked with government, law enforcement agencies and communities to help maintain peace and security. This helped to ensure a peaceful environment for a trouble-free referendum in July 2010 and a historic peaceful election in October.
Nearly 20 million people registered to take part in the 2010 general election last year. UNDP's voter-education project used small grants to local NGOs to reach remote areas of the country, first-time voters and those who traditionally do not vote. Innovative methods helped to reach potential voters through theatre groups, rural community radio for women's groups and voter information in Braille for the blind.
The multi-donor project also provided training for judges, women candidates, women's association members, 5,000 party officials and 9,000 police officers. It established a mobile phone messaging system that allowed voters to find out polling station locations and their registration status. Finally, the UNDP project created a modernized e-results management system that improved vote tallying. More than 7,000 domestic election observers received training and support.
Early collaboration with a range of international donors, national institutions, NGOs and media provided the foundation for improved democratic governance in Tanzania. The long and productive engagement that UNDP has with electoral bodies in Tanzania has played an important role in helping to strengthen democracy in the country.
Election team members verifying voter information at the Tanzania National Election Commission processing centre in Dar es Salaam in May 2010. UNDP helped put in place the ICT-based voter information verification system.
(Photo: Faraja Kihongole)
In villages throughout Cambodia, local councillors and communities are telling officials how the Government can better meet their basic needs, holding public meetings that are proving instrumental for Government efforts to raise people's standards of living. These meetings are part of a six-year local governance support project sponsored by UNDP and the European Union, finishing in 2011, which has organized forums in all eight regions of Cambodia, including its 23 provinces, the capital and more than 70 districts.
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Public attorneys Marina Korganashvili (left) and Maia Grigolishvili talking to their clients at a Legal Aid Bureau in the city of Gori, Georgia. The Bureau serves both local residents and 30,000 people who were displaced to the Shida Kartli region by the August 2008 armed conflict. With assistance from UNDP, the Bureau provides free consultations, legal support in all branches of law and court representation in criminal cases.
Established under the national Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance, the Legal Aid Service ensures legal assistance for the poor and disadvantaged. It reaches out to all citizens who cannot afford representation. For the displaced and socially and economically vulnerable a public attorney is the only hope for a proper legal defence.
Photo: UNDP Georgia
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Children pose for a photo in an IDP settlement in the city of Berbuki. The settlement is home to more than 134 displaced families who fled from South Ossetia after the August 2008 conflict. Most of them are farming families from the Georgian and Ossetian villages close to Tskhinvali.
Photo: UNDP Georgia
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Residents of the IDP settlement in Berbuki look through information leaflets produced by Georgia's Legal Aid Service. Travelling to Gori is not always easy for the villagers. To ensure easy access to its services, the Legal Aid Bureau arranges on-site consultations all over the Shida Kartli region. Many of the displaced need to recover their documents lost in the conflict, register for the state aid or resolve property and other legal issues. Free legal aid is their only chance to get access to legal services.
The Government's Legal Aid Service provides free legal consultation and court representation to those who need to recover their documents, register for state aid and resolve property issues.
While visiting villages and IDP settlements, consultants and attorneys meet with people, inform them about legal aid services and advise on specific cases. The assistance to the Gori Bureau is part of the UNDP's larger initiative to support the state-funded legal aid system in Georgia.
Photo: UNDP Georgia
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Head of the Gori Legal Aid Bureau Giorgi Jeiranashvili (left) and public attorney Joseph Gabaraev are looking through a case.
Six public attorneys, a consultant and a specialist provide free consultations, legal support in all branches of law and court representation in criminal cases at the Legal Aid Bureau in Gori. Two thousand people received legal assistance from the Bureau in 2009 and 2010. About 800 of these cases required legal representation in the court system.
Photo: UNDP Georgia
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Natela Bitsadze is a public attorney of the Legal Aid Bureau in Gori. Her clients are residents of the Shida Kartli region – socially and economically vulnerable and the displaced. Free legal aid is their only chance to get access to justice. Bitsadze meets dozens of people every day, providing legal consultations and, if needed, getting documents ready for the court cases.
Along with the Bureau's other public attorneys and consultants, Bitsadze went through a professional training course organized by UNDP as part of its wider programme to support Legal Aid Service in Georgia. UNDP also helped to refurbish and equip the Bureau premises and assisted outreach efforts to people all over the region.
Photo: UNDP Georgia
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Public attorney Marina Korganashvili (left) provides legal consultation at the Bureau in Gori. Her client is a Gori resident who needs legal advice on a property issue.
In 2009 and 2010, the Legal Aid Bureau in Gori received up to 2 thousand applications from people who were looking for legal advice, assistance in drafting legal documents, or representation in front of the court.
Photo: UNDP Georgia
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A family of displaced people in the settlement of Berbuki. The Legal Aid Bureau reaches out to all citizens who cannot afford representation. With assistance from UNDP, the Bureau provides free consultations, legal support in all branches of law and court representation in criminal cases.
Today Georgia's Legal Aid Service has 11 offices and 3 consultation centres throughout the country. In 2010 alone, the Service received more than 20,000 applications for free legal advice and help. Through a US$350,000 project, UNDP is helping to open additional legal aid offices in Georgia's ethnic minority regions and in areas that have a high concentration of displaced people.
Photo: UNDP Georgia
Voters form long queues at a polling station in southern Sudan during the Referendum in January 2011. (Photo: Mohamed Amin Jibril/IRIN)
Southern Sudan Referendum
The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that brought to an end two decades of civil war in Sudan called for a referendum on self-determination for southern Sudan, which was held on 9 January 2011. The referendum gave southern Sudanese the opportunity to vote either to confirm unity of Sudan or for secession. UNDP worked closely with the rest of the UN family in support of the authorities and the people of Sudan to deliver a successful and peaceful referendum that resulted in an overwhelming vote for independence. Through the UN Integrated Referendum and Electoral Division (UNIRED), set up together with the UN Mission in Sudan, UNDP managed a donor basket fund of more than $56 million, constituting the bulk of international assistance for the referendum process.
UNIRED also supported voter-education initiatives and media training workshops, contributing to the fact that at least 90 percent of people in southern Sudan knew both the date of the referendum and the location of their local polling station. As a result, the 2.3 million voters participating in the week-long referendum significantly exceeded the threshold number required to make the referendum results legally binding.
In addition, UNIRED helped deploy more than 500 domestic observers to 62 counties during the voter registration period. With assistance from donors and neighbouring countries, UNDP placed more than 100 accountants, economists, engineers and other professionals in all 10 states in southern Sudan. These civil servants, recruited through the UN Volunteers programme, are working alongside local government workers to build skills so government institutions can be self-sustaining in the future.
