USAID CVP Facilitates Women NIC and Voter Registration in Pakistan

This was the 15th batch of records shared with the ECP, which included a total of 186,867 records from 58 districts covered by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)-funded Strengthening Electoral and Legislative Processes (SELP) Project. The records were shared to facilitate the inclusion of these women in the electoral rolls ahead of the 2018 General Elections. The CVP's efforts to facilitate women in acquiring National Identity Cards (NICs) yielded significant results from April 19-25, 2018. A total of 2,714 eligible-age women acquired NICs from NADRA service points in various districts across Pakistan. The CVP's nationwide campaign aimed to enhance women voters' registration by facilitating them in acquiring NICs to increase their turnout in the 2018 General Elections. The CVP's radio campaign to support women NIC and voter registration accelerated from April 19-25, 2018, by raising awareness on the right to vote and motivating the general public for increased women NIC registration. The campaign disseminated awareness messages through 10 regional FM radio channels, reaching out to at least three million citizens. The campaign aimed to raise awareness about women NIC registration and mitigate the gender-gap in electoral rolls ahead of the 2018 General Elections. The CVP employed social media to amplify the voice for enhancing women NIC registration and participation in electoral and political spheres. From April 19-25, 2018, the CVP disseminated educational and motivational messages, as well as a video, reaching out to 1,146,040 citizens. The campaign messages were shared by 1,107 subscribers and liked by 15,597 viewers. The tagline of this campaign was #ShanakhtSabKaHaq, which translates to 'Identity is Everyone's Right'. The U.S. Embassy magazine 'News & Views (Khabr-o-Nazar)' featured an article written by a CVP staff member on the inclusion of electoral process in its 70th special edition. The article focused on the intervention of USAID's CVP in promoting citizen participation in the electoral process by NIC/voter registration and ensuring free, fair, and transparent elections by observing and reporting the 2018 General Elections. TDEA-FAFEN shared detailed performance scorecards of Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami's (JI) Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) with the party leadership on April 19, 2018. The scorecards comprised of detailed performance of parliamentary interventions moved by individual members, including Calling Attention Notices (CANs), Questions, Bills, Resolutions, Points of Order, etc. FAFEN published the first pre-election observation report to assess the political environment and implementation of election-related laws, rules, and regulations on April 24, 2018. The report was based on the observation of 130 trained and non-partisan district-level observers through 2,001 interviews of 41 political parties, 380 interviews of 33 political parties in 95 districts, and direct observation of 629 political gatherings, including 62 political rallies. The aim of the election observation was to contribute to the evolution of an election process that is free, fair, transparent, and accountable, in accordance with the requirements laid out in the Elections Act, 2017. USAID's CVP facilitated FAFEN's long-term pre-election observation of the local political environment from April 19-25, 2018. The partner organizations conducted interviews with district-level leadership of political parties and observed their political gatherings in various districts across Pakistan. The observation aimed to ascertain whether a level playing field was being provided to all political parties ahead of the 2018 General Elections.