During the 2012 elections, Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC) adopted the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) system. A novelty as it was, it came with issues of which the EC had to ensure that the Ghanaian populace, voters, political parties, the international community and other actors and stakeholders had confidence in them to manage the electoral process and the new BVR system.

The 2012 general elections was indeed a challenging one for all election stakeholders in Ghana. Citizens had little to no knowledge about the entire biometric voter registration and verification process. Technology was indeed welcomed in 2012 but its attendant challenges cannot be ignored especially in the lead up to the 2016 Ghana elections.

It is for this reason that Penplusbytes with support from The Indigo Trust is undertaking a voters’ education campaign with the main objective of promoting active participation of the youth in the electoral process. The campaign is to take the form of visually appealing infographics, pictures and short explainer videos which are being circulated via social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter and on WhatsApp.

Infographics describing the various key steps in the elections continuum will also be published in order to educate and inform first time voters especially those who just turned 18 years.

Other key issues the campaign will focus on include; encouraging citizens especially the youth to get out to vote and more importantly observe the electoral process within their locality. Citizens’ voices in the form of reports will be sent via SMS, WhatsApp and on social media on voting day to serve as encouragement and motivation to mobilise more electorates to exercise their franchise.

The first episode in the series can be seen here.

About

Penplusbytes is a not-for-profit organization driving change through innovations in three key areas: using new digital technologies to enable good governance and accountability, new media and innovations, and driving oversight for effective utilisation of mining, oil and gas revenue and resources.

The Indigo Trust is a UK based grant making foundation that funds technology-driven projects to bring about social change, largely in African countries.  The Trust’s principal areas of interest lie in transparency, accountability and citizen empowerment.