2006 Press Releases

U.S Announces Two New Voter Education Programs For Sierra Leone

Freetown, December 8, 2006
Contact: PAO Brenda Soya
Tel: 515000

The United States Ambassador Thomas N. Hull, USAID Representative Christine Sheckler, and National Democratic Institute (NDI) Country Director Nicholas Demeter announced the launch of two new programs to educate voters before voter registration and the July 28^th 2007 presidential and parliamentary elections. Both programs were designed in coordination with National Electoral Commission (NEC).

The first program, funded by the U.S. Government through its National Endowment for Democracy program, and implemented by NDI, will support Sierra Leonean NGO’s in designing creative voter education campaigns.  Voter education activities will focus on the voter registration process and the national elections, and also serve as a capacity building vehicle for participating NGO’s.  The NGO’s awarded support under the NED program include:

1. Center for Coordination of Youth Activities (CCYA)
   
2. Direct Democracy Association – Sierra Leone (DDA-SL)
   
3. Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD-SL)
   
4. Independent Youth Forum (IYF-SL)
   
5. Community Empowerment for Rural Development (CEFORD)

The second program to support the Disability Awareness Action Group (DAAG) is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is also implemented by NDI.  This program will help organizations under the DAAG umbrella to educate members of the disabled community during the election process.  A secondary objective of this support program seeks to increase the capacity of DAAG so as to operate more effectively in the long term.