How does one educate potential voters to go register?

As mentioned in a previous post, the Electoral Commission (CEI) gave funding to 10 civil society coalitions to conduct sensitization campaigns on the voter registration process. But how was this carried out? I went out for two days with a team in Abidjan, in the commune of Adjamé, and two days with two different teams in Divo (more specifics on this here). I have also interviewed 7 of the 10 of organizations working throughout the country to get a good grasp on the work they carried out as well as the obstacles they faced.

1. Wait for the money (…)
The CEI did not disburse the funds for the sensitization campaigns for two weeks; normally sensitization should happen before the registration process begins, but alas, this was not the case. In the second week of June, the CEI finally gave enough money to cover 10 sensitization agents, at 10,000 CFA (~$17) per day per person for a period of 10 days. However, COSOPCI (and other coalitions) found that 10 agents was not enough to cover the neighborhoods they had been assigned, so they increased the number of agents to 20 (or even 30!) and decreased the daily allotment. The Abidjan agents complained that for the Presidential elections of 2010 and the legislative elections 2011, they were paid much more: one agent told me they received 15,000 CFA (~$25), while another argued that the pay depended on which NGO coalition you worked for, as some gave more than others despite the fact that they were supposed to have the same budgets.

2. Training 

COSOPCI training, 11 June 2015

In Abidjan, COSOPCI sent out emails to all of its members to recruit sensitization agents; eight NGOs responded by sending candidates. A total of 19 individuals participated in the training and the subsequent sensitization process, eight of which were women. At this training session, questions were answered about the sensitization process (“what time do we start? Do we have to work on Sunday? How can we take pictures for the report if we don’t have cameras?”), while the director leading the training put emphasis on visibility (putting up as many posters as possible) and coordinating efforts with local leaders (religious, community, women’s associations, youth associations, etc.). 

COSOPCI agents, 11 June 2015

 COSOPCI was assigned to cover Adjamé (population: 372,978; 68% Ouattara in the 2010 elections) and Attecoubé (population: 260,911; 53% Gbagbo); only two of the 19 agents had actually lived in these communes, while most were vaguely familiar with the neighborhoods. Eleven agents volunteered for Adjamé, while the remaining eight were assigned to Attecoubé (at the beginning, only four volunteered for Attecoubé, but the director coaxed/forced the others onto the Attecoubé list; the reason being that Adjamé is closer to where most people live and people are more familiar with Adjamé). One agent expressed her worry that they would show up in a neighborhood where they were not known, and did not know anyone there, and ask to be put in touch with local leaders. She said that people would find this bizarre, saying how can you come here where you are a stranger and sensitize us when you are not even prepared? The director responded that upon their arrival in a neighborhood, it was important to go first to the authorities where they would be welcomed and pointed in the right direction. Later the same woman, half joking, asked whether COSOPCI would be distributing boots for the folks working in Adjamé as the rainy season would make the routes quite muddy.

3. Visit the authorities
After receiving their t-shirts and poster kits, the Adjamé team met up on Monday morning at the Adjamé town hall. There we waited around for two hours to get a document signed which authorized the sensitizers to work in the area. Additionally, we requested a list of local associations with whom we could coordinate our activities; instead it was a list of individuals, most of whom were “party cadres,” but who in the end knew the neighborhoods well.

Town hall of Adjamé 15 June 2015

We also went to the CEI offices, but they were closed on Mondays; over the course of the 10 day sensitization period, the team leader went three times to the CEI to get their approval, but two of the three times there was no-one in the offices (despite the fact that they were supposed to be open from early in the AM until at least 6pm) and the third time they did not have the stamp to approve the paperwork… so they were technically never accredited by the CEI to do the work.

The very closed CEI offices 15 June 2015

 4. Posters

First we divided up into teams of two, male-female when possible and two different organizations if possible as well. Adjamé was thus divided into five neighborhoods that the teams were to cover. Next, we started walking around and putting up posters throughout the neighborhood, starting on the main route and working our way north – our neighborhood was concentrated around the Marie Therese Houphouet-Boigny hospital. The agents complained that they had to spend 1,000 CFA (~$2) to buy poster glue out of their budgets and had to print sign-up sheets on their own dime as well. We asked before putting up the posters, and most people said yes because they figured it was the government carrying out the effort (more on this later); we put posters at popular spots, the bakery, pharmacies and private clinic, near bus stops, markets, grocery stores, public maternity wards. Of course, we risked having the posters torn down; one of our posters near the hospital was torn down, those working in Attecoubé bemoaned the fact that several of theirs were removed, while in Cocody, the National Agency for Urban Hygiene told agents that they were not allowed to put up the government issued posters. 

Putting up posters 15 June 2015

Working through the rain, the Red Cross was a voter registration center in Adjamé 16 June 2015

 5. Canvassing – Who are you?

In Adjamé, the teams focused, the first two days, on local businesses and markets. We spoke to salespeople in electronics and hardware shops, ladies working in the grocery store, women selling pineapples in the market. One of the agents introduced themselves as an agent of the CEI; this worked for getting poster approval, but with groups that were skeptical of the current government, they were not impressed to be talked to by this “politician”. To avoid problems, her partner stepped in and explained that they were not politicians but members of civil society; they were not “doing politics” but instead encouraging all sides to register to vote. Similarly, another team was refused entry to an Evangelical church for the same reason, but later allowed access when they explained they were not politicians either. One of the Attecoubé teams “barely got away” from a potentially problematic situation in the fish market, where they were thought to be representing a political candidate. In Divo, agents were chased away from certain villages. However, the Adjamé team concluded that things this year were much easier than in 2011, when the wounds of the 2010-2011 crisis were still fresh, and the opposition had already declared a boycott. Then, one agent told me, he was attacked with fish by ladies in the market for trying to talk to them about registering to vote; these were FPI partisans and wanted nothing to do with the process.

At a hardware shop, 15 June 2015

Ladies in the market, 16 June 2015

 In Divo, we concentrated on households. People welcomed us into their homes, even those who were uninterested or against the elections, offering us water and a seat and asking for the news of the day.

6. Avoid “Palabre” 
A shopkeeper saw us coming, read our shirts, and said “Voter list? We don’t want ‘palabre’ here!” Palabre in Ivorian French means “fight” or “trouble.” The agents told me, as members of civil society, it was their job to remain neutral in their proceedings. However, sometimes one had to commiserate with the population in order to get them to listen and understand; other times, it’s better to not engage in any sort of political conversation, to tell people how to register and to move on. An agent who did not hesitate to let me know he supported the opposition, said sometimes he had to level with folks, letting them know his affiliation, that he understood where they were coming from, but that it was his job to sensitize the population about the benefits of voting. Sometimes it backfired, as he was called a hypocrite, a sell-out or accused of only doing this work for the money, but sometimes it worked. A group of young men engaged us, asking ironically what is democracy when they send your candidate to jail, and I could see one of the agent was visibly uncomfortable. Afterwards, she chastised her partner for engaging with those guys, and told him next time to just give them the information and move on, because you never know where it might lead. An agent who worked in Yopougon, a known Gbagbo stronghold, recounted that they were told to not go to certain specific neighborhoods, because they would be “attacked and hit like they did to the census agents last year.” She told me they had no choice but to heed the warning, and avoided certain areas for fear of violence.

7. The information provided
I discussed here the issues of papers, arguing that the CEI did not do a wonderful job of conveying which papers were required to register, and there were generally problems for people who had been waiting months to receive their ID cards. Additionally, it was important to drive home the point that even if you did not feel ‘concerné’/implicated by these presidential elections, it was still crucial to go register because it was the last chance for the next five years; meaning you would not be able to vote in the presidential, legislative, or municipal elections. The agents also encouraged the folks sensitized to spread the word in their families, particularly those who had recently moved or turned 18. Agents did not help people register directly, but were the only providers of information on where the local registration centers were, since the CEI was not conveying this information in a general manner. Finally, the agents tried to keep track, for their reports, of how many people they reached, by asking people to sign a register with their full name, occupation, and cell phone number as well as signature. When I first learned of this, I was certain people would not comply; that’s not very anonymous, I thought, and it is true that many refused to put their name down. Even one individual in Divo feared that we would send his friend’s name to the President who would do who knows what with the list and come find him. The agents tried to convey the purpose was just to have a record, but many shook their heads and refused. But most complied after being told the goal, while those who were illiterate signed their names with an X.

In short, every day the agents were out from 8 or 9am until well into the afternoon, on foot, conveying the information for less than $2 an hour. They did not deal with physical violence, but did have to deal with difficult areas. The two teams with which I worked were very committed to spreading the correct information to the populations, and bemoaned the fact that the CEI was not facilitating the process for them or for the population. 

The team in Divo, 20 June 2015

The Adjamé team, 16 June 2015

Impediments to voter registration in Côte d’Ivoire

Starting June 1, the Electoral Commission (CEI) has launched a major campaign to revise the 2010/2011 voter registration list. Basically the goals are threefold: to make sure that those who have moved or prefer to vote in a different locality (and voted previously) are in fact on the list at the right polling station; to remove those voters who have died from the lists or who have married and changed their names; and to enroll those who were previously not on the lists (those who are over the age of 18, those who failed to register previously, newly naturalized citizens, etc.)

A FAQ to be distributed during the sensitization campaigns

Papers
In order to register, one needs to bring one of two identification documents, either one’s certificate of nationality, or one’s national ID card. The catch is, the certificate of nationality issued before 2015 is no longer valid, as there were a lot of problems with fraud and so the new certificates are “sécurisé” and cost 3,300 FCFA (~$6) to obtain from the Ministry of Justice; many people do not have the newest certificate. What about national ID cards? Well, if you have it, you are set and can easily register to vote. If you never had one or you lost yours, you’ll have to request a new one from the Organization of National Identification for 5,000 FCFA (~$10); but to do this you need the NEW certificate of nationality, and you will have to leave the original with the ONI office, to obtain a receipt of payment until you receive your ID card. So, let’s say I lost my ID card last month, and I went to the ONI to get a new one. They take my original certificate of nationality, and hand me a receipt for the ID card, telling me I won’t have the ID card for another two months. Time to register to vote rolls around; I now no longer have the original certificate of nationality nor an ID card, and the CEI does not accept the receipt for the ID card as valid identification to register to vote. So I can’t vote, unless I spend the time and money to re-obtain a copy of the certificate of nationality, which probably takes just as long to obtain as an ID card.

This was the most common complaint about the process that I have encountered working with the sensitization agents; despite the fact that many people said they wouldn’t register or were uninterested in the process, many who were interested felt discouraged because their papers were not in order. And since the campaign was only for a period of one month, it severely limited who was able to register now. In particular, it disproportionately affects young people, as they are the least likely to have the papers needed.

photo: a young man who was able to register to vote with the old certificate of nationality; Divo June 2015

CEI itself

The CEI centers are understaffed and those who are there often left earlier, according to both of the teams I worked with. CEI agents defended themselves saying that oftentimes nobody showed up to register anyway, so why should they stay open? Additionally, the CEI has failed to let the population know where the centers are where they could register, so that was left to the sensitization agents; meaning if you were not reached by these agents in the neighborhood, you may not ever know where it is you were supposed to register.

There was also confusion as to who was supposed to go to the centers; on posters and even on my t-shirt it says “I will verify that my name is on the voter list.” However, many people went to the centers to do just that, only to be turned away and told that the centers were only for those who needed to newly register. About halfway through the month, the CEI changed their tune, but at that point many were already discouraged and did not desire to return. On top of that, we had one elderly woman approach us, saying she had tried to check her name on the list, but was told to go to a web site to see if her name was there; this supposed website of course does not exist, but also this woman had no idea how to use internet, and had purposely made the trip from afar to verify her name.

The CEI is underfunded, especially in comparison to 2010. International donors do not see much at stake in these elections, and those who have chosen to support it can only do so much. The population notices the difference, pointing out the fact that media campaigns on the process were much more widespread in the past, while this year it has been sparse at best.

Finally, the CEI has so far failed in its efforts – they were expecting 3 million new registrants, but have received around 400,000. Today was supposed to be the last day, officially, for registration, but they have extended the process by two weeks (until July 12). However, since the main obstacles seem to be about paperwork, extending by two weeks may not help the problem. The other question is whether they will extend the sensitization process as well.

Apathy and Acquiescence
Not really a direct impediment, per se, but people have lost faith in the democratic process associated with elections after the crisis in 2010. With an impressive 80% turnout rate (53% of the voting age population, which is the same as the US), people expected those elections to bring the violence and war to an end; unfortunately, the elections did just the opposite. People are therefore fearful and distrusting of the electoral process.

Furthermore, many people do not see the CEI as legitimate. The current CEI president, Bakayoko, was the CEI president in 2010 and it was he that declared Ouattara the winner; many believe that he should not be the current president because he has this partisan perception. The opposition has been calling for this to be changed since he was re-elected, by members of the [not perceived as neutral] commission.

Finally, there is the question as to whether Ouattara himself is legitimate, again bringing up the issue of nationality since both his parents are not believed to be Ivorian.

photo: a heated discussion with those who did not want to register because “their candidate” is not participating in the elections; Adjamé, June 2015

Divo: A tale of two neighborhoods

In a family compound, a woman turns a large roasting kettle full of peanuts while another sits on a low bench tossing peanuts in a basket to remove the casings. Several children dart about, climbing on large plastic bags full to the brim with peanuts. Here, the women tell us that they have registered to vote, that they heard about it on the radio.

A Dioula family eager to have their photo taken (Divo, June 2015)

Young men in the street approached us to inquire about the meaning of our t-shirts and to get more information on how to vote; once they learned they nodded and said they would go right then to the CEI center to register. A few streets down, we are directed to the Imam’s house, who graciously welcomes us, takes all of the posters and documents and promises to include the information in his Friday sermon.

The Imam of Divo, third from the left (Divo, June 2015)

On the other side of town, we step under an overhang filled with young men. Flies lazily circle plastic cups of palm wine sitting on benches; the looks on the men’s faces are not particularly welcoming. “We voted in 2010, and they took up guns and put our president in jail. Why would we vote this year?” enquires a young man who was more willing to open up when he thought I was from Sierra Leone and not from the CEI. The men in the overhang listened, not very attentively, to the speech given by the electoral education agents, but refused to note their names on the list to demonstrate to the NGO that they had been spoken to by the agent. We continue to a group of women making and selling attieke. One laughs when the topic of elections eventually comes up: “Who do I vote for?” The agent responded, “for your candidate.” She snorted and said “and if my candidate is not here? If he is in jail?”

One of the few men drinking palm wine who allowed a photo to be taken (Divo, June 2015)

These are two neighborhoods in Divo, Western Côte d’Ivoire. The first is called Dioulabouga, includes the mosque, and is inhabited by mostly Dioula-speaking Muslims. Of the 74 individuals we spoke with, almost 20 were tailors/dressmakers, several were taxi or bus drivers while others worked with electronics. Of the 23 women, only two had stated employment outside of the home, though I imagine those women roasting peanuts and making attieke were not only making it for themselves. The second neighborhood, Libraville, is near the Catholic high school and has several churches nearby. This is the heart of the Dida group; concentrated around Divo, they share their dialect with the Bété, the ethnic group which former president Gbagbo belongs to. Here, the occupation makeup was different as well: Of 41, 12 were planters or farmers, while there were more government workers and professors here than in Dioulabouga.*

The electoral education agents told me that with the Dioula or Baoulé populations, there is no problem; they listen, they accept the information with no protests. The Dida, they said, that’s where the problem lies. In particular, young men turn and walk briskly in the opposite direction when they see the agents, or if the agents do talk to them, they shake their heads, suck their teeth and protest that there’s no point in voting, there’s not going to be any real elections.

Retired government workers and current teachers, vocal about the political situation (Divo, June 2015)

This group of retired teachers and government workers implored me to write down everything they said and to convey this information and their photo to Obama; to ask him to change the president of the CEI and to stop supporting the President he (along with former French President Sarkozy) "imposed" on this country. Under Houphouet-Boigny, under Bédié, even under coup leader Gueï, they ate well, they recounted, but now old, retired men are hungry and can’t afford to pay their rent. “We can’t find food to eat, and you’re talking to us about elections,” they lament.

One could chalk up this attitude to poor losers since their preferred candidate lost in the last elections, but that would be misguided; the feelings of being wronged are real. One electoral education agent told me that they were chased from a village on the way to Gagnoa (towards the heart of Gbagbo country) where people told them that their families were killed, or arrested in the aftermath of the last elections. A dry cleaning shop owner told me that he had left Bouaké on foot with only the clothes on his back at the start of the rebellion in 2002; these individuals feel that justice was not served against those who had perpetrated massacres, human rights abuses, looting or outright fear during the 10 year civil conflict or during the election crisis. Victor’s justice is a common phrase as people wonder why Gbagbo is in the ICC while those who carried out treasonous acts during the rebellion are not; in fact, leaders of the rebellion hold key government positions and former rebels patrol the streets as new soldiers.

The concern is how these feelings will manifest themselves in the months to come. Two men said that they were rebels or would become rebels. Others said they wanted to see Ouattara removed, forcefully, from power. On the other hand, not all of the vehement opposition supporters alluded to violence, but instead to using the ballot box as a weapon: one man, when we were speaking with some of his female family members making attieke, said that they would all register, sure, but they would not vote on Election Day, to show that there is no candidate or real competition.

* This was of course not a representative sample of the population, as I was only able to cover parts of the neighborhoods over the course of a day. However, it is still interesting to see the differences, even within this convenience sample. 

Why I am in Côte d’Ivoire (encore)

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am in Côte d’Ivoire to examine perceptions and attitudes towards election preparation in the run-up to the 2015 presidential elections. In particular, I will be focusing on the process of registering voters and the accompanying electoral education campaigns, as well as participating in the monitoring of the process to make sure that there are no discrepancies or attempts to prevent individuals from exercising their right to vote.

The Electoral Commission (CEI) has accredited 10 NGO coalitions to accompany them in their efforts to register voters and revise the electoral list this month. Here’s a map of where the organizations will be working:

Additionally, National Democratic Institute (NDI) has funded a platform of NGOs to monitor the registration process, and the organization I am working with, COSOPCI, will be doing this as well.

The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) is working closely with the CEI to make sure that this whole process runs smoothly; I attended a three day seminar in Dabou on voter education that included the abovementioned organizations and a few others + the CEI and IFES, where they validated a voter education manual, in order to make sure that all of the organizations working with the CEI are on the same page as far as messaging and programming is concerned. For example, IFES encouraged the NGOs to use “traditional media” like theater, in order to effectively reach populations that are not literate and as a means to engage youth in the process.

Watching an example of theater for education, Dabou 27-29 May

Some of us concentrating on the session on using ICT for voter education, Dabou 27-29 May

COSOPCI will be working in former President Gbagbo strongholds (Gagnoa 74% and Divo 56% for Gbagbo in 2010 second round), and believe that their work will be particularly difficult in these zones because they will be dealing with populations who may not be supportive of the electoral process or desire to participate in the elections. In other words, they will have to be particularly convincing in order to encourage these folks to come out to the campaigns and register to vote; they may also face hostile populations who do not trust an organization that comes from Abidjan and who may assume that the NGO is representing the government. Finally, to be affiliated with the CEI may hurt COSOPCI’s prospects, as many do not see the CEI as legitimate.

My role in working with COSOPCI will be the following:

• Provide feedback and insights on the voter education materials and strategies to be employed
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the campaigns via an original survey developed in conjunction with COSOPCI
• Interview local populations and gauge how they perceive the process and their general sentiments about the elections as well as their perceptions and attitudes towards NGOs and the CEI
• Provide capacity support to COSOPCI (i.e. making maps and documents, etc.)

In addition to working on a day-to-day basis with COSOPCI, I have also been conducting interviews with other NGO coalitions and with the CEI. I managed to convince a gendarme protecting the CEI to take this photo of me:

Things are starting out slowly because the CEI today distributed the funds for the campaigns (and the posters and t-shirts), so I think things will pick up soon, as they hope to register/revise the voter rolls by the end of June 2015.