The Centre organized a three-day Training of Trainers (TOT) Workshop titled, ‘Road to Election-2018: Electoral Reforms’ at Hillview Hotel Islamabad. Twenty-two participants from across the country were trained by leading experts.
Out of these 22 participants 8 (36 percent) were female. In terms of regional representation eight were from Punjab, five from Islamabad, three from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and two each from FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), Balochistan and Sindh. The TOT workshop enabled the Centre to revive and expand its Civic Education Network to undertake election related activities leading up to Election 2018.
The Faculty included renowned researcher on election, Mr. Tahir Mehdi, consultant, Mr. Murtaza Noor and civic educator Mr. Zafarullah Khan. The sessions were designed to recall and review electoral history of Pakistan, major challenges about electoral reforms, analysis of Election Bill-2017, electoral rolls and issues pertaining to gender gap and minorities and youth participation. In group work sessions the participants were divided in to four groups namely; Civic/political Activists, Media, Academia and Lawyers to devise strategies and work-plan for promoting electoral participation.
Among the participants were some members of District Civic Education Committees established by the Election Commission of Pakistan. All other participants were asked to contact their district ECP offices and jointly plan to celebrate the National Voters Day on December 7, 2017. The second significant outcome of the TOT was creation of a working group comprised of bloggers and journalists to produce accurate and authentic information about election related issues.