Project Background:

Continuous movement with the aim to establish effective democracy and democratic institutions in Bangladesh is being going on after independence of the country to till date. Most of the people of this country are not aware of their rights of casting vote as well as the importance of democracy. Virtually the issues of marginal community, disable persons, small national identity people are not getting importance in election process of Bangladesh as well as in the campaign of political parties and other sectors. As these selected communities are not aware of their rights of casting vote, different election groups do not motivate and support them in casting their vote. Besides that there are allegations of threat and torture on the religious minority before and after election. It is very much important to ensure the spontaneous participation of all segments of people in election process as democratic culture of the country. Considering the overall situation, Dak Diye Jai took initiatives to participate in Need Oriented Education on Election and Democracy (NEED) project.

Duration: April 2006 to March 2007

Area Coverage: Nazirpur upazila of Pirojpur district.

Source of Funding: European Commission and technical support of WAVE Foundation.

Project Goal: Motivate and train local stakeholders to effectively support a free and fair election where people with diverse opinion and background can participate spontaneously.

Specific Objective of the Project:

1.   Work for access of voters from diverse vulnerable groups to electoral process;

2.   Enrich the peace loving stakeholders (including election administration, journalist, political agents, citizen, civil society etc.) of electoral process with democratic values through dialogues and orientations;

3.   Motivate the policy entrepreneurs at national level to outline broader agenda for reform in electoral process of Bangladesh;

4.   Promotion of investigative, issue based and innovative media coverage of political affairs and in particular election;

5.   Make the election friendly for the vulnerable voters and also to ensure fair and free election in a peaceful environment.

Project Participants:

Primary: Destitute men and women, religious minorities, and physically disabled groups.

Secondary: Union Parishad (Union Council), Local level People’s Alliance called Loak Morcha, Local Government representatives, Local election offices, political party leaders and candidates, civil society and journalists.

Major Interventions:

1. Formation of Local level People’s Alliance;

2. Conduct sensitization workshop, orientation and dialogue at upazila level;

3. Voter awareness and election observation.