voters’ voices heard

The campaign website offers voters a platform to
become engaged.
Photo:Oxfam Novib

The Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (COMFREL) recently launched an innovative campaign to make citizens’ voices heard and increase participation in public decision-making. The Cambodian Voter Voice campaign is the result of an almost two-year process supported by Oxfam Novib and its alliance partner Butterfly Works.

COMFREL launched its Cambodian Voter Voice campaign at the end of October, timely ahead of the upcoming communal and legislative elections, respectively in June 2012 and July 2013. The campaign integrates online and mobile phone technologies in the programmes of COMFREL to make citizens’ voices heard and increase participation in public decision-making.

Cambodian context

The work of organizations like COMFREL is much needed in the Cambodian context. The Southeast Asian country of 15 million people began on the road to democracy in the 1990s, after years of conflict and massive human rights violations. However, a strong ruling party is tightening its grip on government institutions, limiting transparency and space for dissenting voices.

two-way communication

COMFREL already has a website, but it primarily serves as a one-way information tool. ‘We want interaction with the website users’, says Panha Koul, executive director. The campaign website offers voters a platform for becoming engaged.  For example, citizens can report incidents or irregularities related to the elections which, after verification by a COMFREL staff member, will be posted on an online map.

reaching youths

Around 1.2 million youths are eligible to vote for the first time, but few register to vote, let alone stand for election. To reach out to youths COMFREL created a Facebook site, a Twitter account and a blog which allow for interactive discussion targeted at a young audience. In collaboration with youth associations, COMFREL will also send information and reminders via text messages to new voters.

connecting offline and online communities

While slightly more than half the population owns a mobile telephone, only 2.2 percent uses the internet. Hence, information transmitted via mobile phones has potential for impact, but linking offline and online activities remains crucial. With the help of a new technology, FreedomFone, COMFREL offers on-demand information on the elections via a telephone hotline. People can listen to pre-recorded information or record questions on a voicemail, which will be followed-up by COMFREL staff. Traditional ways of communicating, such as daily radio shows, television spots, leaflets and workshops will continue, but the information will also be accessible online.

engaging beyond elections

‘Voters’ voices should be heard, not only during elections, but also thereafter’, Panha stresses. Linking remote communities to performance monitoring of elected representatives can be facilitated by mobile phones. In one hundred communes, COMFREL will train three volunteers each to report via text on voter score cards, which allow for follow-up of priority needs identified prior to the elections. The volunteers will report information from the community and spread information to the community they received via text messages.

COMFREL continues exploring the opportunities offered by new technologies: ‘An Indian company now produces tablet PCs for 35 US dollar. Why not use these touch screens for civic education, and monitoring in remote areas?’ Panha wonders. Certainly, there still is room for innovation.

Bron	Oxfam Novib, December 16, 2011
Auteur	Miriam Rau and Judith Veenkamp, officers Knowledge & Programme Management at Oxfam Novib