Civic Education for Voters & Future Voters in Upper Egypt

Poverty and illiteracy are crucial problems amongst the local population in Upper Egypt. The region has been long associated with low socio-economic indicators and with a population with low human development index. This imposes strong barriers for the inclusion and participation of women, youth, and men in the civic, economic and political life. As a result, the Association of Upper Egypt for Education and Development is planning to implement this project “Civic Education for Voters and Future Voters” in nine communities within five of Upper Egypt's governorates: Minya, Assiut, Sohag, Luxor and Qena. The core idea of the program is to create awareness and mobilize (women, men, youth and children) for active and enlightened participation in the civic domain, in general, and, specifically, to encourage those who have the legal age to learn and practice their voting/civic rights in the upcoming parliamentarian and presidential elections. Accordingly, the project’s specific objectives are; (a) To upgrade the skills of 40 local coordinators involved in literacy education, school teachers, management staff in civic education and community mobilization with specific focus on rapid community mobilization for voting in the upcoming elections; (b) To raise the civic awareness of 120 women to actively participate in the upcoming elections; (c) To reach raise the civic awareness of 200 youths (males and females) and mobilize them to actively participate in the upcoming elections; (d) To raise the civic awareness of 250 children and 130 mothers about basic concepts of civic education and active citizenship; (e) To reach 40 local community leaders from the various communities including "Parents & teachers association (PTAs) / Schools Boards of Trustees (BoTs)” in order to enlist their support for enlightened active participation in the upcoming elections.