Supported by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), in 2022, Badili Africa promoted enhanced awareness and participation of young women and grassroots women in electoral processes as voters, civic educators, and champions of good governance and ethical leadership through the Democracy Dialogues coupled with Political spa and Glam sessions.
The democracy dialogue and political spas directly reached three hundred and seventy-seven (377) participants. The dialogue and the political spa bridged the knowledge gap on the voting processes, election timelines, voting rights, the mandates of the different elective seats on the ballot to reduce political manipulation, and the importance of showing up to vote in the upcoming 2022 elections. This reduced vulnerability among grassroots women and young people prone to manipulations from political candidates who make huge promises, often not within their elective office mandates to deliver if elected to office.
The project trained one hundred and seventy-seven (177) disinformation watchdogs spread across institutions of higher learning and urban informal settlements. This has led to the creation of a network of credible disinformation watchdogs in urban informal settlements and tertiary institutions of learning who amplified correct messaging and information from the IEBC and other stakeholders using media and communication channels at their disposal, such as WhatsApp statuses, Facebook pages, Twitter pages, Tiktok, youth groups, etc., thus effectively debunking misinformation/ disinformation/ malinformation. This has led to increased knowledge and understanding of voter and civic education as credible information is disseminated regarding the electoral process by leveraging the power of digital and social media platforms. Generation Z has never known a non-digital world, and social media engagement was a key strategy Badili Africa held 3 Twitter spaces and 1 Instagram Live.
Through the project, Badili Africa reached six hundred and sixty-one (661) participants directly and over eight thousand (8000) indirectly. Additionally, approximately eight hundred thousand (800,000) people were directly reached through our digital engagements under a campaign series using the hashtags #FormniKuvote, #MythBurstingKe, and #BadiliAfricaInitiative.
