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The International Republican Institute (IRI) began working in Bangladesh in November 2003 with initial goals focused on strengthening domestic election observation and expanding the participation, leadership development, and influence of women and youth in politics and civil society.
In 2004, IRI expanded its program to include the Five Estates of Democracy Initiative, a
long-term integrated approach aimed at overcoming political malaise in Bangladesh. In a democratic society, the five estates – private industry, labor, nongovernmental organizations, media, and political parties – play a critical role in the political process. IRI’s five estates approach supports the development of a more representative and responsive democracy.
Electoral Transparency
In advance of ultimately postponed January 2007 parliamentary elections, IRI developed a program aimed at strengthening domestic election monitoring to reinforce the legitimacy of the electoral process. This included a nationwide effort to train domestic election observers to conduct domestic long-term election observation missions.
In 2004, IRI initiated a partnership with the National Election Observer Council (JANIPOP), a domestic election observation organization. IRI has worked with JANIPOP to train and field observers to monitor every stage of the election process, detecting electoral abuses before, during, and after elections, acting as a deterrent against abuses, and preventing the media from being used to spread false allegations by candidates.
In 2005, IRI and JANIPOP conducted a long-term election observation of the Chittagong City Corporation mayoral election. The IRI-JANIPOP team was essential in documenting false voting and vote-buying, which were largely overlooked by the media.
With IRI support, JANIPOP deployed long-term observers in advance of the cancelled January 2007 elections; its planned short-term observation was cancelled. In 2007 and 2008, JANIPOP observed the voter registration process, and in August 2008, JANIPOP, with IRI support, conducted long- and short-term observations of local elections in four city corporations and three municipalities. IRI also supported JANIPOP’s long-term observation of the December 29, 2008, parliamentary elections.
To complement its support for domestic observation, IRI also conducted international election observations. In November 2006, advance of planned international long- and short-term observation missions, IRI conducted an international pre-election technical assessment. The assessment explored key aspects of the election process, such as election laws and regulations, the voter list, access to media, violence and pressure on voters, and the state of preparation by political parties.
With the cancellation of the January 2007 elections, IRI’s international long-term observation mission was cut short and a planned international short-term delegation was cancelled.
In August and October 2008, IRI conducted pre-election assessments in anticipation of the December 29, 2008, parliamentary elections. In November 2008, IRI deployed 26 international long-term observers. IRI also fielded a 50-person international short-term Election Day observation delegation.
A complementary component to IRI’s election observation programming is a journalist education project, designed to provide journalists with training in election observation, election and political reporting, and investigative journalism. The goal of this project is to increase objectivity and accuracy in press coverage of politics and elections in Bangladesh.
Public Opinion Research
With the goal of helping political parties and stakeholders understand the issues important to Bangladeshi voters, IRI conducts periodic nationwide public opinion surveys in collaboration with an international polling expert and local polling firm Nielsen Bangladesh. Nielsen, with IRI support, conducted surveys in 2004 and 2005, as well as in May 2008. In July 2008, IRI and Nielsen began conducting monthly surveys. On August 4, 2008, IRI and Nielsen conducted Bangladesh’s first-ever exit poll during Rajshahi City Corporation elections. IRI and Nielsen also conducted a national exit poll of the December 2008 parliamentary elections. IRI polls are used to inform programming with political parties and key Bangladeshi and international stakeholders.
Youth Leadership Development
On December 29, 2008, more than 26 million Bangladeshis, one-third of the electorate, cast their ballots for the first time. Empowering these youth and increasing their participation in civic and political activism provides the best hope for a democratic future for Bangladesh. IRI has been working since 2004 to prepare young people for this opportunity and responsibility.
From September 2004 through April 2008, IRI provided young people concrete skills and opportunities to become more involved in politics and civil society through a series of multi-faceted Discovering Democracy youth festivals.
IRI hosted six Discovering Democracy festivals: Cox's Bazaar in September 2004, Khulna in March 2005, Barisal in August 2005, Sylhet in February 2006, Rajshahi in March 2006, and a national festival in Dhaka in April 2008. Each of the festivals attracted thousands of students between the ages of 15 and 25, many of whom had never before had an opportunity to learn about politics, governance or civil society.
The festivals provided youth the opportunity to experience first hand the nuts and bolts of the political process through interactive games, mock parliamentary campaigns and elections, and letter writing campaigns to local and national government officials. The festivals also introduced youth to the wide range of domestic and international civil society organizations operating in the country.
Since 2006, IRI has built on the success of the youth festivals by supporting the establishment and strengthening of a nationwide network of Youth Citizen Forums. In 2008, the network achieved a key goal of creating a National Youth Agenda (a statement of the political and social aspirations of Bangladeshi young people), which youth leaders unveiled at IRI’s National Youth Festival in April 2008.
Women’s Leadership
Women voters comprise a large segment of the electorate in Bangladesh, but their voices are too often ignored. To correct this, IRI forged a partnership with a local nongovernmental organization, Steps Toward Development (STEPS), to work to increase women’s political participation. IRI lent its institutional strengths – understanding of the political process and expertise in leadership and advocacy skills-building – to STEPS’ widespread network of social entrepreneurs with the goal of converting social activism into political action in time to influence public discourse during local government elections.
STEPS, in coordination with IRI, identified, recruited, and enrolled 100 women who demonstrated past leadership in affecting social change and now desire to become politically active. These women were deemed the Sufia Kamal Leadership Fellows, in honor of a prominent female Bangladeshi poet and activist. IRI provided training and strategic support for the fellows, each of whom designed and implemented an individual project in her home community. The project culminated in a national conference in June 2008 during which fellows and other women leaders developed 100 questions for political parties and candidates to answer before Election Day.
IRI has also worked with women involved in local government. At the city corporation level, a number of council seats are reserved for female candidates. Reserved-seat councilors are entitled by law to the same resources allocated to their male counterparts. However, this is rarely the case in practice. In addition to denying reserved-seat councilors legally mandated resources, mayors and male councilors have refused to allow them to participate equally in development activities. These factors hinder the ability of reserved-seat councilors to serve their constituents.
IRI began working with reserved-seat councilors from Barisal, Chittagong, Khulna, Sylhet and Rajshahi in 2005. IRI provided training and counsel to facilitate development of local strategic plans, enable analysis of their challenges, and provide skills needed to articulate their demands professionally. Thanks to IRI training and sustained advocacy, reserved-seat councilors around the country are increasingly able to serve their constituents.
Under its Women’s Democracy Network, IRI is also supporting a project by the Bangladesh Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI) to increase active participation of grassroots-level women in economic and civic life in Bangladesh. Over the course of the project, BWCCI will provide training to women to encourage social networking, increase awareness of existing public services offered by public institutions, and enable trained women to initiate entrepreneurial activities.
Advocacy Initiatives
IRI support for advocacy initiatives develops voices, strategies and messages that pressure political parties to respond to constituent needs. Current programming focuses strongly on advocacy by youth, women, and other special interest groups in the context of the recent elections. In addition, IRI is working with a number of groups to develop 100-day plans for the new parliament.
In September 2004 and May 2005, IRI partnered with the Solidarity Center, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that empowers workers around the world, to co-sponsor two labor issues forums, which were administered and moderated through the Bangladesh Independent Garment Workers' Union Federation. Hundreds of mostly female garment workers attended each conference to hear how political parties would protect their jobs and make Bangladesh more competitive in the world market.
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