| Introduction :
Background: Since 2012, the Strengthening and Electoral Processes Project has been supporting the Election Commission of Pakistan in realizing its mandate of conducting free, fair, and credible elections. The core objective of the project is to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Commission through capacity development initiatives, organization of inclusive multi-stakeholder dialogues to develop consensus on electoral reforms, undertaking public outreach activities including civic and voter education campaigns, and enhancing the effectiveness of ECP’s wings dealing with trainings, gender and inclusivity, and research and development (among others). The project also works with national and provincial assemblies with a focus on increasing the capacities of parliamentarians, enhancing the effectiveness of parliamentary caucuses, and strengthening linkages between parliamentarians and their constituents to inform policy making and legislation. In addition to institutional reforms, SELP has an extensive public outreach and civic and voter education component to enhance the participation of vulnerable groups including women, youth, PwDs, and transgender persons in electoral processes. This involves outreach through radio broadcasts, SMS and social media campaigns, and distribution of information material among potential voters. These are complimented with in-person sessions with members of vulnerable groups (women, youth, transgender persons, and persons with disabilities) to mobilize them for participation in the electoral process. In this regard, UNDP also organizes inclusive dialogues with members of political parties along with representatives of media, academia, and civil society organizations on possible policy and legislative actions for transformative electoral practices and reforms. These have included SELP’s recently coordinated dialogues on electoral and local government reforms in Pakistan. Building on the latter, SELP is looking to expand its work in terms of organizing inclusive stakeholder dialogues on key electoral issues informing policy and public discourse in Pakistan. These include, among others, the participation of young people in the electoral process, electoral hate speech and misinformation/disinformation, and whether candidates may contest seats in multiple constituencies in the national and/or provincial assemblies of Pakistan. The former will include in-person engagements with young people in universities on the importance of youth participation in elections along with policy dialogues with key stakeholders at the national and provincial levels while the latter will include high level exchanges between members of political parties, media, policy makers, and academics specializing in the respective domains. Objective: UNDP requires services of a National Firm/Institute for organizing stakeholder dialogues and undertaking analytical assessments of key electoral issues informing public discourse in Pakistan. |
