The Organization of ArabEMBs, in partnership with the Independent Electoral Commission in Jordan and with the support of the UNDP Regional Electoral Support project for the MENA region funded by Sida, and the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division, will hold a regional conference on "Youth Participation in Electoral Processes in the Arab Region"  on the sidelines of the fifth meeting of the General Assembly of ArabEMBs.

The conference will be the first activity of the Arab Youth Network, which will be launched to provide opportunities for regular dialogue between EMBs and youth organizations with the aim of encouraging within EMBs and CSOs greater inclusion and sensitivity to the needs of youth and promoting youth participation in electoral processes.

"The Arab Network for Youth in Elections", aims to promote youth political participation and their awareness of and trust in public institutions in the Arab region. It will work towards these goals through awareness-raising, advocacy and information campaigns targeting youth, creating synergies and collaboration initiatives with youth-serving organizations and CSOs working in the field of youth participation and setting regional standards and best practices for EMBs and CSOs in the promotion of youth participation in the region.

The main objective of the conference is to facilitate the exchange of experiences, expertise and good practices among electoral management bodies and CSOs in the Arab region on youth participation in elections, including an identifying the gaps and challenges for meaningful participation of youth and the ways that EMBs and CSOs can collaborate to overcome these challenges and promote youth participation in the electoral process.

Conference themes:

1- Youth awareness-raising and voter education

The first theme aims to discuss the impact of voter education for youth on the electoral process and the ways and innovative tools that can be used to disseminate information, materials and programmes, inform young people and raise their awareness of the importance of their participation throughout the electoral cycle. This includes engaging young people in awareness activities to facilitate youth inclusion in the political space and building the necessary information infrastructure for the wider reach of young people, as well as the effective use of social media platforms and new technologies for greater youth turnout. The theme will also discuss the importance of collecting and analyzing data on the status of youth participation in the electoral process in the Arab region.

2- Legislative, social, political and economic frameworks

This theme aims to analyze the adequacy of legislation and laws governing political life in Arab countries to promote the participation of young people, including but not limited to candidacy and voting age, youth quotas, young people with disabilities, young women, and campaign finance. It also discusses how to promote a more enabling legal environment for young people, where political freedoms are guaranteed, especially in countries where civic space is shrinking and conflict-affected countries.

3- Youth and political parties

The theme aims to shed light on the role of political parties in increasing youth political and electoral participation and the obstacles they face in mobilizing young people, especially with the decline in youth party membership worldwide.

4- The partnership between EMBs a CSOs

The last theme discusses the importance of effective partnerships between EMBs and CSOs and how they can work together for greater youth participation, including the expanding messaging and extending EMBs' capacity to engage in time and labour-intensive activities such as fact-checking.

To register to attend the event hybrid

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