The National Elections Commission (NEC) is conducting a three-day data collection training workshop for elections monitors in Ganta City, Nimba county.
Under the theme, “Ensuring Integrity, Transparency, Inclusion and Credibility in the Electoral Processes,” the workshop, which is being held under the aegis of the Monitoring and Evaluation Department, is intended to provide election monitors skills in data collection on the participation of women and marginalized groups in the electoral process.
A statement from the NEC said the workshop is also focusing on the level of citizens’ awareness of electoral processes, tracking incidents of violence, and how to monitor the conduct of the biometric voter registration (BVR) and the general elections.
Speaking on behalf of the Chairperson, Counselor Ernestine Morgan Awar, Oversight Commissioner for Monitoring and Evaluation, said monitoring is essential to ensure that the processes leading to the BVR and the general elections are transparent, inclusive, and credible.
NEC Commissioner Awar emphasized that data collection and reporting of factual information are key to holding successful elections. She thanked the participants for supporting the commission to fulfil its mandate of sustaining the peace and strengthening democracy in Liberia.
The workshop, which brings together 38 monitors recruited from the 19 magisterial areas, is being funded by the Irish and Swedish governments through the United Nations Development Program’s Liberia Electoral Support Project (UNDP-LESP). The NEC statement said, upon the completion of the training, the first batch of 14 monitors will be deployed in the Phase I BVR counties of Bomi, Gbarpolu, Grand Cape Mount, Montserrado, Grand Bassa and Margibi, while the remaining 24 will be deployed during Phase II.
