Activating governorate councils by amending the law and organizing an advocacy campaign
Project name: Activating governorate councils by amending the law and organizing an advocacy campaign.
Project implementation period: one year from 3/1/2022 to 2/28/2023.
Project implementation location: Nineveh and Kirkuk governorates.
Targeted groups: non-governmental organizations, university professors, members of provincial councils, political parties, election experts, members of the House of Representatives, clerics, tribal and community sheiks and notables, civil activists, media figures, directors of relevant departments and institutions.
The cost of implementing the project: 74,511 seventy-four thousand five hundred and eleven US dollars.
This project aimed to activate the governorate councils that are not organized into a region to be (miniature and effective governments in each governorate and meet the needs of its citizens), through the following activities: -
- Amending the Provincial Councils Law and the Provincial Council Elections Law and submitting suggestions to the Legal Committee and the Provincial and Regions Committee in the parliament.
- Implementing an awareness campaign for voters about the role, specializations and importance of the work of governorate councils.
The project included many activities and events in the first phase of implementation:
The first stage: taking the opinions of specialists on how to amend the provincial council elections law.
- Implementing 8 focus sessions in Nineveh and Kirkuk governorates for stakeholders, in order to elicit their opinions and proposals to prepare a draft paper to amend and reform the provincial council elections law.
- Implementing 4 round table sessions for decision-makers in the two governorates in order to reach a real, clear vision of the project and share their observations with the researchers.
- Preparing an academic and field study on the importance of provincial councils, the law for electing their members, ways to amend and reform them, and submitting suggestions in this regard, which was conducted by three specialized university professors.
The second phase: Implementing an advocacy and awareness campaign in Nineveh and Kirkuk governorates:
This stage began after the completion of the preparation of a study on the importance of provincial councils and the importance of electing them, and a policy paper on suggestions to amend Governorate Council Elections Law No. 12 of 2018.
The campaign included the following activities:
- Forming a coalition of 16 civil society organizations in the two governorates to involve their representatives in the workshops and activities of the awareness and advocacy campaign, implemented by the Step Organization for Democracy and Elections.
- Organizing two workshops, each for 16 people, for three days, for organizations affiliated with the coalition on the advocacy campaign.
- Organizing 8 discussion sessions with stakeholders in the two governorates on ways to support the advocacy campaign to amend the provincial council elections law.
- Organizing 4 workshops for activists and influential figures in society in Nineveh and Kirkuk governorates, with 25 people participating in each, in order to support the STEP organization’s advocacy campaign regarding the provincial council elections.
- Preparing and presenting 6 television episodes, three of them in each governorate, on the importance of governorate councils and their competencies, with university professors and election experts.
- Organizing four round tables with decision-makers and non-governmental organizations affiliated with the coalition, for the purpose of obtaining the approval and support of decision-makers in Baghdad for proposals to amend the law on elections for governorate councils that are not organized into a region.
- Design and produce 8 graphic videos and publish them on the social media platforms of the advocacy campaign and on the STEP organization, about the advocacy campaign and proposals to amend the law on elections for governorate councils that are not organized in a region.
- Design and publish more than 20 leaflets about administrative decentralization and the law of governorate councils, and publish them on the social media sites of the campaign and the organization.
- Participating in a visit to traditional and emerging political parties in Baghdad and Erbil, for the purpose of dialogue and trying to persuade them and support the proposals to amend the election law.
- Participating in a visit to the parliament for the purpose of delivering proposals to amend the law on irregular governorate council elections in a region, No. 12 of 2018, as amended, to the Chairman and members of the Legal Committee, and the Committee of Governorates and Regions, and clarifying the proposals and recommendations regarding amending the election law.
