UNDP To Provide $23 Million To ECP For Training And Modernizing Election Pricess

The government of Japan and UNDP is signing an agreement to help strengthen Pakistan's electoral process at the Election Commission of Pakistan here Wednesday

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Nov, 2017 ) :The government of Japan and UNDP is signing an agreement to help strengthen Pakistan's electoral process at the Election Commission of Pakistan here Wednesday.

The ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, Takashi Kurai and the country director of United Nations Development programme (UNDP) in Pakistan, Ignacio Artaza, would sign the agreement to provide US $ 5.9 million over three years (2017-2020) to support the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and to further strengthen its capacity to hold election.

The Chief Technical Advisor, Strengthening Electoral and Legislative Processes, Democratic Governance Unit, United Nations Development Project (UNDP) said here Tuesday night that this project will build upon UNDP's longstanding commitment to develop the capacity of key democratic institutions including provincial and national assemblies and the ECP itself.

With the generous funding from Japan, this project will help build the institutional and technical capacity of the ECP to conduct credible and inclusive election, enhance participation, especially by young voters and women, and work with UNESCO on building a media landscape in which election proceedings are covered accurately and objectively, he said.

The ECP successful partnership with UNDP under its electoral assistance project continues enhance the professional capacity of the commission's staff and election's official in addition to further increase transparency of the process through the use of modern technology, he added.

In the run upto the 2018 general election, this project will train election officials and educate voters in addition to support the ECP in modernizing the process through the use of technology during the election itself the project would assist in improving voting operation and result management thereafter, support would shift towards strengthening sustainable electoral institutions.

This contribution from job blosters the existing support from UKaid and USaid, thus allowing UNDP to build upon its ongoing work to strengthen electoral and legislative process in Pakistan. The total assistance under the agreement will be $ 23 million including Japan's assistance of $ 5.9 Million.