Intense voter education drive boosts young people`s confidence as they massively turnout to vote

Realizing that for young people to fully take part in the 2023 harmonised elections, there was need for voter education initiatives across Matabeleland South through which young people were going to know more about their political and electoral rights, the Community Youth Development Trust (CYDT) in and the Matobo Youth Development Initiative (MYDI) conducted voter education activities in which stakeholders like the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) were constantly invited to educate young people on the voting process.

In carrying the voter education programs, CYDT and MYDI also produced and distributed voter education materials that included flyers which were shared via our social media accounts like Twitter and Facebook. 

The activities helped young people understand why it was necessary for them to engage election candidates before voting for them on Election Day. On Voting Day, young people were well informed on their rights and responsibilities; they were aware of the fact that any outcome of the 2023 election was going to affect their lives for the next five years which motivated them to massively turnout out to vote in a bid to ensure that the duly elected candidates were going to be leaders that had the potential to fulfill their interests.          

In addition, the voter education programs resulted in improved young women participation in the 2023 elections as they were sharing pictures of their fingers marked with indelible ink to serve as evidence that they had voted on Election Day. This was a positive outcome as the province had a previous history of low young women voter turnout.  Young women participation also resulted in some female candidates being elected councilors across Matabeleland South for instance in Matobo District, atleast four women were successfully elected as councilors.  

Young people who had attended the voter education programs and roadshows commended the organisations for carrying out voter education campaigns, noting that they were a key reason they had voted on Election Day. They said the MYDI and CYDT voter education programs boosted their confidence to participate as voters, and helped them understand who qualified to vote; where and when they were supposed to vote.