The Youth Empowerment and Transformation Trust (YETT) has launched a mobile application that allows voters to access election related information including names of contesting candidates in what is expected to help young people’s knowledge about the forthcoming polls.
Speaking to 263Chat after the app launch on Friday last week, YETT Democracy and Governance Officer, Desmond Sharukayi said the app called “Ballot Buddies” is a result of a gap they identified in terms of the accessibility of information around the forthcoming elections and took it upon themselves to create a user friendly app with all the data on the plebiscite.
“The mere fact that we identified an information gap whereby young people have been failing to access information related to elections,
“The information is there but it has proved to be somewhat out of reach, so we are trying to use technology which is a platform that they understand and are commonly found using, so with this app they will have access to election related information,” said Sharukai.
The application is available on Google play store and has the full list of presidential candidates, information on voter requirements and a self -test quiz where one can assess their level of knowledge on the elections.
Meanwhile YETT has been holding a series of debates dubbed Budding Voices Debates and Dialogues engaging young people on elections issues.
“Our dialogues have been largely successful as they have drawn in a variety of young people from different spaces, the likes of vendors, members of resident associations, young people we mobilized and trained around BVR,
“We also have a variety of panelists who complement these dialogues. So far we have done social media, challenges young people in political parties are facing and we also going to be doing challenges young women are facing in the politics of this country,” added Shayarukai.
