My Vote My Right – eIndia 2013 Awards – Pl Vote in Public Choice Category

Project Category: Governance
Sub Category: Government to Citizens (G2C)
Reference No.: eindia2013/awards/242

Details of Programme /Project/Initiative:

Brief Description:
Voter Awareness Campaign using Social Media for maximum participation.

Objective:
To spread awareness about Election process, inform Voters and increase voting in elections.

Target Group: Voters of Gujarat with focus on Youth.

Geographical Reach within India: State of Gujarat

Date From which the Project became Operational: 15-7-2012

Is the Project still operational?: Yes

Five points that make the Product/Programme/Project/Initiative/School innovative:

1. Facebook Quiz application for Voter Awareness .
2. Pledge to Vote by sending SMS.
3. Integration of Voter Registration and Polling Booth Locator in Facebook Page.
4. Polling booth locator, Polling Officer Locator and Voter Registration in single Website .
5. Direct Update of Awareness activities by the Government Staff in Social Media.

Five key achievements of the Product/Programme/Project/Initiative/School:

1. Proof of concept for Engaging Youth Voters through social media.
2. Increased Capacity of Government Staff to adapt to new age thinking and performance.
3. Increased Voter Awareness and Participation in Elections.
4. Introduction of New Media in reaching out to Citizens.
5. Model for using Technology to improve Government Outreach.

Five key challenges faced while implementing the Product/Programme/Project/Initiative/School and how they were overcome:

1. Sensitizing Government Officers and Staff about potential of New Media.
2. Training for behaviour change and communication management.
3. Optimal Web Application design to achieve Campaign Objectives.
4. Convincing Higher authorities on using Social Media in Government.
5. Creating content that is interesting and useful in a easy to digest format.

Five points that make the Product/Programme/Project/Initiative/School replicable:

1. Built on scalable open source software.
2. Election Rules are same across the Country. Country adoption is easy.
3. Multi Author Multi Location Capable architecture.
4. Simple model for using the Power of existing Social networks like Facebook and Twitter and Youtube.
5. Even Government Staff with minimal Computer knowledge can operate.

Five points to elaborate on the scalability of the Product/Programme/Project/Initiative/School:

1. First Time Social Media has been used in an official election campaign.
2. Proves that Social Media is not a reputation risk but useful tool.
3. Targeted messages to audience is possible only through use of technology and analytics.
4. Any Government Servant like Clerk can use the system all across India.
5. Built on Open Source reliable software and uses Social Network Platforms.

More at   http://eindia.eletsonline.com/2013/Hyderabad/Governance/my-vote-my-right-assistant-collector-tharad/