By Zaid Fahmi
Baghdad, 14 January 2010 - A training workshop for 16 IHEC Master Trainers in the Procedures and Training Department, started on 10 January 2010, in preparation for the nation-wide cascade training for up to 300,000 polling and counting staff. The workshop, facilitated by UNAMI advisors, lasted until 14 January, and aimed at assisting the IHEC in achieving consistency and quality control throughout the cascade.
The goal of this workshop is to enable the Master Trainers to review Polling / Counting procedures and to practice the most effective methods of delivering training sessions at all levels across the country, ensuring strict technical requirements for conducting polling and counting and the credibility of the overall electoral process.
"This workshop consists in reviewing all the information and familiarizing with the IHEC procedures related to the upcoming election process", said Haydar Shnawa, one of the trainees.
This IHEC workshop is a preparation for the cascade training, and helped the trainers to refresh their information about the elections. The training session included a general overview of the procedures at both the theoretical and practical levels, including how to establish a polling station, who are the people authorized to enter the polling station, what are their duties, as well as on the mechanism of voting, counting and sorting the results lists.
"The Master Trainers will then be able to answer all the critical questions they might face during the training sessions, as well as to simplify some complicated procedures", Shnawa added.