Kidapawan City - Poll volunteers from the five provinces of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will meet next week in Davao City to evaluate a foreign-funded voter’s education and election monitoring project in the region which is set to end this September.

Salic Ibrahim, chair of the Citizens Coalition for ARMM Electoral Reforms (Citizens CARE), a poll watchdog accredited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), said the participants to the three-day meet would include members of the Citizens CARE Board of Trustees, Provincial Management Committees from the ARMM’s five provinces, provincial coordinators and secretariat personnel.

The meeting, scheduled from August 17 to 19 at the Regency Inn in Davao City, will focus on their assessment and evaluation of the project, “Strengthening Electoral Process Through Voter’s Education and Election Monitoring in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (SEPVEEM-ARMM).

The project, already on its second phase, is about to end on September 30 and is implemented by the Citizens CARE in some 1,500 villages in 80 towns in the region, through technical and funding support from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Aside from preparing a terminal report of the project to be submitted to the funding agency, Citizens CARE volunteers will plan the timeline for the third phase of the SEPVEEM-ARMM during the three-day meet.

They will get updates on the automated 2010 synchronized national and local elections.