 Citizens CARE member organizations during 2009 General Assembly held in Zamboanga City ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW The Citizens Coalition for ARMM Electoral Reforms, Incorporated (Citizens CARE) is an ARMM-based coalition of thirty six (36) non-government organizations, civil society organizations, people’s organizations, sectoral organizations and who are electoral reforms advocates in five (5) provinces in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) namely in Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi including the Cities of Cotabato, Marawi, Isabela and Lamitan to help attain genuine electoral reforms in ARMM and in Mindanao. It was established in June 2005 by six founding organizations and grew to 18 organizations in 2006 and 36 in 2007. It was registered and approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission as non–stock, non–profit and non government organization with registration number CN200626305. It was an accredited citizen’s arm of the Commission on Elections bearing the accreditation number SPP-05-004 during the August 8, 2005 ARMM elections. It was again given an accreditation by COMELEC (SPP-07-014) as citizens arm during the May 14, 2007 Synchronized National and Local Elections. During the October 29, 2007 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections through SPP 07-027 as their citizens arm in ARMM to monitor the elections. Last 2008, Citizens CARE was given a COMELEC accreditation number SPP-08-006 to monitor the conduct of August 11, 2008 ARMM Regional Elections. With its pioneering efforts, the Citizens CARE successfully initiated the Citizen-Voter’s Education and Election Monitoring Training’s in the 5 provinces of ARMM. A main component of its strength, Citizens CARE entrenched its Provincial Management Committees and municipal teams even the most far-flung and remote areas of the region. FRAMEWORK As stakeholders, the framework of Citizens CARE is to facilitate the democratization of the election process with the goal of selecting public officials who can deliver long-overdue development to the ARMM constituents. The Citizens Coalition for ARMM Electoral Reforms, Inc. (Citizens CARE) is the only civil society organization in ARMM that has deovted its effort to electoral reforms since 2005. |