A group of ten international and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in Sudan have received training from IOM on raising awareness of democratic processes in a bid to promote popular participation in Sudan's forthcoming elections in April 2010. The organizations involved will, in the coming weeks, begin disseminating information on democratic electoral processes such as voter registration and polling so as to prepare voters as much as possible in 18 Sudanese states for the first multi-party elections in more than 20 years. The initiative is part of IOM's Civic and Voter Education Grants Scheme Project developed in collaboration with the National Electoral Commission (NEC) and with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) which provided IOM with USD1.56 million to fund the grants scheme. The Grants Scheme Project will also support smaller civil society entities like community-based organizations (CBOs) by offering them the possibility to implement the same civic and voter education activities in the remaining 8 states of Sudan, not covered by the 10 NGOs. For more information, please contact: IOM Sudan Public Information Office Tel:  +249  183 57 08 01  E-mail: "mailto:rraduta@iom.int">rraduta@iom.int >