Project: Civil Society Monitoring of Governorate Councils in Iraq
Evaluation Date: August 2014
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The monitoring training had some weaknesses. The training attempted to cover a great deal of detail, much of it technical, in two, short intensive workshops. More time should have been given to allow the trainees to fully absorb new knowledge. Another weakness was the decision to provide monitoring training to only one individual per partner organization. Such an approach limited the opportunity to build CSO institutional capacity, and is likely to limit the depth of commitment of the participating organizations to the monitoring process in Iraq.

Theme: Interaction with government
Iraq   ,
Project: Civil Society Monitoring of Governorate Councils in Iraq
Evaluation Date: August 2014
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The monitoring training had some weaknesses. The training attempted to cover a great deal of detail, much of it technical, in two, short intensive workshops. More time should have been given to allow the trainees to fully absorb new knowledge. Another weakness was the decision to provide monitoring training to only one individual per partner organization. Such an approach limited the opportunity to build CSO institutional capacity, and is likely to limit the depth of commitment of the participating organizations to the monitoring process in Iraq.

Theme: Interaction with government
Iraq   , ,
Project: Civil Society Monitoring of Governorate Councils in Iraq
Evaluation Date: August 2014
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

Although factors like the security situation in Iraq made it difficult to probe the impact of the intervention, significant advances were made in short-term government responsiveness and transparency to the public. The grantee published Annual Monitoring Reports to highlight the gap between public expectations and the actual performance of the Governorate Councils. These were circulated widely and managed to attract considerable interest from the mass media and senior government officials. In response, several of the participating Governorates Councils devoted greater efforts to transparency and providing information to the public. Further, the central government expressed their interest in expanding civil society monitoring to all provinces in the country.

Theme: Interaction with government
Iraq   ,
Project: Civil Society Monitoring of Governorate Councils in Iraq
Evaluation Date: August 2014
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The grantee faced some challenges during project implementation in Iraq, but due to a well-developed risk mitigation plan, the grantee was able to manage. For instance, the grantee had anticipated the risk of the non-cooperation of some Governorate Councils, so when two of six identified Councils withdrew from the initiative, the grantee took rapid action to replace them. The Councils were absorbed into project activities without much loss of time, and the grantee and its partner organizations managed to build trust and understanding with the two added Councils rather quickly.

Theme: Interaction with government
Iraq   , ,
Project: Campaign for Stressing Community Concerns and Seeking Political Resolutions in the South and South Centre of Iraq
Evaluation Date: December 2012
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

A particularly innovative feature of the project was planning, implementing and using the findings from a large-scale public opinion survey, based on a random sample of 3,000 individuals, drawn from the population in the nine target provinces in Iraq. The report on the survey provided essential input to discussions on local priorities, in particular how to use non-violent methods in dispute resolution. The use of this survey was a positive factor in the success of three of the major, sequential activities of the project: the local focus groups, civic forums and provincial conferences.

Theme: Rule of law
Iraq   ,