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Project: Assessing Democracy Assistance
Evaluation Date: September 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

All funders in the development assistance field, whether government agencies or private foundations, have shied away from funding research. The result was a cleavage between research as it would more traditionally be considered in the social, political and (more recent and largely Anglo-American) policy sciences, and programme design and implementation.

Theme: Tools for knowledge

Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Georgia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) academic, design, research

Project: Deepening Democratization Processes Through Youth Leadership in Myanmar
Evaluation Date: September 2010
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Where academic research is useful to initiate policy dialogue with the authorities, action-research can provide the opportunity for capacity building of the fellows and can also be a useful tool in deciding, designing and promoting community initiatives. Reliable research by a recognized researcher is more likely to be usable in policy dialogue with the authorities; action-research facilitated by trained fellows is more likely to be valid for informing community-level actions and discussion. There should be a clear distinction between the two, and better strategizing/positioning of the research within the project design.

Theme: Youth engagement

Myanmar outputs, research

Project: Assessing Democracy Assistance
Evaluation Date: September 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Weigh the advantages and disadvantages of book or journal special issue publication. Papers can quite quickly become outdated. But publishing through a leading academic press, can add credibility and reach.

Theme: Tools for knowledge

Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Georgia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) relevance, research

Project: Human Rights Education for the Police
Evaluation Date: May 2012
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The workshops and study tours were very effective at awareness raising among the police educators and for one participant were “an eye opener which took the staff of the faculties out of their academic isolation”. Participants left the training owning the idea that dedicated human rights courses for the police must be held in Kazakhstan.

UNDEF/Kazakstan

Theme: Rule of law

Kazakhstan human rights, knowledge, training

Project: Training of Justice System Professionals to Litigate before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Evaluation Date: January 2013
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

All beneficiaries received a sound theoretical foundation and had the opportunity to combine this with practical experience such as participation in court hearings, and exchanges with the judges of the court and public defenders from other countries of the region. These activities enriched their professional experience and gave them better tools for appearing before the court. The quality of the assistance offered by the grantee’s technical team, as well as the academic level of the publications and course materials, contributed to the effectiveness of the activities.

Theme: Rule of law

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay justice, training

Project: Training of Justice System Professionals to Litigate before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Evaluation Date: January 2013
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The professional competence and the quality of the infrastructure provided by the grantee was excellent The grantee made available a modern E-learning platform for the online phase of the international human rights training courses and personalized assistance to the beneficiaries. This methodological approach yielded excellent academic results, striking a balance between the online and in-person training.

Theme: Rule of law

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay learning, training

Project: Support for Democratic Transition and Promotion of Citizenship
Evaluation Date: March 2016
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The field research undertaken as part of the project interviewed a wide sample of citizens and provided a precise diagnosis of the electoral behaviour of those communities, but the end-product was too academic and lacked digestible messages that could be easily communicated as part of sensitization activities.

Theme: Rule of law

Tunisia communication, research

Project: Strengthening the Political Participation of Communities of Former Slaves
Evaluation Date: January 2015
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The training sessions and literacy activities in Mauritania were rather academic and poorly linked to the practical concerns of the targeted communities. The lack of knowledge on how to put in practice existing legal provisions against slavery reduced the overall effectiveness of the project.
The project would have benefited from a better combination between theory and practice by delivering more practical training to clarify how to apply existing legal provisions against the practice of slavery.

UNDEF/ Mauritania

Theme: Community activism

Mauritania relevance, training

Project: The Bottom-up Governance and Leadership Programme for Women in the Pacific
Evaluation Date: April 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The five funded mini-projects allowed selected women trainees use their newly acquired governance and leadership knowledge in their own communities. However the women were not given sufficiently useful tools to help them to do this since the BGLP training materials were in English and quite academic.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga Access, language

Project: Education and Training of Youth for Democracy in Burkina Faso
Evaluation Date: June 2012
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The training activities were very short and often very academic with little in the way of practical case studies, which could have enabled young leaders not only to be informed about why it is important to vote, but also how to act as citizen to participate and to control the accountability and transparency of the electoral process in Burkina Faso.

Theme: Youth engagement

Burkina Faso training, youth

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