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Project: Strengthening Democratic Participation of Maya Communities in Rural Guatemala
Evaluation Date: June 2015
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project could have provided more analysis about the causes of violence against women and its impact on the status of women in society. Such an analysis could have strengthened the effectiveness and impact of the projects’ interventions. Activities to train and raise awareness among adolescent males and men could have been implemented.

Theme: Community activism

Guatemala analysis, gender violence, SGBV

Project: Safeguarding the Rights of Transgender & Intersex Communities in Pakistan
Evaluation Date: March 2024
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Effective institutionalization of a technology driven initiative in government departments requires an assessment of their capacity and readiness. Technical and capacity support may be provided to ensure smooth transfer and successful adoption of technology. In the present project, an App developed to report human rights incidents and violations was handed off without prior assessment to a public office unprepared for ensuring its maintenance and use.

Theme: Rule of law

Pakistan analysis, application, beneficiaries, beneficiary, digital, expertise, knowledge, outputs, ownership, project design, resources, results, strategy, sustainability, sustainable, tools

Project: Empowering Local CSOs in Yemen through Participation in Local Governance
Evaluation Date: May 2015
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project document succinctly set out the key needs addressed by the project: to support the role of NGOs in post-2011 Yemen and to respond to the challenge of widespread poverty. However, the project document did not sufficiently analyze the challenges and opportunities related to local government structures in Yemen – in particular the difference in role between Local Councils (LCs) and Local Executive Offices (LEOs), which together form the Local Government Authorities (LGAs). LEOs are decision-making structures, which may access central government funds. By contrast LCs’ role is merely consultative.

Theme: Community activism

Yemen analysis, conflict, government, local

Project: Strengthening Grassroots Women’s Groups to Promote and Protect Civic Space in Uganda
Evaluation Date: July 2023
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

It is vital to document and present evidence of how a project meets target indicators in the delivery of its activities both for internal learning but also to be able to demonstrate effectiveness and impact in a robust and comprehensive way. This requires a dedicated person in charge of monitoring, evaluating, and learning.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Uganda analysis, credibility, evaluation, expertise, goals, impact, knowledge, learning, measure, monitoring, objectives, outputs, project management, quality control, reporting, results, results framework, staff, transparency

Project: Creating an Inclusive Policy and Legal System, Protecting Elderly People’s Fundamental Rights in Indonesia
Evaluation Date: January 2023
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The elderly project should be a source of learning for both UNDEF and the grantee organization LBH Apik, since both parties have not dealt exclusively with elderly before. In a short project such as this (especially with an unexpected challenge like the pandemic), the Donor and Implementing Agency should conduct more frequently periodical pause and reflection to assess direction, progress, challenges, and lessons learnt in order to be able to manage the project adaptively. Ideally this is done every quarter. Sessions for the purpose of learning need to be intentionally planned from the outset. It is unclear whether programmatic learning is being performed from the bottom to the top, and vice versa. It is useful however to cohesively provide a picture on the differences and similarities, and what worked and what did not work.

Theme: Electoral Processes, Rule of law

Indonesia adapt, adjust, analysis, Coordinate, decision making, elder, elderly, goals, issue, learn, lesson, measure, monitoring, plan, planning, problem, project design, project management, quality control, results, target

Project: Tracking Campaign Promises in Albania
Evaluation Date: January 2023
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

One of the main problems of this project was that its design robustness could have been reinforced by a more detailed and comprehensive needs assessment in smaller vs. bigger municipalities in order to avoid obsolescence in some big municipalities. Consequently, inappropriate and generalised needs assessments that lead to a “one size fits all” approach can negatively affect the impact’s likelihood.

Theme: Interaction with government

Albania analysis, assess, assessment, beneficiaries, budget, community, data, engagement, governance, impact, local government, measure, needs, project design, scope, stakeholder, tools

Project: Jeunesse et participation électorale au Burkina Faso
Evaluation Date: May 2022
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Sensitivity to local languages should be an essential part of project design and delivery in countries where such diversity exists, though this may bring additional challenges in terms of measuring and evaluating the success of an intervention.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Burkina Faso analysis, beneficiaries, data, evaluate, language, measure, monitor, project design, target

Project: Fostering the Electoral Participation of Internally Displaced Persons in Georgia
Evaluation Date: November 2021
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Elections-related projects aimed at contributing to the democratic consolidation, cannot be seen as self-sufficient, stand-alone initiatives. In the current case, not considering the deviation of the team’s assumptions from the actual baseline and the lack of subsequent review of the implementation strategy negatively affected the project’s relevance and overall impact. When drafting and implementing such projects, it is therefore important to consider the wide range of factors related not only to the micro dimension but also those related to the macro dimension, which are relevant for the project’s integration and relevance within the larger policy context and important for the sustainability and impact to reach beyond the project’s immediate lifetime.

Theme: Community activism

Georgia analysis, baseline, context, democracy, elections, impact, policy, project design, relevant, sustainable

Project: Am I Equal in Kosovo Society?
Evaluation Date: July 2018
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

To ensure meaningful and effective assessment of project results, use ‘SMART’ target indicators (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). Organizations should use comparisons of pre- and post-project surveys to determine how their projects’ specific activities and results have contributed towards the achievement of the projects’ outcomes.

Theme: Media

Kosovo analysis, assessment, methodology, survey, targets

Project: Democratic Dialogue through Media in Sierra Leone
Evaluation Date: March 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Flaws in design and strategy hampered the relevance of the project: lack of explicit engagement with editors/publishers and with relevant high-level institutional actors. These weaknesses were already visible in the project document: the “Situation Analysis” section appropriately identified the needs summarised above, as well as the views of civil society about the media, but did not provide an analysis of the causes of the identified weaknesses. The project document lacked an explicit stakeholder analysis that would have identified the project’s planned level of engagement with each stakeholder, the message directed at them and the engagement techniques to be used. In other words, the project document was built on the assumption that improving journalistic skills in human rights reporting, together with activities such as NGO and community training, would lead to enhanced democratic debate. But there was no explicit description of how these results would derive from the planned activities.

Theme: Media

Sierra Leone planning, project design, stakeholder, strategy

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