Project: Empowering the Voice of a New Generation in Pakistan
Evaluation Date: August 2014
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

Although project reporting stated that most project activities were completed as planned, there was not enough hard information available to be able to confirm this or to assess the project’s effectiveness. For example, there was not enough information to be able to assess the effectiveness of different core youth events – three trainings and inter-provincial study tours – and the information on who participated in activities was inconsistent. There was almost no information about the activities at the district level.

Theme: Youth engagement
Pakistan   ,
Project: Education and Training of Youth for Democracy in Burkina Faso
Evaluation Date: June 2012
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

Although the project did focus on identifying and mobilizing young leaders across Burkina Faso and on implementing numerous trainings and sensitizing activities, it did not set up a monitoring and reporting strategy to assess progress achieved and to motivate and mobilize young leaders to relay the training contents to other youth. In hindsight, it appears that there would have been scope for the grantee to apply for a larger project budget, which could have helped to reinforce these monitoring and evaluation aspects.

Theme: Youth engagement
Burkina Faso  
Project: Citizen Participation to Improve Local Governance
Evaluation Date: January 2014
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

There was a risk that the newly introduced Citizen Participation Cells (CPC) would be manipulated by local authorities in Benin. They were often called on by municipal governments to assess the compliance of municipal investments or to raise awareness among citizens. In order to be seen as an independent mechanism, the CPCs should be more proactive rather than reactive when dealing with municipal administrations.

Theme: Community activism
Benin  
Project: Education and Training of Youth for Democracy in Burkina Faso
Evaluation Date: June 2012
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The grantee was not able to provide indicators related to the number of leaders trained who voted; and no information was available to assess the impact of the messages delivered to the youth by the young trained leaders. In this respect, the grantee was very optimistic to consider that increasing knowledge would be sufficient to motivate and mobilize the young leaders, and by extension, the youth of Burkina Faso to vote.

Theme: Youth engagement
Burkina Faso   ,
Project: Strengthening Local NGOs in Areas Where Extractive Industries Operate
Evaluation Date: June 2013
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The diagnostic review and needs assessment did not capture the information needed for project implementation. There was no contextual information on corporate social responsibility budget allocation per district, the degree of integration in local development planning, the nature of civil society engagement with stakeholders, budget allocations to NGOs, or data to assess what specific CSR practices had achieved thus far and what was needed in terms of local NGO capacity-building to improve these organizations’ credibility with stakeholders.

Theme: Community activism
Indonesia   ,