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Project: Promoting Women's Participation in Local Budgetary Processes
Evaluation Date: March 2016
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The fact that the grantee organised meetings with all parties was an important first step in building mutual trust and facilitating a common understanding of gender issues through municipal budget in Niger. Most women and municipal officials who participated said it was the first time they had the opportunity to work jointly on Gender Responsive Budgeting issues.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Niger gender, responsive budgeting, trust

Project: Creative Communication of the Nigerian Budget
Evaluation Date: July 2018
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Grantees should assess financial risks to the project well in advance of implementation, especially the inflation rate. In financially volatile situations, be cautious about setting very ambitious targets and instead seek to deepen rather than broaden project engagements. This is especially important for activities that involve a high level of travel and administration at field level as these costs tend to inflate the budget, lending it inadequate for the entire funding period.

Theme: Media

Nigeria budgeting, Inflation, Risks

Project: Civic Involvement for Transparency and Accountability in Kosovo
Evaluation Date: August 2015
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Community engagement was the area where the project had the greatest short-term impact. Most municipal assembly Heads, mayors and senior local government officials, had little or no previous exposure to meetings where they interacted with local community members on their concerns and priorities. The project introduced community consultations and more elaborate Town Hall meetings. This innovation was quite successful it persuaded municipal leaders of the value of citizen engagement. It also led to concrete results when issues raised by the community were included in municipal budgeting.

Theme: Rule of law

Kosovo community, engagement, municipal, participation

Project: Grassroots Gender Accountability in Uganda
Evaluation Date: April 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The fact that budgeting is usually based on annual cycles always comes to play when new service needs are discovered. Village Budget Clubs in at least 3 of the 4 target districts as a result of their local service monitoring activity had launched initiatives to fund identified service needs privately, should they face limited availability or flexibility of public financing.

Theme: Interaction with government

Uganda budget, planning, services

Project: Grassroots Gender Accountability in Uganda
Evaluation Date: April 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Due to a lack of pertinent target indicator data the grantee fails to establish the extent to which district budget resources allocated to gender-specific projects have been increased. The grantee also failed to present data to demonstrate how media involvement increased grassroots’ ability to challenge the current state of local service budgeting and delivery.

Theme: Interaction with government

Uganda budget, data, monitoring

Project: Gender Equality and Equity - Follow Up to CEDAW and Romani women
Evaluation Date: November 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Most project components were short of funds. All delivered the planned outputs, so commitments were lived up to. Yet all components of the project ended abruptly when they could have benefited from further work or follow-up. A more results-focused approach to budgeting might have brought about a change in the pattern of allocation of funds and the dropping of some components in favor of optimizing impact.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) budget, followup, impact, sustainability

Project: Women in Politics in Mozambique
Evaluation Date: December 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The decision to expand the list of direct beneficiaries to include men among the elected representatives, and as base group members, was justified by the weak position of women within both target groups, as well as the generally low level of education and experience among women beneficiaries. The decision to involve members of the Executive, both members of the Provincial and Municipal Councils (leadership) and officials, as well as political party leaders, was essential, given that the elected members had little influence in planning and budgeting.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Mozambique adapt, context, grassroots, men

Project: Promoting Women's Participation in Local Budgetary Processes
Evaluation Date: March 2016
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

A sense of ownership by the women NGOs/CBOs members has apparently been achieved in Niger in each targeted municipality. Nevertheless, sustainable ownership of Gender Responsive Budgeting is still fragile and all stakeholders recognize that more time is needed to consolidate the women’s work which has been initiated.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Niger planning, sustainability

Project: Empowering Civil Society and Women to Engage in Policy Processes
Evaluation Date: August 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

To promote the actual application of human rights in Honduras, a debate should be organised to improve links between the actions achieved for and with women -their community-based organisations and networks – and the actions intended to strengthen the institutional mechanisms that guarantee their rights. The aim would be to get local authorities to sustainably integrate a pro-woman agenda both in terms of political representation and municipal budgeting. Democratic participation is fragile and currently depends on the willingness of the authority in power. But this willingness could be replaced by a framework of legitimate and lasting good governance.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Honduras authority, budget, institutions

Project: Media and art as catalysts for free speech and access to information in Jordan
Evaluation Date: January 2015
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project relied too heavily on volunteers. Over-reliance on volunteers is a risk to sustainability, even when the volunteers are committed and motivated. This should be taken into account in designing and budgeting for the project. The Freedom Messenger Network has a life of its own and could become independent.

Theme: Media

Jordan sustainability, volunteers

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