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Project: Human rights training and capacity-building for indigenous people
Evaluation Date: August 2010
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Impact was limited as the project was mainly focused on mobilizing the partner organizations’ members, with little regard for establishing significant collaboration with other actors from Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, and Peru involved in the same issues.
It would have been useful to publish a simple directory of indigenous organizations existing in Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, and Peru, as well as of stakeholders in civil society and their donors, which include indigenous communities among their priorities.

Theme: Rule of law

Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru collaboration, partners

Project: Helping Teenagers to Transform their Communities in Ukraine
Evaluation Date: September 2020
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Consider offering an attractive prize in the form of a study abroad leadership tour in collaboration with an established leadership educational program.

Theme: Youth engagement

Ukraine collaboration, competition, education, leadership, project design

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

Lesson Learned:

The project far exceeded its own expectations, reaching more than 100,000 people through project activities. In part, this was a result of the intelligent and robust implementation structure put in place, with the grantee working closely with a number of reliable grassroots organizations in the regions where activities were undertaken.

Theme: Youth engagement

Myanmar collaboration, design, outreach

Project: Mainstreaming the Sustainable Development Goals in the Arab Civil Society Agenda
Evaluation Date: December 2018
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

For effective implementation of regional-level projects, it is imperative that the appropriate local partners and coordinating mechanisms are used. Organizations should consider selecting more than one partner organization for a country as one national partner may be ideal for some project activities but less so for others.

Theme: Interaction with government

Arab States collaboration, coordination, partners

Project: Strengthening Civil Society Across Borders to Develop Democracy
Evaluation Date: August 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The strong partnership between a reliable, experienced international NGO and national NGOs from Ukraine and Moldova worked well to leverage results and to enhance the impact of activities. The value added of this civil society project was that these collaborations were focused on concrete solutions to jointly identified problems.

Theme: Tools for knowledge

Moldova, Republic of, Ukraine collaboration, regional

Project: Strengthening the capacities of Magistrates
Evaluation Date: July 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project was implemented without taking into consideration the full range of target beneficiaries. Contrary to the project’s plan, the National Trade Union of Judicial Agents, the National Bar Association and CSOs’ members who engage in similar activities were not involved in the project activities.

Theme: Rule of law

Niger collaboration, design, partnership

Project: Youth Partnership for Improved Budgetary Governance in Lebanese Municipalities: Musharaka
Evaluation Date: October 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

While many of the young participants have gone on to create their own organizations to implement local initiatives, this may not be sustainable. Given the challenges for grassroots organizations to survive and the lack of local backing, it may be more effective to channel the energy and investment of youth into collective alternatives working with existing structures that are more likely to survive and have a longer lasting impact.

Theme: Youth engagement

Lebanon collaboration, collective, grassroots

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

Lesson Learned:

In spite of the difficult circumstances in Yemen, the project did have some impact: several local NGOs have acquired a better understanding of rules and regulations concerning NGOs and of the governance principles set out in the Code of Conduct disseminated by the project. At local level, there is evidence that local councils and NGOs have accepted the principle of working together and intend to do so beyond the project period.

Theme: Community activism

Yemen collaboration, conflict, local, NGO

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

Lesson Learned:

The grantee attempted sustainability by setting up a structure named Human Rights Reporters Network. However this structure proved short-lived, mainly because its members did not have the capacity or will to maintain it. The current strategy, consisting in working with existing media-related association is more likely to be sustainable.

Theme: Media

Sierra Leone adapt, collaboration, sustainability

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

Lesson Learned:

The project design should have included a more explicit strategy to address editors and publishers, particularly those of media outlets to which trainers were assigned. The grantee sent trainers to selected media outlets, which had made a formal expression of interest and had received a briefing about the tasks to be carried out by the trainers and the support that the media outlets were expected to give. In addition, each media organisation was asked to sign a Memorandum of Understanding setting out each side’s key responsibilities. This MoU covered a range of practical issues, but did not require media outlets to commit themselves to enhance their coverage of human rights issues, or otherwise to facilitate the fulfilment of the project’s objective.

Theme: Media

Sierra Leone collaboration, contract, rights

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