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   , , ,
Project: Promotion of Women’s Empowerment and Rights in Somalia
Evaluation Date: June 2016
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The engagement of “community catalysts/mobilizers” included men in leadership positions within the communities. These men were recruited to spread the messages of women’s empowerment in conjunction with the grassroots campaigns. One community catalyst interviewed was a teacher and religious leader who was also consulted on the nature of the messages and said he considered them “excellent”. Another religious leader said his job was to “undo communities’ negative views on women’s rights and empowerment” and to help change people’s perceptions, including those of parents so that they allowed their daughters to explore their potential “even by seeking leadership positions”. The community catalysts also helped smooth the way for CSOs to gain access to regional administrations. Several of those interviewed expressed their satisfaction at having been consulted and then brought into the project.

Theme: Women's empowerment
Somalia   , ,

Maintain good links with key actors in the International Community as well as national government stakeholders

Project: Promoting Good Governance among Tribal Inhabitants in Bangladesh (PROGGATI)
Evaluation Date: December 2013
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The project’s implementing structures were efficiently established because of the grantee’s existing relationship with many of the community based organizations in the region. About a quarter of the 240 community based organizations included family members working in the grantee’s existing water and sanitation projects. The existing links between these members and local officials, many of which worked on other projects together also facilitated project start-up and implementation.

Theme: Community activism
Bangladesh   ,
Project: Advancing the rights of women in the West Bank periphery, Palestine
Evaluation Date: February 2015
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The project did not meet all its targets in relation to the number of community members, in particular men, who would be engaged by the activities in Palestine. However, the grantee used this as an opportunity to learn lessons on the challenges of persuading men to consider new approaches to community decision making. The grantee may have benefited from help in this area of implementation from an organization with some expertise in mobilizing men’s participation; alternatively, it might have looked at an alternative forum to include men in the project.

Theme: Women's empowerment
Palestine   ,