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Project: Electoral Justice Principles for Trust in the Electoral Process in Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone
Evaluation Date: September 2012
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The implementing partners in the project document were not used. Instead the grantee implemented the project directly, hiring consultants to do some of the work and using a few of the members from the implementing partners to form additional groups.

Theme: Rule of law

Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone consultants, network, sustainability

Project: Enhancing the Functional Protection of Human Rights in Ethiopia
Evaluation Date: May 2012
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Although the international grantee was not permitted to set up office in country, the capacity building activities were effectively implemented. However, some project activities such as the training of trainers were not adequately followed up, and others such as the study visits were reported to have been insufficiently planned. The grantee’s project management could have helped by integrating the views of consultant trainers, and partners/beneficiaries. Regular project management review meetings with partners’ senior representatives could have served to take stock of activities and ensure follow-up.

Theme: Rule of law

Ethiopia consultants, management, staffing

Project: Strengthening Democracy through Freedom of Expression and Peace Agenda for Journalists in Colombia (Colombia)
Evaluation Date: August 2017
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Civil society organizations with particular specializations and strengths in a given field should not shy away from being a “consultant body” for government, if the opportunity arises, provided institutional independence is preserved.

Theme: Media

Colombia consultants, government

Project: Strengthening the Political Participation of Communities of Former Slaves
Evaluation Date: January 2015
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Given the limited human resources available for the project, it did not sufficiently consider the geographical challenges of the region, in which villages are widely dispersed and difficult to access given the lack of roads. Remote project management and external consultants caused an imbalanced budget, which was to the detriment of beneficiaries.

Theme: Community activism

Mauritania budget, staffing

Project: Leadership for accountable governance in Southern Africa
Evaluation Date: February 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Financial planning and management was weak, with a serious negative impact on project activity and the likelihood of the project achieving its objectives in the 11 countries in Southern Africa. Consultants and participants were led to believe that there was a shortage of funds when, in fact, adequate funds had been provided but had not been appropriately allocated. The allocation of funds between headquarters’ support costs and project-related staff and activities in-country was unbalanced.

Theme: Community activism

Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, United Republic of, Zambia, Zimbabwe budget, finance, planning

Project: Development of Sustainable Voter Registration Methodologies in Sub-Saharan Africa
Evaluation Date: November 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The use of well-qualified project members who stayed involved to the end of the project also contributed to its effectiveness. The mapping and database researcher and case study consultants, as well as the reference panel members, had hands-on experience with voter registration methodologies in different African countries with different languages and election logistics.

Theme: Tools for knowledge

Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa management, staffing

Project: Electoral Justice Principles for Trust in the Electoral Process in Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone
Evaluation Date: September 2012
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project hired consultants to draft the principles and held a drafting conference in Bali instead of holding the dissemination conference in Kenya. It also undertook only one pilot application in Africa instead of two. This diluted its African focus and limited the awareness of the principles espoused by the project.

Theme: Rule of law

Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone budget, impact, international

Project: Strengthening the Political Participation of Communities of Former Slaves
Evaluation Date: January 2015
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project was supported by a project manager based in Nouakchott (around 1,000 km away from the zone of intervention) and had a team of two facilitators in Aîoun, the capital of the region, located about 100 km from the villages targeted. Given the limited human resources available for the project, it did not sufficiently consider the geographical challenges of the region, in which villages are widely dispersed and difficult to access given the lack of roads. Remote project management and external consultants caused an imbalanced budget, which was to the detriment of beneficiaries.

Theme: Community activism

Mauritania geography, infrastructure, scope

Project: Expanding and Fortifying Local Democracy through the People’s Council in the Philippines
Evaluation Date: January 2016
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project’s training programme was implemented, for the most part, by experienced external consultants. While the sequence of workshops addressed a comprehensive list of topics, there were some problems. In particular, the use of only English-language training materials for a population, particularly at barangay level, which had a limited knowledge of particularly written English.

Theme: Community activism

Philippines language, training

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

Lesson Learned:

The initial project idea was for the grantee to replicate its earlier experience in monitoring the national legislature in Kosovo at the level of the municipal assembly. However, following a request to the grantee from UNDEF to make adjustments to the project plan, its focus switched from managing a team of locally-recruited consultants to preparing selected CSOs to monitor the work of municipal assemblies and of the work of municipal government, more generally.

Theme: Rule of law

Kosovo design, sustainability

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