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Project: Civil Society Empowerment in Advocacy and Policy Development in Vietnam
Evaluation Date: June 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Through the project, the grantee succeeded in establishing the Action for CSO Development Alliance (CSA) in Vietnam. The Alliance clearly had potential, and government officials have expressed support for its possible role in representing CSO interests in policy discussions. However, without securing additional resources to build the network, little more can be done.

Theme: Community activism

Viet Nam CSO, platform, structure

Project: Civil Society Empowerment in Advocacy and Policy Development in Vietnam
Evaluation Date: June 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The constructive approach to working with government adopted by the grantee and its partners, was in keeping with Vietnamese political culture, and helped to strengthen the respect of government officials for the professional competence and reliability of CSOs. Through the project, there were also indications of interest on the part of government in working with the newly-established CSO network body.

Theme: Community activism

Viet Nam CSO, government

Project: Fostering Ethical Democracy and Advancing Micro Justice in India
Evaluation Date: September 2018
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Civil society organizations have the unique ability to act as a ‘bridge’ between service providers and users, building the capacity of marginalized groups that do not have the capacity to take advantage of the services available to them as well as helping service providers reach beneficiaries.

Theme: Rule of law

India capacity building, CSO, inclusion

Project: Civil Society Empowerment in Advocacy and Policy Development in Vietnam
Evaluation Date: June 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project funded 15 CSO small advocacy initiatives, implemented by 14 CSO partners. In most cases, the CSOs supplemented the $1,000 awarded by securing additional resources from government and donor funds. Designed and implemented with guidance and advice from the grantee, the projects were generally successful in delivering advocacy initiatives which engaged government officials and made progress towards the solution of specific issues.

Theme: Community activism

Viet Nam advocacy, grants, policy

Project: Empowering Civil Society Inclusion on Democratic Policy-Making in Kosovo
Evaluation Date: October 2012
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The approach of addressing demand and supply for CSO input was efficient as well as effective as it built government support for and use of CSO input at the same time as working to ensure that the CSOs would be able to respond constructively to those openings. The choice of governmental partners was also effective, as these offices were directly responsible for setting the standards for consultations and ensuring compliance with them in all government and municipal drafting in Kosovo.

Theme: Community activism

Kosovo consultation, government

Project: Initiative to Build Social Movements in Sierra Leone
Evaluation Date: May 2016
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project could have been more effective by providing support to existing advocacy engagements by the participants (CSO and CSO platforms) platforms on the issues that were identified during the training sessions. Project funds could have been set aside for this purpose, which would have provided platform managers with an incentive to develop and implement strategies for engagement with relevant decision-makers. As it was, the platform leaders who became aware of needs and opportunities for advocacy were often unable to address these, due to lack of resources.

Theme: Community activism

Sierra Leone advocacy, training

Project: Initiative to Build Social Movements in Sierra Leone
Evaluation Date: May 2016
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

While participants from civil society organizations and platforms welcomed training provided by the grantee to improve CSO management and coordination they were not necessarily ready to implement the new skills acquired if it required additional resources. For the same reasons, the enhancement of platform and CSO leaders’ management skills did not necessarily result in additional advocacy activities. The project’s relevance could have been enhanced, by providing incentives for platforms to develop joint advocacy or campaigns.

Theme: Community activism

Sierra Leone, Sub-Saharan Africa incentives, platforms, resources

Project: Initiative to Build Social Movements in Sierra Leone
Evaluation Date: May 2016
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Some of the training participants experienced a change in attitude leading to greater understanding of the importance of strategic thinking, institutional development and joint work among CSOs. Other CSO participants revealed that the CSO profile report that was issued by the project as one of the first outputs opened their eyes about how currently ineffective NGO platforms were and the extensive need for dedicated work to reinforce civil society coordination structures.

Theme: Community activism

Sierra Leone, Sub-Saharan Africa change, platforms, training

Project: Strengthening Participation of Women in Geographically Deprived Communities in Local Governance in Ghana
Evaluation Date: June 2017
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

In future similar projects in Ghana there should be more focus and resources given to capacity building, to support training on CSO management, the development of board charters for CSOs, training on proposal writing training and basic financial management for CSOs.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Ghana capacity, management

Project: Civil Society Empowerment in Advocacy and Policy Development in Vietnam
Evaluation Date: June 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

It is noteworthy that the 15 small grant advocacy projects all resulted in improvements or adjustments to implementation of regulations, changes in current government practice, or agreements for the CSO to take part in dialogue on the development of new policies and laws in Vietnam.

Theme: Community activism

Viet Nam advocacy, government, impact

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