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Project: Strengthening Grassroots Women’s Groups to Promote and Protect Civic Space in Uganda
Evaluation Date: July 2023
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The volume of activities proposed by a project does not always equate to a greater impact. Sometimes giving more focus, either in terms of geographic spread or to the activities being undertaken, can generate more sustained and involved engagement and more substantive change.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Uganda area, effective, focus, impact, local, motivate, motivation, planning, project design, quality, quantity, region, relevance, results, scope, size, specific

Project: Towards a better electoral process in Mongolia
Evaluation Date: November 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project accomplished its list of tasks, however its design was too ambitious for the resources available and some activities were only marginally accomplished. This included the training for police, judges and media, and the trainer-of-trainer (TOT) aspect of observation training. The loss of focus on TOT limited the project’s potential reach and effectiveness. These areas remain critical ones, especially for the justice sector.

Theme: Community activism

Mongolia ambition, focus

Project: Gender Equality and Equity - Follow Up to CEDAW and Romani women
Evaluation Date: November 2010
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

There was a lack of continuity and follow-up in some areas of project work. This suggests that the project tried to include too many elements within a single project with limited resources. In the future, it is recommended that RCS be prepared to make some difficult choices in determining priorities, in order to ensure that adequate resources (including management time) are assigned to all project resources. The grantee would have benefited from advice about the benefits of focusing and concentrating its efforts on a shorter list of components, each pursued further, thus enhancing the prospect for impact.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) ambition, focus, impact

Project: Strengthening Democratic Participation Among Indigenous Peoples of Oaxaca, Mexico
Evaluation Date: May 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

This was an overly ambitious project (26 outputs planned) that failed to detail from the outset how the strategy would be implemented and the linkage between its many components. The narrative reports, moreover, were more descriptive than analytical, making it hard to accurately determine the project’s actual successes and achievements.

Theme: Community activism

Mexico ambition, focus, metrics, strategy

Project: Promoting Youth Participation through Development Policy in Burkina Faso
Evaluation Date: December 2023
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Organizations with “niche” expertise in complex contexts and with a high capacity for access can prove decisive for project success: A convincing example is Balai Citoyen, whose ability to operate in difficult-to-access areas, its technical, administrative and financial expertise, as well as its vast institutional network have considerably expanded the scope of the project. This approach highlights the importance of choosing strategic partners who can provide significant added value in varied contexts.

Theme: Youth engagement

Burkina Faso collaborate, collaboration, experience, focus, hard-to-reach, knowledge, partnership, specific, strategy

Project: Tunisia - Meta Evaluation Report
Evaluation Date: May 2021
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Reviewing the timing of activities before final approval of projects, especially for activities around electoral periods, is critical to the success of the project: (i) to ensure impact and sustainability of engaging with stakeholders such as new councilmembers, (ii) to constructively contribute to already-existing technical initiatives around electoral participation, and (iii) to avoid perceptions of political bias.

Theme: Electoral Processes, Women's empowerment, Community activism, Rule of law, Youth engagement, Interaction with government, Media, Tools for knowledge

Tunisia anticipate planning, decision making, elections, engagement, facilitate, focus, politics, schedule, scope, sustainable, time

Project: Support for Elections in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria
Evaluation Date: August 2021
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Ensuring that an election focused project starts significantly before polling day can make it easier to implement (as there will be less pressure on the time of key election stakeholders) and can allow for pre-election elements, such as primaries and campaigns, to be targeted.

Theme: Electoral Processes

Nigeria anticipation, Electoral, facilitate, focus, governance, planning, politics, timing

Project: Citizen Empowerment for the Promotion of Good Governance and Participatory Democracy in Algeria
Evaluation Date: January 2022
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

To strengthen collaboration between CSOs and States officials, it is necessary to consider the following:
a. The commitment of the authorities to grant authorisations for the financing and implementation of similar projects.
b. Planning awareness and targeted communication activities to overcome the mistrust and lack of motivation on the part of CSOs and youth.
c. Interventions must create spaces for dialogue and collaboration, managed by unbiased and trusted keys actors and facilitators.

Theme: Interaction with government

Algeria collaborate, considerations, credibility, engagement, environment, finance, focus, funding, funds, government, improve, initiatives, intervene, meeting, motivate, network, partner, partnership, project design, relationship, trustworthy, young people

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

Lesson Learned:

The project’s focus on safety net issues was important, however, more focus on the critical issues of land and indigenous rights as provided for in the Peace Accord, could have made this project more relevant for the communities. There are still issues of peace and integration that remain unresolved which are directly affecting the governance in the region and its ability to respond to the tribal poor.

Theme: Community activism

Bangladesh indigenous, land, peace agreement

Project: Cultivating Democratic Leaders from Marginalized Groups in Thailand
Evaluation Date: December 2010
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The one potentially new element of the project – the participant survey – did not underpin the activities of the project participants; the issues actually addressed were those that have been the focus of actions in this region for some time and which are the focus of other local projects. Trainees were already engaged in development work in their communities and, once the project ended, continued as before. The project designers would have been more aware of this if they had reviewed existing and earlier practice in this area, and had considered in more depth the way NGOs in the regions work and their funding sources.

Theme: Youth engagement

Thailand baseline, duplication, research

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