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Project: Building Democratic Spaces in Egypt
Evaluation Date: March 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project’s Training Workshops were well-organized; yet, each was a “one-off” affair, with no follow-up. Such activities will probably have been of short-term value to participants, but are unlikely to have had broader impact.

Theme: Community activism

Egypt followup, impact, training

Project: Gender Equality and Equity - Follow Up to CEDAW and Romani women
Evaluation Date: November 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Most project components were short of funds. All delivered the planned outputs, so commitments were lived up to. Yet all components of the project ended abruptly when they could have benefited from further work or follow-up. A more results-focused approach to budgeting might have brought about a change in the pattern of allocation of funds and the dropping of some components in favor of optimizing impact.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) budget, followup, impact, sustainability

Project: Strengthening Somali Media Capacity for Democracy and Human Rights
Evaluation Date: October 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The promotion of the role of the media and freedom of expression should have been the object of advocacy activities beyond the workshops. The grantee did conduct some advocacy activities, but these were not part of the UNDEF-funded project and addressed mainly the international community. Any follow-up project should include an advocacy dimension directed at government and local authorities, and should consider ways in which training sessions can be followed-up to further support participating journalists, for example through the use of social networks.

Theme: Media

Somalia advocacy, follow-up, impact, journalism

Project: Strengthening Somali Media Capacity for Democracy and Human Rights
Evaluation Date: October 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project probably built the capacity of individual journalists, but there were no plans to help with follow up and continued capacity building. Conditions in Somalia would in any case have made it difficult to implement any follow-up support, but existing communications platforms and social networks could have been used to reinforce liaison among journalists.

Theme: Media

Somalia follow-up, sustainability

Project: The National Campaign towards Muslim Family Law Reform (MFL Campaign) in Malaysia
Evaluation Date: March 2016
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The workshops were one-time events for most participants and most said they had not since heard from grantee. More consistent follow up would have been needed to gel these groups into the type of nationwide advocacy network that could create a surge in public demand for law reform. A more concerted effort will be needed as the network is not yet functional without the grantee’s initiative and action.

Theme: Rule of law

Malaysia collaboration, followup

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

Lesson Learned:

A local monitoring system would have helped the beneficiary groups tackle the human rights abuses that affect them by putting in practice the knowledge acquired. Beneficiaries from Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, and Peru expressed also the wish to take part in further training, and to receive updates with the latest news on indigenous peoples’ rights

Theme: Rule of law

Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru follow-up, sustainability

Project: Civic Education and Civil Society Empowerment in Remote Areas in Myanmar
Evaluation Date: December 2012
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The township-level forums provided a space for free discussion, rather than a structured half-day session with solid results leading to a potential action plan and capacity to formulate initial issues for future policy papers. Participants were asked to state their mission, vision and goals, but no concrete deliverables or written action plans were produced. Much of the impetus built up during the training session was lost at the very moment where it would have been appropriate to draw up a concrete action plan. Also, there was no systematic support to the participants after the forums.

UNDEF/Myanmar

Theme: Community activism

Myanmar engagement, followup, forums, training

Project: Civic Education and Civil Society Empowerment in Remote Areas in Myanmar
Evaluation Date: December 2012
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Although the grantee lacked a systematic means of monitoring alumni activity, its 40,000 alumni stay closely connected via an alumni association. Although lines of causality are unclear, many programme participants are now more politically active. The grantee should have developed tools to monitor its two category target populations: young educated people, and more mature and experienced individuals.

Theme: Community activism

Myanmar followup, metrics, networks, sustainability

Project: Empowering Civil Society and Women to Engage in Policy Processes
Evaluation Date: August 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Project follow-up should have included applied research. The goal of such research would be to analyse critically and comparatively the various experiences and advances encountered by the project. This exercise should identify, in the context of a fragile democracy, the modalities and the possible alternatives for optimising women’s empowerment and guaranteeing as much as possible the application of the legal framework, as well as following up and carrying out the recommended support or judicial measures.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Honduras impact, research, sustainability

Project: Civic education and empowerment for more women in leadership, from villages to parliament in Fiji
Evaluation Date: July 2016
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project could have done more to ensure involvement of all the main political parties. While invitations were sent to the eight official parties, only two of them showed interest in participating in the trainings. More follow-up after the invitations would have been required to ensure involvement.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Fiji outreach, political parties

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