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Project: Strengthening Governance and Democratization Processes in Kenya and the East and Central Africa Region
Evaluation Date: May 2013
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

To enhance the capacity of the newly established Office of the Registrar of Political Parties in Kenya, the grantee organized study tours to Canada, Mexico and Ghana. While the tours were useful in raising awareness of participants, there was no plan for how new knowledge and recommendations should be incorporated into the organization. Study tours should have been part of a broader institutional capacity building effort that also provided follow-up activities.

Theme: Community activism

Kenya capacity, institution, study tour

Project: Your Local Representative, Strengthening Citizen Participation in Ukraine
Evaluation Date: October 2013
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The grantee had the capacity and expertise required to manage a sensitive sub-grant project such as this nationwide, but it needed an institutional partner to provide the programmatic vision and links for the more effective use of the information about local government and decision making that the project collected.

Theme: Community activism

Ukraine information, institution, partners

Project: Women in Democratic Transition in Egypt
Evaluation Date: July 2015
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Using credible data and statistics, the project made a tangible and significant contribution to advancing women’s democratic rights. The grantee was a leading force in lobbying for constitutional measures to ensure women’s representation – unsuccessful in the case of parliament but successful in the case of local councils. It also took the lead in successfully advocating for the institution of female quotas on political lists for the 2015 parliamentary elections and the adoption of a political parties’ Code of Ethics (formulated by the project, based on a situation analysis and consultations with 20-30 political parties) regarding women’s democratic participation.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Egypt advocacy, credibility, statistics

Project: Youth Partnership for Improved Budgetary Governance in Lebanese Municipalities: Musharaka
Evaluation Date: October 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Working in the Municipality offices gave young participants an insider’s view of how the institution operates and a better understanding of its role. Similarly, Municipality officials said that their interaction with the Youth Shadow Councils had allowed them to see and appreciate the young people’s contribution, gradually leading them to view the young people as colleagues instead of interlopers.

Theme: Youth engagement

Lebanon institutions, local government

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

Lesson Learned:

The community organization members who served on the governance committees are still active in the indigenous communities and could serve as a continuing resource for community members. However, the committees themselves were not sustainable as most participants linked them to the project, rather than to a continuing community institution or system.

Theme: Community activism

Bangladesh institutions, structures, sustainability

Project: Promoting political participation of marginalized populations in Ecuador
Evaluation Date: October 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

If a project is managed remotely and implemented by an organisation that is not present in the country, there should be a capacity assessment to ensure that there is sufficient support provided to local partners both in terms of day to day monitoring and evaluation but also in terms of long term institution building.

Theme: Youth engagement

Ecuador management

Project: Empowering Civil Society Groups to Promote Social Accountability
Evaluation Date: June 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project worked constructively to draw attention to deficiencies in governance in Papua, and contributed to building a broader awareness of social accountability and what it entails. There was potential for the project to have a catalytic effect. As the grantee represented a highly-credible, mainstream Indonesian policy research institution, it would have been in a position to facilitate dialogue between government and civil society in Papua in a way that locally-based organizations might find more difficult. Had it managed to secure additional funding, lessons learned from the project could have represented a beginning rather than an end.

Theme: Community activism

Indonesia funding, sustainability

Project: Monitoring and Influencing the Central Budget by Civic Empowerment
Evaluation Date: February 2012
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Partnership was a real strength of the project: the Permanent Monitoring Group, where organizational members had worked with each other for some time, over a series of projects, was an excellent institution. The partnerships that the grantee established with local beneficiaries were also strong, and are likely to continue beyond the project.

Theme: Interaction with government

Turkey partnership, sustainability

Project: Strengthening Human Rights Protection Through Legal Education in Haiti
Evaluation Date: June 2018
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project did not have particularly innovative features and the initial project document submitted to UNDEF was weak in terms of indicators for measuring results. The targets were difficult to measure and the baseline was not calculated with fact-based figures, so efficiency was difficult to assess. The final approved document was the result of a considerable number of exchanges between UNDEF and the grantee which, sadly, appear to have not been sufficiently owned by the implementing institution.

Theme: Rule of law

Haiti capacity building, mentoring

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

Lesson Learned:

It is easy for nongovernmental organisations who are focusing their efforts
on promoting the greater accountability of government and the private
sector to forget that they in turn have an accountability to the
beneficiaries they serve, particularly where projects are funded by public
money. It is important to ensure the institution of effective complaints
mechanisms to enable beneficiary feedback.

Theme: Rule of law

India Accountability, beneficiaries

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