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Project: Citizen Journalists for Free and Fair Elections in Georgia
Evaluation Date: April 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project inputs were consistent with the delivery of the activities but not with the intent of developing citizen journalism. Embedding citizen journalism would have required more than a one-time training and payment for verified reports. In this regard, the project in Georgia lacked clarity of purpose and should have conceptualized a fully comprehensive development programme.

Theme: Media

Georgia journalism, training

Project: Grassroots Gender Accountability in Uganda
Evaluation Date: April 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Investigative journalism was intended to critically review shortcomings discovered by VBCs throughout the project’s target districts; TV and radio shows were meant to overcome the lack of interfaces between the local population and duty bearers and to serve as a strategy for increased accountability. Furthermore, NGOs are still inviting the grantee’s Kibaale field officer to radio shows to share the approach and achievements of the monitoring work with a wider audience. One particular radio station has even offered free airtime. There is hence relevant impact towards transparent, gender-responsive local service provision in the form of vivid online readership discussion and comments in relation to the project’s investigative journalism outputs.

Theme: Interaction with government

Uganda journalism, media, radio

Project: Media, Transparency and Accountability in Albania
Evaluation Date: September 2010
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project built on portions of an earlier media development project funded by USAID in Albania. As a result, most of the project framework was already in place, making implementation of the UNDEF-funded activities relatively straightforward. Most of the stations in its networks, and about half of its reporters, had already been trained under the previous USAID. project and the grantee was able to leverage this experience to its advantage. This helped to consolidate the position of investigatory journalism and the role of the media as a public watchdog. It also ensured that the Union functioned long enough to become an established part of the Albanian media environment.

Theme: Media

Albania journalism, leverage

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

Lesson Learned:

Many junior journalists often lack basic training in journalism – and not only awareness of rights, good governance. The grantee could have included more practical exercises in the training curriculum. Other forms of training, such as mentoring of junior journalists by more senior one, should also be considered.

UNDEF/ Somalia

Theme: Media

Somalia journalism, mentoring, pedagogy, skills

Project: Advocating for Community Radio in Zimbabwe
Evaluation Date: December 2020
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Community Radio Initiatives cannot survive in isolation and detached from broader national structure. It is critical that they foster memoranda of agreement with journalism training universities to sharpen their capacity and benefit from exchanges.

Theme: Media

Zimbabwe capacity, exchanges, journalism, national, radio, training, universities

Project: Promoting Human Rights through Providing Access to Information for Marginalized Women in Zimbabwe
Evaluation Date: November 2015
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project design lacked clarity of purpose and prioritization: it was not clear whether the grantee’s intention was to improve gender sensitivity in reporting, to give a bigger role to women in the media, or to encourage alternative, more gender-sensitive channels of information.

Theme: Media

Zimbabwe design, journalism, media

Project: Strengthening Media to Promote Inclusive Democracy in Mali
Evaluation Date: January 2023
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Sensitivity to local languages should be an essential part of project design and delivery in countries where such diversity exists (as was the case with this project in the use of Bambara for local radio broadcasting to maximise impact for non-French speaking listeners), though this may bring additional challenges in terms of measuring and evaluating the success of an intervention.

Theme: Media

Mali audience, beneficiaries, evaluate, grassroots, impact, implementation, inclusion, journalism, language, measure, media, outreach, project design, radio, reach, results, target

Project: Strengthening Media to Promote Inclusive Democracy in Mali
Evaluation Date: January 2023
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project applied a “three-pronged approach” (involving the participation of government institutions (state services), media, and CSOs) which proved to be highly effective in breaking down barriers, forming new networks, and improving access to human rights and essential services in a highly unstable environment.

Theme: Electoral Processes, Media

Mali Access, civil society, government, human rights, inclusive, journalism, media, network, project design, radio, relationships, services, stakeholder

Project: Strengthening Media to Promote Inclusive Democracy in Mali
Evaluation Date: January 2023
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

It is widely accepted that local community radios continue to be the medium most established and most used and trusted (for news and information) by people in Mali and other countries in the Central Sahel region – especially in remote areas where access to print media and television is more limited. However, the use and influence of social media is already significant and is expected to grow – and should be part of any context-setting, if not the subject of direct activity, in future projects supporting the media sector.

Theme: Media

Mali audience, democracy, digital, human rights, information, journalism, media, news, outreach, project design, radio, reach, scope

Project: Empowering Rural Communities in Bhutan through Mass Media
Evaluation Date: December 2022
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Both mentors and participants demonstrated that knowledge sharing works vertically and horizontally in- and outside the media organisations, mainly in four ways.
• One, most of the participants shared their knowledge and experience by training the co-workers;
• Two, they shared their knowledge with other media professionals through a variety of interactive as well as informal forums;
• Three, participants took opportunities to share their knowledge with students in media training institutes;
• Four, participants also shared their knowledge and experiences through a variety of media, most commonly by writing blogs, articles for professional journals.

Theme: Interaction with government, Media

Bhutan capacity, exchange, journalism, knowledge, media, mentor, network, project design, share, sharing, skills, sustainability, sustainable, training

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