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Project: Increasing Women’s Participation in Politics and Decision Making in Angola
Evaluation Date: March 2013
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The grantee needed to develop impact monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. The absence of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms (record of activities, risk analysis, monitoring in the provinces, outcome and impact assessment) affected the quality of the project’s outcomes and the extent to which they were achieved. No strategy to capitalize on the impact achieved had been executed. Opinions about the project’s results are very general. The members of the technical team and the beneficiaries interviewed all had difficulty recalling the activities in which they had participated in any detail.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Project: Development Pacts: An accountability tool in the hands of local communities in Kyrgyzstan
Evaluation Date: November 2013
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The service monitoring arrangements secured on-the-spot verification of the actual implementation of commitments made under the Development Pacts, including the compliant use of allocated funds. Most project beneficiaries expressed their high satisfaction with this monitoring process, and described it as inclusive, as it involved all members of the local community in the verification of completeness and quality of services.

Theme: Community activism

Kyrgyzstan inclusion, monitoring, results, services

Project: Civic Involvement for Transparency and Accountability in Kosovo
Evaluation Date: August 2015
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The methodology for monitoring was adopted consistently by all partners. The approach to monitoring was well structured in setting out what to do and how to do it. The grantee also provided templates for recording information and reporting. In the course of the project, in addition to drafting monthly reports, all CSO monitors produced three reports on municipal governance performance.

Theme: Rule of law

Kosovo monitoring, reporting

Project: Education and Training of Youth for Democracy in Burkina Faso
Evaluation Date: June 2012
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Although the project did focus on identifying and mobilizing young leaders across Burkina Faso and on implementing numerous trainings and sensitizing activities, it did not set up a monitoring and reporting strategy to assess progress achieved and to motivate and mobilize young leaders to relay the training contents to other youth. In hindsight, it appears that there would have been scope for the grantee to apply for a larger project budget, which could have helped to reinforce these monitoring and evaluation aspects.

Theme: Youth engagement

Burkina Faso monitoring

Project: Increasing Women’s Participation in Politics and Decision Making in Angola
Evaluation Date:
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project had difficulty executing other activities (baseline, monitoring, and impact assessment). An adequate strategy for outcome and impact monitoring was not designed. The grantee had many training initiatives but their focus seemed to be the execution of activities, with not enough attention paid to achieving strategically planned behavioral changes.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Angola monitoring

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

Lesson Learned:

A lack of qualitative monitoring tools and practices prevented a deeper assessment of the impact of the project. Project indicators should have been designed that were appropriately matched to the available tools for data collection and analysis, such as perception surveys, media monitoring and regular field inspections. These tools should have been budgeted for in the project and rigorously implemented.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Ghana data, indicators, monitoring

Project: Civil Sector Capacity Building Initiative in Kazakhstan
Evaluation Date: March 2016
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project’s monitoring and evaluation plan was not fully implemented, and no aggregated data was kept that could have demonstrated the project’s reach to the different regions of Kazakhstan, types of NGOs or participants. No performance data or tracking of the use of project outputs was collected either. Baseline surveys established at the very start of the project should have been repeated at the end. Short pre- and post-knowledge, attitudes and practices tests could have been administered for trainings. Data should have been aggregated as part of regular project management, monitoring and reporting processes as well as disaggregated by different variables to understand project reach and performance.

Theme: Community activism

Kazakhstan evaluation, monitoring, results, training

Project: Strengthening Youth, Minority and Women’s Organizations in Pakistan
Evaluation Date: June 2016
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Project management, reporting, monitoring and evaluation systems were inadequate for a development project that required tracking results, monitoring implementation and reporting on performance so as to make sure that the project was within budget and able to make payments promptly.

Theme: Youth engagement

Pakistan budget, evaluate, monitoring

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

Lesson Learned:

Impact was also hampered due to the lack of any coordination and collaboration mechanisms between the project activities taking place in Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, and Peru. Useful modes of collaboration could have included peer-to-peer monitoring, and exchange of experience between the four countries. If such a mechanism had been available, lessons learnt could have been distilled and analysed, thus enhancing the project’s impact.

Theme: Rule of law

Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru design, monitoring, regional

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 was managed on a somewhat ad-hoc basis. The grantee was working with reduced human resources and there were weaknesses in the management capacity of the team. Lack of SMART key-indicators and, of a formal monitoring system was another problem. The grantee board members and project manager also had scarce and irregular contacts with the implementing organizations, a situation that jeopardizes achievement of expected outcomes and sustainability of the grantee’s goal of building a network.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Fiji monitoring, network, sustainability

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