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Project: Democracy Academy for Young Adults in El Salvador
Evaluation Date: March 2023
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Project design should focus on the detailed definitions of Global Objective, Specific Objectives, Actions, Indicators (at outcome and output level), Baseline and Targets. As it stands, the project definition lacked a clear project design matrix; overall and specific objectives and outputs were missing; outcome indicators were missing (outcome indicators were in fact output indicators), and outputs were not defined. Lastly, no sources of information/means of verification were formulated.

Theme: Youth engagement, Interaction with government

El Salvador baseline, indicator, measure, monitoring, objectives, outcome, outputs, project design, results, results framework

Project: Strengthening Democracy through Freedom of Expression and Peace Agenda for Journalists in Colombia (Colombia)
Evaluation Date: August 2017
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

In the event of exceptional external circumstances – such as a peace agreement being delayed – production and/or dissemination of key outputs should be re-examined to ensure that timing is appropriate.

Theme: Media

Colombia adapt, outputs

Project: Enabling Women to Participate in Sustainable Water Management in Armenia
Evaluation Date: November 2021
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Without the team’s emergency management skills that have been developed throughout the decades of work at the national and regional levels as epidemiologists, toxicologists, and water and hygiene experts, as well as the donor’s flexibility, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Nagorno Karabakh the project would not have reached its objective and improved the daily lives of the target population. While the staff’s professional and results-oriented performance and UNDEF’s flexible approach allowed to not only deliver the intended outputs but also extend the project’s geographical and demographical scopes, it is generally important to consider various internal and external risk factors as part of a risk mitigation and emergency response strategy to ensure the full achievement of the project’s objective.

Theme: Women's empowerment, Interaction with government

Armenia COVID-19, donor, environment, expertise, national, objective, outputs, pandemic, project management, regional, results, risk, scope, skills, staff, target, war

Project: Strengthening Local NGOs in Areas Where Extractive Industries Operate
Evaluation Date: June 2013
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The specified outcomes were ambitious, given the outputs that were designed to achieve them. The project assumed that putting stakeholders together and sharing knowledge through local and national workshops, NGO training activities, and micro project experiences would be sufficient to alter perceptions and create stakeholder partnerships for joint corporate social responsibility policy design and practices in Indonesia.

Theme: Community activism

Indonesia CSR, outcomes, outputs

Project: Opening the Doors of Policy Making in Central Asia and South Caucasus
Evaluation Date: July 2012
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The policy research papers produced by fellows gave the training an “on the job” aspect and guaranteed that at least one significant output would be produced as a result of the training. All policy papers were translated so as to be available both in English and Russian and published on the internet and in a bilingual hard-copy volume that was assigned an ISBN number.

Theme: Community activism

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan outputs, research

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

Lesson Learned:

When project beneficiaries are marginalized not only by geography and ethnic origin but by mainstream politics and public attitudes, advocacy opens up a political space in which the aspirations and expectations of young people and their communities are more likely to be met. Survey results might have been of interest to the media generally – including international media – and media coverage might have contributed to putting some serious social issues on the political agenda

Theme: Youth engagement

Thailand advocacy, media, outputs

Project: Nigeria Procurement Monitoring Project
Evaluation Date: April 2012
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The preparation and publication of the Procurement Observation Handbook built on previous efforts. It is also being used elsewhere in West Africa, and has been provided to the World Bank IDF program and Open Society Initiative for West Africa on request for translation to French for use in French-speaking West African Countries. Feedback on the manual from those interviewed for the evaluation was extremely positive.

Theme: Interaction with government

Nigeria impact, materials, outputs

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

Lesson Learned:

The methodology for the Core Leader Meetings (CLM) changed due to circumstances. The first CLM consisted of participants from previous training sessions. It was originally thought that different audiences would participate in the following CLMs. However the poor outcome of the first CLM and the need to prepare consistent and coherent papers by the end of the project led to a change of approach. The three remaining CLMs were carried out with a mix of original participants, and more experienced writers/drafters.

Theme: Community activism

Myanmar adapt, outputs

Project: Promoting the African Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Governance
Evaluation Date: June 2012
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project focused on process strengthening rather than outcome achievement. This is notable given many applicants tend to promise to over-deliver.

Theme: Community activism

Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa outputs, process

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

Lesson Learned:

The initiative to train young women activists to undertake research on the socio-economic conditions of Roma women in local communities was effective both in terms of the training and the value and relevance of the data collected. Working with two partners, the grantee was responsible for the development of the Shadow CEDAW Report in 2005, submitted to the UN CEDAW Committee. The document is regarded as highly credible and is widely used by both domestic and international organizations. It is also an effective advocacy tool. The new data will be used in compilation of the next Shadow CEDAW Report.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) data, outputs, sustainability

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