Lesson Browser | Lessons Learned

Home
Lesson Browser
About
Feedback
UNDEF

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

Lesson Learned:

The adaptation strategy to the COVID-19 pandemic was key for the project success. In this regard, a strategy aimed at adapting methods to changing, external circumstances (natural, pandemic and/or geopolitical), going beyond the risks inherent to the project’s internal design, and defining the actions and measures to be to be taken should such potential changes materialize should also continue to be considered systematically in all UNDEF projects.

Theme: Electoral Processes, Youth engagement, Interaction with government

El Salvador adaptation, adjust, approach, challenge, complex, mitigate, mitigation, monitoring, plan, planning, project design, project management, response, strategy, unexpected

Project: Mainstreaming the Sustainable Development Goals in the Arab Civil Society Agenda
Evaluation Date: December 2018
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Monitoring the progress of SDG implementation in the Arab region (and other regions where there is a lack of reliable/accurate data and access to information) would be more effective through the use of qualitative rather than quantitiative information. Since national statistics are highly unreliable and access to information is limited, work on SDGs has been more successful when the focus is on qualitative policy reform or when the work is highly localized to areas where statistics are reliable and information is accessible.

Theme: Interaction with government

Arab States Access, project design, project strategy, statistics

Project: Democratic Dialogue through Media in Sierra Leone
Evaluation Date: March 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Flaws in design and strategy hampered the relevance of the project: lack of explicit engagement with editors/publishers and with relevant high-level institutional actors. These weaknesses were already visible in the project document: the “Situation Analysis” section appropriately identified the needs summarised above, as well as the views of civil society about the media, but did not provide an analysis of the causes of the identified weaknesses. The project document lacked an explicit stakeholder analysis that would have identified the project’s planned level of engagement with each stakeholder, the message directed at them and the engagement techniques to be used. In other words, the project document was built on the assumption that improving journalistic skills in human rights reporting, together with activities such as NGO and community training, would lead to enhanced democratic debate. But there was no explicit description of how these results would derive from the planned activities.

Theme: Media

Sierra Leone planning, project design, stakeholder, strategy

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

Lesson Learned:

The project was conceived as a comprehensive capacity development project with an approach involving participants into the development of replication strategies and the development of common actions and strategies in traditional and non-traditional communication spaces. However, during its implementation, the project has mainly been an academic endeavour, with a rather classic approach to capacity development methodologies and systems. In this project, as designed, the components of socialisation by the students as well as the engagement with public authorities should have remained a priority, and practical, on-the-job training approaches should have been privileged as originally foreseen. If these practical aspects are not considered a priority, a more standardized approach to capacity development should be followed at the project design stage.

UDF-17-783-ELS

Theme: Youth engagement, Interaction with government

El Salvador academia, approach, capacity, effective, engagement, government, multiply, participation, practice, project design, strategy, training, youth

Project: Democratic Dialogue through Media in Sierra Leone
Evaluation Date: March 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

While the project component that worked with the journalists was sustainable, a more systematic engagement with the range of key stakeholders would have further enhanced sustainability. A project strategy section with a more explicit stakeholder analysis and a clearer justification of intermediary results would have identified government officials and elected representatives as target audiences needing to be addressed with specific techniques.

Theme: Media

Sierra Leone government relations, project strategy, stakeholder

Project: Promoting Gender-Sensitive Personal Status Laws in Lebanon
Evaluation Date: September 2022
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

There are important elements that influence the effectiveness of the implementation of an advocacy project other than the technical and financial capacity of the funded organisation. They include:
– The clarity of the organisation’s internal strategy and the consistency of its positioning regarding the project’s objective.
– The credibility of the organisation and its members among CSOs and drivers of change relevant to the intervention.
– The social capital of the organization, which enables it to mobilize key stakeholders and allies in the field.
– The capacity of the organisation to analyse the political context, manage risks, and adapt activities to the situation.

Theme: Women's empowerment, Rule of law

Lebanon adapt, advocacy, campaign, change, credibility, effectiveness, gender, objective, project objective, reform, results, risk, social capital, strategy, women

Project: Support for Elections in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria
Evaluation Date: August 2021
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Frequent and regular dialogue with key institutional partners ensures that activities, outputs and outcomes of the project are achieved. This can include pre-project, or start of project, collaborative planning sessions.

Theme: Electoral Processes

Nigeria approach, collaboration coordination, consultation, objectives, project design, relationship, results, stakeholder, strategy, success

Project: Democratic Dialogue through Media in Sierra Leone
Evaluation Date: March 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project strategy was two-pronged: on the one hand it enhanced the skills of journalists in researching and producing human rights stories – the “supply side” – and on the other hand, work was done with civil society organizations, journalism students and the broader public to raise awareness about the role that media can play in the promotion and protection of human rights – the “demand side”.

Theme: Media

Sierra Leone effective, media, post-conflict, project strategy

Project: Democratic Dialogue through Media in Sierra Leone
Evaluation Date: March 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Placing the media at the centre of a dialogue process with government, civil society and citizens was overambitious because the project was not designed to address the government and other state institutions. The project had the means and methodologies to address the media and NGOs but was relatively ill-prepared to address government officials and elected Members of the Sierra Leone Parliament.

Theme: Media

Sierra Leone ambition, engagement, government relations, project design, strategy

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

Lesson Learned:

The adoption of a coordination strategy between the project and other relevant actors (mostly from the Academic arena) would have been key in order to optimize resources and avoid duplication, while strengthening coordination. It is therefore important that UNDEF continues to require such strategies for all its projects.

Theme: Youth engagement, Interaction with government

El Salvador academia, approach, audience, Coordinate, effective, efficiency, efficient, partners, plan, planning, project design, resources, strategy, target

Subscribe to UNDEF Newsletter

Privacy Policy
Terms of Use