Lesson Browser | Lessons Learned

Project: Emerging Leaders of the Arab Region
Evaluation Date: November 2017
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Networking to gather participants in training sessions should be conducted after there has been clear scoping of potential existing resources. The reliance solely on social media and personal connections limits diversity, and the lack of involvement of the grantee also limits the credibility and legitimacy of trainers to attract participants.

Theme: Youth engagement

Arab States, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates networking, social media, youth

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 ensured that a critical mass of women in the 10 communities across the country have acquired skills necessary to use social media purposefully to exchange information. The WhatsApp group created by the project continued to be active and used by the participants.

Theme: Media

Zimbabwe social media, sustainability

Project: Civil society advocating for quality education & healthcare in Mexico
Evaluation Date: February 2012
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project did not take advantage of the internet or social media to develop a common platform for the project to connect the state networks and draw in supporters from other locations and sectors on project issues and action. Although many of the beneficiaries may not have had access to the internet, most of the participating CSOs did, as did local officials, and leveraging information technology would have been a programmatic and cost-effective way to deepen participation.

Theme: Tools for knowledge

Mexico social media

Project: Enlarging the Social Base for Democracy and the Rule of Law in Egypt
Evaluation Date: April 2013
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

While social media can leverage democratization efforts, they cannot substitute for the legal and constitutional work, watchdog monitoring, and other nuts-and-bolts activities that make civil society a catalyst for democracy.

Theme: Rule of law

Egypt catalyst, democracy, social media

Project: Bytes Without Borders in Morocco
Evaluation Date: September 2018
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The capacity-building process is a marathon, not a sprint. It must involve regular coaching of trainees and performance monitoring in order to ensure sustainability. In order for capacity-building activities to achieve their intended results, one must ensure the activities are inclusive to all, including the vulnerable and illiterate. The use of audio-visual approaches in social media has proved to reach a larger number of people than the ‘class-format’ approach.

Theme: Media

Morocco capacity building, inclusion, social media, sustainability

Project: Youth local councils for civic engagement and social change in Palestine
Evaluation Date: December 2013
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The Youth Local Councils (YLC) in Palestine became very active on social networks; all opened a Facebook page and a common page was created to exchange best practices. The bringing-together of the YLCs in networking meetings and training and promoting a mentoring system to support new participants and retain the experience and expertise of young participants reaching the age limit of 22 were mentioned by a number of beneficiaries.

Theme: Youth engagement

Palestine network, social media

Project: The National Campaign towards Muslim Family Law Reform (MFL Campaign) in Malaysia
Evaluation Date: March 2016
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Grantee has a unique niche but other NGOs working for gender equality and legislative reform can also help deliver the message through their different channels and constituencies. Expand reach by training partner NGOs in every state to deliver project workshops. Harness the power of celebrities for public service announcements. Continue to leverage social media and build an online site for persons to find information on the Muslim Family Law, join the network, register complaints, lobby their policy maker and endorse legal reform.

Theme: Rule of law

Malaysia collaboration, social media

Project: Enlarging the Social Base for Democracy and the Rule of Law in Egypt
Evaluation Date: April 2013
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Despite the emphasis on social media and development of trainees’ ICT skills, there was no strong evidence that project beneficiaries stayed in contact or used the ICT skills required to engage in robust advocacy campaigns as per the project’s goals. More attention should have been paid to promoting post-workshop networks.

Theme: Rule of law

Egypt network, social media, sustainability

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

Lesson Learned:

The grantee relied heavily on personal contacts to recruit participants, including journalists from the Charter of Ethical Journalists which the grantee had created under an earlier EU project. This was efficient since these people were known to be independent and helped maintain the perception of impartiality. At the same time, this limited the reach of the project to people who were already civically active. There were no links apparent between this effort and other more substantial efforts for citizen journalism, election reporting or observation. The reach of the project could have been extended through better use of social networks beyond the staff’s Facebook pages, and the use of participating media organizations to promote citizen reporting, the website and project purpose.

Theme: Media

Georgia network, scope, social media

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

Lesson Learned:

Without losing sight of the importance of Civil and Political Rights, a focus on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights can be more impactful in certain restricting contexts, and pave the way (e.g., with “transitional” authorities) for the advocacy of a wider spectrum of human rights when circumstances allow.

Theme: Media

Mali advocate, change, culture, economy, empowerment, impact, media, project design, rights, social, transition