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Project: Student Civic Action: Engaging and Empowering Emerging Leaders in Universities in Jordan
Evaluation Date: March 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project made less of an impact on the development of the national youth strategy in Jordan. It did hold workshops on the new strategy and submitted a list of recommendations to national representatives but the participants felt that these were not considered. The National Youth Commission Chairman who was responsible for the strategy explained that the it would be the result of a two-year consultative process with youth, civil society and others done in coordination with UNDP

Theme: Youth engagement

Jordan advocacy, strategy

Project: Rights and freedoms for all in Togo
Evaluation Date: September 2010
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The needs, which the grantee sought to address, are still valid. Any follow-up project should be based on a long-term strategy and on a detailed analysis of the causes and consequences of the issues to be addressed. This analysis should take the form of a strategy document. The strategy paper should be developed using a participatory approach.

Theme: Community activism

Togo evaluation, strategy

Project: Youth as Agents of Democratic Change through Knowledge and Information Acquisition and Exchange in Laos
Evaluation Date: June 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

There is an over-reliance among project beneficiaries on external funding due to a lack of foresight by donor and implementing partner which results in an expectation that the costs for material needs of both the youth and teachers involved in environmental and other locally relevant action research will be paid for by others.
Therefore the grantee needs to involve the Ministry in developing a strategy providing an appropriate response to the participating schools’ basic material needs. Indicatively, such strategy could foresee shared financing by the Ministry (e.g. for pencils, pens, paper) and by the participating schools. The latter could consider selling the products generated during indigenous knowledge education sessions, thus creating revolving funds covering future needs.

Theme: Youth engagement

Lao People's Democratic Republic donor, funding, strategy

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: Strengthening Democratic Participation Among Indigenous Peoples of Oaxaca, Mexico
Evaluation Date: May 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Given the recent changes in the legal framework, the grantee should have prioritized its institutional strategy in order to capitalize on its success in strengthening capacities and empowering organizations. Identifying lessons should be the starting point for determining the challenges and strategies to implement going forward. This process should be accompanied by training to strengthen capacities in political advocacy, civic organization, and strategic analysis and litigation.

Theme: Community activism

Mexico adapt, strategy

Project: Democratizing governance for development: LDC civil society engagement
Evaluation Date: August 2012
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The evaluators believed that the grantee cannot simply continue advocacy actions but must put in place a strategy and work plan that reflect the needs of its members and that might include actions – like training and information processes – that donors would consider funding.

Theme: Community activism

Angola, Bhutan, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Tanzania, United Republic of, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia advocacy, funding, strategy

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

Lesson Learned:

The grantee presented the project as a partnership with three other NGOs and a private commercial radio station. The partners clearly brought added value to the proposal because they had long-standing experience working with women in the project areas. However, the partners had been insufficiently involved in the design of the project, and that they were presented with a set of activities to implement but had had little say in defining the project’s strategy.

Theme: Media

Zimbabwe design, partnership, strategy

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: Strengthening Democratic Participation Among Indigenous Peoples of Oaxaca, Mexico
Evaluation Date: May 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

This was an overly ambitious project (26 outputs planned) that failed to detail from the outset how the strategy would be implemented and the linkage between its many components. The narrative reports, moreover, were more descriptive than analytical, making it hard to accurately determine the project’s actual successes and achievements.

Theme: Community activism

Mexico ambition, focus, metrics, strategy

Project: Women in Politics in Mozambique
Evaluation Date: December 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project’s strategy was deficient in that it lacked a careful assessment of the local context, particularly with regard to women’s position in the political system and the lack of influence on major decisions of elected assemblies, as well as the limited capacities of the local implementing agencies.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Mozambique context, grassroots, patriarchy, strategy

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