Establish clear division of labour and responsibilities between external Civil Society Organisations and based Implementing Partner

Project: Civil Society Monitoring of Governorate Councils in Iraq
Evaluation Date: August 2014
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The monitoring training had some weaknesses. The training attempted to cover a great deal of detail, much of it technical, in two, short intensive workshops. More time should have been given to allow the trainees to fully absorb new knowledge. Another weakness was the decision to provide monitoring training to only one individual per partner organization. Such an approach limited the opportunity to build CSO institutional capacity, and is likely to limit the depth of commitment of the participating organizations to the monitoring process in Iraq.

Theme: Interaction with government
Project: Nigeria Procurement Monitoring Project
Evaluation Date: April 2012
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The project workshop covered a great deal of complex and challenging material on an intensive basis over two long days. Although materials were circulated in advance, according to participants, only those with a good prior knowledge of procurement and some understanding of the legal provisions of the Public Procurement Act would have been able to benefit fully from the workshop. Given the centrality of this activity to the project, it would have been sensible to eliminate at least one other activity in order to fully support this one.

Theme: Interaction with government
Project: Strengthening transitional justice processes in Burundi
Evaluation Date: August 2010
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The project strategy did not fully consider how the grantee’s intervention would be received by government stakeholders. The grantee had built a positive record with civil society and the UN mission based on earlier training and technical advice and on the grantee’s international credibility. However they did not have a similar record with the government officials that were to lead the National Consultation Steering Committee and its technical advisory team. The credibility that the grantee built with the police through the implementation of the census project did not translate into an open door at the National Consultation Steering Committee.

Theme: Rule of law