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Lessons

LESSON

Lesson Learned: Empowering Civil Society and Women to Engage in Policy Processes

Project follow-up should have included applied research. The goal of such research would be to analyse critically and comparatively the various experiences and advances encountered by the project. This exercise should identify, in the context of a fragile democracy, the modalities and the possible alternatives for optimising women’s empowerment and guaranteeing as much as possible the application of the legal framework, as well as following up and carrying out the recommended support or judicial measures.
Project Partner
Oxfam Great Britain
Project Description
The project’s objective was to promote a new socio-political culture in Honduras that recognizes equal participation of women in democratic governance at the local, regional and national levels. The project prioritized women in rural living in extreme poverty. The target women had very few educational opportunities and had rarely participated in politics and in decision-making. The goal of the project was: to raise awareness among citizens on the importance of full and equal women's participation in decision-making processes and equal access to justice; to strengthen the capacity of Civil Society Organisations to influence policy processes; and to institutionalize a Women’s Network at the local level. The project explicitly aimed to integrate the gender approach across all three outcomes.
Evaluation Date
August 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Civil Society Across Borders to Develop Democracy

The extent to which cross-border ties between Ukraine and Moldova were maintained could have been enhanced by a better sustainability strategy to build the knowledge and experience sharing that took place as part of the project. The sustainability relies on the website. However the website of the project could have been better designed to become a forum for keeping in touch and fostering twinning arrangements.
Project Partner
Euclid Network
Project Description
The project’s goal was to increase the capacity of NGOs in Moldova and Ukraine to network among themselves to enhance their advocacy skills and to improve the functioning of existing mechanisms for engagement between civil society and governments. The project resulted in a range of concrete initiatives, both at the local level and at the level of improved NGO representation in national policy making. Concrete impacts ranged from promoting the participation of blind voters to making amendments to the new law on associations in Ukraine and the human rights action plan in Moldova.
Evaluation Date
August 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Empowering Civil Society and Women to Engage in Policy Processes

The project led to greater representation of women in decision making processes in the geographic areas covered by the project. The Women's Network in the municipalities contributed to enhancing participation and also played a role in setting a municipal policy agenda and carrying out social audits. The project also succeeded in mobilizing community based organizations and women's networks in extremely challenging socio-economic conditions of exclusion and extreme.
Project Partner
Oxfam Great Britain
Project Description
The project’s objective was to promote a new socio-political culture in Honduras that recognizes equal participation of women in democratic governance at the local, regional and national levels. The project prioritized women in rural living in extreme poverty. The target women had very few educational opportunities and had rarely participated in politics and in decision-making. The goal of the project was: to raise awareness among citizens on the importance of full and equal women's participation in decision-making processes and equal access to justice; to strengthen the capacity of Civil Society Organisations to influence policy processes; and to institutionalize a Women’s Network at the local level. The project explicitly aimed to integrate the gender approach across all three outcomes.
Evaluation Date
August 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening the capacities of Magistrates

This initiative was the first of its kind by the grantee in Niger. Although the grantee did not put in place measures to ensure sustainability, it successfully raised awareness among the magistracy of the necessity to communicate with stakeholders external to the judiciary. The project prompted beneficiaries to create the association of investigating judges in Niger (AMPN), whose mission it will be to provide similar, additional training for magistrates.
Project Partner
Syndicat Autonome des Magistrats du Niger
Project Description
The project organized training for judges and activities to create discussion among magistrates on the adoption of the Ethical and Deontological Code in Niger. The project objectives were: to improve the capacity of investigating judges, prosecuting attorneys and state prosecutors to fight economic and financial crimes related to public finance; to increase the magistracy body’s knowledge of the Ethical and Deontological Code’s principles; and to establish a network of specialised judges to fight economic and financial crimes related to public finance. These thematic areas, such as the fight against economic and financial crimes and the raising of moral standards among the magistracy, were relevant for the country in terms of building judicial transparency. While the training and awareness-raising activities aimed to improve the functioning of justice and at improving ethics, the project’s design was not based on a thorough screening of available information about the main issues faced by judges, and also lacked a clear methodological approach.
Evaluation Date
July 2011
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening the capacities of Magistrates

The project’s effectiveness was also undermined by the lack of an effective decision-making arrangement between the grantee’s executive bureau and the office for project implementation. Because decisions could not be made on time, there were delays and changes to activities, and most of them were not completed. Lack of monitoring prevented any adjustment of the activities to achieve the expected results.
Project Partner
Syndicat Autonome des Magistrats du Niger
Project Description
The project organized training for judges and activities to create discussion among magistrates on the adoption of the Ethical and Deontological Code in Niger. The project objectives were: to improve the capacity of investigating judges, prosecuting attorneys and state prosecutors to fight economic and financial crimes related to public finance; to increase the magistracy body’s knowledge of the Ethical and Deontological Code’s principles; and to establish a network of specialised judges to fight economic and financial crimes related to public finance. These thematic areas, such as the fight against economic and financial crimes and the raising of moral standards among the magistracy, were relevant for the country in terms of building judicial transparency. While the training and awareness-raising activities aimed to improve the functioning of justice and at improving ethics, the project’s design was not based on a thorough screening of available information about the main issues faced by judges, and also lacked a clear methodological approach.
Evaluation Date
July 2011
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening the capacities of Magistrates

The project’s overall conceptual framework did not properly connect the goal of re-establishing citizens’ trust in justice in Niger with the actual activities carried out since the activities were focused only on the magistrates themselves and not the wider population or local or traditional leaders.
Project Partner
Syndicat Autonome des Magistrats du Niger
Project Description
The project organized training for judges and activities to create discussion among magistrates on the adoption of the Ethical and Deontological Code in Niger. The project objectives were: to improve the capacity of investigating judges, prosecuting attorneys and state prosecutors to fight economic and financial crimes related to public finance; to increase the magistracy body’s knowledge of the Ethical and Deontological Code’s principles; and to establish a network of specialised judges to fight economic and financial crimes related to public finance. These thematic areas, such as the fight against economic and financial crimes and the raising of moral standards among the magistracy, were relevant for the country in terms of building judicial transparency. While the training and awareness-raising activities aimed to improve the functioning of justice and at improving ethics, the project’s design was not based on a thorough screening of available information about the main issues faced by judges, and also lacked a clear methodological approach.
Evaluation Date
July 2011
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening the capacities of Magistrates

At institutional, operational and political levels, the project has had little impact. To some extent, this was because there no legal proposal was made to adapt and enforce the Ethical and Deontological Code. The project also failed to create a pool of experts on economic and financial crimes. The training does not appear to have made a positive difference in encouraging inclusion of efficiency indicators in the fight against economic and financial crimes or improving the overall capacities of judges.
Project Partner
Syndicat Autonome des Magistrats du Niger
Project Description
The project organized training for judges and activities to create discussion among magistrates on the adoption of the Ethical and Deontological Code in Niger. The project objectives were: to improve the capacity of investigating judges, prosecuting attorneys and state prosecutors to fight economic and financial crimes related to public finance; to increase the magistracy body’s knowledge of the Ethical and Deontological Code’s principles; and to establish a network of specialised judges to fight economic and financial crimes related to public finance. These thematic areas, such as the fight against economic and financial crimes and the raising of moral standards among the magistracy, were relevant for the country in terms of building judicial transparency. While the training and awareness-raising activities aimed to improve the functioning of justice and at improving ethics, the project’s design was not based on a thorough screening of available information about the main issues faced by judges, and also lacked a clear methodological approach.
Evaluation Date
July 2011
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening the capacities of Magistrates

The project was implemented without taking into consideration the full range of target beneficiaries. Contrary to the project’s plan, the National Trade Union of Judicial Agents, the National Bar Association and CSOs’ members who engage in similar activities were not involved in the project activities.
Project Partner
Syndicat Autonome des Magistrats du Niger
Project Description
The project organized training for judges and activities to create discussion among magistrates on the adoption of the Ethical and Deontological Code in Niger. The project objectives were: to improve the capacity of investigating judges, prosecuting attorneys and state prosecutors to fight economic and financial crimes related to public finance; to increase the magistracy body’s knowledge of the Ethical and Deontological Code’s principles; and to establish a network of specialised judges to fight economic and financial crimes related to public finance. These thematic areas, such as the fight against economic and financial crimes and the raising of moral standards among the magistracy, were relevant for the country in terms of building judicial transparency. While the training and awareness-raising activities aimed to improve the functioning of justice and at improving ethics, the project’s design was not based on a thorough screening of available information about the main issues faced by judges, and also lacked a clear methodological approach.
Evaluation Date
July 2011
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: The Bottom-up Governance and Leadership Programme for Women in the Pacific

The concrete outputs of the project – the e-platform and the training modules – may be usable in future but will need to be reviewed and revised in the light of the lessons learned. This requires taking into account a solid cause/effect analysis in the country to be targeted. The materials should also be reviewed by a gender specialist to be made culturally more relevant to the projected participants. In particular, gender-sensitive approaches do not mean automatically excluding men – good gender-sensitive programming will take account of the relative status and roles of men and women, girls and boys, and aim to achieve outcomes for women that allow them to progress within family, social and cultural contexts.
Project Partner
Foundation for Development Cooperation
Project Description
The project aimed to increase women’s political representation and increase their familiarity with governance issues and build their leadership skills. The project undertook training through an e-platform across four countries in the Pacific to achieve these goals. A subsequent “BGLP governance and leadership contest‟ was intended to promote bottom-up governance initiatives by women in their local communities. Those women who presented successful proposals went were given training in participatory project management training (PPM) and taken on a study tour before receiving funding to undertake their mini-projects. There was a mismatch in the project between the problem identified and the solutions proposed. Differences among the participating countries were not taken into account, and the method of training delivery was inappropriate.
Evaluation Date
April 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: The Bottom-up Governance and Leadership Programme for Women in the Pacific

The majority of the participants did not have easy, affordable access to Internet. The grantee realized this early in the implementation and disseminated training materials in hard copy. Despite this, assignments had either to be submitted by e-mail or put in the post – which was costly and difficult for those living in remote areas. As a result, many of the women did not complete the course.
Project Partner
Foundation for Development Cooperation
Project Description
The project aimed to increase women’s political representation and increase their familiarity with governance issues and build their leadership skills. The project undertook training through an e-platform across four countries in the Pacific to achieve these goals. A subsequent “BGLP governance and leadership contest‟ was intended to promote bottom-up governance initiatives by women in their local communities. Those women who presented successful proposals went were given training in participatory project management training (PPM) and taken on a study tour before receiving funding to undertake their mini-projects. There was a mismatch in the project between the problem identified and the solutions proposed. Differences among the participating countries were not taken into account, and the method of training delivery was inappropriate.
Evaluation Date
April 2011
Country