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Lessons

LESSON

Lesson Learned: Expanding and Fortifying Local Democracy through the People’s Council in the Philippines

The training activities attempted to cover complex topics in very brief training sessions. This limited the prospects for building the practical knowledge of trainees in local governance and public participation issues.
Project Partner
Naga city people's council
Project Description
The project had the overall development goal of facilitating the recognition and replication of the Peoples Council in the country as a democratization mechanism in local governance. The immediate project objective was to establish, expand and institutionalize the Peoples Council in 21 barangays in the city and six municipalities in the Metro Naga area. In Naga City, the People’s Council proved itself as an effective mechanism for public participation, particularly for representatives of poor and other vulnerable groups. The project’s initiative to replicate the success of the Naga City People’s council was a relevant contribution to the broader aim of enhancing local democracy in the Philippines. The project had mixed success in achieving its targets and encountered some major disappointments in reaching the goal of institutionalizing the People’s Council in the 27 target local government areas. However, the People’s Councils were officially recognized in the case of four of the six municipal people’s councils, but only in five of the 21 barangay people’s councils. Despite this, grantee cannot be faulted on its effort to achieve the project goals, and, given the scope of what the project sought to achieve, a great deal was accomplished.
Evaluation Date
January 2016
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Expanding and Fortifying Local Democracy through the People’s Council in the Philippines

The objective of the small grants disbursed by the projects was to build local ownership of the People’s Councils. The desired result was accomplished in only a very few cases. Insufficient attention was given to preparing and enforcing guidelines on the grants and how they were to be used and reported on.
Project Partner
Naga city people's council
Project Description
The project had the overall development goal of facilitating the recognition and replication of the Peoples Council in the country as a democratization mechanism in local governance. The immediate project objective was to establish, expand and institutionalize the Peoples Council in 21 barangays in the city and six municipalities in the Metro Naga area. In Naga City, the People’s Council proved itself as an effective mechanism for public participation, particularly for representatives of poor and other vulnerable groups. The project’s initiative to replicate the success of the Naga City People’s council was a relevant contribution to the broader aim of enhancing local democracy in the Philippines. The project had mixed success in achieving its targets and encountered some major disappointments in reaching the goal of institutionalizing the People’s Council in the 27 target local government areas. However, the People’s Councils were officially recognized in the case of four of the six municipal people’s councils, but only in five of the 21 barangay people’s councils. Despite this, grantee cannot be faulted on its effort to achieve the project goals, and, given the scope of what the project sought to achieve, a great deal was accomplished.
Evaluation Date
January 2016
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Expanding and Fortifying Local Democracy through the People’s Council in the Philippines

The main challenge for the grantee in managing the project was the fact that the both the scope of the programme and the number of partners were too large. This resulted in a project that was overextended and staff who were overstretched. Not surprisingly, the gap between project needs and human resource capabilities did result in a few deficiencies in performance, including a lack of attention to documentation of activities and a weakness in some aspects of training planning and delivery.
Project Partner
Naga city people's council
Project Description
The project had the overall development goal of facilitating the recognition and replication of the Peoples Council in the country as a democratization mechanism in local governance. The immediate project objective was to establish, expand and institutionalize the Peoples Council in 21 barangays in the city and six municipalities in the Metro Naga area. In Naga City, the People’s Council proved itself as an effective mechanism for public participation, particularly for representatives of poor and other vulnerable groups. The project’s initiative to replicate the success of the Naga City People’s council was a relevant contribution to the broader aim of enhancing local democracy in the Philippines. The project had mixed success in achieving its targets and encountered some major disappointments in reaching the goal of institutionalizing the People’s Council in the 27 target local government areas. However, the People’s Councils were officially recognized in the case of four of the six municipal people’s councils, but only in five of the 21 barangay people’s councils. Despite this, grantee cannot be faulted on its effort to achieve the project goals, and, given the scope of what the project sought to achieve, a great deal was accomplished.
Evaluation Date
January 2016
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Support for Youth Involvement in Electoral Processes in Gabon

The fact that the grantee’s approach and methodology included the conduct of a baseline survey, annual follow-up surveys, and the formulation of target indicators is highly commendable. However there could have been a more rigorous approach to data analysis. The grantee has collected very basic data to monitor effectiveness and impact, and failed to provide UNDEF in its reporting with a comparative analysis.

Project Partner
Réseau des Organisations Libres de la société civile pour la Bonne Gouvernance au Gabon
Project Description
The project aimed to address needs of the Gabonese youth to participate in electoral processes. The project had three components: social mobilization – including motivating young people to participate and engage in politics; strengthening the leadership of youth – including integrating young people in the spheres of influence within their local area; and advocacy which aimed to stablish local forums for young leaders in democracy. The project encountered some challenges including education strikes, and the refusal of some educational leaders to let young people participate. Despite the difficulties encountered, the grantee's efforts still resulted in some remarkable results. The project was particularly successful in encouraging school and university students to speak their mind. The evaluators were also impressed by the variety of communication products, such as educational materials and publications, both in digital version in hard copy, as well as by the quality of professionally produced advertising spots and by the discussions broadcasted on television.
Evaluation Date
January 2016
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Empowered Civil Society Addressing the Democratic Needs of Rural Women in Myanmar

It was hoped that engagement with local authorities on the part of newly capacitated groups would lead to policy advocacy. This was overly ambitious, and assumed that political reforms in Myanmar would move sufficiently towards autonomy for local authorities. The advocacy engaged in during the project concerned very specific administrative and livelihood issues, such as calls for household registration and national identity documents, road building and land allocation.
Project Partner
DanChurchAid
Project Description
The project's objective was to strengthen institutional capacity of three independent CSOs working with rural women’s groups so that they could establish associations of self-help groups and promote inclusive participatory dialogue with authorities. Working from a UNDP model, the project focused on three aspects: transparency and accountability; rights awareness and advocacy; and linkages with other community-level groups. The project was exemplary in its effectiveness, both in terms of the clarity of outcomes to be achieved (and activities to achieve them) and of quantitative and qualitative standards of achievement. It raised awareness of voters’ and women’s rights, and initiated engagement between local officials and rural communities. This is also an example of a project where sustainability was included in the design. The capacity building activities included supporting partner organizations achieve a degree of financial independence, by providing technical advice on project design and management, and by helping them develop internal governance and accountability systems.
Evaluation Date
January 2016
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Empowered Civil Society Addressing the Democratic Needs of Rural Women in Myanmar

The capacity building activities explicitly included support towards achieving a degree of financial independence, by providing technical advice on project design and management, developing internal governance and accountability systems. In turn, the injection of project funds, together with sustained technical advice and mentoring have placed many of the target groups on course to achieve at least a degree of self-sufficiency.
Project Partner
DanChurchAid
Project Description
The project's objective was to strengthen institutional capacity of three independent CSOs working with rural women’s groups so that they could establish associations of self-help groups and promote inclusive participatory dialogue with authorities. Working from a UNDP model, the project focused on three aspects: transparency and accountability; rights awareness and advocacy; and linkages with other community-level groups. The project was exemplary in its effectiveness, both in terms of the clarity of outcomes to be achieved (and activities to achieve them) and of quantitative and qualitative standards of achievement. It raised awareness of voters’ and women’s rights, and initiated engagement between local officials and rural communities. This is also an example of a project where sustainability was included in the design. The capacity building activities included supporting partner organizations achieve a degree of financial independence, by providing technical advice on project design and management, and by helping them develop internal governance and accountability systems.
Evaluation Date
January 2016
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Empowered Civil Society Addressing the Democratic Needs of Rural Women in Myanmar

The low education level of many villagers made it difficult to achieve required levels of capacity building. Partners noted that some participants were functionally illiterate. According to one, only about a third of women participants could read and write fluently. This required training methodologies based on personal interaction rather than written materials and outputs, and limited the number of people who could assume leadership positions.

Project Partner
DanChurchAid
Project Description
The project's objective was to strengthen institutional capacity of three independent CSOs working with rural women’s groups so that they could establish associations of self-help groups and promote inclusive participatory dialogue with authorities. Working from a UNDP model, the project focused on three aspects: transparency and accountability; rights awareness and advocacy; and linkages with other community-level groups. The project was exemplary in its effectiveness, both in terms of the clarity of outcomes to be achieved (and activities to achieve them) and of quantitative and qualitative standards of achievement. It raised awareness of voters’ and women’s rights, and initiated engagement between local officials and rural communities. This is also an example of a project where sustainability was included in the design. The capacity building activities included supporting partner organizations achieve a degree of financial independence, by providing technical advice on project design and management, and by helping them develop internal governance and accountability systems.
Evaluation Date
January 2016
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Empowered Civil Society Addressing the Democratic Needs of Rural Women in Myanmar

The project correctly emphasized the need to build the capacity of women to take part in decision-making processes, but it could also have included an element addressing men, to encourage them to support women’s involvement in such processes. In the absence of engagement specifically directed at men, the project ran the risk of appearing to be solely a support mechanism for women.
Project Partner
DanChurchAid
Project Description
The project's objective was to strengthen institutional capacity of three independent CSOs working with rural women’s groups so that they could establish associations of self-help groups and promote inclusive participatory dialogue with authorities. Working from a UNDP model, the project focused on three aspects: transparency and accountability; rights awareness and advocacy; and linkages with other community-level groups. The project was exemplary in its effectiveness, both in terms of the clarity of outcomes to be achieved (and activities to achieve them) and of quantitative and qualitative standards of achievement. It raised awareness of voters’ and women’s rights, and initiated engagement between local officials and rural communities. This is also an example of a project where sustainability was included in the design. The capacity building activities included supporting partner organizations achieve a degree of financial independence, by providing technical advice on project design and management, and by helping them develop internal governance and accountability systems.
Evaluation Date
January 2016
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Empowered Civil Society Addressing the Democratic Needs of Rural Women in Myanmar

Raising awareness among men about women’s rights is necessary to contribute to reducing some of the challenges faced by women who seek leadership roles in their community. The project contributed to changing men’s attitudes towards women’s role in the community: there was greater acceptance among men of women exercising a leadership role at local level, even though some men continued to note that this trend faces hostility.
Project Partner
DanChurchAid
Project Description
The project's objective was to strengthen institutional capacity of three independent CSOs working with rural women’s groups so that they could establish associations of self-help groups and promote inclusive participatory dialogue with authorities. Working from a UNDP model, the project focused on three aspects: transparency and accountability; rights awareness and advocacy; and linkages with other community-level groups. The project was exemplary in its effectiveness, both in terms of the clarity of outcomes to be achieved (and activities to achieve them) and of quantitative and qualitative standards of achievement. It raised awareness of voters’ and women’s rights, and initiated engagement between local officials and rural communities. This is also an example of a project where sustainability was included in the design. The capacity building activities included supporting partner organizations achieve a degree of financial independence, by providing technical advice on project design and management, and by helping them develop internal governance and accountability systems.
Evaluation Date
January 2016
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Support for Youth Involvement in Electoral Processes in Gabon

The resources needed to accomplish each sub-activity were not defined in advance in a realistic way. In some cases this impacted on other budgeted activities which could not be carried out. The actual costs of the social mobilization activities were very high given the poor results.
Project Partner
Réseau des Organisations Libres de la société civile pour la Bonne Gouvernance au Gabon
Project Description
The project aimed to address needs of the Gabonese youth to participate in electoral processes. The project had three components: social mobilization – including motivating young people to participate and engage in politics; strengthening the leadership of youth – including integrating young people in the spheres of influence within their local area; and advocacy which aimed to stablish local forums for young leaders in democracy. The project encountered some challenges including education strikes, and the refusal of some educational leaders to let young people participate. Despite the difficulties encountered, the grantee's efforts still resulted in some remarkable results. The project was particularly successful in encouraging school and university students to speak their mind. The evaluators were also impressed by the variety of communication products, such as educational materials and publications, both in digital version in hard copy, as well as by the quality of professionally produced advertising spots and by the discussions broadcasted on television.
Evaluation Date
January 2016
Country