Lessons

The project worked to help women district councillors acquire knowledge and to push the equality agenda with policy makers. The project’s advocacy activities led to improved gender-sensitive service delivery, as the local government budgeted for enhanced services for women and girls. In September 2016, two years after the end of the project, the Government announced that gender sensitive indicators will be used to ensure that all sectors adhere to gender equality in decision making and service delivery in the country.. Visibly empowered district and sub-county councillors expressed with pride their new influence on the gender-sensitive application of laws, policies and local budgets. Former women MP trainees proudly cooperated across party lines on priority issues of the Ugandan women in parliamentary committees. The approach of putting in place a monitoring system that was run by Village Budget Clubs (VBCs) and district councillors alike was appropriate. The project’s training methodology ensured the transfer of necessary skills such as gender-sensitive analysis, budgeting, caucusing, lobbying and advocacy.

The project’s objective was to promote free and fair elections in Georgia. The project aimed to reduce electoral fraud and increase trust in the election results by involving citizens in monitoring and reporting on elections in cooperation with professional journalists. The citizen journalists, who included media professionals, NGO members and political party representatives, received training and some technical resources, including a memory stick and the grantee’s contact information. They were then left alone to report to the grantee about problems they have witnessed. The intervention was directly relevant to the need to strengthen the integrity of the electoral process and ensure the dissemination of objective information. Georgia lacked a tradition of citizen engagement or peaceful transfer of power through the ballot box. A financial incentive was used by the grantee, paying USD 40 for each verified report.

The aim of the project was to promote the development of a more inclusive and equal society through promoting the free flow of information to the general public so that individuals, civil servants and civil society groups acting at the local level can hold their government to account, advocate for their rights and entitlements more effectively and influence policy-making processes. Specifically the project set out to foster local activism on freedom of information and to use access to information and transparency tools to strengthen participation within municipal governments across Brazil. The project strategy was built around four specific components: a strengthened and effective network of local activists working on access to information; increased public understanding of the importance of freedom of information and how to use the concept to encourage transparency and accountability; increased public demand for governments’ responsiveness to information requests at the local level; legislative and policy reform initiatives to promote transparency at the local level. The project was highly relevant since the Access to Public Information Act had recently come into effect. This Act required each municipality to draft regulations ensuring its proper enforcement. Yet surveys had indicated a lack of interest and knowledge in many municipalities about enforcing this law.

The project Raising Awareness about Women's Social, Political and Economic Rights in Afghanistan’s overall objective and outcomes were relevant to the development problem of women’s empowerment and facilitating a greater presence for women in public life. However, the evaluation concluded that the project was not implemented in full. While it appears to be the case that the radio and television roundtables planned for production and broadcast in the 15 target provinces did take place, other activities have been implemented in no more than six, and as few as three, of the provinces.

The objective of the project was to reduce gender disparity and gender-based violence in eight flood affected districts of Pakistan. Its intended outcomes were: increased awareness of gender issues; increased progress towards certain Millennium Development Goals (MDG 3: gender equality and empowerment of women; MDG 4: reduced child mortality; and, MDG 5: improved maternal health); and increased capacity of women to counter gender discrimination and to hold government accountable. The project objectives were directly relevant to the needs to strengthen gender rights and equity within Pakistan and especially within rural, marginalized flood prone areas The grantee took a rights based approach that integrated men as well as women into the project activities and structures. This increased project relevance for the communities and helped to ensure that the women were able to participate in these male dominated areas.

The objective of the project was to improve the social and political participation of youth. In order to do this the grantee created and strengthened youth organizations to develop local programmes for the democratic participation of youth in two municipalities. The project also aimed to strengthen existing Municipal Youth Commissions and Municipal Youth Networks, and to support the drafting and approval of their municipal youth policies. The project also intended to help the municipal youth organizations and regional youth networks to obtain authorization to promote youth participation in social initiatives. The project brought the issue of youth rights and political advocacy to the fore with a gender-equity and social-inclusion approach. This approach addressed the needs of the beneficiary population, empowered youth organizations and networks and improved the quality of young people’s social and political participation at the local level. The participatory drafting of public agendas and policies in the two municipalities of has furthered social and political action among youth.

The overall objective of the project was to empower Rwandan youth to play an active role in the democratic process and good governance of their country, and to understand and stand up for human rights to further nation-building processes. The project targeted 7,000 youth members of Never Again Rwanda (NAR) clubs and associations to make them “ambassadors of change”. The targeted youth were to “reach out” to other young people and the general public through “knowledge and skills sharing and advocacy initiatives and drives”. The key activities of the project were to: train youth on human rights and advocacy skills; hold debates and theatre shows on human rights and democracy; and support the trained youth to play a role in democratic processes and good governance. The project was generally well designed in that it took into account the sensitive socio-political context of Rwanda under its post-genocide government.

The objective of the project was to improve the social and political participation of youth. In order to do this the grantee created and strengthened youth organizations to develop local programmes for the democratic participation of youth in two municipalities. The project also aimed to strengthen existing Municipal Youth Commissions and Municipal Youth Networks, and to support the drafting and approval of their municipal youth policies. The project also intended to help the municipal youth organizations and regional youth networks to obtain authorization to promote youth participation in social initiatives. The project brought the issue of youth rights and political advocacy to the fore with a gender-equity and social-inclusion approach. This approach addressed the needs of the beneficiary population, empowered youth organizations and networks and improved the quality of young people’s social and political participation at the local level. The participatory drafting of public agendas and policies in the two municipalities of has furthered social and political action among youth.

The overall objective of the project was to empower Rwandan youth to play an active role in the democratic process and good governance of their country, and to understand and stand up for human rights to further nation-building processes. The project targeted 7,000 youth members of Never Again Rwanda (NAR) clubs and associations to make them “ambassadors of change”. The targeted youth were to “reach out” to other young people and the general public through “knowledge and skills sharing and advocacy initiatives and drives”. The key activities of the project were to: train youth on human rights and advocacy skills; hold debates and theatre shows on human rights and democracy; and support the trained youth to play a role in democratic processes and good governance. The project was generally well designed in that it took into account the sensitive socio-political context of Rwanda under its post-genocide government.

The objective of the project was to improve the social and political participation of youth. In order to do this the grantee created and strengthened youth organizations to develop local programmes for the democratic participation of youth in two municipalities. The project also aimed to strengthen existing Municipal Youth Commissions and Municipal Youth Networks, and to support the drafting and approval of their municipal youth policies. The project also intended to help the municipal youth organizations and regional youth networks to obtain authorization to promote youth participation in social initiatives. The project brought the issue of youth rights and political advocacy to the fore with a gender-equity and social-inclusion approach. This approach addressed the needs of the beneficiary population, empowered youth organizations and networks and improved the quality of young people’s social and political participation at the local level. The participatory drafting of public agendas and policies in the two municipalities of has furthered social and political action among youth.