Lessons

At the time the project began, the process of ratifying the African Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Governance, adopted by the African Union in January 2007, was moribund and there was no international project activity to invigorate it. The objective of the project was to strengthen civil society actors to build a constituency for the signing and ratification of the Charter. At the time the project was proposed, 15 ratifications were needed to bring the Charter into force, two countries (Ethiopia and Mauritania) had ratified the Charter and twenty-five had signed it, thus indicating their intention to ratify. Assessing the impact of the project was not easy. The intended direct beneficiaries were members of the African democracy community, whose network and ability to advocate for the Charter were strengthened. It is not possible, based on the timetable of ratifications and project activities, to convincingly demonstrate that the project greatly accelerated the coming into force of the Charter. Only three countries in which activities were implemented actually ratified the Charter. The project objective was not ratification itself but rather strengthening the advocacy community and facilitating ratification yet achieving ratification in target countries was an implicit objective of the project Ultimately, the sustainability of the project activity will also be a function of political will. The project was born of policy elites, implemented by policy elites, delivered results of direct relevance only to policy elites, yet promises substantial benefits to all the people of Africa, who will benefit from democracy.

The project aimed to mobilize youth to participate in the presidential election, by reinforcing citizens’ and voters’ knowledge. The beneficiaries were young leaders of women’s and men’s associations from across Burkina Faso, aged 18 – 25, who were involved in and committed to civil society specific activities for the youth. Activities focused on education, training and sensitization and, subsequently, on the development of a group of young leaders that can relay information and training knowledge to members of youth organisations and to the youth of their villages. The project was firmly rooted in the socio-political and cultural context of Burkina Faso. The lack of participation of young citizens in successive elections is intrinsically linked with the lack of education, in particular citizens’ and voters’ education. In the context of a still male-dominated country, the identification of beneficiaries comprising both young men and women was also appropriate to address the political participation of women. The project was also coherent in that it covered the pre-electoral, electoral and post electoral periods.

The project aimed to develop the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) into a functional institution able to protect and enforce human rights in line with Ethiopian laws and international norms and standards. As the EHRC was a relatively young institution, the grantee did not only focus on the development of human rights protection skills, but prioritized in the project’s initial phase also the development of operational management capacity. The grantee could have adjusted the initial project plan to avoid overlap with activities already implemented under the Democratic Institutions Programme managed by UNDP. The relevance of the project was further limited by the grantee’s weak risk assessment and mitigation. The original design failed to appreciate the risks surrounding the project, most importantly the international grantee took permission to set up an office in Addis for granted which it then did not obtain. The project also appeared unprepared to address the challenging political environment in which the EHRC operated.

Aiming to improve human rights protection of citizens in Kazakhstan, the project developed a human rights education course for introduction into the curricula of Kazakh institutions training future police officers. The project involved training staff involved in educating police recruits. Outputs aimed to ensure that graduates from this human rights training programme exercise their functions taking into account international human rights standards. However, the project's ultimate impact - the mandatory introduction of human rights training into the police academies' curriculum - remained unachieved.

The project aimed to enhance meaningful and equal participation of women in democratic governance by addressing the issues of gender-based exclusion, violence and discriminatory practices. The project established National Democracy Watch Groups (NDWGs) and Local Watch Groups (LWGs). These groups were intended to promote knowledge sharing. The project organized a series of local, national and regional meetings and included a component focusing on sensitizing the media to challenge gender stereotypes. The project succeeded in reaching a significant number of people across the three countries in through the watch groups as well as through radio debates and the stories developed by journalists trained as part of the project. The project exceeded its aims. Senior members of government (both national and local), democratic institutions such as electoral commissions and senior figures in the NGO and media worlds participated in the various meetings and/or groups, embedding the information provided and the debate into key areas of governance and civil society.

The overall objective of the project was to strengthen the participation of young people in Guatemala through training to create a base of young leaders from indigenous communities living in the Department of Alta Verapaz. The project strategy revolved around four priority components: developing the competencies of young leaders to improve their ability to assume responsibility in their communities; promoting knowledge about current legislation to foster rule of law, governance, and democracy; improving the quality of the dialogue between youth and local government to consolidate opportunities for participation; and encouraging youth to become more involved and influential in local decision-making bodies to help meet the basic needs of their communities. The approach was consistent with the grantee’s strategic goal of providing young people training in participatory civic practices, and enabling them to approach and develop responses to the problems and needs of youth in rural indigenous communities. In addition, the project’s cost-benefit ratio was positive: there was very high participation in terms of the number of benefiting communities and the number of young people completing the project’s training.

The overall objective of the project was to strengthen the participation of young people in Guatemala through training to create a base of young leaders from indigenous communities living in the Department of Alta Verapaz. The project strategy revolved around four priority components: developing the competencies of young leaders to improve their ability to assume responsibility in their communities; promoting knowledge about current legislation to foster rule of law, governance, and democracy; improving the quality of the dialogue between youth and local government to consolidate opportunities for participation; and encouraging youth to become more involved and influential in local decision-making bodies to help meet the basic needs of their communities. The approach was consistent with the grantee’s strategic goal of providing young people training in participatory civic practices, and enabling them to approach and develop responses to the problems and needs of youth in rural indigenous communities. In addition, the project’s cost-benefit ratio was positive: there was very high participation in terms of the number of benefiting communities and the number of young people completing the project’s training.

The project aimed to enhance meaningful and equal participation of women in democratic governance by addressing the issues of gender-based exclusion, violence and discriminatory practices. The project established National Democracy Watch Groups (NDWGs) and Local Watch Groups (LWGs). These groups were intended to promote knowledge sharing. The project organized a series of local, national and regional meetings and included a component focusing on sensitizing the media to challenge gender stereotypes. The project succeeded in reaching a significant number of people across the three countries in through the watch groups as well as through radio debates and the stories developed by journalists trained as part of the project. The project exceeded its aims. Senior members of government (both national and local), democratic institutions such as electoral commissions and senior figures in the NGO and media worlds participated in the various meetings and/or groups, embedding the information provided and the debate into key areas of governance and civil society.

The project aimed to develop the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) into a functional institution able to protect and enforce human rights in line with Ethiopian laws and international norms and standards. As the EHRC was a relatively young institution, the grantee did not only focus on the development of human rights protection skills, but prioritized in the project’s initial phase also the development of operational management capacity. The grantee could have adjusted the initial project plan to avoid overlap with activities already implemented under the Democratic Institutions Programme managed by UNDP. The relevance of the project was further limited by the grantee’s weak risk assessment and mitigation. The original design failed to appreciate the risks surrounding the project, most importantly the international grantee took permission to set up an office in Addis for granted which it then did not obtain. The project also appeared unprepared to address the challenging political environment in which the EHRC operated.

Aiming to improve human rights protection of citizens in Kazakhstan, the project developed a human rights education course for introduction into the curricula of Kazakh institutions training future police officers. The project involved training staff involved in educating police recruits. Outputs aimed to ensure that graduates from this human rights training programme exercise their functions taking into account international human rights standards. However, the project's ultimate impact - the mandatory introduction of human rights training into the police academies' curriculum - remained unachieved.