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Community activism

LESSON

Lesson Learned: Enhancing the Capacity for Inclusive Local Governance through Synergies and Sustainable Linkages between Communities and Government in North Afghanistan

The institutional impact of the project at district or provincial level in Afghanistan is difficult to judge, but unlikely to be significant. However, at community level, it may well be that the enhancement of organizational/managerial and advocacy skills will have made a difference to the energy and effectiveness of governance processes. The experience of participating together in the workshops may also have resulted in new possibilities for cooperation across stakeholder groups.
Project Partner
ACTED
Project Description
Enhancing the Capacity for Inclusive Local Governance in Northern Afghanistan was generally effective as a training project, but its overall design was not well-aligned with the overall objectives specified. The project made a difference for the trainees who benefited from the course provided, but did not contribute much to the institutional results linked to enhancing inclusive local governance. The grantee was a well-known international NGO. This was strength in some ways, but may have been a weakness in others. The project design had a “generic” quality to it, suggesting a lack of attention to the specific needs in the project sites that were addressed. Further, the lack of engagement with the project by ACTED Kabul at a management level, along with the absence of decentralization of decision-making to the local level, undermined project effectiveness.
Evaluation Date
April 2013
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Enhancing the Capacity for Inclusive Local Governance through Synergies and Sustainable Linkages between Communities and Government in North Afghanistan

A minority of as many as 25-30 per cent of the beneficiaries in the project in Afghanistan, were thought by project managers to be friends or relatives of those who nominated them, and had little interest in proceedings, being motivated by the travel expenses and food provided.
Project Partner
ACTED
Project Description
Enhancing the Capacity for Inclusive Local Governance in Northern Afghanistan was generally effective as a training project, but its overall design was not well-aligned with the overall objectives specified. The project made a difference for the trainees who benefited from the course provided, but did not contribute much to the institutional results linked to enhancing inclusive local governance. The grantee was a well-known international NGO. This was strength in some ways, but may have been a weakness in others. The project design had a “generic” quality to it, suggesting a lack of attention to the specific needs in the project sites that were addressed. Further, the lack of engagement with the project by ACTED Kabul at a management level, along with the absence of decentralization of decision-making to the local level, undermined project effectiveness.
Evaluation Date
April 2013
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Enhancing the Capacity for Inclusive Local Governance through Synergies and Sustainable Linkages between Communities and Government in North Afghanistan

The provincial/district forums in Afghanistan at the close of the project did not build effectively on the training, and, in any case, most trainees did not take part. The weakness of many training projects is the failure to reinforce through practice what is learned in courses and workshops, thus increasing the likelihood that what has been learned will be retained and applied.
Project Partner
ACTED
Project Description
Enhancing the Capacity for Inclusive Local Governance in Northern Afghanistan was generally effective as a training project, but its overall design was not well-aligned with the overall objectives specified. The project made a difference for the trainees who benefited from the course provided, but did not contribute much to the institutional results linked to enhancing inclusive local governance. The grantee was a well-known international NGO. This was strength in some ways, but may have been a weakness in others. The project design had a “generic” quality to it, suggesting a lack of attention to the specific needs in the project sites that were addressed. Further, the lack of engagement with the project by ACTED Kabul at a management level, along with the absence of decentralization of decision-making to the local level, undermined project effectiveness.
Evaluation Date
April 2013
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Coalition against Poverty: Oil Revenue under Public Oversight

Anecdotal evidence suggested that highlighting contradictions between constitutional or legal principles and the current operations of many local and regional institutions in Kazakhstan has raised civic awareness. While impact on corporate policy or behaviour was not measured it was widely believed that the challenging approach taken - if supported by bilateral donors - would not have been welcome in this isolated environment remote from Western influence.
Project Partner
Sange Research Center
Project Description
The project aimed to improve understanding of transparency and accountability in the governance of the extractive sector in Kazakhstan. The project emphasised understanding of the extractive sector’s impact on poverty, environmental vulnerability, labour conditions and rights, income and access to services. Activities focused on multiple stakeholders operating in five regions of Kazakhstan, with the goal of developing more transparent, accountable, and effective institutions that would expand citizen participation and promote more sustainable development. The project targeted areas where extractive industries are important economic actors and where civil society needs increased capacity or support to more effectively engage in governance. Project activities tackled the gap in access to usable outside information through research, analysis, and outreach. Collaborative learning tactics supported increased local engagement.
Evaluation Date
April 2013
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Enhancing the Capacity for Inclusive Local Governance through Synergies and Sustainable Linkages between Communities and Government in North Afghanistan

Other risks identified related to the attitude of local leaders, who might object to the focus of training on gender issues, and limited cooperation on the part of Afghan government at provincial and district level. Strong and effective preparatory work by the project and thorough advance consultations enabled the grantee to overcome these potential problems. It might be noted that early consultations included a meeting with other international non-governmental organizations and donor agencies active in the region, to allow the grantee to brief its peers on the project and its contents, and to avoid duplication. This also reduced the risk to project effectiveness and impact.
Project Partner
ACTED
Project Description
Enhancing the Capacity for Inclusive Local Governance in Northern Afghanistan was generally effective as a training project, but its overall design was not well-aligned with the overall objectives specified. The project made a difference for the trainees who benefited from the course provided, but did not contribute much to the institutional results linked to enhancing inclusive local governance. The grantee was a well-known international NGO. This was strength in some ways, but may have been a weakness in others. The project design had a “generic” quality to it, suggesting a lack of attention to the specific needs in the project sites that were addressed. Further, the lack of engagement with the project by ACTED Kabul at a management level, along with the absence of decentralization of decision-making to the local level, undermined project effectiveness.
Evaluation Date
April 2013
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Enhancing the Capacity for Inclusive Local Governance through Synergies and Sustainable Linkages between Communities and Government in North Afghanistan

Failure to translate learning materials form Dari to Pashto, and recruit a cadre of trainers capable of operating in the Pashto language in Afghanistan.
Project Partner
ACTED
Project Description
Enhancing the Capacity for Inclusive Local Governance in Northern Afghanistan was generally effective as a training project, but its overall design was not well-aligned with the overall objectives specified. The project made a difference for the trainees who benefited from the course provided, but did not contribute much to the institutional results linked to enhancing inclusive local governance. The grantee was a well-known international NGO. This was strength in some ways, but may have been a weakness in others. The project design had a “generic” quality to it, suggesting a lack of attention to the specific needs in the project sites that were addressed. Further, the lack of engagement with the project by ACTED Kabul at a management level, along with the absence of decentralization of decision-making to the local level, undermined project effectiveness.
Evaluation Date
April 2013
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Enhancing the Capacity for Inclusive Local Governance through Synergies and Sustainable Linkages between Communities and Government in North Afghanistan

While the project may have helped to encourage informal linkages across the three sets of stakeholders listed, there is little evidence of “enhanced mechanisms” or the ability of the project to “enable synergies”. Further, the activities designed to bring the stakeholders together after training was completed, the forums, seemed to add no significant value to the project, although, as suggested in the Final Report, they may have helped to build connections, and to bring new initiatives proposed at community and district levels to the attention of government officials in Afghanistan.
Project Partner
ACTED
Project Description
Enhancing the Capacity for Inclusive Local Governance in Northern Afghanistan was generally effective as a training project, but its overall design was not well-aligned with the overall objectives specified. The project made a difference for the trainees who benefited from the course provided, but did not contribute much to the institutional results linked to enhancing inclusive local governance. The grantee was a well-known international NGO. This was strength in some ways, but may have been a weakness in others. The project design had a “generic” quality to it, suggesting a lack of attention to the specific needs in the project sites that were addressed. Further, the lack of engagement with the project by ACTED Kabul at a management level, along with the absence of decentralization of decision-making to the local level, undermined project effectiveness.
Evaluation Date
April 2013
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Coalition against Poverty: Oil Revenue under Public Oversight

The project achieved its strongest results through producing significant research on regional business, government, and civil society. Anecdotal evidence suggests that project activities were effective in raising awareness among organized civil society in the regions, perhaps in part because of their great need for information and capacity.
Project Partner
Sange Research Center
Project Description
The project aimed to improve understanding of transparency and accountability in the governance of the extractive sector in Kazakhstan. The project emphasised understanding of the extractive sector’s impact on poverty, environmental vulnerability, labour conditions and rights, income and access to services. Activities focused on multiple stakeholders operating in five regions of Kazakhstan, with the goal of developing more transparent, accountable, and effective institutions that would expand citizen participation and promote more sustainable development. The project targeted areas where extractive industries are important economic actors and where civil society needs increased capacity or support to more effectively engage in governance. Project activities tackled the gap in access to usable outside information through research, analysis, and outreach. Collaborative learning tactics supported increased local engagement.
Evaluation Date
April 2013
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Civil Society Engagement for Democracy and Good Governance

Mayors and municipal counsellors in Côte d’Ivoire became more aware of the essential role of the Commune and the importance of dialogue with citizens. As examples from this project have shown, such dialogue required officials to be more transparent for example by regularly reporting to the population on their activities.
Project Partner
West Africa Network For Peacebuilding - Côte d'Ivoire
Project Description
The main focus of the project in Côte d’Ivoire was to put in place five departmental committees and one national committee for the monitoring of democracy and good governance. By strengthening the capacity of the members of these committees, the project promoted voluntary involvement in the management of communes and the exercise of civic control. By relying on the country’s policy of decentralization, the project helped local populations develop an interest in governing local affairs through learning about their roles as citizens. This was done through cooperation and engaging in dialogue with locally elected leaders. With this project the grantee integrated strategic priorities of the national decentralization policy into local governance. It also managed to take into account the context of the Ivorian crisis, which was characterized by a weakness of democracy and poor governance. It was therefore a kind of post-crisis pilot project on raising awareness and approaches to training in democratic education and good governance. The project could have applied a more nuanced approach in relation to the different groups that were part of the target population, particularly women and young people and provided more local support.
Evaluation Date
January 2013
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Civil Society Engagement for Democracy and Good Governance

The budget was not balanced. The coordination team undertook the minimum of work with the beneficiary groups and instead relied heavily on the involvement of volunteers. While recognizing the importance of volunteering in civil society, activism also requires the necessary resources to carry out actions. The lack of resources compromised the quality and sustainability of the results.
Project Partner
West Africa Network For Peacebuilding - Côte d'Ivoire
Project Description
The main focus of the project in Côte d’Ivoire was to put in place five departmental committees and one national committee for the monitoring of democracy and good governance. By strengthening the capacity of the members of these committees, the project promoted voluntary involvement in the management of communes and the exercise of civic control. By relying on the country’s policy of decentralization, the project helped local populations develop an interest in governing local affairs through learning about their roles as citizens. This was done through cooperation and engaging in dialogue with locally elected leaders. With this project the grantee integrated strategic priorities of the national decentralization policy into local governance. It also managed to take into account the context of the Ivorian crisis, which was characterized by a weakness of democracy and poor governance. It was therefore a kind of post-crisis pilot project on raising awareness and approaches to training in democratic education and good governance. The project could have applied a more nuanced approach in relation to the different groups that were part of the target population, particularly women and young people and provided more local support.
Evaluation Date
January 2013
Country