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Rule of law

LESSON

Lesson Learned: Action Program for the involvement of religious leaders and community opinion leaders in promoting democracy and sustaining peace in Togo

The results of the project in Togo were significantly less than planned for in the budget. It is clear that the project enabled the grantee to rent and furnish premises and to pay its staff for 24 months. In addition, the vast majority linked their participation in the existence of financial compensation. The project did therefore not meet the criterion of sustainability.
Project Partner
Association Internationale des Educateurs pour la Paix du Monde
Project Description
The project aimed to contribute to the establishment of a climate of peace in Togo in advance of the 2010 elections. The project strategy was to involve religious leaders in support of the promotion of democracy and sustainable peace in Togo. In addition the project aimed to strengthen institutional support to community organizations, giving priority to community and religious leaders, and among them especially women and youth. The project document identified the poor state of human rights and the recurrence of electoral violence. Factors that reduced the relevance of the project were the limited involvement of main religious faiths other than protestant, the reduced audience of these churches, and the failure to address human rights violations actually committed in Togo.
Evaluation Date
October 2011
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Human rights and democracy campaign

Feedback on the project’s impact demonstrated that some attitudes held by members of target groups changed as a result of the project and that access to legal texts and to the training has measurably reinforced the capacities of local officials and community leaders. This was particularly the case for women.
Project Partner
Association pour la Recherche et l'Education pour le Développement en
Project Description
Aiming to contribute to the emergence of responsible and aware citizens in four of Senegal’s regions, the project provided information on human rights and democracy in the country’s most common languages - Wolof and Pulaar. The project also aimed to ensure citizens access to legal and administrative texts through local document libraries; and trained local resource persons to be involved in the establishment of democracy and human rights monitoring centres. The project responded to clearly existing information gaps and its relevance was enhanced by the fact that it sought to build the capacity of local officials and leaders to implement decentralization policies and other decision-making processes. It is a matter of concern, however, that the project did not include any lobbying component targeting the government itself, to address the language issue at policy level, which was the principal root cause for lack of relevant legal and administrative documentation.
Evaluation Date
October 2011
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Human rights and democracy campaign

Some partnership agreements lacked detail. Cooperation on the development of the manuals and the implementation of the initial training session was undermined by misunderstandings. These stemmed in part from the failure of the agreement between the partners to set out clearly their tasks and responsibilities.
Project Partner
Association pour la Recherche et l'Education pour le Développement en
Project Description
Aiming to contribute to the emergence of responsible and aware citizens in four of Senegal’s regions, the project provided information on human rights and democracy in the country’s most common languages - Wolof and Pulaar. The project also aimed to ensure citizens access to legal and administrative texts through local document libraries; and trained local resource persons to be involved in the establishment of democracy and human rights monitoring centres. The project responded to clearly existing information gaps and its relevance was enhanced by the fact that it sought to build the capacity of local officials and leaders to implement decentralization policies and other decision-making processes. It is a matter of concern, however, that the project did not include any lobbying component targeting the government itself, to address the language issue at policy level, which was the principal root cause for lack of relevant legal and administrative documentation.
Evaluation Date
October 2011
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Action Program for the involvement of religious leaders and community opinion leaders in promoting democracy and sustaining peace in Togo

Planned activities were mostly undertaken and the training and some published materials were of good quality. The vague strategy and the lack of professionalism of those responsible for its implementation have ultimately made the project less effective than it could have been.
Project Partner
Association Internationale des Educateurs pour la Paix du Monde
Project Description
The project aimed to contribute to the establishment of a climate of peace in Togo in advance of the 2010 elections. The project strategy was to involve religious leaders in support of the promotion of democracy and sustainable peace in Togo. In addition the project aimed to strengthen institutional support to community organizations, giving priority to community and religious leaders, and among them especially women and youth. The project document identified the poor state of human rights and the recurrence of electoral violence. Factors that reduced the relevance of the project were the limited involvement of main religious faiths other than protestant, the reduced audience of these churches, and the failure to address human rights violations actually committed in Togo.
Evaluation Date
October 2011
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Action Program for the involvement of religious leaders and community opinion leaders in promoting democracy and sustaining peace in Togo

The grantee should have established structures to ensure that weaknesses and difficulties encountered will be avoided in the future. In particular the organization should ensure that financial controls check payments for administrative appropriateness and also in terms of their relevance to project objectives. In addition, project strategy and design should be coordinated with other non-governmental organizations working on human rights and democracy.
Project Partner
Association Internationale des Educateurs pour la Paix du Monde
Project Description
The project aimed to contribute to the establishment of a climate of peace in Togo in advance of the 2010 elections. The project strategy was to involve religious leaders in support of the promotion of democracy and sustainable peace in Togo. In addition the project aimed to strengthen institutional support to community organizations, giving priority to community and religious leaders, and among them especially women and youth. The project document identified the poor state of human rights and the recurrence of electoral violence. Factors that reduced the relevance of the project were the limited involvement of main religious faiths other than protestant, the reduced audience of these churches, and the failure to address human rights violations actually committed in Togo.
Evaluation Date
October 2011
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Human rights and democracy campaign

The grantee’s multidisciplinary approach brought together organisations with complementary areas of expertise mixing rural development, democratization and human rights. This proved appropriate and contributed to the success of the project.
Project Partner
Association pour la Recherche et l'Education pour le Développement en
Project Description
Aiming to contribute to the emergence of responsible and aware citizens in four of Senegal’s regions, the project provided information on human rights and democracy in the country’s most common languages - Wolof and Pulaar. The project also aimed to ensure citizens access to legal and administrative texts through local document libraries; and trained local resource persons to be involved in the establishment of democracy and human rights monitoring centres. The project responded to clearly existing information gaps and its relevance was enhanced by the fact that it sought to build the capacity of local officials and leaders to implement decentralization policies and other decision-making processes. It is a matter of concern, however, that the project did not include any lobbying component targeting the government itself, to address the language issue at policy level, which was the principal root cause for lack of relevant legal and administrative documentation.
Evaluation Date
October 2011
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Human rights and democracy campaign

The project did not consider why legal and administrative documentation had not already been made available in languages other than French. Targeted lobbying would have been appropriate to highlight the necessity of translating legal and administrative documents into the different national languages and to facilitate their use by locally elected officials and rural communities.
Project Partner
Association pour la Recherche et l'Education pour le Développement en
Project Description
Aiming to contribute to the emergence of responsible and aware citizens in four of Senegal’s regions, the project provided information on human rights and democracy in the country’s most common languages - Wolof and Pulaar. The project also aimed to ensure citizens access to legal and administrative texts through local document libraries; and trained local resource persons to be involved in the establishment of democracy and human rights monitoring centres. The project responded to clearly existing information gaps and its relevance was enhanced by the fact that it sought to build the capacity of local officials and leaders to implement decentralization policies and other decision-making processes. It is a matter of concern, however, that the project did not include any lobbying component targeting the government itself, to address the language issue at policy level, which was the principal root cause for lack of relevant legal and administrative documentation.
Evaluation Date
October 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