Projects

The project aimed to enhance the legitimacy of the judicial system in order to reinforce democratic processes in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Specifically, the project was designed to improve the legal knowledge and sense of responsibility on the part of civil society actors by raising awareness of human rights among citizens and by improving trust between citizens and judicial institutions, as well as better liaison between judicial actors and civil society.

The objective of the project was to enhance citizens’ access and involvement in local governance in 50 communities in Kinshasa and Maniema Provinces. According to the grantee’s analysis elections were a time of apparent democracy, because neither the administration nor elected officials were actually accountable to citizens for their actions.

The overall objective of the project was to reinforce community dialogue and participatory democracy in the Western part of Cote d’Ivoire, with a view to enhancing social cohesion and the enhancement of democratic values at local level. To achieve this objective, the project had three outputs: Civil society organizations (CSOs) and the authorities are better equipped to use community support techniques; CSO’s providing support to communities on the management of conflicts; and enhanced involvement of local communities in development initiatives.

The objective of the project was to involve grassroots communities with democratization processes across the Ituri District in the Province Orientale of the Democratic Republic of Congo. To achieve this, the grantee planned to strengthen the capacity of radio listeners’ clubs through training and practical support; to organize community debates using the radio listeners’ clubs; to produce radio broadcasts based on the community debates and on roundtable meetings between communities and officials; and to produce a range of news and educational broadcasts.

The project’s objective was to increase the number of rural women in Côte d’Ivoire participating in the democratic process, specifically in decision-making. In order to do this, the project set out to raise awareness among rural women of their political and civil rights; and increase the number of informed rural women able to participate in electoral processes either as candidates or as voters. The activities were designed to take into account the post-election crisis in Côte d’Ivoire, taking into account that women make up the largest proportion of the voting population.

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.

Within the broader context of advancing good governance at local level, the project objective was to enhance the involvement of civil society in local governance through: local assembly monitoring; policy analysis and policy dialogues with public officials; and advocacy campaigns. The grantee sought to promote two-way communications between local officials and citizens in 14 selected municipalities and to support the strengthening of the capacities of locally-based CSOs to monitor the performance of municipal assemblies and municipal government in order to improve accountability.

The project aimed to build capacity of local media in Sierra Leone to facilitate a national dialogue among civil society, government and citizens.

The project aimed strengthened the capacity of the Somali media to implement principles and practices of democracy and respect for human rights by providing professional training to Somali journalists across the country, focusing on ethics and good journalistic practices, and holding workshops on good governance and human rights. The use of training sessions and workshops was appropriate to address the issue of journalists’ skills development. Creation of a media centre was also useful in helping journalists to do their work.

The project aimed to increase women’s representation in public office as part of wider support for women’s representation in political processes and civic leadership in Fiji.