Empowering the Voice of a New Generation in Pakistan

The outcome data that would be needed to determine impact was not collected, despite a good monitoring and evaluation plan in the project document. The planned knowledge, attitude and practices surveys could have provided impact information on participating youth in Pakistan but they were not completed.

Links were made with some universities that contributed to several project events, such as a national conference, but there were no links demonstrated with other youth or democratic governance efforts underway in Pakistan, including a similar UNDEF funded project for youth done in some of the same locations as this project.

A website was created which included a blog section for the youth. The site was easy to use and attractive, with places provided for participants where they could post their photos and news. It also provided a spot where newsletters were posted through to the end of the project. Little analytical data was available on the use of the website but the grantee reported it was underutilized, stating not all of the youth in Pakistan had access to the internet.

The CBO partners were primarily used for logistical support by the grantee who implemented the project from its office in Hyderabad in Pakistan. The anticipated capacity building for partners did not appear to have taken place. Given their limited programmatic involvement, positive changes among CBO partners are unlikely.

The usefulness of the baseline study that was used to select the CBO partners in 20 locations in Pakistan, was uncertain as it assessed CBOs and their attributes rather than their qualifications. Some of the CBOs seemed extremely competent, but others might not have been the most appropriate choices. For instance, at least two did not appear to have offices where the Voice of a New Generation groups were expected to meet and the Information Resource Centres to be housed.

Although project reporting stated that most project activities were completed as planned, there was not enough hard information available to be able to confirm this or to assess the project’s effectiveness. For example, there was not enough information to be able to assess the effectiveness of different core youth events – three trainings and inter-provincial study tours – and the information on who participated in activities was inconsistent. There was almost no information about the activities at the district level.

Project implementation was centralized in Hyderabad in spite of the fact that the project design allowed for a decentralized approach. This led to activities not being properly followed up which impacted on the effectiveness of the programme.

The project attracted educated male youth who were able to take advantage of the activities offered but the project did not put in place measures to increase the number of female participants and bring in the less educated and poorer youth. This led to an imbalance in the representation of youth in the project’s groups.