budget

Project: MDG Unions: Building Participatory Democracy From the Bottom Up in Rural Bangladesh
Evaluation Date: May 2015
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The grantee presented data, which demonstrated an increasing presence of women advocating gender- and youth-specific concerns in the Ward Shavas. There is also quantitative and qualitative evidence of enhanced local government accountability and service delivery. In addition, volunteer animators, civil society group representatives and self-help group members, with whom evaluators have met, continue to mobilise local community members to participate in local governance, and to hold local decision makers accountable. Interaction among local Bangladesh government, Union Parishad representatives, and all segments of the local population worked and changed the way in which local governments make their annual budget planning choices.

UNDEF/Bangladesh

Theme: Community activism
Bangladesh   , , ,
Project: Empowering Vulnerable People through Internet: E-Learning Initiative for Young Migrant Workers in China
Evaluation Date: April 2015
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The project tried to do too much with too many beneficiaries in too many locations. A more focused project would have been both more efficient and more effective. For the most part, project resources were deployed well in support of the project plan. However, in retrospect, given the limited success of the E-Learning and social media components, as well as the limited duration of the engagement that the project had with most youth trainees, there are questions as to whether project resources were utilized in the most efficient way to support the designated beneficiaries.

Theme: Tools for knowledge
China   , ,
Project: Involving women and youth CSOs in strengthening democratic debate and public news media around elections in Afghanistan
Evaluation Date: March 2015
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The grantee also felt the electoral stalemate in Afghanistan after the second round interrupted the project. The people were very despondent and this gave the grantee a limited audience. At this point they were unsure how to proceed. Their products from this time reflected this mood. However, these types of political crises are the time to engage even more vigorously in the type of activities foreseen by the project, to focus citizen and candidate attention on the benefits in remaining with the democratic process, in letting the audit system work out its findings and in helping to reinforce the credibility of the ultimate resolution. This is much more efficient- and effective- in terms of project outcomes than waiting for a crisis to resolve.

Theme: Media
Afghanistan   , , ,