government

Project: Towards a better electoral process in Mongolia
Evaluation Date: November 2011
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The efforts to develop a new module for civic education, that contained the information on the structure of government and voter’s rights, roles and responsibilities, directly addressed the lack of a civic education program in the schools that was relevant to Mongolian democracy in the 21st century. The grantee worked directly with the Ministry’s Institute of Educational Research which increased its relevance and significance for the Ministry and for the national school system.

Theme: Community activism
Mongolia   , ,
Project: Constructing Citizenship in San Luis de Potosí
Evaluation Date: April 2013
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

While CSO capacity to influence policy was strengthened, not enough work was done on identifying mechanisms for negotiation and dialogue with government agencies. Nor was progress made in developing an agenda and strategic plan with well-defined issues and objectives that civil society considers essential to its lobbying efforts. This is an impediment to building legitimate, effective channels for advocacy that would make it possible, for example, to use and channel the information gathered by the watchdog groups that exercise public oversight.

Theme: Rule of law
Mexico   , ,
Project: Constructing Citizenship in San Luis de Potosí
Evaluation Date: April 2013
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The CSO network, which was an important mechanism for dialogue and information exchange between public officials and social stakeholders was established but its operative role as a privileged advocate with state entities and decision-makers needs strengthening. For example, individual youth groups that are highly motivated to engage in civic participation were not able to participate in high level meetings with members of States congress. The same holds true for women’s organizations, which, despite the many problems that affect women, have very little organizational presence in the state of San Luis Potosí. Mechanisms for dialogue between public officials and youth are still characterized by very vertical communication and to some extent, an adult-centered culture that is hard to eradicate.

Theme: Rule of law
Mexico   , , ,
Project: The National Campaign towards Muslim Family Law Reform (MFL Campaign) in Malaysia
Evaluation Date: March 2016
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The major assumption underlying the project, which was also its main risk, was the ability of grantee to secure meetings with relevant government stakeholders. Grantee intended to mitigate this risk through the use of different strategies to pressure the government for meetings, including a concerted media strategy and activities with grassroots women. In the report on the convention the grantee stated that they invited 50 MPs and only the opposition MPs replied. These MPs felt it was important to discuss the problem of women and gender discrimination but noted that there was a general fear among politicians and the population to voice different opinions as they would then be branded as too progressive or liberal.

Theme: Rule of law
Malaysia   , ,
Project: Gender Equality and Equity - Follow Up to CEDAW and Romani women
Evaluation Date: November 2011
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

In two of its components, the project was fighting an uphill battle to get the attention of potential partners. The first component concerned Roma political parties, and, the second, municipal government and cooperation with the Equality Commissions (committees) of the municipal councils. The lack of interest by these partners highlights the absence of effective political representation of Roma and their interests in a “patron-client” political system, where parties do a poor job of representing the priorities of their constituencies, or of responding to their concerns. The parties saw no benefits in opening themselves to cooperation with an NGO which they did not trust. There seems to be little interest on the part of local government units in committing resources to Roma issues, and Roma tend to be invisible in local decision-making. The work supported by the project in two of the three municipalities was useful, but had no impact in changing the disposition of local government towards Roma and Roma women’s organizations.

Theme: Women's empowerment
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)   , ,
Project: Civil Society Monitoring of Governorate Councils in Iraq
Evaluation Date: August 2014
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The grantee faced some challenges during project implementation in Iraq, but due to a well-developed risk mitigation plan, the grantee was able to manage. For instance, the grantee had anticipated the risk of the non-cooperation of some Governorate Councils, so when two of six identified Councils withdrew from the initiative, the grantee took rapid action to replace them. The Councils were absorbed into project activities without much loss of time, and the grantee and its partner organizations managed to build trust and understanding with the two added Councils rather quickly.

Theme: Interaction with government
Iraq   , ,