Home
Lesson Browser
About
Feedback
UNDEF

local government

Project: Tracking Campaign Promises in Albania
Evaluation Date: January 2023
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Given the high relevance and importance of the “truth-o-meter”, the design should have paid more attention (and allocate the necessary resources) to the promotion and communication of the tool and the results. There could have been public conferences and/or round tables with all concerned MPs, CSOs, communities, and media to discuss findings and generate public debates. Therefore, promoting innovative tools to a wide range of stakeholders is as important as their development, otherwise the impact of such tools remains limited and untapped.

Theme: Interaction with government

Albania audience, awareness, budget, civil society, communication, community, engagement, governance, impact, local government, project design, promotion, public, publicity, stakeholder, tools

Project: Tracking Campaign Promises in Albania
Evaluation Date: January 2023
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

One of the main problems of this project was that its design robustness could have been reinforced by a more detailed and comprehensive needs assessment in smaller vs. bigger municipalities in order to avoid obsolescence in some big municipalities. Consequently, inappropriate and generalised needs assessments that lead to a “one size fits all” approach can negatively affect the impact’s likelihood.

Theme: Interaction with government

Albania analysis, assess, assessment, beneficiaries, budget, community, data, engagement, governance, impact, local government, measure, needs, project design, scope, stakeholder, tools

Project: Transparency and Public Accountability in Education in Brazil
Evaluation Date: June 2020
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

When the accomplishment of specific outcomes is contingent on the collaboration of an external party, such as the governmental authorities, it is essential to make additional efforts setting up partnerships from the onset of the Project. UNDEF (or United Nations Country Team) may play an important role in meeting directly the country local or Federal authorities at the beginning of the project.

Theme: Interaction with government

Brazil collaborate, Coordinate, government, local, local government, partnership, relationships

Project: Addressing Ghana’s Governance Deficits through Constitutional Reform
Evaluation Date: December 2018
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The county/local level can be a more effective playing field on which to make improvements to government transparency and accountability. Not only are county/local level efforts more attainable than changes to national ones, but they often have more direct and bigger impacts on citizens lives on a day to day basis. This strategy can be made even more effective by making requests for these improvements in the run-up to election proccesses. These commitments can in turn be used to hold officials accountable when in office.

Theme: Rule of law

Liberia Accountability, local, local government, transparency

Project: Using Access to Information to Foster Open Expenditure and Budget Transparency in Liberia
Evaluation Date: December 2018
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Utilizing local structures can have both positive and negative effects. Although utilizing local structures can ensure that key project messages become ingrained in community debates and discussions, they may also serve to reinforce existing power structures (in this case, male-dominated decision-making spaces).

Theme: Rule of law

Liberia debate, decision making, local government, local knowledge

Project: Advancing the rights of women in the West Bank periphery, Palestine
Evaluation Date: February 2015
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

There will need to be more effort to engage men in understanding both the importance of urban planning and the need to involve women in urban planning processes. While some of the women believed that the best way to do this is to offer training to the men too, this would reduce the women’s comparative advantage. A better way to proceed may be to consider a focus on youth in the community who are more open to the concept of gender equity and who will be the local councillors of the future.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Palestine equality, local government, youth

Project: Citizen Participation to Improve Local Governance
Evaluation Date: January 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

An important indicator of the project’s relevance was its consistency with Benin’s legal framework on decentralization for citizen participation which outlined the need for citizen participation, the municipalities’ role as the main decentralized institutions, and the right to access public information.

Theme: Community activism

Benin decentralization, local government

Project: Youth Partnership for Improved Budgetary Governance in Lebanese Municipalities: Musharaka
Evaluation Date: October 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Working in the Municipality offices gave young participants an insider’s view of how the institution operates and a better understanding of its role. Similarly, Municipality officials said that their interaction with the Youth Shadow Councils had allowed them to see and appreciate the young people’s contribution, gradually leading them to view the young people as colleagues instead of interlopers.

Theme: Youth engagement

Lebanon institutions, local government

Project: Strengthening women’s empowerment in municipal government
Evaluation Date: October 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The women in the project who worked in local government stated that the training had significant impact on them and that membership of the network helped them integrate what they had learned – and continued to learn – into their daily work.
At an individual level, women across the Pacific provided examples of follow-up training, briefings and actions they are taking regularly to promote understanding of the role of women in local government.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Fiji, Kirbati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu local government, women

Project: Promoting Women's Participation in Local Budgetary Processes
Evaluation Date: March 2016
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project in Niger has changed stakeholders’ perceptions by opening up new opportunities for cooperation between women and local officials and has reinforced social and economic cohesion. After the project, the women of research/action groups were invited by other development partners to share their experience with others municipalities.

Theme: Women's empowerment

Niger cohesion, local government

Subscribe to UNDEF Newsletter

Privacy Policy
Terms of Use