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Project: Promoting Gender-Sensitive Personal Status Laws in Lebanon
Evaluation Date: September 2022
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Advocacy projects in highly complex contexts require rigorous monitoring to (i) strengthen coalitions and ties despite changes to the positions of stakeholders and changing power dynamics; and to (ii) capture and adapt to the different levels of changes that could occur.

Theme: Women's empowerment, Rule of law

Lebanon adapt, advocacy, change, collaborate, Coordinate, gender, monitoring, partner, power, reform, relationships, risk, stakeholder, women

Project: Promoting Gender-Sensitive Personal Status Laws in Lebanon
Evaluation Date: September 2022
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

There are important elements that influence the effectiveness of the implementation of an advocacy project other than the technical and financial capacity of the funded organisation. They include:
– The clarity of the organisation’s internal strategy and the consistency of its positioning regarding the project’s objective.
– The credibility of the organisation and its members among CSOs and drivers of change relevant to the intervention.
– The social capital of the organization, which enables it to mobilize key stakeholders and allies in the field.
– The capacity of the organisation to analyse the political context, manage risks, and adapt activities to the situation.

Theme: Women's empowerment, Rule of law

Lebanon adapt, advocacy, campaign, change, credibility, effectiveness, gender, objective, project objective, reform, results, risk, social capital, strategy, women

Project: Empowering Female and Youth Domestic Workers in Uganda
Evaluation Date: September 2020
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Building allies in parliament and providing technical inputs whilst allowing them to drive the reform process, is a strategy that has worked well.

Theme: Rule of law

Uganda parliament, reform, technical

Project: Fostering the Electoral Participation of Internally Displaced Persons in Georgia
Evaluation Date: November 2021
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Along with the multiyear experience and expertise in the field, the two main preconditions for the successful accomplishment of the project were the team’s political impartiality and decentralization of efforts. In transitioning societies, where democratic institutions are not yet fully mature and division between public administration and the ruling force is still not clear, being politically unaffiliated is crucially important for a project team to ensure the project’s success, especially when it regards projects promoting participation in elections.

Theme: Community activism

Georgia credibility, decentralize, democracy, elections, participation, political, reform

Create trust with the government

Project: Strengthening CSO Engagement with Defence Institutions to Reduce Corruption and Strengthen Accountability in Mali
Evaluation Date: February 2021
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Creating trust with the government was key in a political environment that has been predominantly closed and opaque. The grantee and implementing partner met with the competent authorities to introduce the project and its approach, and later shared results with officials and representatives of the authorities to create positive engagement and bolster trust.

Theme: Interaction with government

Mali dialogue, engagement, governance, power, reform, relationships, results

Project: Coalition against Poverty: Oil Revenue under Public Oversight
Evaluation Date: April 2013
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

From a programme theory or design perspective, the project’s unrealistically high ambition was demonstrated in its expectation of behaviour change. The project aimed to change behaviour on three fronts: national and international extractive industry business interests; civil society; and local government. Some frustrations or disappointment could have been mitigated by reviewing the scope and scale of activities so that they were more appropriately matched to the problem analysis and by setting achievable goals and targets informed by better programme theory.

Theme: Community activism

Kazakhstan design, reform

Project: Empowering Civil Society Groups to Promote Social Accountability
Evaluation Date: June 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

A weakness in the project was the over-estimation by the Jakarta-based project team of the level of interest of Papuan decision-makers in reform. The project also failed to understand that middle-level officials in Indonesia could not make commitments on behalf of the government.

Theme: Community activism

Indonesia government, reform

Project: Judicial Reform: empowering magistrate-civil society collaboration for Guinea’s new democratic future
Evaluation Date: August 2014
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Reform of the judiciary was one of the key priorities announced by the President of the Republic of Guinea in 2010. Following the legislative elections of September 2013, which marked a turning point in the process of transitioning the country from the earlier dictatorship, the focus on judicial reform became more relevant. The project’s complex but well-articulated process used to identify the specific scope of action ensured that the project was aligned with government objectives regarding reform.

Theme: Interaction with government

Guinea government, judiciary, reform

Project: Addressing Ghana’s Governance Deficits through Constitutional Reform
Evaluation Date: July 2013
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The forming of the Civil Society Coalition in Ghana, which included around 40 major national organizations from a variety of backgrounds, demonstrated the grantee’s convening power. All project events and documents were presented under the auspices of the Coalition. This gave considerable weight and legitimacy to the proposals presented in the eyes of the public, the media and the Constitutional Review Commission itself.

Theme: Interaction with government

Ghana coalition, legitimacy, reform

Project: Strengthening the capacities of Magistrates
Evaluation Date: July 2011
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

At institutional, operational and political levels, the project has had little impact. To some extent, this was because there no legal proposal was made to adapt and enforce the Ethical and Deontological Code. The project also failed to create a pool of experts on economic and financial crimes. The training does not appear to have made a positive difference in encouraging inclusion of efficiency indicators in the fight against economic and financial crimes or improving the overall capacities of judges.

Theme: Rule of law

Niger advocacy, reform

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