Project: Bytes Without Borders in Morocco
Evaluation Date: September 2018
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The capacity-building process is a marathon, not a sprint. It must involve regular coaching of trainees and performance monitoring in order to ensure sustainability. In order for capacity-building activities to achieve their intended results, one must ensure the activities are inclusive to all, including the vulnerable and illiterate. The use of audio-visual approaches in social media has proved to reach a larger number of people than the ‘class-format’ approach.

Theme: Media
Project: Citizen Journalists for Free and Fair Elections in Georgia
Evaluation Date: April 2014
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The grantee relied heavily on personal contacts to recruit participants, including journalists from the Charter of Ethical Journalists which the grantee had created under an earlier EU project. This was efficient since these people were known to be independent and helped maintain the perception of impartiality. At the same time, this limited the reach of the project to people who were already civically active. There were no links apparent between this effort and other more substantial efforts for citizen journalism, election reporting or observation. The reach of the project could have been extended through better use of social networks beyond the staff’s Facebook pages, and the use of participating media organizations to promote citizen reporting, the website and project purpose.

Theme: Media