training

Project: Civic Education and Civil Society Empowerment in Remote Areas in Myanmar
Evaluation Date: December 2012
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The township-level forums provided a space for free discussion, rather than a structured half-day session with solid results leading to a potential action plan and capacity to formulate initial issues for future policy papers. Participants were asked to state their mission, vision and goals, but no concrete deliverables or written action plans were produced. Much of the impetus built up during the training session was lost at the very moment where it would have been appropriate to draw up a concrete action plan. Also, there was no systematic support to the participants after the forums.

UNDEF/Myanmar
Theme: Community activism
Myanmar   , , ,
Project: Civic Education and Civil Society Empowerment in Remote Areas in Myanmar
Evaluation Date: December 2012
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

Trainings were viewed as inflexible and were not tailored to regional issues. The same curriculum was used across all trainings, regardless of the local context. Training would have been more effective if it had not used a traditional lecture-based teaching style and allowed for more group discussion and consensus building. The number subjects covered should have been carefully assessed and on the basis of lessons learnt by trainers, trimmed down to a lesser number. Training would have gained in depth and in substance and could have had more value for participants.

Theme: Community activism
Myanmar   , ,
Project: Civil Society Support Initiative on Political Marginalization in the Niger Delta in Nigeria
Evaluation Date: December 2012
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

Some 237 CSO activists were trained in civic and political education, exceeding the target of 180. Similarly, 185 women and young people were trained through the engagement seminars, also exceeding the target of 135. In its own review, the grantee concluded that the sessions on participation and on media engagement were the most successful, in that they provided entirely new and practical knowledge, which trainees could apply readily. There was also a positive response from trainees to the module on democracy monitoring. In a number of cases, those supported by the project were motivated to take further action. Most often, this involved “stepping down” the training to other members of their networks.

Theme: Community activism
Nigeria   , ,
Project: Strengthening Municipal Capacity for Access to Public Information in El Salvador
Evaluation Date: August 2014
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

The methodology which the project applied to the educational processes was highly relevant, adapting successfully to the different audiences in El Salvador. Collaboration with an EU-funded project enabled the grantee to undertake a baseline study. The project’s advantage was that it was a “design-in-progress” depending on the specific needs of the beneficiaries, which meant that its effectiveness could be maximized. The intervention ultimately had an impact on local and national institutions, putting the enforcement of the Law on local agendas, creating links between different levels of government and speeding up the process of appointing information officers in the municipalities.

UNDEF/El Salvador
Theme: Rule of law
El Salvador   , ,
Project: Women in Democratic Transition in Egypt
Evaluation Date: July 2015
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

A key success behind the project was the grantee’s dense network of local NGOs outside the capital. Over the years, the grantee has selected individuals from these NGOs and trained them, after which they have returned to their homes to serve as trainers and advocates. Through its in-house training manager, the grantee ensured that curricula were fit for the purpose, the audience, and the location, leading to more women standing as representatives. Consequently, an impressive number of activities were implemented at a high level of quality.

Theme: Women's empowerment
Egypt   , ,
Project: Towards a better electoral process in Mongolia
Evaluation Date: November 2011
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

Election observer training was done far in advance of the elections; this helped ensure that the CSOs and parties kept a focus on the upcoming electoral process and the need to prepare for their observation effort, especially as 2012 was the first elections where CSO observers were to be allowed. However, this meant that the material was more generic than would have been had otherwise, and that the participating organizations would need to supplement this training later on with the specifics for the 2012 election, such as the new electronic way to count the ballots.

Theme: Community activism
Mongolia   , ,