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Project: Democracy Academy for Young Adults in El Salvador
Evaluation Date: March 2023
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The project was conceived as a comprehensive capacity development project with an approach involving participants into the development of replication strategies and the development of common actions and strategies in traditional and non-traditional communication spaces. However, during its implementation, the project has mainly been an academic endeavour, with a rather classic approach to capacity development methodologies and systems. In this project, as designed, the components of socialisation by the students as well as the engagement with public authorities should have remained a priority, and practical, on-the-job training approaches should have been privileged as originally foreseen. If these practical aspects are not considered a priority, a more standardized approach to capacity development should be followed at the project design stage.

UDF-17-783-ELS

Theme: Youth engagement, Interaction with government

El Salvador academia, approach, capacity, effective, engagement, government, multiply, participation, practice, project design, strategy, training, youth

Project: Citizens: empowering local communities, improving local governance
Evaluation Date: March 2023
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Given the numerous challenges of the Palestinian context, it is increasingly relevant to engage Palestinian youth in order to increase their individual resilience and help them cope with the stress they face. Youth in Gaza face double exclusion compared to their peers in the West Bank as a result of settlements and internal conflict, which makes engaging them more difficult and therefore requires additional funding, effort, and monitoring to achieve meaningful change and results.

Theme: Youth engagement, Interaction with government

Palestine approach, beneficiaries, complex, Coordinate, effective, engagement, goals, impact, include, inclusion, inclusive, motivate, motivation, participation, plan, planning, project design, results, target, youth

Project: Citizens: empowering local communities, improving local governance
Evaluation Date: July 2023
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The following were the factors for a well-designed and effectively implemented youth engagement project:

The project design with a theory of change that was shared and assimilated by the implementation team and the implementing partners.
The strategy used to enter new communities, which was pragmatic, culturally sensitive, and politically neutral.
The choice of implementing partners (they were from within the communities, credible, and well-known at the local level).
The partnership strategy, which was based on empowering implementing partners and building their capacity.
The adequate approach for positive youth engagement (recognition, accountability, and exploring their potential).
The quality of the training programme and the diversity of learning formats.
Well thought-out communication.

Theme: Youth engagement, Interaction with government

Palestine change, communicate, community, culture, effective, empowerment, implement, local, motivate, motivation, needs, participation, partner, politics, project design, quality control, training, youth

Project: Helping Teenagers to Transform their Communities in Ukraine
Evaluation Date: September 2020
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Simplicity is key: design simple yet clear guidelines for all competition stages and provide extensive training to all teenage and adult beneficiaries early in the project if they design a progressive competition.

Theme: Youth engagement

Ukraine beneficiaries, competition, guidelines, project design, training, youth

Project: Helping Teenagers to Transform their Communities in Ukraine
Evaluation Date: September 2020
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Explore incorporating “World’s Largest Lesson” and other UN resources available to support teenage civic education in future programming.

Theme: Youth engagement

Ukraine education, resources, support, youth

Project: Learning Democracy DemoLab in Hungary
Evaluation Date: September 2020
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The Hungarian and other Eastern European public education systems have been facing a series of challenges (many of which are also shared by their Western European counterparts),

such as the lack of experience-based experimental education practices. Projects that open new perspectives for young people – to obtain new inspiration, ideas and skills that help

them to adapt to the real trends and challenges of the 21st century – are much in need everywhere in Europe.

Theme: Youth engagement

Hungary education, experiment, skills, youth

Project: Emerging Leaders of the Arab Region
Evaluation Date: November 2017
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

Networking to gather participants in training sessions should be conducted after there has been clear scoping of potential existing resources. The reliance solely on social media and personal connections limits diversity, and the lack of involvement of the grantee also limits the credibility and legitimacy of trainers to attract participants.

Theme: Youth engagement

Arab States, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates networking, social media, youth

Project: Youth local councils for civic engagement and social change in Palestine
Evaluation Date: December 2013
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

At the time of the evaluation, seven months after project completion, the Youth Local Councils (YLC) in Palestine were still functioning and most were scheduling new elections for the coming months. This was most likely due to the grantee’s approach, which bridged the gap between acquisition of knowledge (in this case of democracy, governance and leadership) and practical action in service to the community (here through the medium of the YLCs).

Theme: Youth engagement

Palestine capacity, training, youth

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: Democratic dialogue in Palestine: Acculturation towards tolerance
Evaluation Date: February 2013
Report: [report link]

Lesson Learned:

The students emerged from the training eager to act. The major criticism of the project from participants was that they were not given enough concrete guidance on what form this action might take or how they should go about organizing. The training focused on improving understanding of theoretical concepts – tolerance, human rights, discrimination – and did not cover practical skills such as project design and management, fundraising and reporting, and evaluation and monitoring, which would have better equipped students to put their newly established knowledge into practice in their communities in Palestine.

Theme: Youth engagement

Palestine skills, training, youth

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