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engagement

LESSON

Lesson Learned: Citizens: empowering local communities, improving local governance

This project has demonstrated that even in the complex and difficult context of Palestine, setting realistic objectives in terms of the number of beneficiaries and communities of intervention, and adopting a pragmatic approach that includes relevant and useful activities such as training and community services, can engage different target groups, regardless of their political affiliations and sensitivities, and generate impact at both the individual and community levels.

Project Partner
Zimam for Creativity and Development
Project Description
Zimam’s Leadership Incubator wants to inspire young leaders and give them the confidence and training to inspire their communities. The program offers policy and problem-solving workshops, engagement and meetings with business, political, and social leaders, and opportunities for youth to implement their own initiatives aimed at social transformation. In doing so, we can empower young people to realize their potential as confident and capable change-makers who can lead their communities. Project activities also incorporate actions in response to the Covid-19 crisis as it impacts youth.
Evaluation Date
March 2023
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Democracy Academy for Young Adults in El Salvador

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.

Project Partner
Fundación Salvadoreña para el Desarrollo Económico y Social
Project Description
The Democracy Academy for Young Adults (DAY) is a project that contributes to the strengthening and the promotion ofe democracy through the formation and active participation of young leaders in spaces of dialogue, social control, and defense of the democratic system with civil society and key political actors. The digital platforms used are essential to deepen and expand the exercise of democratic practices in this time of technological revolution.
Evaluation Date
March 2023
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Tracking Campaign Promises in Albania

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.

Project Partner
Regional Development Agency Korce
Project Description
The project will help Albanian people to track promises made by politicians by providing Albanian citizens, CSOs and Media with tools to fact-check the implementation of their promises on-the-ground. Through a “truth-o-meter” web/app platform and through data checking and reporting, the project will hold 201 public officials/politicians in Albania accountable for their promises with the final aim to strengthen democracy and rule of law in Albania. Through simplified versions of municipal budgets made accessible as “citizens’ budgets”, citizens will be able to evaluate and take decisions affecting the future of those politicians that are in charge of taking decisions at local or national level.
Evaluation Date
January 2023
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Tracking Campaign Promises in Albania

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.

Project Partner
Regional Development Agency Korce
Project Description
The project will help Albanian people to track promises made by politicians by providing Albanian citizens, CSOs and Media with tools to fact-check the implementation of their promises on-the-ground. Through a “truth-o-meter” web/app platform and through data checking and reporting, the project will hold 201 public officials/politicians in Albania accountable for their promises with the final aim to strengthen democracy and rule of law in Albania. Through simplified versions of municipal budgets made accessible as “citizens’ budgets”, citizens will be able to evaluate and take decisions affecting the future of those politicians that are in charge of taking decisions at local or national level.
Evaluation Date
January 2023
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Empowering Rural Communities in Bhutan through Mass Media

As digital technologies take hold, two ways media-community audience engagement will only become richer and more complex. New technology can upset the methodology and content of any capacity-building programme approved and designed by the grantee. Therefore, there is a need to remain alert about new technology and devise innovative forms of audience research online and offline.
Project Partner
Journalists' Association of Bhutan
Project Description
The project aims to address low levels of media knowledge and social media awareness in Bhutan’s rural population, urban centric news media, and the lack of viable, private and free media coverage on rural issues. By training journalists to report on local issues in both mainstream and social media the project will encourage local communities to engage in active reporting on rural issues. Small grants will be awarded by a jury to recognize excellence in local journalism and to encourage continued meaningful contributions to free media in Bhutan by individual rural journalists.
Evaluation Date
December 2022
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Improving Maya Women's Access to Justice in Rural Guatemala

Community leaders can be important gate keepers for justice services. Community leaders often decide whether a case of VAWG should be reported to authorities outside the community, can be perpetrators of VAWG themselves, and yield high levels of influence in community perceptions of violence tolerance. These leaders need to be engaged meaningfully and strategically so that they, at a minimum, do not block justice processes.
Project Partner
Women's Justice Initiative
Project Description
This project seeks to improve access to justice for some 2,900 indigenous women living in rural areas of Tecpan, Guatemala through free legal support, accompaniment of survivors, and strengthening local governance and municipal response to violence against women and girls. In addition, the project aims to increase the capacities of 175 key public actors including community leaders, service providers, and police at the local, municipal, and departmental level to provide quality services to indigenous survivors and promote human rights.
Evaluation Date
March 2022
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Improving Maya Women's Access to Justice in Rural Guatemala

Strategies should be embedded in the project design to foster linkages wherever possible between key actors and participants in the project. This could mean co-creation, networking, and/or joint activities between community-level promoters, local leadership, and institutional networks that strengthen their capacity and motivation for a desired behavior change.
Project Partner
Women's Justice Initiative
Project Description
This project seeks to improve access to justice for some 2,900 indigenous women living in rural areas of Tecpan, Guatemala through free legal support, accompaniment of survivors, and strengthening local governance and municipal response to violence against women and girls. In addition, the project aims to increase the capacities of 175 key public actors including community leaders, service providers, and police at the local, municipal, and departmental level to provide quality services to indigenous survivors and promote human rights.
Evaluation Date
March 2022
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Citizen Empowerment for the Promotion of Good Governance and Participatory Democracy in Algeria

To strengthen collaboration between CSOs and States officials, it is necessary to consider the following:
a. The commitment of the authorities to grant authorisations for the financing and implementation of similar projects.
b. Planning awareness and targeted communication activities to overcome the mistrust and lack of motivation on the part of CSOs and youth.
c. Interventions must create spaces for dialogue and collaboration, managed by unbiased and trusted keys actors and facilitators.
Project Partner
Association de Solidarité et de Lutte contre la Pauvrete et l'exclusion
Project Description
This pilot project aims to promote good governance and sustainable local development, through democratic participation and dialogue among non-governmental organizations and public authorities in Bordj Boi Arreridj, Algeria. Campaigns will be implemented across four Wiliyah’s on communication, sensitization, training, and animation-consultation with production tools for decision-making support, to enhance citizen participation and action that meets the needs of Algerian civil society.
Evaluation Date
January 2022
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Citizen Empowerment for the Promotion of Good Governance and Participatory Democracy in Algeria

States officials, especially local authorities, need capacity building on the concepts, mechanisms, and tools of good local governance to modernise and improve public services and better engage citizens in local development.
Project Partner
Association de Solidarité et de Lutte contre la Pauvrete et l'exclusion
Project Description
This pilot project aims to promote good governance and sustainable local development, through democratic participation and dialogue among non-governmental organizations and public authorities in Bordj Boi Arreridj, Algeria. Campaigns will be implemented across four Wiliyah’s on communication, sensitization, training, and animation-consultation with production tools for decision-making support, to enhance citizen participation and action that meets the needs of Algerian civil society.
Evaluation Date
January 2022
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Support for Elections in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

Direct project beneficiaries valued the coordinating role provided by the grantee, who was seen as an independent and impartial arbiter.
Project Partner
Stakeholder Democracy Network
Project Description
Elections in Nigeria, and especially in its oil-producing Niger Delta states, have in the past been disputed and given rise to violence. One of these states, Bayelsa, is due to choose a new governor in 2020 in what is expected to be a hotly contested election. The project seeks to minimize the risk of dispute and help to ensure the election is free, fair, and credible. It will support the Independent Nigerian Electoral Commission to train staff engaged to oversee polling in at-risk areas in the procedures necessary to do so effectively. It will support the creation of a database to register party political agents in three areas, reducing the risk of unidentifiable persons engaging in illegal political activity. Activities will also include voter education across the target areas, aiming to reach 1,350 citizens in workshops and 170,000 via a public campaign, seeking to inform citizens on how to prevent votes from being stolen or manipulated.
Evaluation Date
August 2021
Country