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LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Independent Media in the Arab Region

Inclusive partnership strategies and local participation during project design and at the project start-up stage are critical for more precise and consistent alignment with contemporary priorities. Consistent involvement in project implementation by local offices and coordinators is necessary to mitigate contextual challenges and effectuate activity redesign, including bottom-up involvement in the development of training materials and knowledge-sharing. In this case, the presence of country offices has been critical in mitigating project delays, changes in collaborative work with local authorities, and relying on broader networks of civic and media actors to ensure timeliness and impact. 

Project Name
Strengthening Independent Media in the Arab Region
Project Partner
Journalist for Human Rights
Project Description

The project aims to strengthen independent media in the Arab region so as to build greater accountability and better governance, by improving the working environment for journalists; advancing media freedom and accessible information and data; enhancing the capacity of freelance and full-time journalists to cover sensitive human rights stories; and improving journalists’ legal knowledge through strong working partnerships with civic actors. Project activities also incorporate responses to the Covid-19 crisis for journalists on the front line.

Report
UDF-19-853-RAS_Final.pdf
Evaluation Date
February 2025
Theme
Media
Country
Iraq
Lebanon
Morocco
Tunisia
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Gender-Responsive Local Government in Nepal

Women’s participation in political change processes not only enhances gender equality, but it also makes a positive contribution to local development outcomes. The present project experience clearly demonstrates the transformative impact of women’s inclusion in local development in the shape of a number of local needs-based infrastructure schemes undertaken by the Women Musahar Empowerment Forums in their Municipalities.

Project Name
Strengthening Gender-Responsive Local Government in Nepal
Project Partner
South Asia Partnership Nepal
Project Description

The project aims to empower Musahar women and strengthen their representation in local decision-making procedures for promoting gender-responsive local governance in two rural municipalities and two town municipalities. It will work through three main approaches:empowerment of Musahar women to claim their rights, accountability of local government authorities, and strengthening multi-stakeholder partnerships for gender-responsive local governance.

Report
evaluation_udf-19-859-nep_final.pdf
Evaluation Date
December 2024
Theme
Women's empowerment
Country
Nepal
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Enhancing Women's Political Participation in Eswatini

A multi-level approach that engages stakeholders from the grassroots level to the institutional level ensures consistency and has a higher chance of success in enhancing women’s political participation. In this case, the project engaged rural communities, traditional leaders, electoral management bodies, public institutions, and the government. This comprehensive engagement enabled a concerted effort to enhance women’s political participation in the subsequent elections.

Project Name
Enhancing Women’s Political Participation in Eswatini
Project Partner
Women and Law in Southern Africa - Eswatini
Project Description

The project seeks to enhance the gender responsiveness of policies and practices in the electoral process in Eswatini by assisting stakeholders to develop gender responsive guidelines and educating citizens on the importance of women’s political participation, while empowering the female electorate with leadership skills, campaign and mobilization strategies. The project seeks to impart a long-term effect by enabling community-based paralegals to conduct gender equality sensitization talks at community level. Project activities will incorporate actions in response to the Covid-19 crisis, as it impacts women, including gender-based violence as well as social and economic pressures.

Report
udf-18-793-swa_evaluation_report.pdf
Evaluation Date
August 2024
Theme
Electoral Processes
Women's empowerment
Country
Eswatini
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Helping Teenagers to Transform their Communities in Ukraine

Consider offering an attractive prize in the form of a study abroad leadership tour in collaboration with an established leadership educational program.
Project Name
Helping Teenagers to Transform their Communities in Ukraine
Project Description
The project aims to foster civic participation of young people in Ukraine by training them to become responsible and pro-active citizens. The central activity of the project is a non-formal civic education training program in four stages that will train teenagers to become "Junior Agents of Change" in four pilot cities. Trained Junior Agents of Change will implement development projects aiming for the transformation of their social environment and the development of their communities.
Report
udf-16-730-ukr_evaluation_report_0.pdf
Evaluation Date
September 2020
Theme
Youth engagement
Country
Ukraine
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Participation of Women in Geographically Deprived Communities in Local Governance in Ghana

It is recommended that women participants who were elected into public office in Ghana are invited by the grantee and other women’s NGOs to serve Women Group Advocacy Platforms as ambassadors, mentors, and role models, also in order to mobilise resources and support for these groups.
Project Name
Strengthening Participation of Women in Geographically Deprived Communities in Local Governance in Ghana
Project Partner
Gender Centre for Empowering Development
Project Description
The project’s objective was to increase participation of women in decision making to develop sustainable, decentralized, bottom-up planning processes in Ghana. The grantee institutionalized Women’s Group Advocacy (WOMGA) Platforms to engage and dialogue with local government authorities in decision making processes on public service delivery. At the heart of the project strategy was the mobilization and empowerment of 150 women, who were trained and deployed to monitor policy implementation at the district level using a Gender Monitoring and Tracking Tool, and to champion the participation of women in local planning and implementation processes. The project’s intervention logic was sound and had clarity and coherence. Institutionalizing the WOMGA Platforms facilitated regular engagement with local government authorities, and hence effectively contributed to the overall development goal of increasing women’s participation in decision-making process on public service delivery. Local officials commended the high level of preparation they had to undertake for the public sessions the project held, during which they faced thorough questioning by the WOMGA members and the community.
Report
538-GHA-Evaluation-Report.pdf
Evaluation Date
June 2017
Theme
Women's empowerment
Country
Ghana
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Addressing Ghana’s Governance Deficits through Constitutional Reform

The Project Advisory Committee in Ghana played an active and constructive role and made a difference in strengthening the final design of activities.
Project Name
Addressing Ghana’s Governance Deficits through Constitutional Reform
Project Partner
Ghana Center for Democratic Development
Project Description
The project aimed to obtain measurable improvements in Ghana’s constitutional and governance mechanisms by providing technical input and advocacy platforms for civil society actors to research and build a constituency for constitutional and legal reform in key governance areas. The project related closely to the grantee’s mission, i.e. the promotion of democracy, good governance and the development of a liberal economic environment. The grantee’s intervention was relevant in its focus on efforts to take practical action to address priorities in democratic development, and in ensuring that the priority concerns of Ghanaian civil society, as well as the interests of ordinary citizens - through a national public opinion survey that the grantee organized - were heard. The strategy adopted by the project was judged to be appropriate and its reports to the Constitutional Review Commission and the proposals which they contained were seen as highly relevant to its deliberations.
Report
UDF-GHA-08-229-ER-1.pdf
Evaluation Date
July 2013
Theme
Interaction with government
Country
Ghana
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Supporting civic participation of grassroots communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The efficient use of resources was complemented by good project management. The grantee’s project team was competent and motivated, and appropriately supervised by the grantee’s President, who was himself answerable to the organization’s board.
Project Name
Supporting civic participation of grassroots communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Project Partner
Organisation Paix, Unité, Réconciliation, Reconstruction
Project Description
The objective of the project was to enhance citizens’ access and involvement in local governance in 50 communities in Kinshasa and Maniema Provinces. According to the grantee’s analysis elections were a time of apparent democracy, because neither the administration nor elected officials were actually accountable to citizens for their actions. Therefore, the project aimed to raise awareness among grassroots communities about the importance of participating in local governance; to involve grassroots communities in identifying information, training and support needs for participatory governance; and to document and learn from local experience in relation to participatory governance. The project’s relevance, however, was limited as its scale of action was too small to enhance democratic culture at the level of entire communities, as suggested by the grantee; and it failed to highlight the need for women’s participation in governance.
Report
UDF-DRC-08-226-ER-1.pdf
Evaluation Date
June 2013
Theme
Rule of law
Country
Democratic Republic of the Congo
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Supporting civic participation of grassroots communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Whereas many women joined the project’s newly established Democratic Action Clubs (DACs), few of them were among DAC coordinators and none among DAC leaders. The grantee was aware of this issue, which it said had cultural roots. However, the project itself did not address this problem proactively – it could have for instance required DACs to elect an equal number of men and women coordinators.
Project Name
Supporting civic participation of grassroots communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Project Partner
Organisation Paix, Unité, Réconciliation, Reconstruction
Project Description
The objective of the project was to enhance citizens’ access and involvement in local governance in 50 communities in Kinshasa and Maniema Provinces. According to the grantee’s analysis elections were a time of apparent democracy, because neither the administration nor elected officials were actually accountable to citizens for their actions. Therefore, the project aimed to raise awareness among grassroots communities about the importance of participating in local governance; to involve grassroots communities in identifying information, training and support needs for participatory governance; and to document and learn from local experience in relation to participatory governance. The project’s relevance, however, was limited as its scale of action was too small to enhance democratic culture at the level of entire communities, as suggested by the grantee; and it failed to highlight the need for women’s participation in governance.
Report
UDF-DRC-08-226-ER-1.pdf
Evaluation Date
June 2013
Theme
Rule of law
Country
Democratic Republic of the Congo
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Education and Training of Youth for Democracy in Burkina Faso

The project design failed to consider the reality of youth associations in Burkina Faso and to include an element aimed at strengthening the young leaders’ capacity. A civil society organisation is often reliant on only one leader and the most of those organisations lack organizational and operational capacities.
Project Name
Education and Training of Youth for Democracy in Burkina Faso
Project Partner
Réseau Afrique Jeunesse
Project Description
The project aimed to mobilize youth to participate in the presidential election, by reinforcing citizens’ and voters’ knowledge. The beneficiaries were young leaders of women’s and men’s associations from across Burkina Faso, aged 18 – 25, who were involved in and committed to civil society specific activities for the youth. Activities focused on education, training and sensitization and, subsequently, on the development of a group of young leaders that can relay information and training knowledge to members of youth organisations and to the youth of their villages. The project was firmly rooted in the socio-political and cultural context of Burkina Faso. The lack of participation of young citizens in successive elections is intrinsically linked with the lack of education, in particular citizens’ and voters’ education. In the context of a still male-dominated country, the identification of beneficiaries comprising both young men and women was also appropriate to address the political participation of women. The project was also coherent in that it covered the pre-electoral, electoral and post electoral periods.
Report
UDF-BKF-08-221-ER-1.pdf
Evaluation Date
June 2012
Theme
Youth engagement
Country
Burkina Faso
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Best Practices for Women´s Participation in Democracy at Local Levels (Argentina)

The project empowered women leaders by bolstering their leadership skills, and the organizations and venues in which they worked. Prioritizing the local level as the intervention area helped put the issue on the provincial agenda. The project enabled the beneficiaries to learn about each other and forged ties among women leaders of social and community initiatives in different jurisdictions.
Project Name
Best Practices for Women´s Participation in Democracy at Local Levels (Argentina)
Project Partner
Equipo Latinoamericano de Justicia y Género (ELA)
Project Description
The project tackled the issue of women’s political participation from a broader, more inclusive perspective, moving beyond the national level to analyze developments in the provinces and municipalities. This approach responded to the unmet needs and challenges of the Argentine context, and led to greater equality in real terms and improved women’s participation in society and politics at the local level. The project strategy focused on consolidating and advancing a new view and understanding of the essential role of women leaders in social and policy-making bodies in Argentina. It pursued two main objectives: (a) to promote women’s leadership in civil society by identifying and sharing relevant experiences in leadership-building with this group at the local level; and (b) to provide tools for improving women leaders’ ability to promote the issues on their agenda through advocacy with national and local government agencies.  At the technical and institutional levels, the project yielded results that will support the continuity and replication of its initiatives.
Report
UDF-ARG-08-271-ER-1.pdf
Evaluation Date
April 2012
Theme
Women's empowerment
Country
Argentina