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Lessons

LESSON

Lesson Learned: The Bottom-up Governance and Leadership Programme for Women in the Pacific

The majority of the funds were spent in Australia, on the grantee’s staff costs, on the set-up and maintenance of the e-platform, on the course and study tour. Partners did not receive sufficient resources to allow them to carry out in-country coordination and to deliver adequate support to trainees challenged by the content-heavy training materials. There was also a serious imbalance between the funds expended on the training component of the BGLP and the much more relevant and successful grassroots mini-project component.
Project Partner
Foundation for Development Cooperation
Project Description
The project aimed to increase women’s political representation and increase their familiarity with governance issues and build their leadership skills. The project undertook training through an e-platform across four countries in the Pacific to achieve these goals. A subsequent “BGLP governance and leadership contest‟ was intended to promote bottom-up governance initiatives by women in their local communities. Those women who presented successful proposals went were given training in participatory project management training (PPM) and taken on a study tour before receiving funding to undertake their mini-projects. There was a mismatch in the project between the problem identified and the solutions proposed. Differences among the participating countries were not taken into account, and the method of training delivery was inappropriate.
Evaluation Date
April 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: The Bottom-up Governance and Leadership Programme for Women in the Pacific

The concrete outputs of the project – the e-platform and the training modules – may be usable in future but will need to be reviewed and revised in the light of the lessons learned. This requires taking into account a solid cause/effect analysis in the country to be targeted. The materials should also be reviewed by a gender specialist to be made culturally more relevant to the projected participants. In particular, gender-sensitive approaches do not mean automatically excluding men – good gender-sensitive programming will take account of the relative status and roles of men and women, girls and boys, and aim to achieve outcomes for women that allow them to progress within family, social and cultural contexts.
Project Partner
Foundation for Development Cooperation
Project Description
The project aimed to increase women’s political representation and increase their familiarity with governance issues and build their leadership skills. The project undertook training through an e-platform across four countries in the Pacific to achieve these goals. A subsequent “BGLP governance and leadership contest‟ was intended to promote bottom-up governance initiatives by women in their local communities. Those women who presented successful proposals went were given training in participatory project management training (PPM) and taken on a study tour before receiving funding to undertake their mini-projects. There was a mismatch in the project between the problem identified and the solutions proposed. Differences among the participating countries were not taken into account, and the method of training delivery was inappropriate.
Evaluation Date
April 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Building Democratic Spaces in Egypt

A number of the individual events, viewed in isolation, seem to have been quite successful. They could have formed a basis for a stream of activities which might have enabled the project to deploy its resources in such a way as to work towards concrete results. The project scattered its resources in such a way that no issue and no social group received continuing attention. There was also no effort to build on what had been accomplished in any of the activities undertaken.
Project Partner
The Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement
Project Description
The project aimed to bring together a diverse group of civil society organizations in Egypt and to work towards building a consensus among them on the principles and contents of a “democratic agenda”. It also sought to strengthen the knowledge base of those civil society groups committed to building a democratic society and state, while also enhancing public awareness of the need for, and character of, democracy. Instead of identifying a number of critical beneficiary and/or stakeholder groups and working with them throughout, the grantee worked with groups (Parliamentarians; Political Parties; Political and Social Movements; Trade Unions and Professional Syndicates; and, Youth Organizations, other civil society groups and the media) separately through one-off activities. The project then failed to adopt an approach to enable it to work systematically to bring these same groups together around a common agenda.
Evaluation Date
March 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Building Democratic Spaces in Egypt

The grantee failed to present any kind of baseline data against which progress might be assessed, which could have clarified the extent to which the needs of the targeted beneficiary groups were actually met.
Project Partner
The Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement
Project Description
The project aimed to bring together a diverse group of civil society organizations in Egypt and to work towards building a consensus among them on the principles and contents of a “democratic agenda”. It also sought to strengthen the knowledge base of those civil society groups committed to building a democratic society and state, while also enhancing public awareness of the need for, and character of, democracy. Instead of identifying a number of critical beneficiary and/or stakeholder groups and working with them throughout, the grantee worked with groups (Parliamentarians; Political Parties; Political and Social Movements; Trade Unions and Professional Syndicates; and, Youth Organizations, other civil society groups and the media) separately through one-off activities. The project then failed to adopt an approach to enable it to work systematically to bring these same groups together around a common agenda.
Evaluation Date
March 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Building Democratic Spaces in Egypt

While members of a number of those groups listed as stakeholders – political parties, trade unions - and beneficiaries participated in project activities, no effort was made by the project team to engage with them on a continuing or consistent basis. The design of all activities should have included a process to enable participants to provide feedback on their experience.
Project Partner
The Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement
Project Description
The project aimed to bring together a diverse group of civil society organizations in Egypt and to work towards building a consensus among them on the principles and contents of a “democratic agenda”. It also sought to strengthen the knowledge base of those civil society groups committed to building a democratic society and state, while also enhancing public awareness of the need for, and character of, democracy. Instead of identifying a number of critical beneficiary and/or stakeholder groups and working with them throughout, the grantee worked with groups (Parliamentarians; Political Parties; Political and Social Movements; Trade Unions and Professional Syndicates; and, Youth Organizations, other civil society groups and the media) separately through one-off activities. The project then failed to adopt an approach to enable it to work systematically to bring these same groups together around a common agenda.
Evaluation Date
March 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Building Democratic Spaces in Egypt

The project’s Training Workshops were well-organized; yet, each was a “one-off” affair, with no follow-up. Such activities will probably have been of short-term value to participants, but are unlikely to have had broader impact.
Project Partner
The Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement
Project Description
The project aimed to bring together a diverse group of civil society organizations in Egypt and to work towards building a consensus among them on the principles and contents of a “democratic agenda”. It also sought to strengthen the knowledge base of those civil society groups committed to building a democratic society and state, while also enhancing public awareness of the need for, and character of, democracy. Instead of identifying a number of critical beneficiary and/or stakeholder groups and working with them throughout, the grantee worked with groups (Parliamentarians; Political Parties; Political and Social Movements; Trade Unions and Professional Syndicates; and, Youth Organizations, other civil society groups and the media) separately through one-off activities. The project then failed to adopt an approach to enable it to work systematically to bring these same groups together around a common agenda.
Evaluation Date
March 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Building Democratic Spaces in Egypt

The “Public Awareness” component of the project was merely an add-on to other activities. There was no plan concerning the intended audience for activities or events. No thought was given to how the “booklets” and other documents produced were to be distributed, and no consideration was given to providing guidance on how the documents were to be employed.
Project Partner
The Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement
Project Description
The project aimed to bring together a diverse group of civil society organizations in Egypt and to work towards building a consensus among them on the principles and contents of a “democratic agenda”. It also sought to strengthen the knowledge base of those civil society groups committed to building a democratic society and state, while also enhancing public awareness of the need for, and character of, democracy. Instead of identifying a number of critical beneficiary and/or stakeholder groups and working with them throughout, the grantee worked with groups (Parliamentarians; Political Parties; Political and Social Movements; Trade Unions and Professional Syndicates; and, Youth Organizations, other civil society groups and the media) separately through one-off activities. The project then failed to adopt an approach to enable it to work systematically to bring these same groups together around a common agenda.
Evaluation Date
March 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Engaging Civil Society in a Democratic Election Process in Sudan, Bahrain, Tunisia and Jordan

The project created tightly networked, mobile elite of regional experts on elections monitoring, trainings, and provision of elections monitoring services. This made elections expertise more accessible in the region. At the individual level, the people who received training were more likely to continue to be engaged in community activism.
Project Partner
Al Kawakibi Democracy Transition Centre
Project Description
The project aimed to strengthen electoral processes by focusing on election monitoring by independent civil society organizations. The project established a regional expert group on elections monitoring, carried out training sessions and provided election monitoring services. In Tunisia, the group established – the Arab Working Group on Elections Monitoring - carried out a limited number of trainings in the four countries, and engaged in elections monitoring in Tunisia. Because of some political challenges, not all of the activities planned in Bahrain, Sudan, and Jordan, were undertaken. In general, training and monitoring focused more on the quantity than the quality of monitoring, a strategy that can be defended but may pose problems for longer terms sustainability.
Evaluation Date
March 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Engaging Civil Society in a Democratic Election Process in Sudan, Bahrain, Tunisia and Jordan

There does not appear to have been any attention to what newly empowered community activists would do after the end of the project. The continued progress of the expert group on elections monitoring, trainings, and provision of elections monitoring services seems to be something that was not explicitly considered in project planning. This poses a significant problem for sustainability.
Project Partner
Al Kawakibi Democracy Transition Centre
Project Description
The project aimed to strengthen electoral processes by focusing on election monitoring by independent civil society organizations. The project established a regional expert group on elections monitoring, carried out training sessions and provided election monitoring services. In Tunisia, the group established – the Arab Working Group on Elections Monitoring - carried out a limited number of trainings in the four countries, and engaged in elections monitoring in Tunisia. Because of some political challenges, not all of the activities planned in Bahrain, Sudan, and Jordan, were undertaken. In general, training and monitoring focused more on the quantity than the quality of monitoring, a strategy that can be defended but may pose problems for longer terms sustainability.
Evaluation Date
March 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Engaging Civil Society in a Democratic Election Process in Sudan, Bahrain, Tunisia and Jordan

The expert group on elections monitoring, trainings, and provision of elections monitoring services that was developed as part of the project should be formalized in terms of its membership, procedures and web presence.
Project Partner
Al Kawakibi Democracy Transition Centre
Project Description
The project aimed to strengthen electoral processes by focusing on election monitoring by independent civil society organizations. The project established a regional expert group on elections monitoring, carried out training sessions and provided election monitoring services. In Tunisia, the group established – the Arab Working Group on Elections Monitoring - carried out a limited number of trainings in the four countries, and engaged in elections monitoring in Tunisia. Because of some political challenges, not all of the activities planned in Bahrain, Sudan, and Jordan, were undertaken. In general, training and monitoring focused more on the quantity than the quality of monitoring, a strategy that can be defended but may pose problems for longer terms sustainability.
Evaluation Date
March 2011
Country