Lessons

The main focus of the project in Côte d’Ivoire was to put in place five departmental committees and one national committee for the monitoring of democracy and good governance. By strengthening the capacity of the members of these committees, the project promoted voluntary involvement in the management of communes and the exercise of civic control. By relying on the country’s policy of decentralization, the project helped local populations develop an interest in governing local affairs through learning about their roles as citizens. This was done through cooperation and engaging in dialogue with locally elected leaders. With this project the grantee integrated strategic priorities of the national decentralization policy into local governance. It also managed to take into account the context of the Ivorian crisis, which was characterized by a weakness of democracy and poor governance. It was therefore a kind of post-crisis pilot project on raising awareness and approaches to training in democratic education and good governance. The project could have applied a more nuanced approach in relation to the different groups that were part of the target population, particularly women and young people and provided more local support.

The project aimed to promote the involvement and participation of women in electoral processes and democratic governance. Following the decision of all but one of the opposition parties not to participate in the National Assembly elections, the grantee expanded the project to the local government elections. Project activities included focus groups about women’s rights to encourage active representation of women in the community decision-making processes. Open forums and regional radio programmes generated knowledge and vibrant discussion among the wider public. A capacity building scheme combined training, mentorship, and experience sharing. The project effectively questioned entrenched cultural norms and pervasive religious beliefs. However, in spite of the project’s advocacy activities and the provision of training and mentoring number female candidates in the local government elections was lower than during the previous 2006-2008 cycle.

The aim of the project was to increase victims’ access to international justice through the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, following an amendment of the court’s rules of procedure to improve the victims’ access to legal representation. The project focused on upgrading the technical and legal advocacy skills of justice system professionals for the promotion and protection of human rights and improving their understanding of international human rights standards. It also focused on raising awareness of the 100 Rules of Brasilia Regulations, and the Inter-American Human Rights System. This was the first initiative in the region aimed specifically at training Inter-American Defenders. The beneficiary groups acknowledged that they have gained a better understanding of the Inter-American Human Rights system at the regional and national level and that their capacity to litigate before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, an increasingly specialized and complex process, had qualitatively improved.

The project facilitated the participation of marginalized and vulnerable groups of citizens in the constitutional reform process in Ghana. This process was initiated by the Ghanaian government when it established a Constitution Review Commission (CRC). The project aimed to consult the country’s marginalized populations on key constitutional issues and considered their recommendations in conjunction with the results of field surveys and thematic research papers. The project organized workshops with participants. On average 21 new relevant recommendations were made by each participant. This improved the quality of submissions - compared to the officially conducted CRC consultations – and prompted various Members of Parliament (MPs) to declare their support. Over 80% of the Constitution Review Commissions’ recommendations were informed by the project’s input, which demonstrates the impact the project had.

The main focus of the project in Côte d’Ivoire was to put in place five departmental committees and one national committee for the monitoring of democracy and good governance. By strengthening the capacity of the members of these committees, the project promoted voluntary involvement in the management of communes and the exercise of civic control. By relying on the country’s policy of decentralization, the project helped local populations develop an interest in governing local affairs through learning about their roles as citizens. This was done through cooperation and engaging in dialogue with locally elected leaders. With this project the grantee integrated strategic priorities of the national decentralization policy into local governance. It also managed to take into account the context of the Ivorian crisis, which was characterized by a weakness of democracy and poor governance. It was therefore a kind of post-crisis pilot project on raising awareness and approaches to training in democratic education and good governance. The project could have applied a more nuanced approach in relation to the different groups that were part of the target population, particularly women and young people and provided more local support.

The project general objective was to support the development of good governance in Myanmar through civic education and building advocacy skills of civil society. Activities included civic education trainings and township level meetings to support good governance; organization of core leader meetings; training in how to write policy papers to strengthen policy advocacy; and the creation of a website for civil society to exchange experience and knowledge. All quantifiable targets were reached or surpassed, and the participants interviewed spoke highly of the training. The project implementation team overcame significant bureaucratic and logistical obstacles, as well as difficult operating conditions. The project appears to have had a great deal of positive 'knock-on effects’. Although the training program attracted a large number of participants, participation was dictated by informal networks and affinities. The township-level forum did not succeed in soliciting initiatives and brainstorming on regional/local issues. Likewise, the policy papers exhibited significant weaknesses in particular a lack of readers. The website was also not used as an effective tool for knowledge and information sharing by any of the participants interviewed.

The project in Tanzania targeted civil society in the Dodoma region. Most of the population depends on agriculture. The grantee worked with farmers and pastoralists as well as local NGOs, local government officials and community members, to develop more inclusive and responsive development policies, strategies and programmes. The grantee combined awareness raising activities focusing on development programmes to enhance the local population’s engagement in policy dialogue and advocacy with capacity building in development programme process monitoring.

The project aimed to improve environmental conditions in Viet Nam. The grantee worked with the Vietnam Institute of Human Rights (VIHR) of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and Public Administration (HCMPA) to prepare a curriculum for high-level government officials designed to provide a better understanding of the benefits of civil society participation in environmental policy. The grantee also worked with the Center of Environmental Training and Communications (CETAC) of the Vietnam Environmental Administration (VEA) to train journalists in the use of independent research methods and sources of investigation. In addition, the project supported the capacity building of local NGOs in the areas of strategic planning, financial management, and communications, in order to help them address key donor expectations.

The project’s overall objective was to establish a robust civil society, to hold government to account and to effectively involve citizens in decision-making. The project design was built, around the central role of a group of 18 facilitators, drawn from nine member organizations of the grantee’s own Iraq Civic Action Network, each of them based in one of the target provinces in Iraq. Each of these organizations was also the implementing organization at the project level. All of the stakeholder groups confirmed that the project provided practical knowledge on how to play an effective role in the political process and on how to become involved in decision-making. The grantee’s experience in organizing activities to strengthen local leadership and build up the knowledge and skills of representatives of local organizations, including political parties, proved to be an important asset in supporting a project strategy which fitted well with overall objectives, as well as the priorities of beneficiaries.

The project was built on the grantee's experience of the most urgent problems of local communities in the Niger Delta, and particularly of women, youth and other vulnerable groups. It aimed to engage with three sets of stakeholders: CSOs at local level in the nine Niger Delta states; representatives of marginalized groups (women, youth and the disabled); and officials from three branches of government. The project’s focus on working with the CSOs and beneficiary groups in strengthening the basis for broader-based citizen participation in the political process was highly relevant to addressing the democratic deficit in a region where there is widespread distrust of the governing authorities and the absence of a belief that the voices of the people will make a difference in decision-making. Despite some limitations overall, the project proved to be effective in building the capacities of its target groups, in enhancing their self-confidence, and in motivating many to take further action. Follow-up activities undertaken by participants included “stepping down” the training to others in their local networks, and organizing advocacy and public awareness initiatives. The project succeeded in contributing to increasing the levels of participation in the public realm by both CSOs and beneficiary groups.