LESSON
Lesson Learned: Enhancing the Capacity for Inclusive Local Governance through Synergies and Sustainable Linkages between Communities and Government in North Afghanistan
Other risks identified related to the attitude of local leaders, who might object to the focus of training on gender issues, and limited cooperation on the part of Afghan government at provincial and district level. Strong and effective preparatory work by the project and thorough advance consultations enabled the grantee to overcome these potential problems. It might be noted that early consultations included a meeting with other international non-governmental organizations and donor agencies active in the region, to allow the grantee to brief its peers on the project and its contents, and to avoid duplication. This also reduced the risk to project effectiveness and impact.
Project Partner
ACTED
Project Description
Enhancing the Capacity for Inclusive Local Governance in Northern Afghanistan was generally effective as a training project, but its overall design was not well-aligned with the overall objectives specified. The project made a difference for the trainees who benefited from the course provided, but did not contribute much to the institutional results linked to enhancing inclusive local governance.
The grantee was a well-known international NGO. This was strength in some ways, but may have been a weakness in others. The project design had a “generic” quality to it, suggesting a lack of attention to the specific needs in the project sites that were addressed. Further, the lack of engagement with the project by ACTED Kabul at a management level, along with the absence of decentralization of decision-making to the local level, undermined project effectiveness.
Report
Evaluation Date
April 2013
Theme
Country