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LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Gender-Responsive Local Government in Nepal

Livelihood support interventions can prove to be effective entry points in political empowerment initiatives, especially in the case of extremely marginalized and impoverished communities and should be considered as a strategic approach in project design. The present project experience clearly builds the case for linking economic and livelihood interventions to political empowerment evidenced through the successful establishment and continuation of the Musahar women led Cooperatives.

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

Community sensitization via WhatsApp proved less effective than face-to-face meetings, as it excluded individuals without smartphones and those with lower levels of literacy. Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the project adapted community sensitization meetings to a remote format. The grantee produced brief videos on gender equality and the importance of women’s participation in decision-making processes, disseminating these to project beneficiaries. While this method ensured the continuation of project activities during the lockdown, it is not recommended as a model for replication, except in similar situations where in-person engagement is unfeasible, as it failed to effectively reach all community members.

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
Swaziland
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Raising the Social and Political Profile of Youth in Mozambique

The project has highlighted the receptiveness of municipal governance structures to the voices of young people. It is, therefore, opportune to invest in initiatives that actively incorporate youth perspectives into the development of public policies concerning youth affairs.
Project Name
Raising the Social and Political Profile of Youth in Mozambique
Project Partner
Associação Gender Links Moçambique
Project Description
The project supports young people's participation in local and national issues by developing youth councils and youth councilor training workshops. Young people will have their voices heard on key social and political platforms, and will be better represented at the center of local and national policies and decision-making, within and outside selected councils. Project activities incorporate actions in response to the Covid-19 crisis as it impacts youth.
Report
UDF-18-794-MOZ_Evaluation-Report_Final.pdf
Evaluation Date
April 2024
Theme
Women's empowerment
Country
Mozambique
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Raising the Social and Political Profile of Youth in Mozambique

Integrating project activities with existing municipality initiatives involving youth has proven to be a successful strategy for ensuring project sustainability. In addition to creating new dialogue spaces between municipal authorities and youth, this project leveraged existing platforms, such as annual meetings with the local councilors, to include youth consultation in the municipal annual activity plans. This approach fostered stronger youth participation following the project capacity-building activities.
Project Name
Raising the Social and Political Profile of Youth in Mozambique
Project Partner
Associação Gender Links Moçambique
Project Description
The project supports young people's participation in local and national issues by developing youth councils and youth councilor training workshops. Young people will have their voices heard on key social and political platforms, and will be better represented at the center of local and national policies and decision-making, within and outside selected councils. Project activities incorporate actions in response to the Covid-19 crisis as it impacts youth.
Report
UDF-18-794-MOZ_Evaluation-Report_Final.pdf
Evaluation Date
April 2024
Theme
Women's empowerment
Country
Mozambique
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Raising the Social and Political Profile of Youth in Mozambique

The inclusion of political parties in the development and planning of activities during the project design phase could have further enriched the initiative's relevance and ensured a broader and more inclusive platform for youth participation in Mozambique's democratic development processes. In this project, specific activities aimed at encouraging youth involvement in political parties resulted in eighty-nine percent of the project beneficiaries registering with political parties. However, the potential for even greater youth involvement in political activities could have been realized by involving political party representatives in the design of tailored activities to promote active participation and enhance engagement in party-related initiatives.

UDF-18-794-MOZ
Project Name
Raising the Social and Political Profile of Youth in Mozambique
Project Partner
Associação Gender Links Moçambique
Project Description
The project supports young people's participation in local and national issues by developing youth councils and youth councilor training workshops. Young people will have their voices heard on key social and political platforms, and will be better represented at the center of local and national policies and decision-making, within and outside selected councils. Project activities incorporate actions in response to the Covid-19 crisis as it impacts youth.
Report
UDF-18-794-MOZ_Evaluation-Report_Final.pdf
Evaluation Date
April 2024
Theme
Women's empowerment
Country
Mozambique
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Safeguarding the Rights of Transgender & Intersex Communities in Pakistan

Connected, aware and empowered CSOs and Human Rights Defenders can become a strong catalyst for change at the grassroots level in order to promote local action aimed at promoting transgender persons’ rights. In this case, the engagement provided them a chance to liaise and establish a link with government officials and departments which continued beyond the project.

Project Name
Safeguarding the Rights of Transgender & Intersex Communities in Pakistan
Project Partner
Formation Awareness & Community Empowerment Society
Project Description
The project objective is to work for the protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms of LGBTI persons, particularly transgender and intersex, in Lahore and Faisalabad districts. Expected outcomes include support for 5000 LGTQI/transgender persons; enhanced capacity of 50 civil society and human rights organizations; increased public awareness of LGBTI rights; registration of transgender and intersex persons for computerized national identity cards; improved policy framework and legal provision on the rights of transgender and intersex person.
Report
UDF-19-860_PAK_final.pdf
Evaluation Date
March 2024
Theme
Rule of law
Country
Pakistan
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Safeguarding the Rights of Transgender & Intersex Communities in Pakistan

While working on promoting rights of the transgender community, it is important to focus equally on demand creation through activities enhancing the rights awareness of the community focused on by the project, along with strengthening institutional capacity of public sector institutions for inclusive service delivery.
Project Name
Safeguarding the Rights of Transgender & Intersex Communities in Pakistan
Project Partner
Formation Awareness & Community Empowerment Society
Project Description
The project objective is to work for the protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms of LGBTI persons, particularly transgender and intersex, in Lahore and Faisalabad districts. Expected outcomes include support for 5000 LGTQI/transgender persons; enhanced capacity of 50 civil society and human rights organizations; increased public awareness of LGBTI rights; registration of transgender and intersex persons for computerized national identity cards; improved policy framework and legal provision on the rights of transgender and intersex person.
Report
UDF-19-860_PAK_final.pdf
Evaluation Date
March 2024
Theme
Rule of law
Country
Pakistan
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Grassroots Women’s Groups to Promote and Protect Civic Space in Uganda

Prevailing poverty, a reality for many grassroots women, makes it hard for them to focus on pushing for their rights over economic necessity. In fact, economic empowerment can put people in a position to care more about the former and therefore projects that look to advance rights at this level should seek to incorporate an economic development component as part of the wider project.
Project Name
Strengthening Grassroots Women’s Groups to Promote and Protect Civic Space in Uganda
Project Partner
All in One Womens Association
Project Description
The project goal is to empower 6,000 women by raising awareness of their gender specific rights, promoting women’s political participation, and addressing all forms of injustices that affect women’s wellbeing; strengthen the capacity of 100 unregistered women’s groups to become registered under the NGOs Act 2016; and support 100 registered women’s groups in advocating, promoting and protecting civic space in Uganda. 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
Evaluation-Report-UDF-19-845-UGA_final.pdf
Evaluation Date
July 2023
Theme
Women's empowerment
Country
Uganda
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Media to Promote Inclusive Democracy in Mali

The project applied a “three-pronged approach” (involving the participation of government institutions (state services), media, and CSOs) which proved to be highly effective in breaking down barriers, forming new networks, and improving access to human rights and essential services in a highly unstable environment.
Project Name
Strengthening Media to Promote Inclusive Democracy in Mali
Project Partner
Journalists for Human Rights
Project Description
This two-year project aims at strengthening media to play a role in fostering an effective, inclusive and transparent democracy in Mali. Based on field assessments of media outlets and CSOs, the project will build the capacity of media to report on good governance and human rights issues, break the financial dependency on political sponsorship through training on business skills and greater sector accountability, and help journalists and civil society actors to work together on data projects.
Report
mali_-_udf-17-747-mli_-_final.pdf
Evaluation Date
January 2023
Theme
Media
Electoral Processes
Country
Mali
LESSON

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

There is a strong demand for legal support services, which only increases by offering this service. Projects must anticipate this growing demand and establish the mechanism to respond while also strengthening interinstitutional efforts to continuously provide these services.
Project Name
Improving Maya Women's Access to Justice in Rural Guatemala
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.
Report
UDF-17-784-GUA_Final.pdf
Evaluation Date
March 2022
Theme
Women's empowerment
Rule of law
Country
Guatemala