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LESSON

Lesson Learned: Support for Elections in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

Radio remains a key medium for reaching out to, and engaging with, communities in the state in a cost-effective way.
Project Partner
Stakeholder Democracy Network
Project Description
Elections in Nigeria, and especially in its oil-producing Niger Delta states, have in the past been disputed and given rise to violence. One of these states, Bayelsa, is due to choose a new governor in 2020 in what is expected to be a hotly contested election. The project seeks to minimize the risk of dispute and help to ensure the election is free, fair, and credible. It will support the Independent Nigerian Electoral Commission to train staff engaged to oversee polling in at-risk areas in the procedures necessary to do so effectively. It will support the creation of a database to register party political agents in three areas, reducing the risk of unidentifiable persons engaging in illegal political activity. Activities will also include voter education across the target areas, aiming to reach 1,350 citizens in workshops and 170,000 via a public campaign, seeking to inform citizens on how to prevent votes from being stolen or manipulated.
Evaluation Date
August 2021
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Helping Teenagers to Transform their Communities in Ukraine

Plan early to develop and implement a strategic communication campaign to tell a multi-dimensional transmedia narrative story about their project through multiple channels that are most used by direct beneficiaries and target audiences. Consider hiring an experienced media communication specialist to help with regional and national media coverage efforts beyond simple announcements.
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.
Evaluation Date
September 2020
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Fostering Ethical Democracy and Advancing Micro Justice in India


Grantees should take care to adapt the information used in capacity-building exercises to the needs of the target groups. Grantees should consider adapting the information into more accessible or creative forms such as role plays, dramas, or art, or delivering information in conjunction with other activities meeting beneficiary needs (such as sports, life skills workshops) to bring key messages across.


Project Partner
DHAN Foundation
Project Description
This project aims to improve the provision of local democratic services to women, youth and students in disadvantaged communities in 5 regions. It will facilitate capacity development and create an enabling environment for Women Self Help Groups, youth associations and student groups to support their own "democracy action" initiatives. The project also seeks to initiate intensive campaigns on the Right to Information Act, in developing informed citizens. Additionally, the project will develop micro justice initiatives to address problems of infringement of rights; establishing para-legal clinics to facilitate the insurance of citizen rights and entitlements for development.
Evaluation Date
September 2018
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Media and art as catalysts for free speech and access to information in Jordan

The 10 issues of the newspaper supplement Baranda were expensive and even journalists writing for it questioned whether anyone read it. Such a supplement is not equivalent to placing articles into mainstream media or through alternative media with already developed audiences. This was not an effective output nor an effective use of funds.
Project Partner
Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists
Project Description
The aim of the project was to engage talented young artists and journalists, and encourage them to use new forms of art in promoting change and advocating for free speech and media freedom as a cornerstone of democracy. The project had three primary outcomes: an increase in media coverage on human rights, media freedom, free speech and the right of access to information by trained young journalists; an increase in the engagement of young people in human rights, media freedom, free speech and the right of access to information through artistic activities/products by young artists; and raised awareness of young people of human rights, media freedom, free speech and the right of access to information by end-2013. The project assumed that enhancing the understanding and skills of the young journalists and artists participating in training, writing/performing and networking will have a multiplier effect. Participants joined an already established network called ‘Freedom Messengers’. The project also included public events and an advocacy campaign that were intended to build public support for the Freedom Messengers and thus create pressure for change. Additionally, the project included the further development of an existing on-line observatory and the creation of a web presence for the Freedom Messengers. The evaluation found that in the implementation of the project the specific press/information-related focus was lost. Consequently there a mismatch between the activities undertaken and the specific objectives set.
Evaluation Date
January 2015
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Municipal Capacity for Access to Public Information in El Salvador

The project developed materials and tools of excellent quality. However, participants asked for the materials to be adapted to other types of audiences in order to achieve a greater coverage among children, youth, elderly people, and people with special needs, among others. In some cases, teachers in educational centres offered to adapt the materials to suit their audiences.
Project Partner
Fundacion Dr. Guillermo Manuel Ungo
Project Description
The grantee sought to improve the fundamental conditions for democracy in El Salvador by helping municipal governments enforce the Law on the Access to Public Information. The project strategy focused on strengthening the capacities of public and private stakeholders to publicize, implement and enhance citizen oversight of enforcement of the law. The project successfully contributed to improving the cultural and institutional conditions required for transparency and the participation of citizens in democratic institutions. At the same time there was an increase in the knowledge of citizens about the importance of the right to public information and of citizen oversight. It is worth stressing the relevance and good design of the proposed methodology which was based on training multipliers and carrying out an in-depth analysis of the needs of the actors involved.
Evaluation Date
August 2014
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Raising Awareness about Women's Social, Political and Economic Rights in Afghanistan

The focus on “Afghan women” was hardly a focus at all. Findings of a baseline study, which indicated the particular need for learning about their rights on the part of less-educated women, were ignored. In fact, during implementation, project beneficiaries were principally better-educated, younger women.
Project Partner
Development and Public Awareness
Project Description
The project Raising Awareness about Women's Social, Political and Economic Rights in Afghanistan’s overall objective and outcomes were relevant to the development problem of women’s empowerment and facilitating a greater presence for women in public life. However, the evaluation concluded that the project was not implemented in full. While it appears to be the case that the radio and television roundtables planned for production and broadcast in the 15 target provinces did take place, other activities have been implemented in no more than six, and as few as three, of the provinces.
Evaluation Date
April 2014
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Civic Education and Civil Society Empowerment in Remote Areas in Myanmar

Trainings were viewed as inflexible and were not tailored to regional issues. The same curriculum was used across all trainings, regardless of the local context. Training would have been more effective if it had not used a traditional lecture-based teaching style and allowed for more group discussion and consensus building. The number subjects covered should have been carefully assessed and on the basis of lessons learnt by trainers, trimmed down to a lesser number. Training would have gained in depth and in substance and could have had more value for participants.
Project Partner
Myanmar Egress/Network Activities Groups (NAG)
Project Description
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.
Evaluation Date
December 2012
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Creation of Women's Parliament in Azerbaijan

The project focused on creating a wider and long-lasting impact by producing the CEDAW Shadow Report for Azerbaijan which can possibly influence the legislature in the country. While the grantee focused its advocacy on this report,  it remains uncertain to which extent the report will be taken on board.
Project Partner
Women’s Association for Rational Development
Project Description
The overall purpose of the project was to address gender inequality and improve the situation of women’s rights in Azerbaijan. The establishment of the first Women’s Parliament (WP) – a symbolic model of alternative parliament with the focus on gender equality– served as a vehicle for achieving this goal. The Women’s Parliament was expected to result in four specific project outcomes: opening a discussion space for raising gender-specific issues; enhancing gender equality advocacy; strengthening civil society by facilitating women’s participation; raising awareness of national and international stakeholders on women’s issues. The direct beneficiaries of the project were members of the Women’s Parliament. Indirectly, the project aimed to benefit the female population of Azerbaijan.
Evaluation Date
July 2012
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Towards a better electoral process in Mongolia

The grantee reused and repackaged its training materials for use with different actors, which it then tailored to their individual needs. As an example, the pocket handbook and audio tape for the police and use of the same graphics for all handbook and DVD covers.
Project Partner
Women for Social Progress
Project Description
The project sought to strengthen the electoral system and civic participation in Mongolia by raising the level of voter education and public awareness on democratic institutions and processes. Its main objectives were: to prepare a voter education high school curriculum; establish a network of volunteers able to train on voters rights issues; improve the skills of key officials involved with elections; and implement a public awareness campaign for voters for the elections in 2012. Its intended outcomes were to have its voter education curriculum adopted by the Ministry of Education as part of the national school curriculum; trained observers and officials ready for the 2012 elections; and, a more knowledgeable public on voter issues. It is evident that this project contributed towards these results and to the more positive outcome of the 2012 electoral process when compared to the situation in 2008. The project started early when no one else was working on these issues, and it was a sizeable project for the sector. However, the extent of the project’s reach and its actual impact is unknown.
Evaluation Date
November 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Appui à la participation politique et citoyenne de la femme dans le processus démocratique au Burundi

The National Forum remains merely a well-intentioned document, and there is no environment for political dialogue between women leaders from across the board. None of the project elements led to the drafting of a policy promoting women. The signing and ratification of a legislative text remain wishful thinking. The report written by female observers was not circulated. The documentary that was made in four of the Northern provinces has never been shown and remains to this day in a desk drawer in the association.

Project Partner
Twungubumwe
Project Description
The goal of the project was to increase and strengthen political participation and citizenship among women within democratically elected institutions before, during, and after the election process of 2010. The underlying idea was to make use of this election period as a timeframe allowing for public debate in order to raise awareness among influential parties, such as the media and women leaders, of their rights in order to better know and to assert these rights by creating a National Forum.
Evaluation Date
November 2011
Country