budget

The project sought to address a gap in Mozambique’s political life - the low level of women’s participation - by focusing on enhancing the position of women elected representatives in Provincial and Municipal Assemblies, while also nurturing the constituencies of women at community level and bringing the two groups together. In focusing its operations in two Northern provinces, the two principal project implementing partners were able to draw on their prior experience of working there. Yet, despite the local knowledge available to the two partners, the project design failed to take adequate account of local characteristics and underestimated the risks to project implementation. The project strategy was built on some unwarrantable assumptions. Adjustments were made to planned operations, including a broadening of the beneficiary groups, to involve men as well as women, and recognition of the need to involve the Executive as well as the Assembly representatives in activities. Yet, despite this, initial design problems had a significant impact on the feasibility of achieving anticipated results within the project timeframe.

The project had two primary audiences: Roma women’s NGOs and young Roma women activists. There were three additional audiences: local government officials; young people, Roma and non-Roma; and, officials of Roma political parties. This focus sought to address in a practical way the weakness of Roma civil society organizations, and particularly those led by, and working for, Roma women, in undertaking advocacy on behalf of their own people. The grantee accomplished a great deal with the small amount of funds provided. It built on the strategic plan developed for 2008-2010, and its earlier project “Implementation of CEDAW for Romani Women”, as well as follow-up initiatives (2005-2008). Through an extremely careful allocation of funds to different areas of activity, the organization was able to undertake a long list of activities and, thus, achieve its own objective. Yet, from an external perspective, it is apparent that there were insufficient funds for some activities, where follow-up was badly needed.

The project aimed to contribute to the establishment of a climate of peace in Togo in advance of the 2010 elections. The project strategy was to involve religious leaders in support of the promotion of democracy and sustainable peace in Togo. In addition the project aimed to strengthen institutional support to community organizations, giving priority to community and religious leaders, and among them especially women and youth. The project document identified the poor state of human rights and the recurrence of electoral violence. Factors that reduced the relevance of the project were the limited involvement of main religious faiths other than protestant, the reduced audience of these churches, and the failure to address human rights violations actually committed in Togo.

The project aimed to enhance dialogue between poor citizens across the Southern Africa region and policy-makers at local level. It also aimed to enhance the responsiveness and accountability of government institutions. To do this the project established Radio Listener Clubs (RLCs) and the produced interactive radio programming to bring citizens’ voices to the attention of a wider audience, and to bridge the gap between local decision-makers and poor rural and urban communities. Despite problems the project succeeded in producing and broadcasting a substantial set of programmes by both the community rural and urban radio stations. In at least three of the participating countries, the project increased awareness and knowledge of development issues and encouraged dialogue within communities to determine priorities for advocacy with local government. In Zambia the Project contributed in some way to increased engagement between the poor and local decision-makers in the rural target areas.

The project’s objective was to promote a new socio-political culture in Honduras that recognizes equal participation of women in democratic governance at the local, regional and national levels. The project prioritized women in rural living in extreme poverty. The target women had very few educational opportunities and had rarely participated in politics and in decision-making. The goal of the project was: to raise awareness among citizens on the importance of full and equal women's participation in decision-making processes and equal access to justice; to strengthen the capacity of Civil Society Organisations to influence policy processes; and to institutionalize a Women’s Network at the local level. The project explicitly aimed to integrate the gender approach across all three outcomes.

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.

Aiming to empower young government and civil society leaders from southern Africa to catalyze transformative change in their home institutions and communities, the project had indeed a positive impact on some participants, both professionally and personally. It comprised of four principal components: training, support to “personal reform” projects developed by the trainees, integration of the trainees into an existing network, and evaluation of the reform projects with a view to identifying good practice and replicable initiatives. Overall, however, it represented poor value for money for UNDEF taking into account the high cost (US$350,000), relatively small number of participants, lack of strategies for broader engagement and inadequate outcomes.

Aiming to empower young government and civil society leaders from southern Africa to catalyze transformative change in their home institutions and communities, the project had indeed a positive impact on some participants, both professionally and personally. It comprised of four principal components: training, support to “personal reform” projects developed by the trainees, integration of the trainees into an existing network, and evaluation of the reform projects with a view to identifying good practice and replicable initiatives. Overall, however, it represented poor value for money for UNDEF taking into account the high cost (US$350,000), relatively small number of participants, lack of strategies for broader engagement and inadequate outcomes.

The project identified institutional educational weaknesses and proposed pragmatic approaches to address them. Overall the project was a success. The following elements contributed to the quality of the strategy: an appropriate response to the complex political and social context in the country drawn from the NGO‟s long time experience; a sound assessment of the political context based on long term partnership with education ministries in Bosnia and a good understanding of the targeted audience needs, based on the grantee’s experience of certifying teachers and their involvement in official curricula content design taught in all public schools.