collaborate

The main objective of the project was to strengthen the capacity grassroots organizations, and enhance the participation of citizens in governance to promote a democratic culture in Kenya and in eastern and central Africa. While some project activities were highly relevant and empowering to individual beneficiaries, others lacked follow-up. Among the project’s successes were the election observation trainings which had a multiplier effect with grassroots organizations. Following the workshop trainings, 12 observation groups were established to monitor the Kenyan election of 2013, all of which later obtained a long-term accreditation status as election observers. In general, the project was activity-driven which made outcomes and institutional impact difficult to assess. Project design showed some weaknesses, as several challenges that appeared during implementation could have been anticipated by the grantee beforehand. For example, the shortage of staff and a better coordination with the electoral timeline in Kenya could have ensured a smoother implementation.

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.

Increasing Women’s Participation in Politics and Decision Making in Angola targeted the women’s organizations of Angola’s political parties and other platforms that work to promote the political empowerment of women. Participants found the issues addressed by the project interesting and appreciated the participatory methodology, which encouraged interaction among people who in many cases were from different political parties, enabling them to get to know one another. However, the decline of the grantee’s institutional capacity substantially lessened the project’s potential impact.

Increasing Women’s Participation in Politics and Decision Making in Angola targeted the women’s organizations of Angola’s political parties and other platforms that work to promote the political empowerment of women. Participants found the issues addressed by the project interesting and appreciated the participatory methodology, which encouraged interaction among people who in many cases were from different political parties, enabling them to get to know one another. However, the decline of the grantee’s institutional capacity substantially lessened the project’s potential impact.

The Electoral Justice Principles for Trust in the Electoral Process project sought to raise the integrity standard of the electoral processes in Africa by addressing the relations between the key electoral justice institutions and their relevance and accessibility to the electorate. Its main objectives were to: produce a set of electoral justice principles drafted by a group of chief justices and senior electoral and political leaders from Africa and other continents; and support the implementation of these principles in two African countries. Its intended outcomes were to increase trust in electoral justice authorities; reduce violence related to electoral dispute settlements, and to have political parties, candidates and civil society organizations (CSOs) in the pilot implementation country able to claim, advocate and defend rights for public integrity consultations. The project undertook minimal consultations with the large and dynamic electoral assistance sector and missed opportunities to tap its experience, explore collaboration and develop synergies with other efforts, such as the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Security that promote the integrity of elections. The norms themselves were not disseminated as planned so awareness of them is extremely limited and they were not endorsed by any international organization as anticipated. Most of those interviewed felt the principles needed wider consultations and did not have the weight required to make significant changes. The project was not Africa-specific and African involvement was limited primarily to the launch in Ghana and the APEJ-SL. The principles and guidelines were global in scope, and were not tailored to Sierra Leone for the pilot. It also focused on general electoral integrity issues and lacked a clear focus on electoral justice and how specifically this could be achieved through the creation of a steering committee.

The project sought to strengthen policy processes in eight countries -- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan – by improving the capability of independent civil society organizations to engage in policy debates. Activities included two training workshops, two regional networking conferences, and supervised research during the course of which eight policy fellows produced research papers. The project promoted sharing of experiences among CSOs operating in often isolated and difficult settings. The project also allowed NGOs to benefit from the experience of NGOs in countries such as the Baltics and countries in Eastern Europe where CSOs were a positive force for democratic development.

The project aimed to develop the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) into a functional institution able to protect and enforce human rights in line with Ethiopian laws and international norms and standards. As the EHRC was a relatively young institution, the grantee did not only focus on the development of human rights protection skills, but prioritized in the project’s initial phase also the development of operational management capacity. The grantee could have adjusted the initial project plan to avoid overlap with activities already implemented under the Democratic Institutions Programme managed by UNDP. The relevance of the project was further limited by the grantee’s weak risk assessment and mitigation. The original design failed to appreciate the risks surrounding the project, most importantly the international grantee took permission to set up an office in Addis for granted which it then did not obtain. The project also appeared unprepared to address the challenging political environment in which the EHRC operated.

The purpose of Citizens' Platform for Democratic Debates & Dialogues in Afghanistan was to address the misunderstanding of democratic values and human rights in the Afghan context. The project planned to clarify and deepen understanding of democratic values among Afghan people, especially among women and other marginalized or vulnerable groups and in rural areas, by conducting research on five pillars of democratic values in international and Afghan contexts, disseminating awareness-raising or educational programs, and establishing a media platform for debates.

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.

Media, Transparency and Accountability in Albania sought to strengthen the role of the Albanian media to promote transparency and government accountability by 1) investigating and informing citizens on issues of civic concern and corruption, and 2) developing, implementing and enforcing its own ethical and professional standards. The project did help to improve the media’s capacity to investigate and inform citizens on issues of corruption and civic concern, but that the difficulty in airing the shows on national TV, and in particular, national public TV, limited its potential impact, as did the lack of synergies with other anti-corruption or good governance activities. The mix of local and national topics for its reports seemed appropriate as it attracted the interest of both audiences and drew national attention to some of the problems in the local areas.