government

The aim of the project was to empower CSOs to promote democracy in Mexico through real and effective civic engagement, the exercise of human rights, and support for political dialogue. The project also sought to encourage the active participation of youth and women in local democracy- and citizenship-building activities to improve their ability to influence policy and impact local governance. The project offered a framework for improving the exercise of citizenship and mobilizing key civil society stakeholders, who realized the role they could play in devising, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating public policies. The training and citizen networking initiatives to increase participation and influence in the public sphere, the preparation of thematic agendas, and the drafting of legislative proposals were important models for democratic practices in a society characterized by civic passivity in the last 10 years. The project beneficiaries as a group were willing to get more directly involved in public affairs and the project has provided them with the tools and publications they need.. However, better links between and organization of the CSOs needs to take place to improve their ability to act in the social and political sphere.

The project aimed to improve understanding of transparency and accountability in the governance of the extractive sector in Kazakhstan. The project emphasised understanding of the extractive sector’s impact on poverty, environmental vulnerability, labour conditions and rights, income and access to services. Activities focused on multiple stakeholders operating in five regions of Kazakhstan, with the goal of developing more transparent, accountable, and effective institutions that would expand citizen participation and promote more sustainable development. The project targeted areas where extractive industries are important economic actors and where civil society needs increased capacity or support to more effectively engage in governance. Project activities tackled the gap in access to usable outside information through research, analysis, and outreach. Collaborative learning tactics supported increased local engagement.

The project undertook an advocacy campaign to support the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which was signed by the government of Georgia in 2009 but not ratified. The overall development goal of the campaign was to counter the social and economic exclusion of disabled people in Georgia. The project produced a number of media outputs - radio and TV broadcasts, information spots, and organized several events. These activities significantly improved the availability of information about disabled persons and contributed to a change in public perception. Given the magnitude of the needs of persons with disabilities and the of lack access to professional training, the project also included a pilot scheme for vocational education. This pilot led to the improvement of the living conditions and employment prospects for a first group of beneficiaries.

The main focus of the project in Côte d’Ivoire was to put in place five departmental committees and one national committee for the monitoring of democracy and good governance. By strengthening the capacity of the members of these committees, the project promoted voluntary involvement in the management of communes and the exercise of civic control. By relying on the country’s policy of decentralization, the project helped local populations develop an interest in governing local affairs through learning about their roles as citizens. This was done through cooperation and engaging in dialogue with locally elected leaders. With this project the grantee integrated strategic priorities of the national decentralization policy into local governance. It also managed to take into account the context of the Ivorian crisis, which was characterized by a weakness of democracy and poor governance. It was therefore a kind of post-crisis pilot project on raising awareness and approaches to training in democratic education and good governance. The project could have applied a more nuanced approach in relation to the different groups that were part of the target population, particularly women and young people and provided more local support.

The project’s overall objective was to establish a robust civil society, to hold government to account and to effectively involve citizens in decision-making. The project design was built, around the central role of a group of 18 facilitators, drawn from nine member organizations of the grantee’s own Iraq Civic Action Network, each of them based in one of the target provinces in Iraq. Each of these organizations was also the implementing organization at the project level. All of the stakeholder groups confirmed that the project provided practical knowledge on how to play an effective role in the political process and on how to become involved in decision-making. The grantee’s experience in organizing activities to strengthen local leadership and build up the knowledge and skills of representatives of local organizations, including political parties, proved to be an important asset in supporting a project strategy which fitted well with overall objectives, as well as the priorities of beneficiaries.

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.

The project aimed to increase the political participation of indigenous (tribal) communities and community based organizations (CBOs) in the Rangamati Hill District of Bangladesh leading to an increase in their demand for more responsive public services and policies. The project set out to do this by increasing the dialogue between formal and traditional forms of local governance. Specifically, the project’s objectives were: enhance the capacities of local government leaders, CBOs and tribal community leaders; enable better coordination between stakeholders; and, promote democratic processes to ensure pro-poor service delivery and resource allocation. Its intended outcomes were: empowered CBOs and alternative community leaders; improved participation by traditional community leaders in the formal governance system; increased women’s participation; more pro-poor gender-sensitive local services; greater trust between the different stakeholders - indigenous inhabitants, Bengalis, CBOs and local government - and regular media reporting on governance issues in the Rangamati Hill District. The project did seem to help resolve small but important issues for the communities, and helped to increase the visibility of the open budget system by promoting its use by its committees. It also seems to have increased the general level of awareness of project participants on governance issues.

The project was built on the grantee's experience of the most urgent problems of local communities in the Niger Delta, and particularly of women, youth and other vulnerable groups. It aimed to engage with three sets of stakeholders: CSOs at local level in the nine Niger Delta states; representatives of marginalized groups (women, youth and the disabled); and officials from three branches of government. The project’s focus on working with the CSOs and beneficiary groups in strengthening the basis for broader-based citizen participation in the political process was highly relevant to addressing the democratic deficit in a region where there is widespread distrust of the governing authorities and the absence of a belief that the voices of the people will make a difference in decision-making. Despite some limitations overall, the project proved to be effective in building the capacities of its target groups, in enhancing their self-confidence, and in motivating many to take further action. Follow-up activities undertaken by participants included “stepping down” the training to others in their local networks, and organizing advocacy and public awareness initiatives. The project succeeded in contributing to increasing the levels of participation in the public realm by both CSOs and beneficiary groups.

The project in Tanzania targeted civil society in the Dodoma region. Most of the population depends on agriculture. The grantee worked with farmers and pastoralists as well as local NGOs, local government officials and community members, to develop more inclusive and responsive development policies, strategies and programmes. The grantee combined awareness raising activities focusing on development programmes to enhance the local population’s engagement in policy dialogue and advocacy with capacity building in development programme process monitoring.

The project aimed to improve environmental conditions in Viet Nam. The grantee worked with the Vietnam Institute of Human Rights (VIHR) of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and Public Administration (HCMPA) to prepare a curriculum for high-level government officials designed to provide a better understanding of the benefits of civil society participation in environmental policy. The grantee also worked with the Center of Environmental Training and Communications (CETAC) of the Vietnam Environmental Administration (VEA) to train journalists in the use of independent research methods and sources of investigation. In addition, the project supported the capacity building of local NGOs in the areas of strategic planning, financial management, and communications, in order to help them address key donor expectations.