inclusion

The objective of the project was to involve grassroots communities with democratization processes across the Ituri District in the Province Orientale of the Democratic Republic of Congo. To achieve this, the grantee planned to strengthen the capacity of radio listeners’ clubs through training and practical support; to organize community debates using the radio listeners’ clubs; to produce radio broadcasts based on the community debates and on roundtable meetings between communities and officials; and to produce a range of news and educational broadcasts. The project provided local communities with knowledge they could use to convey their concerns to the authorities. It encouraged dialogue by inviting local political leaders to debate with communities and members of radio listeners’ clubs. The various elements of the project formed a well thought-out and organic whole, which was able to foster positive changes at community level. The focus on women’s participation in democratic debates was also relevant, and connected to the emphasis on access to broadcast news.

The context of the project was the period of intense political activity and instability in Egypt following the 2011 revolution. Within a highly volatile environment that included repression of civil society organisations and democracy advocates, the project gave special emphasis to training in the use of social media to stimulate citizen journalism and free exchange of thoughts. Overall the project was relevant in view of the focus on youth which was well supported by baseline assessments that identified low youth participation in democratic processes. It was also important in view of the overall political environment leading up to elections during the time of the project implementation. The focus on social media was also relevant and effective given the role it had played as a catalyst of the Arab Spring.

The project’s principal objectives were to enhance civic participation among Himalayan tribes and empower marginalized groups (women, people with disabilities and nomads); and to engage with governance issues and democratic dialogue. To this end, the project aimed to build a supportive environment for enhanced democratic participation through supporting state and non-state actors. The project consisted of 10 core components creating a continuum of involvement from awareness of rights to access to those rights, supported by the training and mobilization of relevant support actors and those who could make the rights a reality. The project design was logical and very much tuned to the needs of the beneficiaries and other stakeholders in this challenging region. There were no delays in project delivery, since it had been designed with the seasonal obstacles relevant to the target region in mind.

The project aimed to mobilize youth to participate in the presidential election, by reinforcing citizens’ and voters’ knowledge. The beneficiaries were young leaders of women’s and men’s associations from across Burkina Faso, aged 18 – 25, who were involved in and committed to civil society specific activities for the youth. Activities focused on education, training and sensitization and, subsequently, on the development of a group of young leaders that can relay information and training knowledge to members of youth organisations and to the youth of their villages. The project was firmly rooted in the socio-political and cultural context of Burkina Faso. The lack of participation of young citizens in successive elections is intrinsically linked with the lack of education, in particular citizens’ and voters’ education. In the context of a still male-dominated country, the identification of beneficiaries comprising both young men and women was also appropriate to address the political participation of women. The project was also coherent in that it covered the pre-electoral, electoral and post electoral periods.

The project objective was to strengthen the citizenship and democratic skills of women. With virtually no access to civic information and limited opportunities for women to participate in political life including access to positions that involve decision-making, especially in rural areas, the grantee aimed to raise awareness among local authorities and strategic civil society organizations in Haiti, so they would become more engaged in promoting a culture that recognizes the role of women in society, fostering in women and men alike a new perspective on their political participation. The project was implemented in twenty rural communes, notably in very remote, virtually ignored sections of Haiti, which lacked basic, educational and health services. With regards to its objective, the project was fully aligned with current government priorities, and in the context of elections, it recognized the need for women to participate fully in the electoral process, as well as in political affairs and to become aware of their civil rights and rights as citizens.

This project aimed to improve the situation of Nepal's historically marginalized and indigenous Dalit, Muslim and Adivasi groups. The project was undertaken to correspond with the schedule of the country's Constituent Assembly (CA), which was entrusted with the development of a new constitution for Nepal. It developed coalitions among the country's marginalized groups, in order to increase receptiveness of political parties to Dalit and indigenous issues and to reflect them in the new constitution. The grantee made a deliberate effort to provide the marginalized group representatives and those involved in the drafting of the constitution high quality information about issues related to constitutional processes and examples of federalist practice in other countries. Although the Constituent Assembly dissolved without completing its mission, the extent to which the alternative constitution, the project's central output, has contributed to preliminary constitutional drafts of the Constituent Assembly‘s thematic committees demonstrate the project's impact.

This project aimed to promote democratic participation in local government decision-making by creating Municipal Youth Councils. Designed to encourage young people to gain self-confidence and trust one another the project focused on civic education for local leaders; the creation of Municipal Youth Councils in the targeted villages; and the development of group and individual employment and social projects addressing the social and economic needs of the villages. There project was coherent and relevant. The skills and knowledge from the training were applied to concrete activities that fostered changes in the young people’s behaviour and their effective participation in decision-making.

The project organized training for judges and activities to create discussion among magistrates on the adoption of the Ethical and Deontological Code in Niger. The project objectives were: to improve the capacity of investigating judges, prosecuting attorneys and state prosecutors to fight economic and financial crimes related to public finance; to increase the magistracy body’s knowledge of the Ethical and Deontological Code’s principles; and to establish a network of specialised judges to fight economic and financial crimes related to public finance. These thematic areas, such as the fight against economic and financial crimes and the raising of moral standards among the magistracy, were relevant for the country in terms of building judicial transparency. While the training and awareness-raising activities aimed to improve the functioning of justice and at improving ethics, the project’s design was not based on a thorough screening of available information about the main issues faced by judges, and also lacked a clear methodological approach.

The project’s objective was to build the capacity at the grassroots level regarding democracy. This objective was pursued through training the population about citizen rights and freedoms, including establishing a permanent observatory for national and local electoral consultations, and the communication of information supporting the construction of a democratic state. The intervention directly targeted vulnerable groups, farmers (both women and men); and on a wider level also reached out to development actors, trainers of trainers and local facilitators; and employees of local, administrative and communal authorities. The project aimed to provide appropriate responses to the needs and difficulties faced by target beneficiary groups - women and vulnerable groups who were unable to take part in the electoral process. The method and the content of the training sessions as well as the message communicated via the educational media adopted were consistent with the project's objectives. It was also in line with the priorities set out in the country’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.

The objective of the project was to promote democratic culture at all levels in society irrespective of social status, political, religious, ethnic or regional allegiance. Activities included awareness-raising of rural populations on the concept of democracy; training of local elites on participatory democracy, human rights and citizenship; information, education and communication to promote participation in the 2010 presidential elections and in local elections; and debates in secondary and high schools on democratic values and principles. While the grantee responded to a priority need in Togo for the development of a democratic culture, significant weaknesses in design and implementation limited the project’s relevance. Important stakeholders such as the judicial and law-enforcement sectors were not addressed by the project’s actions and there were months-long periods when very few activities were implemented.