needs

The project aimed to improve the understanding and capacity of 150 civil society organizations (CSOs) to mobilize youth, women and minority groups so that they could participate in democratic processes at the grassroots level in 25 districts. Its intended outcomes were: improved understanding among civil society on democracy and advocacy skills for good governance; and increased participation of youth, women and minorities and their organizations in democratic processes. The design was ambitious in geographic scope and in the number of CSO participants, especially for the level of funding. This limited the number of activities that each CSO could undertake because it spread the funding out between so many different organizations and locations. This resulted in a number of CSOs losing interest in the project. The project also did not tailor its activities to the different needs and context of the different districts and target groups. All of the above affected the project’s relevance.

The main objective of the project was to strengthen democratic processes and the rule of law, through the progressive incorporation of grass-roots organizations and marginalized sections of the Moroccan society in elaborating and monitoring public policy. The project strategy was structured around capacity building of civil society organizations to participate in democratic mechanisms, and support to marginalized groups, in particular women and youth, to foster their inclusion as protagonists in the management of public affairs. In the context of the Morocco’s democratic transition, the project’s efforts to promote the new Constitution was very useful, as most civil society organizations were unacquainted with concepts and mechanisms of participatory democracy, as well as with the new prerogatives as set in the country’s 2011 Constitution.

The aim of the project in Guatemala was to increase the participation of Q´eqchi youth, especially women, in individual and collective decision-making and democratic processes in the municipality of Sayaxché, department of Petén. The project strategy was structured around two activities: training young people on citizens’ rights and participatory democracy; and creating organized youth spaces to foster the participation of young people in political decision-making processes. Civic awareness-raising and training sessions for young people from 23 communities belonging to five micro-regions within the municipality of Sayaxché were held. The project then attempted to institutionalise structures by creating two youth associations. These associations were expected to draft a proposal for public policy on youth at the municipal level, which would be presented to the local government for adoption. These activities contributed to the improvement of the quality of political participation of young people and to the strengthening of the process of decentralization which promotes civic participation at the local level.

The aim of the project in Guatemala was to increase the participation of Q´eqchi youth, especially women, in individual and collective decision-making and democratic processes in the municipality of Sayaxché, department of Petén. The project strategy was structured around two activities: training young people on citizens’ rights and participatory democracy; and creating organized youth spaces to foster the participation of young people in political decision-making processes. Civic awareness-raising and training sessions for young people from 23 communities belonging to five micro-regions within the municipality of Sayaxché were held. The project then attempted to institutionalise structures by creating two youth associations. These associations were expected to draft a proposal for public policy on youth at the municipal level, which would be presented to the local government for adoption. These activities contributed to the improvement of the quality of political participation of young people and to the strengthening of the process of decentralization which promotes civic participation at the local level.

The objective of the project was to reinforce the capacities of Arab citizen journalists and bloggers in relation to the promotion and protection of human rights. The project was relevant as a human rights education activity, to the extent it responded to the fact that the targeted bloggers and journalists were not always familiar with the human rights principles and the international procedures for the protection of human rights. The project activities led to the acquisition of new skills by the participants which contributed to changes in the way they have carried out their blogging and journalistic work after the training sessions. It is of course not clear that the participants’ work has influenced the wider public. However, comments posted by readers suggest that some of the participants were able to encourage tolerant attitudes among their readers, for example in relation to gender equality or in debates about democracy.

The project’s objective was to increase the role of youth in public affairs and policy development in 20 locations in Pakistan. Its intended outcomes were: a strengthened networking and institutional capacities of the programme; enhanced understanding of the Voice of New Generation youth on social, political and development issues; and increased participation of Voice of New Generation groups in research and advocacy for policy making on youth issues.   The project design addressed issues directly relevant to youth and incorporated community based organizations into programme delivery which helped ensure an effective intervention and continuity of efforts. However, it assumed all participants were literate, had internet access, and the time and drive to develop and sustain a Voice of a New Generation effort within their area. This was the case for only a small minority of the targeted youth. This significantly reduced the relevance of the project.

The objective of the project was to reduce gender disparity and gender-based violence in eight flood affected districts of Pakistan. Its intended outcomes were: increased awareness of gender issues; increased progress towards certain Millennium Development Goals (MDG 3: gender equality and empowerment of women; MDG 4: reduced child mortality; and, MDG 5: improved maternal health); and increased capacity of women to counter gender discrimination and to hold government accountable. The project objectives were directly relevant to the needs to strengthen gender rights and equity within Pakistan and especially within rural, marginalized flood prone areas The grantee took a rights based approach that integrated men as well as women into the project activities and structures. This increased project relevance for the communities and helped to ensure that the women were able to participate in these male dominated areas.

The project was to promote journalistic content countering negative images of women and reinforce the role of women journalists in the media, including at leadership level. The project’s impact was very clear in Niger were it contributed to the publication of a “Charter for the Improvement of the Image of Women in the Media”. In Mali and Burkina Faso, stakeholders mentioned positive changes in relation to journalists’ training on the use of oral testimony. The Femedia prizes given as part of the project had an impact beyond those journalists and media houses that participated in the competition. However, the overall impact of the project could have been greater if the grantee had developed and implemented an explicit advocacy strategy addressing government authorities and media regulators. As it was, the project only addressed these stakeholders indirectly.

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.