outreach

The project supports young people's participation in local and national issues by developing youth councils and youth councilor training workshops. Young people will have their voices heard on key social and political platforms, and will be better represented at the center of local and national policies and decision-making, within and outside selected councils. Project activities incorporate actions in response to the Covid-19 crisis as it impacts youth.

This two-year project aims at strengthening media to play a role in fostering an effective, inclusive and transparent democracy in Mali. Based on field assessments of media outlets and CSOs, the project will build the capacity of media to report on good governance and human rights issues, break the financial dependency on political sponsorship through training on business skills and greater sector accountability, and help journalists and civil society actors to work together on data projects.

This two-year project aims at strengthening media to play a role in fostering an effective, inclusive and transparent democracy in Mali. Based on field assessments of media outlets and CSOs, the project will build the capacity of media to report on good governance and human rights issues, break the financial dependency on political sponsorship through training on business skills and greater sector accountability, and help journalists and civil society actors to work together on data projects.

Elections in Nigeria, and especially in its oil-producing Niger Delta states, have in the past been disputed and given rise to violence. One of these states, Bayelsa, is due to choose a new governor in 2020 in what is expected to be a hotly contested election. The project seeks to minimize the risk of dispute and help to ensure the election is free, fair, and credible. It will support the Independent Nigerian Electoral Commission to train staff engaged to oversee polling in at-risk areas in the procedures necessary to do so effectively. It will support the creation of a database to register party political agents in three areas, reducing the risk of unidentifiable persons engaging in illegal political activity. Activities will also include voter education across the target areas, aiming to reach 1,350 citizens in workshops and 170,000 via a public campaign, seeking to inform citizens on how to prevent votes from being stolen or manipulated.

The goal of the project was to empower citizens with information about the budget process and public expenditure so as to increase the transparency and accountability of the Nigerian government. The project addressed a lack of easily understandable information on the national budget in Nigeria specifically the problem of public works projects that were promised but never completed. The original project strategy was to use social media to engage local community-based organizations (CBOs) to monitor the completion of mini public works. However, due to limited access to technology and low commitment by the local CBOs, the grantee instead engaged Project Tracking Officers (PTOs) who were equipped with mobile phones and technical skills to undertake project monitoring activities in each targeted community and who were accountable directly to the grantee.  Instead of working with the CBOs, the grantee decided to engage with community leaders as “champions” to involve community members in community project monitoring. However, the broadcast television component of the project - Tracka. - had an impact. This media platform provided a tool for giving feedback to citizens and was very effective in collecting, transferring and sharing the information on the status of the public works

The project was implemented between 2014 and 2016 by the Fundación MicroJusticia Bolivia (MJB), a branch of Microjustice4All (MJ). The project objective was to legally and politically empower members and leaders of indigenous communities, women and men, in La Paz and Oruro to protect and exercise their civil and indigenous rights and participate in democratic decision-making processes. The project objectives included: an increase in the number of people holding basic legal documents; increased awareness in the target groups of the importance of having their basic legal documents (identity, legal, personality) in order; strengthened capacity of members, leaders and organizations of traditionally excluded indigenous communities to participate in democratic processes and to exercise their civil and indigenous rights; and improved access to basic legal documents through evidence-based inputs for institutional reforms through advocacy. The project was timely and relevant to participant needs and the political and cultural context in Bolivia. The potential impact could be extended beyond legal and political rights to also enhance socio-economic development once legalized communities are able to access government projects and resources. The project was cost-efficient and well managed. The project’s focus on community ownership contributed to sustainability of results, though Microjusticia’s own sustainability and ability to operate is dependent on additional external funding.

The project aimed to increase women’s representation in public office as part of wider support for women’s representation in political processes and civic leadership in Fiji. The project strategy was structured around three expected outcomes: increased awareness and knowledge of civic education principles among potential women leaders in Fiji; increased capacity of potential women leaders for active participation in civil leadership within both parliament and administrative boards and councils in Fiji and increased awareness within the broader community of the importance of the involvement of women in political processes and civic leadership in Fiji. The project had some success, in particular in training marginal women who are usually excluded from mainstream education and in working with church groups and political parties from across the political spectrum. Implementation, however, was marred by a number of administrative and management shortcomings including a lack of SMART indicators and irregular communication. In addition, the project encountered a number of external challenges including political tensions that generated delays in implementation and the tropical cyclone in February 2016 that left homeless ten thousands of people.

To increase representation and participation of women in social, economic and political activities in Somalia, the project focused on training and providing support to 20 CSO partners, through mentoring, exchanges, and networking. Grassroots awareness was raised through the CSOs and via the media, as well as through a series of school debates. Advocacy targeting regional and national officials was carried out through meetings and the development of regional and national strategies on women’s empowerment. A final component of the project tested the new capacity of these CSOs, by awarding 10 USD2,000 grants to CSOs which submitted the most innovative projects on women’s empowerment. The project was well designed, with a number of components that helped it both to empower women in the 20 participating CSOs and beyond. It was also timely, given discussions on a new Constitution and elections announced for 2016. The actions planned were carried out and met their targets. There were no superfluous components in the project; each was designed to add value to other parts of the project.