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LESSON

Lesson Learned: Using Access to Information to Foster Open Expenditure and Budget Transparency in Liberia


Newspaper coverage of a certain issue will have a wider reach than simply the number of copies printed. Stories about controversial or pertinent issues are often debated and discussed on community radio stations which have wider coverage.


Project Partner
Liberia Media Center
Project Description
This project seeks to enhance the fight against corruption in Liberia, by fostering accountability and fiscal transparency in the public sector. It will also foster increased public advocacy in favour of anti-corruption actions and expenditure transparency. Public understanding and input in transparency and anti-corruption efforts will be buttressed by increased media coverage of these issues. Trained journalists in transparency and anti-corruption reporting, will investigate on development projects, and a team of anticorruption champions based in community radio stations, will be activated to advocate for redress, monitor and increased public awareness in the fight against corruption.
Evaluation Date
December 2018
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Am I Equal in Kosovo Society?


When attempting to introduce or change perceptions of previously controversial and/or 'taboo' topics, organizations should highly consider the use of radio and TV in order to remove these concepts from social marginalization/isolation and encourage public debate on these topics.


Project Partner
INC Network of Media
Project Description
The project aims to enhance the role of women in Kosovo, through media, by focusing on three key topics: violence against women, discrimination in employment, and sexual harassment. The project will raise awareness on the above mentioned issues via radio, TV, and internet; increasing the capacity of women and key stakeholders through training, workshops, and meetings. Additionally, the project will directly engage with public authorities and private employers to advocate for the implementation of anti-discriminatory laws, policies and practices.
Evaluation Date
July 2018
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Supporting local democratic governance in the mining regions of northern Upper Guinea

The training materials could have been more relevant and accessible to the target beneficiaries. The resources should have been translated into the most frequently used languages. Learning materials should have also incorporated more visual elements and used radio broadcasts since many of the beneficiaries were illiterate.
Project Partner
Centre d'Appui pour le Developpement Economique et Social
Project Description
The project’s overall objective was to strengthen local democratic governance in mining regions in northern Upper Guinea in order to promote socio-economic development. Specifically the project aimed to enhance civic participation and transparency in public administration in the three urban municipalities of Dabola, inguiraye and Kouroussa. The grantee set out to create transparent spaces for civic participation and consultation; as well to strengthen drafting skills and to promote local governance such as Local Development Plans, an Annual Investment Plan and municipal budgets. The activities aimed to empower the most vulnerable groups, women and young people. The project was relevant since it addressed the main problems facing public administrations - a lack of knowledge and skills within local government and the reluctance of citizens to get involved and to participate in managing public affairs.
Evaluation Date
September 2016
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Promotion of Women’s Empowerment and Rights in Somalia

The CSOs were fully involved in a series of TV and radio debates both as panelists and audiences. These were a good way to give the CSOs an opportunity to speak out, to engage local journalists in the issues, and to broaden the discourse on women’s empowerment. TV and particularly radio are the most common forms of information dissemination in a region where literacy rates are low.
Project Partner
Centre for Education and Development
Project Description
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.
Evaluation Date
June 2016
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Democratic Participation of Maya Communities in Rural Guatemala

Through the creation of a Community Broadcasters School, 28 young adults were trained, 22 of whom are still actively participating in broadcasting using the comprehensive guide produced by the project. The project expanded the transmission capacity and coverage of existing radio station Comunitaria Tzuultaq’a which in turn was able to reach a wider audience. The programme voiced community interests and gave a status of community spokespersons to the broadcasters trained.

Project Partner
Asociacion Probienestar en Accion - Saaq Ach'oool Nimla Kaleb'aal
Project Description
The project’s goal was to increase the recognition of traditional authorities and women of the Indigenous Communities of northern Alta Verapaz and their participation in decision-making processes and administration of justice. The grantee targeted groups who have historically lacked opportunity to participate in the decision-making at the local and national level, including leaders from the 33 indigenous communities officially recognized by the municipalities of Chisec and Raxruhá in northern Alta Verapaz, and the Maya women´s groups belonging to the Association of Organized Q´eqchi’ (AQT) in Chisec. The overall objective of the project was to promote the recognition of indigenous groups. In practice, the project established conditions for inclusive urban and rural development council systems, encouraging indigenous peoples and women in particular, to voice their concerns and get involved in decision making processes. This approach filled a gap in the existing consultation mechanisms and conveyed the needs of communities to the authorities in charge of the design of local development projects.
Evaluation Date
June 2015
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Involving women and youth CSOs in strengthening democratic debate and public news media around elections in Afghanistan

The grantee intended to engage with local civil society organizations and its radio network to develop a new system of reporting that would be informed by youth and women’s voice and monitoring efforts, and produced public awareness messages to increase their targeted groups’ understanding of the Afghan democratic context. This was extremely relevant to the needs of the Afghan electoral and democratization processes. Although women and youth have gained significant rights in the democratic system, they are still marginalized by tradition and culture.
Project Partner
Development Humanitarian Services Afghanistan / The Killid Group
Project Description
Involving women and youth CSOs in strengthening democratic debate and public news media around elections in Afghanistan sought to strengthen the voice of civil society and foster sustainable democratic practices within Afghanistan by generating a deeper public debate among women and youth groups around the 2014 presidential electoral process. The project lost relevance however in implementation. Only a few activities were done in the pre-electoral period and only a portion of the intended CSO-journalist elements were done. In addition, the predominate use of Pashto in the round tables and reporting, narrowed its relevance to the two-thirds of the country that use Dari.
Evaluation Date
March 2015
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Involving women and youth CSOs in strengthening democratic debate and public news media around elections in Afghanistan

The grantee intended to engage with local civil society organizations and its radio network to develop a new system of reporting that would be informed by youth and women’s voice and monitoring efforts, and produced public awareness messages to increase their targeted groups’ understanding of the Afghan democratic context. The use of radio to diffuse information was particularly relevant given Afghanistan’s difficult terrain and the rural nature of much of its population, who rely primarily on radio for information.
Project Partner
Development Humanitarian Services Afghanistan / The Killid Group
Project Description
Involving women and youth CSOs in strengthening democratic debate and public news media around elections in Afghanistan sought to strengthen the voice of civil society and foster sustainable democratic practices within Afghanistan by generating a deeper public debate among women and youth groups around the 2014 presidential electoral process. The project lost relevance however in implementation. Only a few activities were done in the pre-electoral period and only a portion of the intended CSO-journalist elements were done. In addition, the predominate use of Pashto in the round tables and reporting, narrowed its relevance to the two-thirds of the country that use Dari.
Evaluation Date
March 2015
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: JOINT Contribution to Strengthen and Expand Democracy in Mozambique

The project lacked a media strategy to raise awareness about governance issues. Although references were made in the project document to addressing journalists at local level, there were no specific plans to develop an advocacy or media strategy. This could have involved, for example, the systematic use of local community radios to spread the project’s messages about governance.
Project Partner
JOINT, Mozambican NGOs league
Project Description
The project aimed to increase the knowledge and capacities of local organizations and marginalized groups; enhance dialogue among civil society and marginalized groups, private sectors and the government; and ensure participation of marginalized groups in the democratic processes and achievement of advocacy for civil rights protection and promotion. The project was implemented in seven districts of Manica province, in central Mozambique. While the project correctly identified issues of political participation and NGO capacity building that were of genuine concern in Manica province, there were weaknesses in project design - the project did not directly address the structural and operational weaknesses of NGOs. And while the project’s expected outcomes were weaker than planned, the fact that the activities that were planned in a remote province, in locations that were sometimes difficult to to access because of weather conditions and occasional political violence, was in itself a significant achievement
Evaluation Date
June 2014
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Grassroots Gender Accountability in Uganda

Investigative journalism was intended to critically review shortcomings discovered by VBCs throughout the project’s target districts; TV and radio shows were meant to overcome the lack of interfaces between the local population and duty bearers and to serve as a strategy for increased accountability. Furthermore, NGOs are still inviting the grantee’s Kibaale field officer to radio shows to share the approach and achievements of the monitoring work with a wider audience. One particular radio station has even offered free airtime. There is hence relevant impact towards transparent, gender-responsive local service provision in the form of vivid online readership discussion and comments in relation to the project’s investigative journalism outputs.
Project Partner
Forum for Women in Democracy
Project Description
The project worked to help women district councillors acquire knowledge and to push the equality agenda with policy makers. The project’s advocacy activities led to improved gender-sensitive service delivery, as the local government budgeted for enhanced services for women and girls. In September 2016, two years after the end of the project, the Government announced that gender sensitive indicators will be used to ensure that all sectors adhere to gender equality in decision making and service delivery in the country.. Visibly empowered district and sub-county councillors expressed with pride their new influence on the gender-sensitive application of laws, policies and local budgets. Former women MP trainees proudly cooperated across party lines on priority issues of the Ugandan women in parliamentary committees. The approach of putting in place a monitoring system that was run by Village Budget Clubs (VBCs) and district councillors alike was appropriate. The project’s training methodology ensured the transfer of necessary skills such as gender-sensitive analysis, budgeting, caucusing, lobbying and advocacy.
Evaluation Date
April 2014
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Advocacy Capacity of Civil Society in The Gambia

To raise awareness during NGO week in Gambia, NGOS organized exhibition stalls, panel discussions, and live radio broadcasts to explain how they contribute to improvements of basic service delivery. This led to many people who visited asking for more information about how to claim their rights and entitlements. One case involved a local woman, whose stall and contents were seized by the police, when she tried trading vegetables on an informal street market. Proving that she is a regular taxpayer and stating the fact that the town has no official marketplace for women to sell their items, she successfully reclaimed her produce and today still sells in the same place.



 

 
Project Partner
Concern Universal
Project Description
The project targeted the Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (TANGO) in the Gambia, and more specifically its 121 member NGOs (including the staff of some 60 NGOs) including over 2,000 members (community based organizations, religious and cultural bodies, youth organizations, trade unions and farmer associations). While the country has a plan for decentralization, the implementation of the plan has been incomplete. Civil society in the country has lacked advocacy capacity and communication channels to cooperate with regional and local level administrations so that decision making takes into account the most pressing needs of citizens.  The project attempted to increase the level of understanding between government and civil society about the positive effect that joint dialogue could have while aiming to increase the association of NGO members’ capacity to effectively engage with the government on issues of concern to civil society. The project in most cases achieved or exceeded the targeted outputs. Beneficiaries praised the usefulness of the advocacy strategy framework tool the project introduced. In addition, advocacy skills trainees confirmed that the knowledge they acquired serve their professional needs. In addition, the project’s communication forum effectively informed the public discussion about discrepancies between legal provisions and current policies.
Evaluation Date
December 2013
Country