stakeholder

The inclusion of political parties in the development and planning of activities during the project design phase could have further enriched the initiative's relevance and ensured a broader and more inclusive platform for youth participation in Mozambique's democratic development processes. In this project, specific activities aimed at encouraging youth involvement in political parties resulted in eighty-nine percent of the project beneficiaries registering with political parties. However, the potential for even greater youth involvement in political activities could have been realized by involving political party representatives in the design of tailored activities to promote active participation and enhance engagement in party-related initiatives.

Meaningful and transformative change to safeguard rights of transgender community is possible through legislative action. Creating adequate legal frameworks and making justice work for transgender community requires rigorous policy advocacy and extensive engagement with policy and law makers. In this case, while the grantee took a number of initiatives including legal and policy review as well as development of a draft law on Transgender Rights, it met with limited success to generate ownership to steer the legal reform process due to limited engagement with parliamentarians and policy makers.

Connected, aware and empowered CSOs and Human Rights Defenders can become a strong catalyst for change at the grassroots level in order to promote local action aimed at promoting transgender persons’ rights. In this case, the engagement provided them a chance to liaise and establish a link with government officials and departments which continued beyond the project.

Project design processes must carefully think through the outputs required for outcomes to be achieved and be realistic in what transformation training can bring in a relatively short period of time to a political party, which is not just a technical entity, but a political body. One training on LGBTQI+ issues for a political party is unlikely to trigger significant policy or legal changes in a two-year period.

Engagement with, and mapping of, prospective national institutional stakeholders in advance of a project taking place is critical to ensuring that the activities proposed align with their interests and priorities and are feasible in the timeframes proposed.

Clarity around how, and who, to engage within political party structures is important for targeting interventions at those most likely to embed learning in the structure. But even when internal learning structures within political parties are engaged – like the ANCs OR Tambo School of Leadership, a lack of resources to cascade learning can limit the number of indirect beneficiaries.

The grantee organization LBH Apik and its local chapters are well-established grassroots organizations with internal systems and procedures in place. Building good rapport with local stakeholders was one of the key strengths of LBH Apik and a good strategy to secure commitment and can be continued in future programmes.

The project applied a “three-pronged approach” (involving the participation of government institutions (state services), media, and CSOs) which proved to be highly effective in breaking down barriers, forming new networks, and improving access to human rights and essential services in a highly unstable environment.

Given the high relevance and importance of the “truth-o-meter”, the design should have paid more attention (and allocate the necessary resources) to the promotion and communication of the tool and the results. There could have been public conferences and/or round tables with all concerned MPs, CSOs, communities, and media to discuss findings and generate public debates. Therefore, promoting innovative tools to a wide range of stakeholders is as important as their development, otherwise the impact of such tools remains limited and untapped.

One of the main problems of this project was that its design robustness could have been reinforced by a more detailed and comprehensive needs assessment in smaller vs. bigger municipalities in order to avoid obsolescence in some big municipalities. Consequently, inappropriate and generalised needs assessments that lead to a “one size fits all” approach can negatively affect the impact’s likelihood.