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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.

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 overall objective of the project was to empower Rwandan youth to play an active role in the democratic process and good governance of their country, and to understand and stand up for human rights to further nation-building processes. The project targeted 7,000 youth members of Never Again Rwanda (NAR) clubs and associations to make them “ambassadors of change”. The targeted youth were to “reach out” to other young people and the general public through “knowledge and skills sharing and advocacy initiatives and drives”. The key activities of the project were to: train youth on human rights and advocacy skills; hold debates and theatre shows on human rights and democracy; and support the trained youth to play a role in democratic processes and good governance. The project was generally well designed in that it took into account the sensitive socio-political context of Rwanda under its post-genocide government.

The project aimed to increase the political participation of indigenous (tribal) communities and community based organizations (CBOs) in the Rangamati Hill District of Bangladesh leading to an increase in their demand for more responsive public services and policies. The project set out to do this by increasing the dialogue between formal and traditional forms of local governance. Specifically, the project’s objectives were: enhance the capacities of local government leaders, CBOs and tribal community leaders; enable better coordination between stakeholders; and, promote democratic processes to ensure pro-poor service delivery and resource allocation. Its intended outcomes were: empowered CBOs and alternative community leaders; improved participation by traditional community leaders in the formal governance system; increased women’s participation; more pro-poor gender-sensitive local services; greater trust between the different stakeholders - indigenous inhabitants, Bengalis, CBOs and local government - and regular media reporting on governance issues in the Rangamati Hill District. The project did seem to help resolve small but important issues for the communities, and helped to increase the visibility of the open budget system by promoting its use by its committees. It also seems to have increased the general level of awareness of project participants on governance issues.

The project aimed to obtain measurable improvements in Ghana’s constitutional and governance mechanisms by providing technical input and advocacy platforms for civil society actors to research and build a constituency for constitutional and legal reform in key governance areas. The project related closely to the grantee’s mission, i.e. the promotion of democracy, good governance and the development of a liberal economic environment. The grantee’s intervention was relevant in its focus on efforts to take practical action to address priorities in democratic development, and in ensuring that the priority concerns of Ghanaian civil society, as well as the interests of ordinary citizens - through a national public opinion survey that the grantee organized - were heard. The strategy adopted by the project was judged to be appropriate and its reports to the Constitutional Review Commission and the proposals which they contained were seen as highly relevant to its deliberations.

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 Electoral Justice Principles for Trust in the Electoral Process project sought to raise the integrity standard of the electoral processes in Africa by addressing the relations between the key electoral justice institutions and their relevance and accessibility to the electorate. Its main objectives were to: produce a set of electoral justice principles drafted by a group of chief justices and senior electoral and political leaders from Africa and other continents; and support the implementation of these principles in two African countries. Its intended outcomes were to increase trust in electoral justice authorities; reduce violence related to electoral dispute settlements, and to have political parties, candidates and civil society organizations (CSOs) in the pilot implementation country able to claim, advocate and defend rights for public integrity consultations. The project undertook minimal consultations with the large and dynamic electoral assistance sector and missed opportunities to tap its experience, explore collaboration and develop synergies with other efforts, such as the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Security that promote the integrity of elections. The norms themselves were not disseminated as planned so awareness of them is extremely limited and they were not endorsed by any international organization as anticipated. Most of those interviewed felt the principles needed wider consultations and did not have the weight required to make significant changes. The project was not Africa-specific and African involvement was limited primarily to the launch in Ghana and the APEJ-SL. The principles and guidelines were global in scope, and were not tailored to Sierra Leone for the pilot. It also focused on general electoral integrity issues and lacked a clear focus on electoral justice and how specifically this could be achieved through the creation of a steering committee.

The project aimed to raise women’s awareness of their rights as citizens, while also increasing the participation and representation of women in political life. To this end, the project aimed to increase the capacity of selected women’s NGOs in all seven regions of the country. The grantee developed a training-of-trainers’ (ToT) manual and a training guide; organized and delivered a ToT course in 14 centres, two in each region of the country; and encouraged the 350 graduates of the ToT program to each deliver training courses themselves, utilizing the manual and training guide. Deep gender disparities continued to exist in Turkish social and economic life, and many women were quite unaware of their rights as citizens. The project was directly relevant to this problem, as it sought to enhance the capacity of women activists, who were engaged with improving the lives of other women, by enhancing their knowledge of the concepts of gender equality, of women’s rights as citizens, and of practical measures which might be taken to enable women to defend themselves against injustice.

The project’s objective was to enhance the quality of rural women’s political participation by raising their awareness of fundamental rights; the advantages of democracy and the importance of participation. The grantee aimed to mobilize and motivate rural women to actively participate in political life, and to organize them to take collective efforts on their own behalf.  Activities were targeted at both women and men in 680 communities in Sindh Province, Pakistan, and included data collection, participatory meetings, extensive media campaigns and social gatherings to stimulate community discussion, and the organization of local groups to promote and protect women’s rights. The project was relevant, given the fact that democratic participation in Pakistan, especially of women, was low. Underlying causes included the male-dominated social system, low awareness of fundamental freedoms and democratic rights, and a general lack of confidence in democratic processes.

The project aimed to strengthen the leadership of women elected into Gram Panchayats (Village Councils) in the state of Rajasthan. Project activities were undertaken pre- and post-elections. Pre-election the activities involved championing the women candidates. Post-election the project focused on helping women fulfill their roles and responsibilities as elected women representatives (EWRs). A pre-election campaign focused on the dissemination of simplified, complete and accurate information. The goal of this information was to counter various myths and misunderstandings that were used to discourage prospective women candidates. Campaign materials were well researched and created with great care, taking into account local needs and conditions. Following the elections, residential leadership workshops instilled confidence, self-respect, dignity and solidarity among the women representatives.