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training

LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening the Leadership of Women in Local Democracy – Gram Panchayats (Village Councils in India)

The training methods used by the grantee were appreciated by the participants. Trainees enjoyed gathering for several days in residential workshops, away from their home. They described with enthusiasm how the training generated environments that were free of discriminatory patterns and full of opportunities for learning, sharing and exchange.

UNDEF/ India
Project Partner
The Hunger Project - India
Project Description
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.
Evaluation Date
September 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening the Leadership of Women in Local Democracy – Gram Panchayats (Village Councils in India)

In order to assess the progress of the elected women beyond the project the grantee should strengthen its data collection. This will also help maintain their strategic focus. Remaining - and new - needs among the elected women should be assessed before embarking on new training activity supporting the women’s federations.
Project Partner
The Hunger Project - India
Project Description
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.
Evaluation Date
September 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Women’s Leadership in Jamaica

The grantee leveraged its network of domestic and international partners to help develop the training curricula and to identify women for training. Its use of accomplished and well known women as trainers served as a draw for the women to participate as well as provided real world experience for the trainees.

Project Partner
Women's Resource and Outreach Centre
Project Description
The project aimed to address the under representation of women in decision making positions in Jamaica, particularly on the boards of private companies and public commissions. The project did this by: increasing the participation of women through training and awareness building and increasing the participation of women in leadership in community based organizations, including school boards, also through training and awareness building. It also sought to create a national conversation on the need to open spaces for women to participate in decision making. There was also a separate women’s leadership research activity undertaken in Trinidad and Tobago. Although women comprise more than 70% of university graduates in Jamaica, only 13% of parliamentarians are women and only 16% of the board positions in the private sector are filled by women. The project believed that by training 100 women it could make a strategic infusion of talented and enthusiastic women into the boardrooms, and transform their gender dynamics. The project met its main objective of increasing the number of qualified women trained and available for service on public commissions and private sector boards. Some of these women were already high profile leaders and board members, but most were entry and mid-professional women with leadership potential that still remained to be tapped.
Evaluation Date
September 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Women’s Leadership in Jamaica

The training included a practical exercise where by the 10 women were given small sums of money to implement a community project in their area of interest. This served to reinforce the learning and provided hands on experience to these women in a mentored environment. This helped ensure the success of most mini-projects which in turn helped increase the trainees’ confidence and self-esteem and contributed to their community’s perception of them as leaders.
Project Partner
Women's Resource and Outreach Centre
Project Description
The project aimed to address the under representation of women in decision making positions in Jamaica, particularly on the boards of private companies and public commissions. The project did this by: increasing the participation of women through training and awareness building and increasing the participation of women in leadership in community based organizations, including school boards, also through training and awareness building. It also sought to create a national conversation on the need to open spaces for women to participate in decision making. There was also a separate women’s leadership research activity undertaken in Trinidad and Tobago. Although women comprise more than 70% of university graduates in Jamaica, only 13% of parliamentarians are women and only 16% of the board positions in the private sector are filled by women. The project believed that by training 100 women it could make a strategic infusion of talented and enthusiastic women into the boardrooms, and transform their gender dynamics. The project met its main objective of increasing the number of qualified women trained and available for service on public commissions and private sector boards. Some of these women were already high profile leaders and board members, but most were entry and mid-professional women with leadership potential that still remained to be tapped.
Evaluation Date
September 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Women’s Leadership in Jamaica

The impact of the project was visible in the demeanour and sense of confidence in the participants. This was most visible for the entry level women, returning professionals and community level women, although even some of the senior level women appeared to have gained an increased sense of purpose and interest in serving on boards.
Project Partner
Women's Resource and Outreach Centre
Project Description
The project aimed to address the under representation of women in decision making positions in Jamaica, particularly on the boards of private companies and public commissions. The project did this by: increasing the participation of women through training and awareness building and increasing the participation of women in leadership in community based organizations, including school boards, also through training and awareness building. It also sought to create a national conversation on the need to open spaces for women to participate in decision making. There was also a separate women’s leadership research activity undertaken in Trinidad and Tobago. Although women comprise more than 70% of university graduates in Jamaica, only 13% of parliamentarians are women and only 16% of the board positions in the private sector are filled by women. The project believed that by training 100 women it could make a strategic infusion of talented and enthusiastic women into the boardrooms, and transform their gender dynamics. The project met its main objective of increasing the number of qualified women trained and available for service on public commissions and private sector boards. Some of these women were already high profile leaders and board members, but most were entry and mid-professional women with leadership potential that still remained to be tapped.
Evaluation Date
September 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: The Bottom-up Governance and Leadership Programme for Women in the Pacific

The majority of the participants did not have easy, affordable access to Internet. The grantee realized this early in the implementation and disseminated training materials in hard copy. Despite this, assignments had either to be submitted by e-mail or put in the post – which was costly and difficult for those living in remote areas. As a result, many of the women did not complete the course.
Project Partner
Foundation for Development Cooperation
Project Description
The project aimed to increase women’s political representation and increase their familiarity with governance issues and build their leadership skills. The project undertook training through an e-platform across four countries in the Pacific to achieve these goals. A subsequent “BGLP governance and leadership contest‟ was intended to promote bottom-up governance initiatives by women in their local communities. Those women who presented successful proposals went were given training in participatory project management training (PPM) and taken on a study tour before receiving funding to undertake their mini-projects. There was a mismatch in the project between the problem identified and the solutions proposed. Differences among the participating countries were not taken into account, and the method of training delivery was inappropriate.
Evaluation Date
April 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Building Democratic Spaces in Egypt

The project’s Training Workshops were well-organized; yet, each was a “one-off” affair, with no follow-up. Such activities will probably have been of short-term value to participants, but are unlikely to have had broader impact.
Project Partner
The Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement
Project Description
The project aimed to bring together a diverse group of civil society organizations in Egypt and to work towards building a consensus among them on the principles and contents of a “democratic agenda”. It also sought to strengthen the knowledge base of those civil society groups committed to building a democratic society and state, while also enhancing public awareness of the need for, and character of, democracy. Instead of identifying a number of critical beneficiary and/or stakeholder groups and working with them throughout, the grantee worked with groups (Parliamentarians; Political Parties; Political and Social Movements; Trade Unions and Professional Syndicates; and, Youth Organizations, other civil society groups and the media) separately through one-off activities. The project then failed to adopt an approach to enable it to work systematically to bring these same groups together around a common agenda.
Evaluation Date
March 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Student Civic Action: Engaging and Empowering Emerging Leaders in Universities in Jordan

The training was practical and taught youth how to make things happen-- starting with how to identify the problem, collect information, make recommendations and prepare an action plan to address the problems. It taught them communication skills so they could get their plans across and seek support from the community and government offices. This was coupled with hands-on experience for some youth created through the internships, sub-grants and volunteer activities. Combined, this gave the youth the tools needed to tackle problems and lead others.

Project Partner
World Learning
Project Description
The project sought to strengthen university students and youth Civil Society Organization (CSO) leaders for active and democratic citizenship and community development. It aimed to do this by: improving their capacity and raising their awareness of participation in democratic processes and community development; increasing emerging leader (EL) representation in existing political and civil society institutions; and developing and strengthening existing networks to build alliances of youth-led and youth-directed CSOs for more effective programming and sustained participation. The project also intended to increase the awareness of CSO and local leaders on the value of youth involvement. The project reached youth across Jordan and from very different socio-economic conditions and the activities reflected the needs and interests of its participants and their locality. Addressing both the supply and demand side of the youth issue seemed to be effective. Participating youth seemed empowered by their training and the use of sub-grants to CSOs opened the door for youth participation.
Evaluation Date
March 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Leadership for accountable governance in Southern Africa

Insufficient attention was paid to the gender appropriateness of the training materials in Southern Africa Insufficient attention was also paid to political and indeed racial tensions that might reasonably be expected to occur in groups that brought together people from 10 African nations. Some of the training materials exhibited poor judgement in relation to comments about political leaders.
Project Partner
Freedom House
Project Description
Aiming to empower young government and civil society leaders from southern Africa to catalyze transformative change in their home institutions and communities, the project had indeed a positive impact on some participants, both professionally and personally. It comprised of four principal components: training, support to “personal reform” projects developed by the trainees, integration of the trainees into an existing network, and evaluation of the reform projects with a view to identifying good practice and replicable initiatives. Overall, however, it represented poor value for money for UNDEF taking into account the high cost (US$350,000), relatively small number of participants, lack of strategies for broader engagement and inadequate outcomes.
Evaluation Date
February 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Citizenship and Consolidation of Democracy in Chad

The information tools that the project developed for the training and literacy activities were very effective and relevant to the level of knowledge and skills of the beneficiaries. Trainees emphasized that had benefited significantly from the training and a number of the women participants for the first time got involved in democratic processes including participating in legislative elections as candidates.
Project Partner
Fondation pour la Démocratie et le Développement
Project Description
The project’s objective was to build the capacity at the grassroots level regarding democracy. This objective was pursued through training the population about citizen rights and freedoms, including establishing a permanent observatory for national and local electoral consultations, and the communication of information supporting the construction of a democratic state. The intervention directly targeted vulnerable groups, farmers (both women and men); and on a wider level also reached out to development actors, trainers of trainers and local facilitators; and employees of local, administrative and communal authorities. The project aimed to provide appropriate responses to the needs and difficulties faced by target beneficiary groups - women and vulnerable groups who were unable to take part in the electoral process. The method and the content of the training sessions as well as the message communicated via the educational media adopted were consistent with the project's objectives. It was also in line with the priorities set out in the country’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.
Evaluation Date
February 2011
Country