training

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 project will advocate for licensing community radio institutions in Zimbabwe. This will be achieved by means of: (a) coordinated civil society stakeholders and citizens advocacy and petitioning the Government and its related institutions through a united and strong effort; (b) policy and regulatory review and reform of community broadcasting and the process required for licensing; and (c) developing the capacity of 10 target community radio institutions (CRIs) for licensing.

The project aims to foster civic participation of young people in Ukraine by training them to become responsible and pro-active citizens. The central activity of the project is a non-formal civic education training program in four stages that will train teenagers to become "Junior Agents of Change" in four pilot cities. Trained Junior Agents of Change will implement development projects aiming for the transformation of their social environment and the development of their communities.

The project offers a unique opportunity for experiential learning for young people of all walks of life. It enables them to acquire basic personal, social and citizenship skills and experience a democratic and safe environment in which they are encouraged to take initiatives of their own. This will happen through regularly organized Demo Lab sessions in high schools, boot camps in the summer and assemblies at the beginning of the school year, to empower young Hungarians to take active part in shaping their communities and society, and to inspire others to follow suit.

The project aims to promote the recognition of domestic work as decent work and domestic workers (WDs) contribution to society. 3500 domestic workers reached will be positioned to take individual and collective actions to improve working conditions. Two Associations of existing 61 mutual support groups of the domestic workers will be established to build solidarity and support for each other, develop advocacy strategies and represent themselves with support from PLA in influencing change. This project will also further the participation of female and youth DWs in claiming their rights, accessing services including legal aid and inclusion in decision making in policy, local and national government processes.

This was a well-structured project which laid the foundation for a nationwide network of journalists concerned with human rights issues, particularly in rural marginalized areas. The project was relevant and much needed given the context of human rights abuses and the suppression of the media. It was also appropriate, although there are constraints there is sufficient democratic space for human rights influenced journalism since journalists were able to write about a range of human rights issues and call duty-bearers to account. The project also met its objectives: the skills of journalists in relation to human rights issues have been enhanced, reporting on human rights has increased, and civil society capacity to understand how the media works has improved – though closer engagement between NGOs and the media could be further strengthened.

This was a well-structured project which laid the foundation for a nationwide network of journalists concerned with human rights issues, particularly in rural marginalized areas. The project was relevant and much needed given the context of human rights abuses and the suppression of the media. It was also appropriate, although there are constraints there is sufficient democratic space for human rights influenced journalism since journalists were able to write about a range of human rights issues and call duty-bearers to account. The project also met its objectives: the skills of journalists in relation to human rights issues have been enhanced, reporting on human rights has increased, and civil society capacity to understand how the media works has improved – though closer engagement between NGOs and the media could be further strengthened.

This was a well-structured project which laid the foundation for a nationwide network of journalists concerned with human rights issues, particularly in rural marginalized areas. The project was relevant and much needed given the context of human rights abuses and the suppression of the media. It was also appropriate, although there are constraints there is sufficient democratic space for human rights influenced journalism since journalists were able to write about a range of human rights issues and call duty-bearers to account. The project also met its objectives: the skills of journalists in relation to human rights issues have been enhanced, reporting on human rights has increased, and civil society capacity to understand how the media works has improved – though closer engagement between NGOs and the media could be further strengthened.

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.