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Tunisia

LESSON

Lesson Learned: Engaging civil society and youth in public policy dialogue in North Africa

While the project’s training methodology was excellent, the project design did not include a sufficiently detailed analysis of the political environment surrounding participation in policy debates. This resulted in a failure to build on-going contacts to close the gap between young people and political leaders involved in policy making.
Project Partner
Moroccan Center for Civic Education
Project Description
The project’s objective was to support the involvement of youth in public policy debates. The project activities included training and organizational support for local civil society projects. It aimed to help civil society organisations and youth to identify problems and propose solutions to decision makers, develop effective leadership and advocacy skills to articulate their positions. It also hoped to establish a sustainable regional network of policy advocates to share information, best practices and lessons learned. Weaknesses in the grantee’s initial problem analysis and a lack of hands-on support undermined the project’s effectiveness. Training on leadership and advocacy skills could have been delivered by experienced civil society members instead of professional educators. It would have also been appropriate to include and seek involvement from political decision-makers to ultimately obtain support for the project’s objective and outcomes.
Evaluation Date
September 2015
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Engaging civil society and youth in public policy dialogue in North Africa

The project’s third outcome, the establishment of a regional advocacy network, was not achieved. The young participants were more engaged with designing and implementing specific projects at local level. This left them with little time or resources to engage in participatory policy development and broader advocacy. This reveals that some aspects of the training’s design – notably on advocacy campaigning and on cross-border networking – were not addressed in sufficient detail.
Project Partner
Moroccan Center for Civic Education
Project Description
The project’s objective was to support the involvement of youth in public policy debates. The project activities included training and organizational support for local civil society projects. It aimed to help civil society organisations and youth to identify problems and propose solutions to decision makers, develop effective leadership and advocacy skills to articulate their positions. It also hoped to establish a sustainable regional network of policy advocates to share information, best practices and lessons learned. Weaknesses in the grantee’s initial problem analysis and a lack of hands-on support undermined the project’s effectiveness. Training on leadership and advocacy skills could have been delivered by experienced civil society members instead of professional educators. It would have also been appropriate to include and seek involvement from political decision-makers to ultimately obtain support for the project’s objective and outcomes.
Evaluation Date
September 2015
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Engaging civil society and youth in public policy dialogue in North Africa

The key impact of was changes in attitude among the participating youth. These changes can be ascribed to the Project Citizen methodology employed by the project which used a hands-on training approach, in which participants worked in small groups to develop change strategies addressing specific, real-life concerns.
Project Partner
Moroccan Center for Civic Education
Project Description
The project’s objective was to support the involvement of youth in public policy debates. The project activities included training and organizational support for local civil society projects. It aimed to help civil society organisations and youth to identify problems and propose solutions to decision makers, develop effective leadership and advocacy skills to articulate their positions. It also hoped to establish a sustainable regional network of policy advocates to share information, best practices and lessons learned. Weaknesses in the grantee’s initial problem analysis and a lack of hands-on support undermined the project’s effectiveness. Training on leadership and advocacy skills could have been delivered by experienced civil society members instead of professional educators. It would have also been appropriate to include and seek involvement from political decision-makers to ultimately obtain support for the project’s objective and outcomes.
Evaluation Date
September 2015
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Engaging Civil Society in a Democratic Election Process in Sudan, Bahrain, Tunisia and Jordan

There was no evidence that the project sought to coordinate with other donor-led initiatives in the democracy field. Such coordination would have to be initiated by the grantee. In the current context, Arab countries are enjoying a surplus of offered democracy support aid for community activism.
Project Partner
Al Kawakibi Democracy Transition Centre
Project Description
The project aimed to strengthen electoral processes by focusing on election monitoring by independent civil society organizations. The project established a regional expert group on elections monitoring, carried out training sessions and provided election monitoring services. In Tunisia, the group established – the Arab Working Group on Elections Monitoring - carried out a limited number of trainings in the four countries, and engaged in elections monitoring in Tunisia. Because of some political challenges, not all of the activities planned in Bahrain, Sudan, and Jordan, were undertaken. In general, training and monitoring focused more on the quantity than the quality of monitoring, a strategy that can be defended but may pose problems for longer terms sustainability.
Evaluation Date
March 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Engaging Civil Society in a Democratic Election Process in Sudan, Bahrain, Tunisia and Jordan

The expert group on elections monitoring, trainings, and provision of elections monitoring services that was developed as part of the project should be formalized in terms of its membership, procedures and web presence.
Project Partner
Al Kawakibi Democracy Transition Centre
Project Description
The project aimed to strengthen electoral processes by focusing on election monitoring by independent civil society organizations. The project established a regional expert group on elections monitoring, carried out training sessions and provided election monitoring services. In Tunisia, the group established – the Arab Working Group on Elections Monitoring - carried out a limited number of trainings in the four countries, and engaged in elections monitoring in Tunisia. Because of some political challenges, not all of the activities planned in Bahrain, Sudan, and Jordan, were undertaken. In general, training and monitoring focused more on the quantity than the quality of monitoring, a strategy that can be defended but may pose problems for longer terms sustainability.
Evaluation Date
March 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Engaging Civil Society in a Democratic Election Process in Sudan, Bahrain, Tunisia and Jordan

There does not appear to have been any attention to what newly empowered community activists would do after the end of the project. The continued progress of the expert group on elections monitoring, trainings, and provision of elections monitoring services seems to be something that was not explicitly considered in project planning. This poses a significant problem for sustainability.
Project Partner
Al Kawakibi Democracy Transition Centre
Project Description
The project aimed to strengthen electoral processes by focusing on election monitoring by independent civil society organizations. The project established a regional expert group on elections monitoring, carried out training sessions and provided election monitoring services. In Tunisia, the group established – the Arab Working Group on Elections Monitoring - carried out a limited number of trainings in the four countries, and engaged in elections monitoring in Tunisia. Because of some political challenges, not all of the activities planned in Bahrain, Sudan, and Jordan, were undertaken. In general, training and monitoring focused more on the quantity than the quality of monitoring, a strategy that can be defended but may pose problems for longer terms sustainability.
Evaluation Date
March 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Engaging Civil Society in a Democratic Election Process in Sudan, Bahrain, Tunisia and Jordan

The project created tightly networked, mobile elite of regional experts on elections monitoring, trainings, and provision of elections monitoring services. This made elections expertise more accessible in the region. At the individual level, the people who received training were more likely to continue to be engaged in community activism.
Project Partner
Al Kawakibi Democracy Transition Centre
Project Description
The project aimed to strengthen electoral processes by focusing on election monitoring by independent civil society organizations. The project established a regional expert group on elections monitoring, carried out training sessions and provided election monitoring services. In Tunisia, the group established – the Arab Working Group on Elections Monitoring - carried out a limited number of trainings in the four countries, and engaged in elections monitoring in Tunisia. Because of some political challenges, not all of the activities planned in Bahrain, Sudan, and Jordan, were undertaken. In general, training and monitoring focused more on the quantity than the quality of monitoring, a strategy that can be defended but may pose problems for longer terms sustainability.
Evaluation Date
March 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Engaging Civil Society in a Democratic Election Process in Sudan, Bahrain, Tunisia and Jordan

In some countries, working to promote democracy, community activists may often find themselves operating in difficult circumstances. However trying to circumvent procedures can be counter-productive. The expedient of sending trainers to one country on tourist visas when work visas were denied - placed the trainers, the trainees and the grantee at risk. When working in difficult environments, do not engage in practices that may put community activists, the grantee or other project participants at risk.
Project Partner
Al Kawakibi Democracy Transition Centre
Project Description
The project aimed to strengthen electoral processes by focusing on election monitoring by independent civil society organizations. The project established a regional expert group on elections monitoring, carried out training sessions and provided election monitoring services. In Tunisia, the group established – the Arab Working Group on Elections Monitoring - carried out a limited number of trainings in the four countries, and engaged in elections monitoring in Tunisia. Because of some political challenges, not all of the activities planned in Bahrain, Sudan, and Jordan, were undertaken. In general, training and monitoring focused more on the quantity than the quality of monitoring, a strategy that can be defended but may pose problems for longer terms sustainability.
Evaluation Date
January 2011
Country