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Ukraine

LESSON

Lesson Learned: Your Local Representative, Strengthening Citizen Participation in Ukraine

The activities for outreach to the citizens and their use of the websites were under-developed in the design and during implementation. The assumption that these websites alone could result in more responsive party lists or more accountable deputies was unrealistic given the number of other factors that go into these elements.

Project Partner
East Europe Foundation
Project Description
The project sought to enhance the capacities of Ukrainian NGOs and citizens to influence political processes by providing citizens with tools to monitor and evaluate the work of their elected officials and to advocate for needed change. Its intended outcomes were to: increase NGO activism in engaging citizens to undertake citizen monitoring and advocacy activities; increase access to information for citizens about their local representatives and electoral officials; and increase civil society demand for more accountability from their local representatives and elected officials in eight targeted regions. The main tool used by the project to achieve these outcomes was a dedicated website. However this was under-developed in the design and during implementation. The assumption that these websites alone could result in more responsive party lists or more accountable deputies was unrealistic .The impact of this project is difficult to assess as it did not collect outcome information.. The limited use of the site and its lack of links to activities in the sector reduced its potential for impact but from the anecdotal information gathered, it seems that on a limited scale, this project resulted in an increased awareness among some deputies that their activities were being watched and that information on their work could get out to the public through NGOs and websites such as these.
Evaluation Date
October 2013
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Your Local Representative, Strengthening Citizen Participation in Ukraine

The project’s technique of putting in place governance transparency activities at local level in different regions could be replicated in future as the focus on local issues and representatives, should be leveraged to achieve a national impact. Outcome indicators should also be adopted in projects such as these so the information can be used to better target project activities and improve project performance.
Project Partner
East Europe Foundation
Project Description
The project sought to enhance the capacities of Ukrainian NGOs and citizens to influence political processes by providing citizens with tools to monitor and evaluate the work of their elected officials and to advocate for needed change. Its intended outcomes were to: increase NGO activism in engaging citizens to undertake citizen monitoring and advocacy activities; increase access to information for citizens about their local representatives and electoral officials; and increase civil society demand for more accountability from their local representatives and elected officials in eight targeted regions. The main tool used by the project to achieve these outcomes was a dedicated website. However this was under-developed in the design and during implementation. The assumption that these websites alone could result in more responsive party lists or more accountable deputies was unrealistic .The impact of this project is difficult to assess as it did not collect outcome information.. The limited use of the site and its lack of links to activities in the sector reduced its potential for impact but from the anecdotal information gathered, it seems that on a limited scale, this project resulted in an increased awareness among some deputies that their activities were being watched and that information on their work could get out to the public through NGOs and websites such as these.
Evaluation Date
October 2013
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Your Local Representative, Strengthening Citizen Participation in Ukraine

The grantee made some efforts to build sustainability into the project by expecting sub grantees to place advertising on the sites to generate income, and by developing a formal, as well as informal network between the nine NGOs. While advertising on the sites was not put in place the formal and informal networks were established.
Project Partner
East Europe Foundation
Project Description
The project sought to enhance the capacities of Ukrainian NGOs and citizens to influence political processes by providing citizens with tools to monitor and evaluate the work of their elected officials and to advocate for needed change. Its intended outcomes were to: increase NGO activism in engaging citizens to undertake citizen monitoring and advocacy activities; increase access to information for citizens about their local representatives and electoral officials; and increase civil society demand for more accountability from their local representatives and elected officials in eight targeted regions. The main tool used by the project to achieve these outcomes was a dedicated website. However this was under-developed in the design and during implementation. The assumption that these websites alone could result in more responsive party lists or more accountable deputies was unrealistic .The impact of this project is difficult to assess as it did not collect outcome information.. The limited use of the site and its lack of links to activities in the sector reduced its potential for impact but from the anecdotal information gathered, it seems that on a limited scale, this project resulted in an increased awareness among some deputies that their activities were being watched and that information on their work could get out to the public through NGOs and websites such as these.
Evaluation Date
October 2013
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Your Local Representative, Strengthening Citizen Participation in Ukraine

The project was relevant in terms of its identification of the democratic problem. All people interviewed as part of the evaluation viewed the consolidation of power by one individual or party as the main issue facing the communities. Projects of this nature shine a light on governance and the need to pay attention to what elected officials are doing. The project provided a public space that highlighted the work of deputies. This was effective for journalists and some of the minority party deputies. For the journalists, the websites developed by the project provided a one-stop shop for information about local representatives’ work, while the minority deputies found the websites could be used as a channel to make their work public.
Project Partner
East Europe Foundation
Project Description
The project sought to enhance the capacities of Ukrainian NGOs and citizens to influence political processes by providing citizens with tools to monitor and evaluate the work of their elected officials and to advocate for needed change. Its intended outcomes were to: increase NGO activism in engaging citizens to undertake citizen monitoring and advocacy activities; increase access to information for citizens about their local representatives and electoral officials; and increase civil society demand for more accountability from their local representatives and elected officials in eight targeted regions. The main tool used by the project to achieve these outcomes was a dedicated website. However this was under-developed in the design and during implementation. The assumption that these websites alone could result in more responsive party lists or more accountable deputies was unrealistic .The impact of this project is difficult to assess as it did not collect outcome information.. The limited use of the site and its lack of links to activities in the sector reduced its potential for impact but from the anecdotal information gathered, it seems that on a limited scale, this project resulted in an increased awareness among some deputies that their activities were being watched and that information on their work could get out to the public through NGOs and websites such as these.
Evaluation Date
October 2013
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Civil Society Across Borders to Develop Democracy

The project was built on the premise that when civil society and government engage constructively and pro-actively, common ground will be found and better approaches and solutions developed. Results of the project confirmed that approach.
The watchdog role of NGOs is important and should complement rather than contradict an approach based on constructive engagement. The enhanced involvement of civil society in national policymaking in both Ukraine and Moldova was in part a result of the contribution of this project.
Project Partner
Euclid Network
Project Description
The project’s goal was to increase the capacity of NGOs in Moldova and Ukraine to network among themselves to enhance their advocacy skills and to improve the functioning of existing mechanisms for engagement between civil society and governments. The project resulted in a range of concrete initiatives, both at the local level and at the level of improved NGO representation in national policy making. Concrete impacts ranged from promoting the participation of blind voters to making amendments to the new law on associations in Ukraine and the human rights action plan in Moldova.
Evaluation Date
August 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Civil Society Across Borders to Develop Democracy

The extent to which cross-border ties between Ukraine and Moldova were maintained could have been enhanced by a better sustainability strategy to build the knowledge and experience sharing that took place as part of the project. The sustainability relies on the website. However the website of the project could have been better designed to become a forum for keeping in touch and fostering twinning arrangements.
Project Partner
Euclid Network
Project Description
The project’s goal was to increase the capacity of NGOs in Moldova and Ukraine to network among themselves to enhance their advocacy skills and to improve the functioning of existing mechanisms for engagement between civil society and governments. The project resulted in a range of concrete initiatives, both at the local level and at the level of improved NGO representation in national policy making. Concrete impacts ranged from promoting the participation of blind voters to making amendments to the new law on associations in Ukraine and the human rights action plan in Moldova.
Evaluation Date
August 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Civil Society Across Borders to Develop Democracy

The sustainability of the local NGOs was not assured. It is recommended that the local NGOs which participated in the project develop long-term relationships with local authorities; for example, permanent consultative status in an issue area or a multi-year arrangement to provide services. This will enhance financial sustainability in the most convincing way and help to avoid the trap of being dependent on recurrent one-time projects.
Project Partner
Euclid Network
Project Description
The project’s goal was to increase the capacity of NGOs in Moldova and Ukraine to network among themselves to enhance their advocacy skills and to improve the functioning of existing mechanisms for engagement between civil society and governments. The project resulted in a range of concrete initiatives, both at the local level and at the level of improved NGO representation in national policy making. Concrete impacts ranged from promoting the participation of blind voters to making amendments to the new law on associations in Ukraine and the human rights action plan in Moldova.
Evaluation Date
August 2011
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Civil Society Across Borders to Develop Democracy

The strong partnership between a reliable, experienced international NGO and national NGOs from Ukraine and Moldova worked well to leverage results and to enhance the impact of activities. The value added of this civil society project was that these collaborations were focused on concrete solutions to jointly identified problems.
Project Partner
Euclid Network
Project Description
The project’s goal was to increase the capacity of NGOs in Moldova and Ukraine to network among themselves to enhance their advocacy skills and to improve the functioning of existing mechanisms for engagement between civil society and governments. The project resulted in a range of concrete initiatives, both at the local level and at the level of improved NGO representation in national policy making. Concrete impacts ranged from promoting the participation of blind voters to making amendments to the new law on associations in Ukraine and the human rights action plan in Moldova.
Evaluation Date
August 2011
Country