Setting New AS gtuidae nto bdesat prracdticse in monitoring and evaluation International Office UK Liberal Democrats 2 Copyright © 2015 Liberal Democrats International Office All Rights Reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the editor. International Office UK Liberal Democrats 8-10 Great George Street London SW1P 3AE United Kingdom [email protected] http://www.libdems.org.uk/international @LibDemInternat LibDemInternat 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword - Iain Gill p. 4 Head of International Office - UK Liberal Democrats Theory of Change p. 5 From Innovation to Integrated Projects p. 6 Outline of PMEL Processes p. 7 Partner Identification Checklist p. 9 Needs Assessment: Guidance and Checklist p. 11 Political Ideology Barometer p. 13 Appendixes p. 18 4 FOREWORD Iain Gill Head of International Office The Liberal Demo- Council specifically designed to support the rights of crats International LGBT people and to promote a strong human rights Office works with the agenda within the party. Meanwhile in South Africa, Westminster Foun- we have worked closely with the Democratic Alliance dation for Democ- through their Young Leaders Programme, an initiative racy (WFD) to un- to create a pool of young politicians with the skills to dertake democracy lead their country in the future. Evaluations carried out development work by both DfID and the FCO have consistently praised with our sister-par- the work of the Liberal Democrats overseas as the ties around the most effective and impactful projects across the West- world, primarily with minster Foundation for Democracy. partners in Eastern Europe, Africa and A crucial part of delivering successful and impactful the Middle East. projects is ensuring a high standard of project design, monitoring and evaluation throughout all phases of an Through providing technical support in constituency international programme. Over the past years, he have campaigning, training candidates and policy develop- developed a number of innovative processes and tools ment, we enable our sister-parties to fight elections which we use to make certain that our project partners more effectively and hold governments to account. In meet a number of minimum standards, and that our addition to this, we promote the participation and rep- projects are carried out on the basis of a rigorous level resentation of women, youth and minority groups such of political context analysis. This has been essential for as the LGBT community through strengthening internal making sure our projects are well adapted to meet the party processes and cultural practices. Through devel- specific conditions and requirements of our sister-par- oping trust-based relationships with political parties ties and address the cultural environment. With the Po- and regional liberal networks such as the Africa Lib- litical Ideology Barometer, the Liberal Democrats have eral Network and the Arab Alliance for Freedom and taken the lead in pioneering a new approach to project Democracy, we have supported the growth of liberal management in political party assistance projects. democracy around the world for many years. Through constant innovation and sharing strategies Our projects over the last two years have included elec- and experiences of successes with our international tion support to the Botswana Movement for Democra- partners, we hope to take spark a wider discussion in cy, assisting it to become the official opposition party how to deliver high standards of projects in democracy in the country. We have also overseen the expansion development. of the ALN to 44 member parties, making it the largest network of liberal parties outside of Europe. In Serbia, Yours, we helped our sister-party to establish a Human Rights THEORY OFCHANGE THEORY Liberal Democrats International: Theory of Change Vision: International Multi-party Democracy: strengthening transitional liberalism and promoting human rights and equal opportunities for everyone Goals: Multi-party Democracy Inclusive and Representative Human Rights Liberal Parties Outcomes: Liberal parties offer viable choices to the Liberal parties are inclusive and Discrimination on the basis of race, electorate and hold governments to representative of all groups within society disability, sexual orientation, gender, age, account religion and nationality is effectively People from under-represented groups are challenged Competition between parties prevents one empowered to take up leadership positions party dominance and corruption Legislation to safeguard fundamental Role models of under-represented groups human rights is enacted and upheld by Progressive legislation is enacted by liberal inspire future generations to engage in liberal parties parties in government politics Human rights abuses are exposed and Liberal parties formulate and promote challenged by liberal parties and regional policies that address needs of all groups networks Outputs: Effective policies and manifestos Liberal parties implement inclusive Effective policies and manifestos on human consultation and policy-making processes rights Institutional knowledge and expertise on legislative oversight Liberal parties mentor and support Regional networks sharing expertise and candidates and activists from under- promoting human rights Campaigning and communications represented groups strategies to wage effective election Mechanisms to observe and report on campaigns Liberal parties are culturally aware and human rights issues across national, competent in engaging under represented regional and local levels Comprehensive party constitution and groups internal party democracy Political parties and regional networks roll Engagement and mobilisation of grassroots out leadership programmes to build political membership and civil society skills amongst under-represented groups Approach: Providing technical assistance and election support and creating and supporting regional networks and partnerships with an inclusive and participatory development approach 5 6 FROM INNOVATION TO INTERGRATED PROJECTS The Bosnia project has seen a range of bilateral and cross-party activities taking place across the year 2014/15. The UK political parties have engaged with their respective sister-parties on developing a commu- nications and campaign strategy, providing technical expertise. These activities had to be delivered at a par- ty-to-party level in order to preserve confidentiality in an inherently competitive political environment. How- ever, activities such as university seminars and work- shops on blogging involved input from several UK and Bosnian political parties, providing skills to female can- The Liberal Democrats are constantly evaluating our didates and raising awareness more broadly. projects and looking for ways to enhance our approach and raise our level of impact. As part of our commit- Working as part of an integrated project has enabled us ment to innovation, we engage in Integrated Projects to reach a higher level of impact by involving a greater through the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. number of participants and facilitating dialogue across These projects bring together the strengths, inputs and ethnic, religious and political divisions. Collaborating in unique selling points of WFD and all UK political parties cross-party activities has also delivered greater value under one joint programme. Integrated projects involve for money (VFM), maximising the usage of resources, WFD working at the parliamentary level, and the UK preventing duplication and reducing the overall costs. political parties working with their respective sister-par- At the same time, the project has also included suffi- ties cooperating together towards one common goal. cient scope for bilateral work, to ensure that the unique relationships between the UK and Bosnian sister-par- The first integrated project was launched in 2014, with ties continue to flourish and contribute to the overall the aim of promoting women in politics in Bosnia and project objectives. Herzegovina. Coordinated by WFD, this project brings together the Liberal Democrats, Labour and Conserva- On the basis of these successes, new integrated proj- tive parties, each working with their own sister-parties ects have been planned for a number of other coun- with the aim of increasing gender equality. Activities tries including Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. have included trainings on blogging, communications The Liberal Democrats are committed to participating and campaign strategy, to prepare female candidates in future integrated projects, and look forward to en- from all political parties involved for the local elections gaging with WFD to make sure that we remain at the in October 2016. cutting edge of international democracy development. OUTLINE OF PMEL PROCESSES 7 This brief overview of our project planning, monitoring, minimum, we ask that this should consider: what went evaluation and learning (PMEL) processes outlines the well, what went less well and suggestions for improve- key steps and processes after a project proposal has ments on another such occasion. We need the feed- been approved. back sessions and reports to provide us with: Key Elements of a MEL Cycle • evidence that the activity happened e.g. a training was conducted • the quality and quantity of what was done e.g. how long