"The United States (U.S.) Department of State Bureau of Europe and Eurasia/Office of the Coordinator of Assistance to Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia (EUR/ACE) contracted Social Impact,
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Inc. (SI) to conduct a performance evaluation of nine media literacy (ML) assistance projects in Europe and Eurasia. These projects were selected by ACE and its partners to represent a wide range of USG target groups and assistance modalities. Six of the projects were funded by ACE and three were funded by the Global Engagement Center (GEC). In addition to GEC, the projects were implemented by the following ACE partners: the Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL); the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The evaluation assesses project performance during the period 2017-2020. The purpose of this evaluation was to independently assess the strategic approach, relevance, and overall effectiveness of selected projects, identifying lessons to inform future programming in the region. The primary intended users of this evaluation are EUR, ACE, GEC, DRL, NED, USAID’s Bureau for Europe and Eurasia, USAID field missions, and U.S. embassies in the region. The findings and recommendations are also useful to other State Department and USAID bureaus worldwide, and other donors and funders who are active in promoting ML globally." (Executive summary, page vi)
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"This report presents findings and recommendations from the whole-of-Intermediate Result (IR) evaluation of activities generated from the USAID Civil Society and Media Project Appraisal Document (PAD) created in 2015. The evaluation included two current activities—Liberia Accountability and Voice
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Initiative (LAVI) and Liberia Media Development (LMD)—and incorporated information and interviews from the Civil Society and Media Leadership (CSML) activity, which predated the PAD. The evaluation determined how USAID activities made progress toward achieving the Project Purpose—Increased influence of citizens in the governance of public goods and services—and provided recommendations to inform development of a future Civil Society and Media strategy.
The evaluation found that the PAD contributed to increasing opportunities for civil society organizations (CSOs) and media outlets to play a “watchdog” role over governance. However, evidence is lacking that (1) CSOs can sustain the coalition approach beyond current USAID support, (2) CSOs can use the coalition approach to mobilize citizens more broadly to engage with government decision makers, and (3) media outlets can increase the quality of news and information disseminated to citizens.
Critical gaps exist in making connections among the three stakeholder groups within governance accountability systems: (1) Political Leaders, (2) CSOs and Media Outlets, and (3) Citizens. A key priority for a future PAD would be to create interactive information and activity loops that better connect political leaders to citizens, using CSO coalitions and media outlets as channels through which citizens directly engage with government institutions." (Abstract)
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"The United States Agency for International Development/Burma launched the Civil Society and Media (CSM) Activity in 2014 to improve engagement between the public and the Government of Burma by supporting local civil society and media organizations. This mixed-methods, mid-term performance evaluatio
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n focused on the CSM Activity’s programmatic effectiveness and contributions to democratic processes as well as how it affected inclusivity of vulnerable groups. Overall, the CSM Activity worked effectively to influence laws, policies, processes, practices, and services affecting the people of Burma. While some civil society grantees offered recommendations to the government about laws and policies on a national scale, others contributed to action on the local level. All media grantees produced content to raise awareness about priorities of public interest. Some contributed to action by State/Region and local governments, but government entities do not openly recognize media as influencing their decisions and actions. The Activity increased the quantity of content produced by media grantees, particularly in periphery areas, and it had some success in increasing exchange of information between urban and rural areas; however, most examples are not related to Union-level democratic reform issues. The Activity’s influence on an improved media enabling environment has been limited, given the restrictive operating environment and constriction in Burma’s press freedoms." (Abstract)
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"Evaluation data gathered between 1975 and 2000 demonstrated that Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) had improved learning outcomes in conventional classrooms by between 10% and 20% when compared with control classrooms not using IRI. These programs often had relatively well-funded evaluation compo
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nents, often taught a single subject, and focused almost entirely on improving quality. This study focuses on the use of IRI in more taxing circumstances and the outcomes it achieved as well as children learning in conventional school settings. It looks at the use of radio to teach children who are not in school, who are affected by conflict, who are orphans, who live in countries where most social systems have broken down or never existed – the poorest, least supported and most remote learners to whom access to education has traditionally been denied. It also looks at IRI operating in systems of huge scale, such as the 20+ million learners in India. The projects documented in this study were largely carried out since 2000 (although reference is made to earlier projects also) and addressed early childhood education, mathematics and language instruction and teacher training. They were not research projects, and their circumstances challenged data collection and student testing. Nevertheless, the data demonstrate that these IRI programs have had a positive impact on learning outcomes and on the behavior of teachers. Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) delivers daily 30-minute radio broadcasts that promote active learning and are designed to improve educational quality and teaching practices in schools and to deliver a complete basic education to learners not in school. This paper uses student assessment data collected on recent EDC IRI projects to determine the impact of IRI on student achievement and to highlight general patterns that emerged from the review. In all, 15 projects provided 37 records (grade-year combinations e.g. grade 1 in 2007) containing student learning data which served as the basis of this report." (Executive summary)
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"The purpose of the final evaluation was to provide the Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) and the U.S. Agency for International Development with an assessment of the relevance, effectiveness, and lessons learned from OTI’s mega-program in Afghanistan. Since evaluations of the media program ha
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d been undertaken and a study of management issues was planned, this evaluation addressed the following fundamental questions: 1. Was OTI strategic? 2. Did OTI promote government legitimacy? 3. Did OTI’s use of participatory democratic processes increase citizen’s connections to each other and to local authorities?" (Executive summary, page 6)
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