Summative Evaluation Report To

the state department 

CAPACITY BUILDING AND ADVOCACY FOR WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN

GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY IN SRI LANKA

(Funding Period: July 2002- June 2004)

By

Cynthia Campbell, Ph.D.

Northern Illinois University

DeKalb , IL 60115 USA

Submitted to the State Department on January 12, 2005 

The project titled Capacity Building and Advocacy for Women's Participation in Grassroots Democracy in Sri Lanka , popularly known as GROW (Grassroots Organizing by Women) Project, was implemented by the International Training Office (ITO) at Northern Illinois University (NIU) in DeKalb, Illinois, USA, in collaboration with two other NIU units - Faculty of Adult and Higher Education and the University Resources for Women. This two-year project was funded by a grant from the Office of Citizen Exchanges, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. Overseas partners in this strategic synergy were four prominent women's NGOs in Sri Lanka : Agromart Foundation, Centre for Women's Research, Sarvodaya Women's Movement, and the Muslim Women's Research and Action Forum. The total funding granted by the U.S. Department of State for the GROW project is $ 182,376.00 and the total cost share of the project from the Northern Illinois University is $ 170, 283.00.

The project was intended to stimulate and build the capacities of the leaders of the above-mentioned NGOs in Sri Lanka to face new challenges and opportunities for strengthening women's active participation in grassroots democracy. At the same time, the project aimed to broaden the understanding and awareness of women's contribution to democracy strengthening among NIU faculty and graduate students as a part of an effort to internationalize the university curriculum. The project began in July 2002 and ended in June 2004, with an extension granted until December 2004 to finalize project activities. The project was implemented in five phases: (1) laying the groundwork, (2) major capacity building program development, (3) program implementation, (4) capacity building for advocacy, and (5) action for project sustainability.

The alliance between NIU and the four women NGOs in Sri Lanka in implementing the project activities over the two-year period has resulted in creative approaches to enhance women's role in enhancing the civil society. The project was an empowerment process that had led to a responsible and active participation of grassroots women in democracy strengthening. Cross-fertilization among practicing leaders from different sectors in Sri Lanka was a key outcome of this project. The GROW Project has become a success story for replication and has received attention of other national organizations in the country with similar goals. It can be concluded that the GROW project has produced an empowerment process that has led to responsible and active participation of grassroots women in democratic institutions.

Participatory Development of Project Mission and Goal

The project mission and the major goal were decided at the very beginning stage of the project through a very intensive participatory process involving all the key stakeholders of the project based in two corners of the world, including the members of the two advisory bodies. It was felt, and also agreed, that such a common understanding was critical to the success of the project and should be the foundation for all project activities. The harmony attained by the consensus agreement, particularly the project mission, goals, and objectives, built a firm foundation for the project at the outset. In this way, it helped to ensure the needed energy, commitment, and the enthusiasm throughout the project activities. The mission, goals, and objectives of the GROW project that provided direction to the project throughout the two-year period appear below:

Project Mission

Project Goals

Project Objectives

•  Provide an opportunity for selected women NGO leaders in Sri Lanka to engage in a dialogue with counterparts at NIU on democratic processes critical to women's participation in sustainable grassroots democracy.

•  Broaden the understanding and awareness of women's contribution to democracy strengthening among NIU faculty and graduate students who will be involved directly or indirectly in the project.

•  Design and implement a capacity building program for the identified leaders of the four national level women NGOS, to enhance individual, institutional and community capacity for effective participation in grassroots democracy in Sri Lanka .

•  Strengthen the networking capabilities of NIU and the four selected women NGOs by establishing effective, responsive, democratic and “ordinary women-friendly" channels of communication, including an internet-based communication.

•  Sharpen the leadership skills of women's coalitions in Sri Lanka through training in advocacy strategies for effective policy formulation on prioritized women's issues.

Key Principles Underlying GROW Projec

As mentioned earlier, the GROW project was directed at enhancing civil society in Sri Lanka through empowerment of grass-roots women to enable them to participate in the decision making process in their communities. At the beginning stage of the project the NGO leaders were involved in identifying the key principles that should guide the GROW project and integrated these key principles in the total project process. The key principles were:

1. Gender empowerment through group action (solidarity building) and strengthening team spirit.
2. Harnessing inner potentials of the group to face challenges.
3. Local capacity building and leadership development to solve community issues.
4. Community ownership, responsibility, and commitment.
5. Consciousness-raising for creative problem-solving and decision-making on community issues.
6. Community needs identification, prioritization, and planning.
7. Behavioral changes through awareness-raising .
8. Mobilization of local resources for stimulating local development.
9. Partnership building with other stake-holders.
10. Multi-sectoral integration at the community level (holistic development)

SUMMATIVE EVALUATION REPORT

The summative evaluation report consists of two parts. The first part of the summative evaluation report presents an overview and a critical analysis of the major elements and activities of the project chronologically to enable the reader to grasp the essence of the project in its complexity, rooted in the project ideology. Hence this first part is an objective- free evaluation. (Most of the ideas included in this first part of the report represent the view-points of the members of the Sri Lanka Project Advisory Committee.) The second part of the report presents an objective-based evaluation, with major project activities presented in the context of the project objectives.

SUMMATIVE EVALUATION

PART 1

GROW ADVISORY BODIES

Setting up of the two advisory bodies was the first activity that was initiated promptly after the grant award. The Advisory Committee in Sri Lanka , referred to as the Partners Forum, was comprised of eight members represented by two national level leaders from each partner organization in Sri Lanka . The Advisory Committee at NIU consisted of 12 faculty members from relevant academic and program units on campus. Establishing two advisory bodies enabled not only a strong foundation for the smooth implementation of the project activities, but also continuously guided the project every time it needed direction. Initial groundwork related to the two advisory bodies was laid at the very beginning of the project including agreeing on the roles and responsibilities of the two advisory bodies by the leading partner organizations in developing the (a) project mission, (b) goals, (c) objectives, and (d) major activities to be accomplished during the two year project period. These two advisory bodies held meetings on a regular basis, averaging approximately one meeting per month, to discuss issues of importance connected to the project and guided the project activities in a very constructive way. It should be specifically noted that the NIU Advisory Committee members contributed as resource persons to the Professional Development Program in conducting formal sessions in their specific areas of expertise. The support given to further strengthen the IT component of the project by the AC members with IT expertise was remarkable. Six members of the NIU Advisory Committee (including the Project Director and Project Advisor) traveled to Sri Lanka to participate in the culminating event of the project – the International Symposium, held on June 8, 2004. Also, two visits were made by two members of the NIU Advisory Committee to the partner organizations in Sri Lanka , which contributed to further strengthening the project strategies.

The minutes of the meetings of the two advisory bodies could be viewed in the project website: www.niu.edu/srilankaproj/

MODEL VILLAGES AS AN INNOVATIVE CONCEPT

Another very important element of the project, initiated at the beginning stage of the project was the setting up of four Model Villages linked to the four partnering NGOs, as field laboratories of grassroots democracy. These were evolved in an effort to field test and implement major concepts, important principles, characteristics, and processes associated with strengthening grassroots democracy. These Model Villages first grew as a natural outcome, and was further strengthened by the Partner's Forum in Sri Lanka and the four leaders of the partnering NGOs. An interesting feature connected to the Model Villages was the uniqueness of the four villages selected, each following a different model. The four Model Villages selected by the four partner organizations were:

(1) Karanwila Model village of the Agromart Foundation situated in Akmeena District in South Western Province, (2) Pompakele Model Village of Sarvodaya Women's Movement, in Ratnapura District in South Central province, (3) Atara Model Village of Centre for Women's Research in Monaragala District in the South Eastern Province, and (4) Udayapuram in Samanthurai District in North Eastern Province in Sri Lanka.

The most outstanding contribution of the Model Villages was the opportunity to evolve and implement 30 characteristics of an enhanced civil society. This was an outcome of a visioning exercise/needs assessment activity that was carried out at the very beginning stage of the GROW project. It was agreed that at the end of the project period the Model Villages should demonstrate as many characteristics as possible from the list of 30 characteristics of grassroots democracy. These characteristics were closely linked to the enhancement of rural women's capacities to make decisions that are critical to improve their quality of life in the communities they live.

These Model Villages have acted as laboratories for testing important principles and characteristics related to empowerment of grassroots women so that they can engage in critical decision-making that enhance the journey towards building a stronger civil society . The Model Village concept became a popular concept as well as a successful strategy amply illustrating how the members of the grassroots communities can successfully implement a process of enhancing the civil society. These four Model Villages will continue to be field laboratories to the NGO Coalition, which is an important element of the newly funded State Department Project titled “Strengthening Civil Society in Sri Lanka Through Building Advocacy Partnerships Among NGOs and Developing Local Leadership.”

GROW Needs Assessment

Another very important activity of the project during the early stage of the project was the needs assessment that was carried out. GROW project leaders carried out this needs assessment in early January, 2003 in order to identify the needs of these grassroots level leaders in their role as implementers of the GROW Project process in the Model Villages. This was a very extensive process that involved grassroots women in the four Model Villages, local leaders of the four partner NGOs, national leaders of the four partner NGOS, and national level activists in the field of community development who had the experience of engaging in empowerment activities at the grassroots level. This list of needs were subsequently prepared as a final list of 30 characteristics, was translated into two major national languages, Sinhala and Tamil, and was given to all the GROW Project stakeholders so that they are able to judge how they are progressing towards the envisioned civil society. Particularly, the opportunities to carry out the need assessments at different levels with a variety of target groups were of great significance. The needs assessments enabled a very comprehensive process of operationalizing the major and basic concepts integral to grassroots democracy, which is the major focus of the project. For example, Women's Society members have been empowered to (a) lobby and advocate on issues that permeate their lives as dignified members in the community (such as discrimination against women, civil rights, violence in the community, alcoholism, and a cleaner environment); (b) challenge malpractices related to contracts on road maintenance, water supply systems, and similar areas; and (c) effectively influence market forces and gain market access for goods produced by women in the community.

The final outcome of the needs assessment can be viewed by visiting the project website at www.niu.edu/srilankaproj/

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM AT NIU

The Project Director, the Academic Advisor, and the staff of the International Training Office spent approximately three months planning and designing the professional Development Program so that it provided a productive and meaningful learning experience for the participants. A total of 40 individuals and institutional representatives from both on and off campus were actively involved in the implementation of the program, including the teaching faculty, guest speakers, and discussion panelists. The IT staff, field trip coordinators, field resource persons, members of the Advisory Committee, campus hotel staff, and audio-visual staff provided strong support for the smooth implementation of the program. Faculty members from nearly ten NIU departments and units participated as resource persons. Included in the program were 17 formal sessions, three panel discussions, and several hands-on IT skills sessions. The program was concluded with a Certificate Award Ceremony on May 22, 2003 culminating an enriching three-week program.

The academic component of the program was a well thought out one in the context of the project focus, needs of the representing organizations, and the roles and responsibilities of the participants in meeting the objectives of the GROW Project. The program had a series of major modules that were designed to give the participating NGO leaders critical knowledge, competencies, and attitudes to enable them to lead their respective organizations as they proceeded with the activities related to the project until its completion and beyond. The program included sessions by NIU faculty from diverse disciplines, with the majority from Adult and Higher Education, a few of whom are considered world-renowned professionals in their areas of expertise. Most of the resource faculty, also members of the project Advisory Committee, were attached to the project since it began and therefore were familiar with the project goals, concepts, and processes. The major modules of the NIU Professional Development Program included (a) Building Civil Society, (b) The Role of the Community-based Organizations, (c) IT Techniques and Tools for the GROW Project, (d) Strategic Management and Practical Project Development, (e) Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, (f) Social Mobilization and Community Empowerment, (g) Strategic Marketing for Micro-Enterprises, (h) Advocacy for Gender Empowerment, (i) Team Building and Group Dynamics, (j) Poverty, Gender and Social Justice, (k) and Grant Writing.

The training methodologies used in this professional development program were carefully selected and developed to meet the session objectives. The methods, were primarily participatory, learner-centered, andragogical, and activity-centered. The methods, in addition to lecture/discussions, also included panel discussions with local and outside resource persons, field visits to local and state organizations based in Chicago , group discussions, and problem solving exercises. Participants were supplied with well-designed handouts and other materials to compliment and consolidate what was learned. As a rule every sessions was supplemented with high quality handouts for participants to take back to their organizations for future reference and use. The Professional Development Program was evaluated on a regular basis and a comprehensive summative evaluation was carried out at the end of the program.

The detailed agenda of the Professional Development Program that took place at NIU could be viewed in the project website: www.niu.edu/srilankaproj/

TRAINING OF TRAINERS WORKSHOP IN SRI LANKA

Another very important activity of the GROW project was the Training of Trainers (TOT) workshop conducted in Sri Lanka in mid-January, 2004 by the NIU Project leaders. The TOT workshop was directed at preparing the leadership from the four Model Villages of the project, as well as community leaders from the adjoining villages for their role in further strengthening grassroots democracy. An initial needs assessment was carried out at earlier by the project trainers in order to identify the needs of these grassroots level leaders in their role as implementers of the GROW Project process in the Model Villages. Two Model Villages were visited by the trainers who had extensive discussions with the residents along with observations to determine the nature of knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be focused on in the TOT workshop. The workshop sessions were developed using the inputs collected from these various sources. The workshop was intended to build the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of the participating leaders to enable them to carry out their expected leadership roles and activities connected to building an enhanced civil society. The workshop sessions were interpreted into three languages simultaneously. Interpreters from the Sri Lanka Parliament were invited for the purpose.

Training Methodology

The ideology behind the training process adopted in this TOT workshop was based on concepts of empowerment and participation and the sessions were designed to promote this central ideology that formed the foundation of the entire GROW Project. Consequently, the training process promoted full participation of the target group, enhancing self-confidence, ensuring self-respect, and tapping creativity. The sessions were designed according to the experiential learning process, often utilizing current experience as the base thereby enabling reflections and allowing for application in the context of the Model Villages. Workshop sessions were designed based on adult learning principles securing the participation of all the workshop members to the highest possible degree. The training techniques were carefully selected and developed to meet the session objectives.

The training methodology used in the TOT workshop was designed to sharpen the critical thinking and problem solving abilities of the participants. In conducting the training, the trainers used a variety of methods, techniques, and tools directed at achieving the workshop objectives. The techniques were participatory, learner-centered, andragogical, and activity-centered. Participants were supplied with well-designed handouts and other materials to complement and consolidate learning. Every session was supplemented with carefully designed handouts for the participants to take back to their Model Villages for future references and use. The procedures used in every session assured respect for collective ideas from the group, openness to information from the group, encouragement for contribution from every member in the group, while further strengthening his/her creativity and innovation.

Trusting the abilities of every member in the group was given a high emphasis through out the TOT workshop. Enriched through collective action and reflections, as an outcome of the workshop, community leaders were able to implement a wide variety of activities related to strengthening women's participation in grassroots democracy in their Model Villages situated in the central region, southern region, south-eastern region, and the north-eastern region in Sri Lanka . Under the guidance of the four women NGO partner organizations of the GROW Project, important core principles were implemented in the selected four Model Villages. Moreover, steps were taken to demonstrate how the TOT workshop could be adapted in implementing it at the local level, viz. in the Model Villages. It can be concluded that TOT workshop was instrumental in further strengthening the empowerment process.

Four local level training programs were planned, designed, and implemented by the four partnering institutions to replicate the TOT workshop by adjusting to the local conditions. After further refining the TOT workshop sessions as preparation for the four local training programs, two training manuals were developed in Sinhala and Tamil and were given to the four partner organizations for use in the four local training programs. In February and March, 2004 the four local level training programs were conducted by the four partner organizations for 75 participants. In total over 100 participants benefited from the leadership training.

A 113 page training manual titled “Strengthening Grassroots Democracy: A Training Manual for GROW Model Village Leaders” was developed based on the TOT Workshop and will be shared with the four partner organizations and other important stakeholders both in Sri Lanka and in the US . A copy of that manual is enclosed with this evaluation report.

ADVOCACY ORIENTATION WORKSHOP

Another important activity of the GROW project was an Advocacy Orientation Workshop, held January 8-9, 2004, at the CENWOR Auditorium with a follow-up session on June 12, 2004 at the Sri Lanka Institute for Development Administration (SLIDA). The main goal of the advocacy orientation workshop was to determine the nature of the advocacy agenda and activities to be accomplished to enhance the degree of success of the project, in further strengthening the democratic culture at the grassroots level. Twenty participants who are the leaders of the four partner NGOS participated in the workshop. It was emphasized that at the very start of the GROW Project, an initial need assessment activity was carried out in Sri Lanka to decide the priority advocacy issue of the grassroots women. The two issues that emerged as outcomes of this needs assessment process were (a) lack of women's political representation at the local level, and (b) lack of market support for income generation projects of small-scale business women. With strong consensus of the participating groups, it was decided to focus exclusively on the participation of women in the local government. Consequently, grassroots women's political representation became the focus of the Advocacy Orientation Workshop.

During the Advocacy Orientation Workshop the GROW leaders developed a clear definition of the selected advocacy issue. The participants indicated that there are different aspects of politics which effect women's political representation such as violence and corruption. It was agreed that these issues should be addressed in the series of activities planned under the advocacy component of the project. During the Advocacy Orientation Workshop, participating leaders discussed and agreed on the need to mobilize support for women parliamentarians who were enjoying great ‘scarcity value' and the need to develop a strategy to bring about greater participation from women. Also, it was agreed to identify and train potential women candidates as well as ensure support for women candidates contesting local government elections, irrespective of their party affiliations. The lack of visibility of the issue – low level of women's representation at the local level - within the general public and the need to raise public awareness through activities of the project were also given high emphasis in the discussions at the Advocacy Orientation Workshop. The workshop process resulted in the development of an advocacy campaign designed in collaboration with the four NGO partners including: selecting the priority issues related to sustainable democracy strengthening (e.g., violence against women, equal participation by women in decision making) for the advocacy campaign, identifying and exploring the development of alliances with other organizations interested in the issues and supportive of the advocacy campaign, and finally, developing the advocacy campaign, with a clear definition of the advocacy issue, the desired goal and objectives, strategies for implementation, and a chronology of activities to bring about the desired outcome. Also, the workshop explored how to liaise vertically as well as horizontally by establishing active lines of communication with identified individuals who can influence and enrich the advocacy cause while gaining visibility and legitimacy for national policy directions. During this workshop it was discussed how to organize the national level advocacy seminar and the symposium to implement advocacy strategies to influence policy decisions in rectifying the selected advocacy strategy.

Final report of the Advocacy Orientation Workshop can be viewed in the project website: www.niu.edu/srilankaproj/

The most important outcome of the Advocacy Orientation Workshop was a draft declaration to seek national level acceptance by the women-in-development activists in Sri Lanka and subsequently to present to the leading government decision makers and cabinet members of the Sri Lankan government for policy development and implementation. Subsequently, the draft declaration was discussed and refined during a series of meetings with high level activists and organizational heads who are deeply involved in the field of women's political participation. As an outcome of the meetings, the draft declaration was further refined and revised. Meetings with the Chairperson of the National Committee on Women, the Secretary, Ministry of Women's Affairs, were particularly useful in including a 33% quota for women in the draft declaration. The significance of this revision was that the ability of the draft declaration to present a specific affirmative action clause that offered a unified voice capable of receiving national attention.

The declaration was unanimously adopted at a national forum of women activists held on June 4, 2004 and then was presented to the above- mentioned leadership at the International Symposium on June 8, 2004. The GROW project has received the unique opportunity to follow through the declaration into its policy making stage as an outcome of the activities carried out by the members of Core Advisory Group of the newly funded Department of State Project. Currently the members are eagerly following through with the required mandate and securing the political support to make it to a constitutional law.

END-OF- THE PROJECT SEMINAR AT NIU

As was included in the original proposal an end-of-the Project Seminar, titled “Empowering Grassroots Women: Experience from a Two-Year NIU Project in Sri Lanka “ was held at NIU on April 29, 2004 in order to share the project experience with the NIU community. It was an opportunity to share the important outcomes of the two–year project as it related to further strengthening the international educational experience emanating from the project. This event was well attended. The original targets of the project were highlighted and a series of sessions were designed to consolidate the learning elements derived from the project. The seminar started with a slide presentation on the “ Cultural Heritage of Sri Lanka ” followed by a video clip on “ Women's Political Representation in Sri Lanka .” Another important highlight of the seminar was a panel discussion exploring the application of the GROW Project experience to the application to the US context. The panel discussion was followed by an open forum, where many members from the audience participated in a highly interactive discussion. As a concluding session “ Lessons Learned from the GROW Project” was presented putting into perspective how and what NIU students can gain from the GROW Project experience .

ADVOCACY SEMINAR

Advocacy is a major element of the GROW Project that was directed at building an enhanced civil society in Sri Lanka and therefore had two other activities related to advocacy. A national level seminar titled “ Women's Political Representation at the Local Government Level: An Action Agenda for Change” that took place on June 4, 2004 at Hotel Renuka in Colombo, Sri Lanka was one of the most important activities related to the advocacy component. Sixty-eight participants were present at this national seminar including leading women activists in the field of political representation, members of the GROW Project Advisory committees, including some members of the NIU Advisory Committee, representatives from the four partner organizations, and leaders from the four Model Villages. As a member of the NIU Advisory Committee put it, the seminar was an “overflowing event” with high enthusiasm, genuine and keen interest, and great contributions. The most outstanding outcome of the Advocacy Seminar was the endorsement of the earlier mentioned declaration seeking affirmative action to include 33% of the seats at the local government level for women representatives. The unanimous endorsement of this declaration by the participants of the national level seminar was a clear indicator that the GROW Project had been able to unite and provide one voice to this very critical issue of women's political representation. The united front that the GROW project created as a result of a powerful, yet delicate, advocacy process has produced an effective force in enhancing the democratic culture of the Sri Lankan society. This has a strong spill-over effect to the new project as well, as the politicians are now more convinced and committed to carrying the mission forward until the contents in the declaration becomes a policy and a constitutional law.

The agenda of the Advocacy Seminar that took place on June 4, 2004 at Hotel Renuka in Colombo , Sri Lanka , could be viewed in the project website: www.niu.edu/srilankaproj/

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ADVOCACY

The International Symposium on Advocacy, held on June 8, 2004 at Bandaranayake Memorial International Conference Hall in Colombo, Sri Lanka was the crowning event of the GROW Project that enabled it to bind and embellish the advocacy process that evolved over the last year of the project. The Symposium titled “ Women's Political Representation at the Local Government Level: An Action Agenda for Change” held as the culminating event of the two-year project was a highly visible and well attended event. One hundred and fifty five national level leaders who had a link and a voice in the focus of the symposium, women's political representation, lent their support by their presence. Among the participants were representatives from the Northern Illinois University , including the Provost of the University, Executive Director of the International Programs Division, and a few members of the NIU Advisory Committee. The U.S. State Department was represented by the Project Officer overseeing the NIU Project, Public Affairs Officer of the US Embassy, and the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka . The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka was the chief guest at the symposium who ceremonially opened the symposium. His greetings were read at the symposium which communicated a powerful message assuring his support for the advocacy cause of the symposium. The participation by the Minister of Women's Empowerment and Social Services, the ministry that commanded the leading power for the advocacy issue of the GROW Project, had a significant impact also.

The symposium agenda was organized in a way that participants were able to grasp the contributions made by the GROW project during its two year period, its influence on the democracy strengthening process in the country in general and in the Model Villages in particular, and the efforts the project has taken on the major advocacy issue - women's political participation at the grassroots level. The most significant event of the symposium was the presentation of the GROW Declaration to the political leadership of the country by the Model Village women leaders for necessary action and follow-up.

The final declaration that was unanimously adopted and presented to the Cabinet members during the symposium is as follows:

W e, the women of Sri Lana, who constitute over half the citizenry of our country, and are most important income earners for the national economy, declare that even after 70 years universal franchise, our political representation is abysmally low: 1.7% at the local level, 2.9% at the provincial level, and 4.9% at the national level. These alarming figures reveal a national problem and a human rights violation.

W e advocate a policy of power sharing to maximize opportunities for balanced representation to promote gender equality, human development, democratic values, and social justice.

W e appeal to all concerned to take concrete action to eliminate the prevalence of violence in the political culture, which has deterred women from political participation.

W e seek affirmative action to encourage, support, and ensure greater participation and representation for women in politics.

W e urge that political parties, policy makers and electoral law makers endorse affirmative action to ensure 33% of seats for women, starting immediately at the level of local government and eventually extending to the national level.

GROW PROJECT WEBSITE

The GROW Project Website constructed during the very early stages of the project and continuously updated, is an important product of the project. The website, which has a specially assigned web address, has made it easier for viewers to visit and grasp the project process with its rich outcomes. The GROW Website has links to the websites of all the important project partners both at NIU and in Sri Lanka . The website has five important menus for (1) General Project Information, (2) Facilitator Guide, (3) Project in Pictures, (4) Advocacy, and (5) Reports and Minutes. The whole process of the GROW project has been captured in the website under these five menus. NIU faculty, students, and other groups have visited the project website on many occasions as was evident during various interactions. It has indeed become an important learning tool for many clients in the fields of participatory community development, women's political representation, civil society, and democracy strengthening and advocacy . The website of the newly funded State Department project will be linked to this GROW website, thus enabling a seamless transition of the core theme – democracy strengthening . The address of the project website is http://www.niu.edu/srilankaproj/

PART 11 

This part of the summative evaluation report catalogues outcomes of the GROW Project by project objectives. Because project goals are interrelated and overlapping, the presentation of outcomes by objective does not imply a compartmentalized process, where goals are disconnected. Rather, such documentation serves to record the attention

to, progress toward, and success in achieving identified project targets. In addition, recommendations for improvement are noted.

OBJECTIVE 1

Provide an opportunity for selected women NGO leaders in Sri Lanka to engage in a dialogue with counterparts at NIU on democratic processes critical to women's participation in sustainable grassroots democracy.

Prior to the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) leader's visit to Northern Illinois University (NIU), GROW Project Director and Co-director traveled to Sri Lanka in November 2002 to set the stage and January 2003 to conduct an extensive needs assessment with local NGO's, local leaders, village members, activists, and practitioners.

Through community brainstorming and discussion, 40 vision items were produced. After dialogue and deliberation, 30 goals were identified as priority vision items, all of which related to 3 general categories: (1) political, (2) economical, (3) social. Some of the capacity building initiatives included income-generating and health-related projects. Advocacy efforts focused on increasing women's representation in local politics (currently 1.9%) to a greater level (decided on 33.3%).

Through extensive planning and coordination time among NIU and Sri Lankan GROW partners, eight NGO Leaders (2 leaders from each of the 4 NGO's) traveled to NIU during May 6-23, 2003 to participate in a 3-week training workshop in capacity building. The 3-week program included 17 formal sessions, including a series of training modules designed to enhance the educational competencies and technological skills of the participating leaders to enhance the needed leadership and capacity building skills consistent with project goals and the vision items identified in the needs assessment. The training aimed to develop competencies during the grant period, as well as aid in sustainable development beyond the grant period. The instructional design of the workshops emphasized practicality in order to facilitate a seamless transition between acquisition and implementation of knowledge and skills appropriate to Sri Lankan contexts. Participants were provided with handouts and resources for later referral.

During the focus group evaluation concluding the 3-week program, participants expressed appreciation for receiving reference materials. During the final ceremony many of the participants commented that they found the sessions to be very organized and useful along with the handouts for later referral. Moreover, they acknowledged the usefulness of the handouts, curriculums, and other educational materials as a resource during the session as well as a reference tool once back in Sri Lanka .

To ascertain specific participant reaction to and evaluation of the sessions within the 3-week professional development program, NGO's participated in a focus group discussion and completed a survey instrument. NGO leaders reported that sessions' content were made applicable to their Sri Lanka experience. These positive feelings were noted both in the focus group comments, as well as the written survey responses as well. The participants reported that the sessions were extremely relevant to their specific needs, providing them with ideas and ways to operationalize their vision identified during the needs assessment conducted in Sri Lanka . In addition, the participants commented repeatedly that the sessions were presented in a way that was practical for them. They unanimously verbalized feelings of connectedness to a partnership that will be long lasting because of a shared purpose and universal goals. NGO participants stated that in addition, they learned a lot from conversations with session leaders and others during informal discussions.

Although the NGO participants reported that the professional development workshop was highly valuable, they also expressed feelings of apprehension about their ability to effectively implement what was learned when back in Sri Lanka . They expressed, perhaps normally, that because the sessions were so comprehensive they felt overwhelmed with the task ahead. With this in mind, it was recommended that more time be allocated for hands-on practical application of information and skills learned in future professional development programs. In this way, additional practices could help to solidify new learning through elaborative processing. Moreover, active engagement would allow learners opportunity to make direct use of the information in a way meaningful to them. Moreover, curriculums which incorporate immediate practice of presented content would likely enhance participants' ability to apply what was learned in the sessions and throughout the program. One suggestion was to follow sessions with more time for application where participants brainstorm, consider, and incorporate content into the development of their action plans as well as link explicitly link information to action plans within and across sessions.

An additional opportunity for NGO leaders to engage in a dialogue with other grassroots organizations regarding the democratic processes critical to women's participation in sustainable grassroots democracy was evidenced in visits to local and state organizations.

Objective 2

Broaden the understanding and awareness of women's contribution to democracy strengthening among NIU faculty and graduate students who will be involved directly or indirectly in the project.

The broadening of understanding and awareness of women's contribution to democracy on a wider scale seemed to formally begin with the 3-week Professional Development Program in May, 2003. Throughout the program, NIU faculty verbalized increases in their own understanding and awareness as a result of participating in the training program and talking with the NGO leaders. Broadening other's awareness of GROW activities was also evident when professors with specialized expertise from eight other NIU departments and units, not part of the original program, were recruited to provide additional information related to their specific action plans (e.g., counseling victims and perpetrators of domestic violence). This fanning out within NIU and local community provided greater exposure to faculty and other persons who were indirectly or otherwise not previously involved in GROW initiatives. In addition, a graduate student accompanied them during their 3-week stay in NIU's Holmes Student Center . The NGO's publicly acknowledged their appreciation of this interaction and responded that the informal time spent together was a significant and as highly valued in terms of better understanding the U.S. culture as the formal training that occupied the bulk of their day.

Yet learning did not conclude at the end of their fully scheduled day. Following program commitments and a time for rest, informal dinners and social activities provided a comfortable forum where sharing of stories, hopes, and aspirations culminated among NIU and NGO partners.

Broadening awareness and understanding was evidenced in the dissemination of information at the NIU seminar titled, Empowering Grassroots Women: Experience from a Two-Year NIU Project in Sri Lanka , on April 29, 2004. The purpose of the half day meeting was to provide an overview of the GROW project and discuss project initiatives as related to women's political representation in Sri Lanka to an NIU audience. Perspectives on building civil society as well as a panel discussion on gender development as a national and global agenda were shared in an open forum. Seminar presenters included GROW advisory members and individuals representing local grassroots organizations in Northern Illinois . Although typically a very hectic time in the semester, over 40 NIU employees (comprising administrators, faculty, and support personnel) and students attended the program. Several of the students were from adult education courses who had heard about the GROW project and wanted to learn more. With an anticipated turnout of approximately 25 persons, the additional attendance exceeded initial expectations.

Further, components of the GROW project were presented in various NIU College of Education courses (e.g., Adult Education, Counseling, Tests and Measurement). For example, in the ETR 530 Tests and Measurement course, the GROW project provided a context for discussing unique methods and considerations when assessing culturally diverse populations, as well as helped to identify potential sources of bias threatening valid inferences from assessment results. Explanations, accompanied by photos taken in Sri Lanka and the model villages served to engage students and provide them with a lens to experience diversity of ecology and culture. In CAHA 533, Learning How to Learn: Applied Theory for Adults ; CAHA 633, Theory Building for Learning How to Learn in Adult Education , research constructs were explored from an non-western perspective.

In 2004, paper presentations were delivered by the GROW Project Advisor and project Director at African-American and Latino Research Conference held at Malcolm X College in Chicago to share the project progress and outcomes. The title of the presentation: " Gender Empowerment for Grassroots Democracy Strengthening: An Experience from Sri Lanka ". Approximately 35 NIU graduate students from the Department of Counseling, Adult, and Higher Education attended.

Broadening understanding and awareness of women's contribution to democracy was further strengthened when two GROW advisory members traveled independently to Sri Lanka to visit the model villages and talk with NGO Leaders in October, 2002 and December, 2003. During the GROW advisory meetings, both members reported the events, observations, and impressions of their visit. Both expressed that their trip was highly informative which contributed significantly to their overall understanding of the goals, objectives, realities, and enthusiasm connected with the project. The positive experiences reported by these members' were later corroborated by five of the NGO leaders (during NIU's June, 2004 visit to Sri Lanka)- who spontaneously and independently shared this with this evaluator in that the members' visits provided behavioral evidence of NIU's commitment to the project initiatives in Sri Lanka.

Objective 3

Design and implement a capacity building program for the identified leaders of the four national level women NGOS, to enhance individual, institutional and community capacity for effective participation in grassroots democracy in Sri Lanka .

Together, NGO leaders and NIU project members worked to design a plan for benefiting and enhancing individual, institutional, and community capacity to participate in grassroots democracy. NGO leaders conducted training the trainer workshops in three languages which produced 26 leaders within each of the 4 model villages. Specific action plans were implemented at the grassroots level within the four model villages.

Members of the four model villages were closely involved throughout each phase of the project implementation: short and long term planning, prioritizing needs, managing resources, contributing to work efforts, and monitoring progress. Villagers' participation, both women and men, ensured commitment to capacity building initiatives and project sustainability as the community became important stakeholders and assumed ownership.

Led by the initiatives of women, village involvement was approximately 90% (despite a newer village comprised of newly relocated individuals). Through a series of women initiated solidarity building group action meetings, village women were mobilized to participate in grass roots initiatives in their community. Through collective voice and vision, women organized to participate in leadership development to solve community concerns. Moreover, women worked together to combat village apathy by inviting all community members to participate in local meetings to plan efforts for improving the general condition of the village as a whole. In order to strengthen community solidarity, women again lead the way in identifying, prioritizing, and planning community vision. As a result, these town meetings produced creative solutions to mobilize resources. In particular, women initiated various income-generating outlets and training opportunities for both individuals and communities (e.g., production of food, textiles, clothing, and jewelry). Ways to market goods were planned and implemented. For example, in one village, outcomes consisted of the building of two community wells for (1) drinking and (2) bathing. In addition, several villagers built personal water wells, upgraded the roofs and floors of houses. The women formed a working group to grate the main road into the village by hand in order to make it travelable. Moreover, plans to build a playground for children were devised and recycling and conservation efforts were implemented. During NIU's visit to this particular model village, the community members were proud to showcase their accomplishments to NIU visitors. In a tour guided lock-stepped by all villagers in attendance (approximately 75 persons), they expressed excitement and pride in their accomplishments, verbalizing that their quality of life has improved significantly as a result. Through interpreter translation, many villagers verbalized that projects provided a unified community vision for improving their ability to manage further development and resources at the community level. Consistent with action plans, community goals helped to unify village citizens by providing opportunities for participation in community building and civil society activities. Such initiatives strengthened a collective self-reliance within the local population through participation in economic and social building activities.

Outcomes in other villages were equally impressive and aligned with their action plans based on earlier needs assessments. For example, building a community kitchen, establishing a watch group to combat violence, working to enroll non-school going children in school, capitalizing on training in technology to disseminate information and share progress among villages were but a few activities initiated by the villages. The strengthening of women as a result of the GROW initiatives also was evident in the remote village of Udhayapuram . Although women in the local Muslim community traditionally do not participate in decision-making characteristic of males, empowerment was observed in women's participation in joint community decisions regarding health, safety, and education.

Objective 4

Strengthen the networking capabilities of NIU and the four selected women NGOs by establishing effective, responsive, democratic and “ordinary women- friendly" channels of communication.

To bridge the gap between U.S. and Sri Lanka time zones, a project webboard and list serves were developed to open lines of communication. NGO leaders participated in hands-on training in using webboard, e-mail, and other instructional technology tools during the 3-week capacity building seminar at NIU (May, 2003). During the summative evaluation (focus group) concluding their 3-week seminar, participants reported feelings of enhanced confidence in their ability to successfully utilize the Internet as a means of communication to carry out the goals of their identified action plans once back in Sri Lanka as a result of their hands on practice. Moreover, success of the IT sessions was triangulated in both their quantitative ratings ( M = 4.5/5) and qualitative remarks (open-ended responses) on surveys completed following focus group discussions. Implementation of technology as a communication tool was evident in the model village of Atakalanpanne where an IT center was created for individuals to organize, share resources, and exchange ideas across villages. In addition, the Internet was used as a tool for conducting research pertinent to village goals. As a result, the community successfully campaigned to halt privatization of a virgin forest bordering the village. In addition, NIU and NGO participants frequently used e-mail to communicate information, share ideas, plan events, and report progress.

Yet, webboard and listserve technologies were less utilized than had been originally conceptualized. NGO's reported that due to the high cost of Internet access, as well as limits in villagers' technical expertise, technology use, as a means of communication, was mostly prohibitive. Despite the objective to use technology as a means for communicating and disseminating information, the limitations of such access did not sway GROW members' persistence to network with each other. To this end, traditional technologies such as communication via letters, telephone, and face-to-face contact became the methods most viable. These more suitable channels of communication were used consistently throughout project facilitating alignment among the four NGO's resulting in a national coalition producing a national voice.

In the United States , a GROW website was developed and published as a link on NIU's homepage in order to highlight, document, and disseminate GROW initiatives at home and abroad. The website is arranged by topic with links to pertinent information regarding project goals and pictures to document various activities in Sri Lanka . To identify the effectiveness of the GROW website as a means of dissemination, a hit tracker using utility software could be used to provide statistics such as which pages on the website were most viewed, how individuals move around within the website, as well as how many layers deep the website is explored. In addition, webserver software could record the URL of where the “hit” came from thereby tracking the location of the visitor (i.e., on campus, off campus, international) to determine potential outreach.

Objective 5

Sharpen the leadership skills of women's coalitions in Sri Lanka through training in advocacy strategies for effective policy formulation on prioritized women's issues.

As discussed in objective 1, a 3-week series of professional development workshops in capacity building strategies were held at NIU in May, 2003. Such training enhanced the NGO leaders' capacity to provide information, guidance, and training to local Sri Lankan partners in effective policy formulation, advocacy, and strategic skills implemented at the grassroots level. Advocacy training was conducted regionally and executed both locally and nationally. Outcomes consisted of the development of the declaration (to increase women's representation in government to 33.3%) which was presented at the day long Advocacy symposium titled: Women's Political Representation at the Local Government Level: An Action Agenda for Change held on June 4, 2004. Approximately 66 persons representing each of the 4 model villages, local as well as national officials from Sri Lanka , and NIU representatives attended the symposium.

In an international seminar titled: Political Representation for Grassroots Women: An Action Agenda for Change in Sri Lanka on June, 8 th 2004 (154 in attendance) the declaration was presented before Parliament with the Prime Minister in attendance. The declaration was accepted unanimously. A follow up workshop for the NGO leadership (15 in attendance) was held to reflect on what was learned and how to implement a seamless transition to phase II and to identify NGO coalition and participants for future events.

Objective 6

Set up horizontal and vertical partnerships with women's resources and organizations in the U.S., in Sri Lanka, and other parts of the world to share this rich experience and to explore innovative strategies for pooling technical and

capital resources for future sustainability of the project.

To increase future sustainability of the project, a variety of media and information dissemination strategies were designed and set in place. Innovative strategies were used to inform and enhance communication among potential beneficiaries, key NGO's, local government, and other stakeholders and partners about the project goals, progress, and outcomes, as well as future opportunities. Outputs include: (1) resource book written in Sinhala and Tamil on “ Capacity Building for Grassroots Women's Participation in Democracy Strengthening” to be used in local training .” (2) “Strengthening Grassroots Democracy: A Training Manual for GROW Model Village Leaders”. It is recommended that curriculum be made widely available to NGO's, perhaps by linking to the GROW Project Website or providing to Sri Lankan institutions working directly with NGO's.

Conclusion

In sum, the activities of the project helped build local and provincial capacity for planning and implementing sustainable economic and social activities at the grassroots level. The target was to increase self-reliance and social capital by stimulating and building the capacities of the four NGO leaders in Sri Lanka to face new challenges and opportunities for strengthening advocacy through women's active participation in grassroots democracy. Moreover, initiatives aimed at strengthening local population and civil society participation were evident in village outcomes prompted through women-led efforts.