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stakeholders seems to be largely conditional on whether or not they were
engaged in project activities together. While some stakeholders were consulted
on programme priorities and design, since stakeholder relations were
relatively weak, their inputs and participation as full and equal partners in
developing and implementing the Guatemala programme and its subsequent
phase were not integrated into programme development. In addition,
IDEA does not seem to have capitalized on the expertise and organizational
strengths of its partners.
Appropriateness of Design: While programme design has been consultative
and one of IDEA’s stakeholder representatives has been engaged to support
strategic planning for the 1999 and 2001 programmes, it still appears to
have been heavily influenced from Stockholm and Costa Rica. To some
degree this is a reflection of the limitations of the NGO sector in Guatemala
as well as the organization’s own inexperience in managing complex
projects with civil society partners. It is perhaps unrealistic to have expected
its relationships and ability to mobilize its partners to have crystallized within
the very short time frame allowed under the capacity building methodology.
However, the use of more participatory approaches in project design
and much longer time frames than currently used by the capacity building
methodology are more likely to result in greater collaboration and coordination
with stakeholder groups as well as higher degrees of ownership in
project processes and intended outcomes.
Indonesia
IDEA’s entry into Indonesia was a strategic decision of the organization
taken in late 1998. The initial programme strategy aimed at supporting the
development and drafting of Indonesia’s new electoral laws and preparatory
activities for the election, particularly for electoral management and
domestic observation and monitoring. Following the elections, IDEA chose
to focus its programmes in three key areas: (a) core institutions of democratic
governance; (b) regional autonomy; and (c) women’s political participation.
The strategy outlined targets three principal functions to: (i) facilitate
dialogue to review, promote, and monitor the democratic reform process;
(ii) establish and strengthen local institutions for democracy promotion
and; (iii) provide policy advice on strategic democracy assistance.
There have been a significant number of outputs, mainly measured in
terms of forums, workshops, seminars, and publications. There are also notable
outcomes from the projects, including: (a) the sharing of ideas among
domestic participants from different backgrounds, in addition to international
experiences shared by guest speakers and experts; (b) IDEAfacilitated
activities provided opportunities for local partners to access
information about democratic institutions and processes for which the
country has minimal reference or experience; (c) the creation of contacts, if