IATP Monitoring and Evaluation Report - IREX

In Azerbaijan, IATP and the Eurasia Partnership
Foundation (EPF) co-sponsored an online forum for
its citizens to learn more about their country’s election
laws and their electoral rights. The online event
took place from October 9-21, 2008, during Azerbaijan’s
presidential elections, as part of EPF’s
USAID-funded High Profile Radio Debates and Web-
Based Information Portal Project. In practice, citizens
learned about exit polling, the positions of
presidential candidates on key issues, the operation
of election committees, and voters’ electoral responsibilities.
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IATP online events promoted communication in diverse
spheres—including such sensitive topics as
HIV/AIDS. More than 100 citizens in Belarus, Georgia,
Moldova, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan
were able to pose pressing questions to an HIV/
AIDS expert from the USAID-funded Project HOPE
program in Central Asia during an online forum in
2008. Danielle S. Parsons, MPH and Public Health
Consultant specializing in HIV/AIDS, answered a
range of questions on prevention, on the myths and
realities of the disease, as well as on nontraditional
ways of getting infected. Questions often difficult to
address directly in the region, and where information
is often unavailable, were addressed in the forum.
Participants learned information they often
could not get from relatives, local media, or in some
cases, even doctors. The forum participants also
shared views on how they would support their
friends and family members living with HIV/AIDS.
Discussion was lively on the IATP forum page
(http://forum.iatp.net/) throughout its planned duration,
from November 25 to December 10, 2008.
(http://iatpnews.typepad.com/iatp/2008/12/
hivaids-expert-answers-pressing-citizens-questionsonline.html
).
From November 24-December 12, 2008, 50 individuals
in an online forum across Eurasia learned about
the vital role students and Web 2.0 technology
played in the 2008 US presidential election. The forum
(http://forum.iatp.net) featured Executive Director
of the Minnesota Public Interest Research
Group (MPIRG) Joshua Winters and two active MPIRG
members, students Ryan Kennedy and Joey Dobson.
The three guests shared the organization’s best
practices for involving university students in getting
out the vote and in MPIRG activities. Participants
from Eurasia included students, teachers, journalists,
NGO representatives, and other interested parties
from Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Turkmenistan,
Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. IATP users posed a
range of questions on topics, such as organizing advocacy
campaigns, tracking legislative activity, utilizing
Web 2.0 in electoral campaigns, and documenting
student voting statistics. During the course
of the online discussion, the Eurasian participants
also learned the American experts’ strategies to
educate and motivate young people, and tactics to
coordinate election campaigns among students. NGO
officials interacting in the forum asked their US colleagues
about the role of NGOs in campaigns as
well. (http://iatpnews.typepad.com/iatp/2008/12/
eurasia-citizens-learn-about-the-role-of-studentsand-web-20-in-us-presidential-elections-duringonl.html).
Environmental issues have also been a theme of
online forums. From December 22-26, 2008, the director
of the NGO Civil Initiative Support Fund,
Muazamma Burkhanova moderated an online discussion
on “The Natural Condition of Tajikistan’s Environment”
for students, university professors, school
teachers, entrepreneurs, and NGO representatives
within Tajikistan. The virtual discussion focused on
the ecological challenges facing the country—
challenges that are exacerbated by the national and
global lack of consensus on environmental issues. 85
During the summer of 2008, dozens of entrepreneurs
and other citizens of Azerbaijan learned about microfinance
opportunities from the international nonprofit
lender FINCA via IATP centers nationwide.
More than 30 citizens participated in an online forum
entitled, “How to Obtain Microloans from International
Organizations” with Ella Beavers, chief operations
officer of FINCA, from August 1-8, 2008. 86
In total, IATP organized 61 international online
events that connected 737 participants to international
experts over the course of the last two years.
According to the results of IATP forums online survey,
92% of the respondents (all of whom had participated
in at least one IATP forum) reported finding
IATP forums “useful” with 80% saying it was useful
for their personal, social, and professional development.
Irena Snikhovskaya, a teacher from Zhitomir,
Ukraine, noted, “During an IATP chat, I
learned about multimedia activities my Belarusian
colleagues used in their classrooms. Now my students
and I are also using these exercises during lessons
at the IATP center. [At the IATP center] I can
always get professional advice on technical issues,
as well as on multimedia resources to use for my
classes.” 87
84 For more information, see IATP Interim M&E Report, June 2007 – December 2008
85 For more information, see IATP Interim M&E Report, June 2007 – December 2008
86 For more information, see IATP Interim M&E Report, June 2007 – December 2008
87 IATP forum participants’ online survey, December 21-26, 2008.
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