Quarterly Report: Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance - Learning, Evaluation, and Research Activity II

Continuous taskings included LER II CB.001: Tasking Management, LER II CB.002: Dissemination, and LER II CB.053: Utilization. Taskings from previous years that carried over into Year 5 included the Liberia Civic Education Impact Evaluation (IE), Armenia Civic Education IE, Democratic Elections and Political Process (DEPP) Electoral Assistance After Action (EA3) Review Methodology, DEPP Election Management Programming Guide, Policy, Coordination, and Integration (PCI) DRG Strategic Assessment Framework (SAF) Update, Evidence and Learning (E&L) Women's Political Participation and Leadership (WPPL) Social and Behavior Change (SBC) Toolkit, PCI DRG/Climate Action Integration, and Belarus Youth Social Media Analysis. New taskings in Year 5 included Colombia Land for Prosperity Amazon Performance Evaluation Baseline, Colombia Resilient Communities Mid-Term Performance Evaluation, Summit for Democracy Strategic Communications, WPPL Assessments, Ghana Deforestation Endline, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Transnational Corruption, Summit for Democracy Travel Support, WPPL Gender Toolkit, and Impact of Investing in Cities. Key activities this quarter included conducting the first-ever pilot of the EA3 review in Nepal and launching pilot assessments of the new WPPL Assessment Framework in Ecuador, Nigeria, and Kenya. Cloudburst also conducted school verification and tested the quantitative and qualitative data collection tools in Liberia, which were key steps in preparing for baseline data collection of the civic education IE. Additionally, Cloudburst disseminated the findings from a youth analysis in Belarus to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Belarus team, including recommendations for immediate, mid-term, and long-term approaches to better and safely engage Belarusian youth in their programming. The Cloudburst Group contributed writing, editing, and graphics to DRG learning digests, including Learning Digest #41 on Public Financial Management, Learning Digest #42 on DRG Metrics, and Learning Digest #43 on Decentralization. These digests provided insights and lessons learned from various DRG projects and activities. Cloudburst continued a tasking from USAID/Liberia to conduct a "pilot to scale" IE of components of USAID's Liberia Elections and Democracy Activity, which aimed to assess the impact of civic education on democratic outcomes. The IE involved conducting school verification, testing data collection tools, and collecting baseline data. The findings from this IE will inform future programming and interventions in Liberia. The Cloudburst Group also conducted a tasking from USAID/Armenia to conduct an IE of civic education, which aimed to assess the impact of civic education on democratic outcomes in Armenia. The IE involved conducting school verification, testing data collection tools, and collecting baseline data. The findings from this IE will inform future programming and interventions in Armenia. In addition to these taskings, Cloudburst conducted various other activities, including launching pilot assessments of the new WPPL Assessment Framework in Ecuador, Nigeria, and Kenya, and disseminating the findings from a youth analysis in Belarus to the USAID/Belarus team. These activities aimed to promote learning, evaluation, and research in the DRG sector and to inform future programming and interventions. The Cloudburst Group's activities during the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2023 focused on conducting taskings, disseminating knowledge, and promoting learning and evaluation in the DRG sector. The group's work aimed to inform future programming and interventions and to promote democratic governance, human rights, and development in various countries.