Year: 2009
Introduction:
SDPI undertook the Impact Assessment of a joint project between the IFES and the Election Commission of Pakistan, called the IFES Pakistan Election Tribunal Monitoring Project. The project aimed at developing the capacity of the Pakistani media for electoral re-porting. The project activities included a capacity building workshop for journalists in April 2008, a follow-up national media briefing on Election Tribunals in October 2008 and the distribution of two documents, ‘Election Dispute Resolution Pamphlet’ and ‘Complaints Handbook’. This project was part of a larger program aimed at strengthening the effectiveness and transparency of the electoral process, the Post-Election Community-Based Mediation and Adjudication Program. The immediate objective of the IFES interventions was to develop media capacity to improve the quality and effectiveness of the election tribunal related reporting with a view to increase public awareness of electoral and legislative issues, focusing particularly on the post -election disputes and role of election tribunal process.
SDPI’s evaluation of the project entailed interviews with randomly selected workshop participants, a review of stories filed by those journalists, and the compilation of case studies of individuals selected from the workshop participants. This data set helped in assessing the usefulness, effectiveness and future prospects of the program. The SDPI report highlighted the impact of the project as well as the recommendations to improve project interventions in the future.