Evidence Briefer: Designing and Implementing More Effective Training Programs

Democracy, human rights, and governance (DRG) projects often train local stakeholders to ensure they have the skills and knowledge to advance democratic change. While DRG funders and implementers regularly inventory commonly used approaches and metrics, they less frequently have the resources to complete rigorous evaluations to determine what approaches work best depending on the context and conditions.

To fill this gap, the Evidence and Learning Practice at the International Republican Institute (IRI) completed a series of evaluations on projects that use training to increase participants’ access to information and catalyze behavior change. This evidence briefer includes a framework that translates adult learning best practices to DRG programming and insights on the characteristics of training that contribute to success (or failure), providing guidance for future programming.