In an attempt to get beyond the numbers, in November 2008, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), one of the iKNOW Politics partners, commissioned an independent assessment of the iKNOW Politics website by the Swiss firm Owl RE. The assessment aimed to determine the extent to which the project has achieved its original objectives of:

• Facilitating a global exchange of knowledge and resources on gender and political participation linking several existing networks and actors in an issue specific discussion; and
• Equipping women at the national, regional and grassroots levels with tools and resources that can be used to inform and support efforts to increase the numbers of women in politics and the contribution women make in the political arena.

After six-weeks of data collection and analysis, the assessment findings affirmed that in less than two years the iKNOW Politics project has positioned itself as a one-stop-shop for women in politics, with significant achievements including:

• Building a strong global membership;
• Creating networks and an exchange amongst women;
• Making available a large number of resources in three languages; and
• Supporting women in their contributions to politics.

iKNOW Politics members canvassed for the assessment indicted that the website is playing an important role to inform and support women in politics, even at this early stage of the project. However, as a global project, the iKNOW Politics website confronts the challenge of balancing between the competing demands of its members, experts and partners. Building a Strong Global Membership The iKNOW Politics project has successfully completed its main tasks in terms of “outputs”: the iKNOW Politics website has been launched and has attracted a growing global audience, from 54,000 to 224,000 visitors and 400,000 to 1,800,000 page views per month. Since its launch in February 2007, the site has received over 43 million hits, at a current rate of almost 89,000 hits per day. The assessment also found that the number of resources and members has doubled in the past year, which is an indication of the popularity of the iKNOW Politics website. According to the assessment findings, 70 percent of registered iKNOW Politics members come from developing and transitional countries. Creating Networks and an Exchange amongst Women The iKNOW Politics website set out to facilitate an exchange of knowledge among women, primarily through the following features on the “Discuss” section of the website: Ask an Expert, discussion circles and E-Discussion. Last year alone, online discussions attracted over 1,600 participants, and iKNOW Politics staff moderated three week-long interactive talks with more than 120 participants from 35 countries, on such topics as women’s caucuses, fundraising strategies for women in politics and gender quotas. Approximately 10 percent of iKNOW Politics members actively use the “Discuss” features on iKNOW Politics; however, those who did use the features found them beneficial. For example, 85 percent of members surveyed who asked a question through the Ask the Expert feature found the response from the iKNOW Politics expert useful. Instances could also be found where the results of an exchange were used for concrete political actions. The iKNOW Politics website has been effective in creating two other networks: firstly, the establishment by five international partners of the iKNOW Politics project and their continued cooperation; secondly, the iKNOW Politics project has brought together a group of over 60 experts that have collaborated on consolidated responses, contributed to E-Discussions and responded to questions from iKNOW Politics members. Making Available a Large Number of Resources in Three Languages The iKNOW Politics website set out to facilitate an exchange of resources amongst women primarily through the resources available in the Library section that are also available under thematic topics in the Issues section. The News and Discuss sections also offer resources in the form of news items and discussion comments and responses. This assessment has found that the range and quality of resources available on the iKNOW Politics website have contributed to it successfully positioning itself as a key resource center on women in politics. Currently, the iKNOW Politics library hosts over 1,200 resources in English, French and Spanish. The overwhelming sentiment of the members canvassed was that the resources were a useful support for their political activities. On average, 31 documents have been downloaded everyday from the iKNOW Politics website. With an average of 3,600 visits (sessions) to the website every day, this means that approximately every 100th visitor downloaded a document during a visit. Many women consulted during the assessment revealed that they had distributed and shared resources from the site with peers, thus creating a multiplying effect in increasing knowledge of women in politics. Recommendations The assessment report concludes with a series of recommendations for the project, including increasing promotion of the iKNOW Politics project among key audiences; creating activities to reach out to grassroots; consolidating and reanimating the exchange and networking aspects of the website; introducing more region-specific, language-specific and practical focused resources; and exploring ways to better utilize the network of iKNOW Politics experts. The report recommendations will feed iKNOW Politics plans in the coming year for bringing on three Regional Coordinators, who will be based in NDI field offices in Indonesia, Jordan and Mali to conduct regional outreach.