ABSTRACT
This chapter evaluates democracy assistance of young democracies by assessing non-governmental organizations (NGO) projects in a specific area of democracy assistance, youth activism. The goal of Central and Eastern European (CEE) NGOs democracy assistance programs directed toward young people is not just to inculcate democratic values, but also that these values ignite subsequent political and civic engagement among young people in target countries. The chapter evaluates these efforts, and demonstrates the usefulness of various methods to evaluate the impact of the democracy assistance at the micro level. It focuses on how organizations and researchers can measure the impact of democracy assistance programs at the individual level. The chapter presents a novel approach for studying the impact of democracy promotion by using an experimental method. Inspired by a group of economists at Poverty Action Lab, the chapter uses a randomized controlled trails method to assess impact evaluation of NGOs' projects aimed at inspiring and educating youth.
