European Commission Directorate General for Inte : Strategic evaluations to analyse EU strategies

Does aid reach the people who need it? How effective is the EU in reaching its objectives? Are EU development policies the right ones, and are they appropriately applied? Could EuropeAid deliver its aid more efficiently?

Strategic evaluations analyse EU strategies from conception to implementation, assessing the results of EU funded activities. These evaluations are complex, covering several programmes and instruments over a significant period of time. They are conducted at several levels : country, region or sector; they can also assess the procedures and instruments EuropeAid uses to provide aid.

The objective is to draw lessons from what has worked and what has not, so that EuropeAid can improve accountability and enhance its effectiveness. Strategic evaluations help understand why in a specific context development strategies have been successful or not, and provide recommendations to the decision-makers for the future programming and implementation.

The Evaluation Unit ensures the quality and objectivity of strategic evaluations

Within EuropeAid, it is the role of the Evaluation Unit to ensure the independence of the evaluation process and the objectivity and quality of the evaluation reports in order to increase the credibility of the findings, conclusions and recommendations.

To ensure the objectivity of each evaluation, the Evaluation Unit contracts independent evaluation experts and ensures that they apply a robust methodology for evaluation in a transparent way. The Unit coordinates their work, with the support of a steering group of experts, throughout the process to guarantee the quality of the evaluation. Once the report is finalised, it ensures its distribution and publication, as well as the follow-up of the main recommendations by the relevant EU institutions and services.

Work Programme

A work programme defined by the European Commission establishes the list of countries, regions, instruments or sectors of cooperation to be evaluated on the principle that cooperation with partner countries should be evaluated on a regular basis. This programme can, however, be adjusted to take into account political and development priorities as well as programming phases and legal frameworks.

Work Programme 2016-2020

Work Programme 2015-2019

Work Programme 2014-2018

Contacts

For more information about evaluation reports or to order a hard copy, please send a message to the Evaluation Unit.

Our address:
European Commission
Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development
Evaluation Unit
J-54 - 01/62
B-1049 Brussels
[e-mail](link sends e-mail)