MEDA Region: Evaluation of the MEDA II Regulation and its implementation

Client: EC - Joint Evaluation Unit RELEX-EuropeAid-DEV

Partner(s): DRN- DIE-ODI-PTC-EIAC-ICEI

Start/End Date: 25/10/2007 - 30/06/2008

Description:

The main objective of this evaluation was:
* to analyse the performance of the Commission’s assistance to the Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPC) in the framework of the MEDA II regulation over the period 2000/2006; * to draw lessons from past co-operation in order to improve the implementation of the current programme and the preparation of the future strategy and indicative programmes under the European Neighbour Policy Instrument that succeeds and replaces the MEDA II regulation.

The evaluation was structured around 10 Evaluation Questions (EQs) covering different aspects of the Commission’s strategy in the MPCs. All the DAC criteria were covered by this set of questions: relevance, effectiveness, impact, efficiency and sustainability. Cross-cutting issues and 3Cs were also examined in order to complement the scope of the analysis. Answers to these EQs were based on reconstructed intervention logic, an analysis of the documents collected, a specific analysis of a representative sample of projects, and on interviews with Commission officials, national authorities and beneficiaries. These answers were used to draft the conclusions and recommendations with regard to the objectives of the evaluation.

The following services were provided:

* an inventory and typology of the funds delivered to the Mediterranean Partner Countries to serve as a basis for the next stages of the evaluation;
* a reconstruction of the intervention logic in order to determine evaluation questions, judgement critieria and indicators;
* answers to these evaluation questions based on information gathered through a desk phase and country visits;
* a set of sound conclusions and related lessons and recommendations to enable evidence-based decision-making;
* an overall judgement on the Commission’s co-operation with the MEDA region;
* a dissemination seminar to present the findings, conclusions and recommendations to the Commission’s Services and the main stakeholders.