Egypt: Evaluation of the European Commission’s Support with Egypt – Country Level Evaluation

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

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

Start/End Date: 09/02/2009 - 04/12/2009

Description:

The main objectives of this evaluation were :
* to provide an overall independent assessment of the Commission’s past and current cooperation relations with Egypt during the period 1998-2008;
* to draw lessons from past co-operation in order to improve the implementation of the current and the preparation of the future strategies and programmes of the Commission.

The evaluation was structured around 9 Evaluation Questions (EQs) covering the five DAC criteria -relevance, effectiveness, impact, efficiency and sustainability-, the Commission’s added value, as well as the following key issues: cross-cutting issues (gender, environment and good governance) and the 3Cs (coordination, coherence and complementarity). Answers to these EQs have been based on a reconstructed intervention logic, an analysis of the documents collected, an in-depth analysis of a representative selection of interventions, and on interviews with Commission officials, national authorities and beneficiaries. These answers aim at developing relevant conclusions and recommendations in regards to the above-mentioned objectives of the evaluation.

The evaluation covered in particular the following key areas/sectors of interventions of the Commission ‘s cooperation with Egypt:
- good governance, including the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms, support for democratisation processes, strengthening of civil society, involvement of citizens in socio-economic and political life, respect for the rule of law and access to an independent justice system;
- productive and legislative framework for Egypt's external trade, including the regulatory, institutional and administrative frameworks, the operation of banking and financial institutions and external trade facilitation;
- social sectors: health, education and labour market

The evaluation also assessed the extent to which the move towards the use of sector budget support in key areas/sectors facilitated the implementation of reforms and contributed to improved institutional and regulatory frameworks in - and to improved management and performance of - these areas/sectors.

The following services were provided:

* an inventory of the funds delivered to Egypt, to serve as a basis for the next stages of the evaluation;
* a reconstruction of the intervention logic, allowing to determine evaluation questions, judgement critieria and indicators,
* answers to these evaluation questions based on information gathered through a desk phase and a field mission;
* 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 Egypt;
* a dissemination seminar in Egypt to present the findings, conclusions and recommendations to the Commission’s Services and the main stakeholders.