Draft assessment template for evaluation plans: for whom and for what purpose Daniele Vidoni European Commission - DG Regional and Urban Policy Evaluation and European Semester Unit EVALUATION NETWORK MEETING - Brussels, 18 June 2015 Cohesion Policy

My question is: Are we making an impact?

(the first piece of) our answer: the Evaluation plans Obligatory: Submitted no later than a year after adoption of OP to monitoring committee (approves, reviews, amends: Art. 114, 110) Elements: Clear and obvious link to result indicators Identification of proper evaluation methods (combination of appropriate methods) Prospective solutions for data collection and linking Follow up given to evaluation findings (Art.110) http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docoffic/2014/working/evaluation_plan_guidance_en.pdf

What it the plan for evaluation plans? Evaluation Plans are submitted to the EC via SFC ahead of the Monitoring Committee, The European Commission Services analyse the plans and produce comments, The comments are discussed in the Monitoring Committee, The plan is approved, The evaluation work starts and the plan is modified and updated through time…

What is the current situation? Only a limited number of plans has been submitted and approved so far, There are some good practices, but…

…the majority of plans are rather formalistic and do not bite into the programmes

What is the template? At the moment, it is a draft. It is a tool that the European Commission services can use to: analyse the Evaluation Plans submitted, and Prepare constructive suggestions for the Managing Authorities to further improve the Plans

Elements of the Template Topic: what needs to be covered E.g.: Results orientation, Use of available evidence, Time planning, Quality management, Budget, Evaluation design, Data availability, Internal expertise, Training and development, Evaluation communication…

Elements of the Template Topic: what needs to be covered Objective: what needs to be achieved in respect of each topic Examples of action: examples of the steps to take, or the steps which have been taken, for the plan to achieve the objective concerned E.g.: Results orientation E.g.: Expected results are indicated and indicators identified E.g.: A logic model or theory of change links the intervention rationale of the interventions to be evaluated to the results expected A set of indicators based on available data is identified and are matched to the specific objective to be achieved

On the side of evaluation plans… You are invited to take part in the competition for the best evaluations of EU Cohesion Policy. The best contributions will be presented in the 2016 conference on "Effectiveness of EU Cohesion Policy". Submissions: by 31/12/2015 to regio-eval-conference@ec.europa.eu Info: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/policy/evaluations/conferences/ev aluating-effects/#1

The floor to you: Have you started to work on the evaluation plan? At this stage, what aspect are less easy to analyse in detail? Management and planning Responsibility and coordination Design and methods Data availability and data systems Skills and expertise Evaluation use and communication What kind of feedback from the EC would benefit you the most?