1. 2 Seas Monitoring and Evaluation approach INTERACT seminar – Evaluation Plan workshop Vienna, 12 November 2015

2. Evaluation requirements 2014 – 2020 from the regulations:
Enhanced focus on result-orientation
New obligation of conducting impact evaluations for each Priority axis
Develop an Evaluation Plan within one year after C.P adoption
Strong input/awareness from the ex-ante evaluators of the need to have an in-depth clear reflection from the Programme authorities
 The C.P development process therefore quickly integrated evaluation aspects through workshops and discussions, facilitated by our ex-ante evaluators

3. Involving MS from a very early stage
Initial discussions with MS during preparation of the C.P (1st workshop in September 2013) to:
Identify draft evaluation questions feeding the C.P development process (what does the Programme really want to achieve? What concrete and tangible results would you like to see and measure?)
Contribute to definition of Result Indicators survey

4. 2 Seas evaluation approach to M&E: MS decisions
An external methodological support is needed throughout the programming period.
This external methodological support should provide the “framework” for all the evaluation activities and would notably be in charge of supporting the MS (and the JS) in the:
Set up and establishment of the Evaluation plan,
Planning and preparation of the impact evaluations (data collection, Terms of Reference, evaluation questions etc.) from the beginning of the Programme life cycle.

5. Call for Tenders
As a consequence, a Call for Tenders was launched in July 2015 to hire external consultants to provide this external methodological support.
Framework contract covering the entire Programme duration (+ subsequent contracts for each of the tasks below)
4 main tasks foreseen:
Methodological support in the design, development and implementation of an integrated evaluation approach within the framework of a robust 2 seas Monitoring & Evaluation system. – 2015/2016
Programme performance evaluation - Step 1 – 2017 / 2018
Programme performance evaluation - Step 2 – 2019 / 2020
Final Programme performance evaluation and impact evaluation

6. Next steps
Kick-off meeting with the external consultants
Set-up of a dedicated evaluation taskforce (subgroup of the Monitoring Committee)
Workshops to further develop the Evaluation Plan
Review all Programme tools and procedures to ensure evaluation needs are integrated
Design capacity-building tools (upon identification of needs / Projects and Programme partners)

7. Lessons learnt
Important role played by the ex-ante evaluators (both for JS and MS)
Important to stress the importance of evaluation towards MS
Need to think about M&E as an integrated approach to be reflected in all Programme procedures and templates (reporting etc.)
Identify and embed all evaluation needs (data needed, data collection system, level of information requested from projects etc.) from the start of the Programme to ensure evaluation is as relevant and good as possible
Find a procurement procedure suited to your needs

8. Thank you for your attention!
More information:
Gianluca Ferreri, Project Unit Coordinator
Edouard Gatineau, Project Officer