1. RESULTS AND LESSONS Evaluation of Public administration developments in Hungary
Zsuzsa Sötét
Monitoring and Evaluation Departement
Ministry for Innovation and Technology
Bratislava 2018

2. Cohesion Policy in Hungary
Programs in numbers:
15 OPs
25 billion EUR budget
contracted projects
Close to 2000 calls
More than 50 major projects

3. Distribution of resources in 2007-2013 vs. 2014-2020

4. Evaluations
ex post evaluations
Carried out by independent evaluators in commissioned by the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office
Aim: results and lessons to be used in the programming period

5. Public administration
Electronic Administration Operational Program (EAOP)
Improvement of public sevices;
Enhancing operational efficiency
State Reform Operational Program (SROP)
Improvement of social impact
Cost efficient use of social resources
Client-centric public services

6. Developments of three segments
SROP-EAOP
Infrastructure
Work-flows/
procedures
Human resources and organizations

7. Scope of evaluations strategic context
achieving objectives, indicators, horizontal principles
financial progress
reaching the target groups
developmental results achieved
the intended and unintended impact
synergies, trainings, cost-efficiency
Evalution reports made by Collectivo

8. Evaluation methods – Collecting information
Document analysis
Analysing data
Surveys interviews, case studies
Former evaluations OP
Legal regulations
Calls
Annual reports
Beneficiaries
Evaluations
Central management IT system
17 projects
Stake-holders
Client-surveys

9. Key Findings and Conclusions
SROP
Successful organisational developments at local government officies and central administration
Training activities served development of the knowledge, skills, competencies of individuals
Simplification of public administration procedures has started
Good example for EAOP-SROP cooperation: network of one-stop offices
Political commitment towards a long-term policy strategy and objectives was missing
The targeting of training activities and simplification was poor
Efficiency of simplification has not been measured
The change of culture in public administration has not been achieved
Lack of coordination between OP-s

10. Key Findings and Conclusions
EAOP
EAOP contributed to the modernization of public administration (infrastructure)
A number of public administration procedures were partly or fully digitalized
Users welcomed electronic public administration procedures
The lack of system-level synergies between EAOP and SROP were tackled within the projects
Lack of strategic background and policy commitment
Low level of public awareness concerning electronic services (lack of targeted dissemination)
Websites are incomprehensible and difficult to navigate
Inter-operational functioning of public administration systems remained at a low level
The lack of cost-efficiency and cost-benefit considerations (beyond administrative requirements)

11. Recommendations Strategic, legal, institutional stability
Targeted design of training activities (comprehensive approach)
Maximizing the advantages during process development, involving and motivating participants
Preliminary needs analysis, user testing, target group specific dissemination
Detailed planning of maintenance costs

12. General lessons for 2020+ programs
Institutional memory must be maintained and further developed
Start planning early
Cooperation essential between planning – implementation – evaluation

13. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!