The European Commission, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) launched this evaluation to take stock of the different types of investments co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the 2014-2020 period ensuring the enhancement of the institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and an efficient public administration and strengthening administrative capacity for the management and use of the ERDF and Cohesion Fund (CF). The evaluation also investigates the results of all the investments funded by the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund in addressing and promoting reforms in the Member States.
The ex-post evaluation assesses the rationale of the ERDF investment and the evidence of their effectiveness, efficiency and impact, their coherence with other policies, their relevance and the EU added value. It seeks to identify factors contributing to the success or failure of these investments under different socio-economic conditions, good practices and their contribution to good governance also beyond the implementation of the funds. The evaluation aims to provide an overview of the different ways in which ERDF funding (including technical assistance funding) for institutional capacity building and reforms has been used across the EU and will assess the mechanisms of change and results insofar as they can be identified.
The subject matter of this evaluation is important as it combines (i) the role of ERDF investments in implementing reforms and fulfilling country-specific recommendations; (ii) the design and execution of institutional capacity-building intervention; and (iii) the strategic use of technical assistance for capacity building. During the 2014-2020 programming period the implementation of capacity-building interventions and structural and administrative reforms was affected the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukrainian refugee crisis.
To assess the ERDF support for institutional and administrative capacities and implementation of reforms in Member States, our team of PPMI, EPRC and ISMERI Europa experts conducts a thorough analysis of monitoring and administrative data, documentary and literature review and interviews for the four case studies. The results of the evaluation were be presented in the seminar with the EC and stakeholders from EU Member States and are to be published in the final report assisted by the country and policy instrument fiches.