North Macedonia

The EU Cohesion Policy is a key investment strategy aimed at reducing regional disparities and fostering smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth across the EU. It operates through national, regional, and Interreg cooperation programmes to support infrastructure, the green transition, connectivity, and social inclusion in the EU Member States, while preparing candidate countries for EU membership by building administrative capacity through Interreg and tailored training programmes.

The overall objective of the project is to prepare candidate countries for implementing cohesion policy in the lead up to and upon accession.

The project specifically aims to:

• Train staff from national administrations at central and local/regional level participating in Interreg programmes (and IPA III programmes, if staff overlaps), to reinforce their capacities for participating in and later on implementing cohesion policy programmes.
• Organise study visits (and cover related travel and accommodation costs and per diem) for short-term work experience in selected Member States’ managing or audit authorities, thereby increasing the skills for benefitting better from their participation in existing programmes and preparing future ones.

The evaluation covered all European Union (EU) external action support to IPA Roma inclusion projects in the Western Balkans and Türkiye between 2016 and 2023. The main objectives of this assignment were to: i) provide an independent and evidence-based assessment of the EU's past and current external action support in the area of Roma inclusion; and ii) provide lessons learnt and recommendations at EU level to inform ongoing and future decision-making in improving current and future EU strategies, programmes and actions on Roma inclusion.

The evaluation was centred around three main thematic areas:

• Civil rights (registration, data collection, monitoring, reporting, fight against discrimination and antigypsyism);
• Economic and social rights (health, employment, education and housing, including access to public services);
• Roma inclusion in governments' green and digital agendas.

Additionally, the evaluation addressed broader cross-cutting issues such as human rights, the need to ensure appropriate treatment for vulnerable groups including children, fight against environmental poverty and climate change, social inclusion and gender equality.

The analysis covered both spending and non-spending actions and examined all funding mechanisms and modalities of implementation used under IPA II and III.

The overall objective (Impact) to which this action will contribute was to facilitate the implementation of EU related strategies, policies and acquis in order to boost sustainable development of the Forestry sector in North Macedonia.

The specific objectives of this contract was to provide assistance to MAFWE to progress in the reforms in the forestry sector including strategic, legal, institutional and entrepreneurial frameworks, as well as development of informational and other tools for sustainable forest management.

The purpose of this contract was to strengthen capacities for monitoring, data collection, data management and reporting through establishment of national environmental information system and monitoring network structure via following results:

Result 1: Development of National Environmental Information System (NEIS);

Result 2: Development of National Environmental Monitoring Network (NEMN) and

Result 3: Strengthening the capacity for implementation of NEIS and NEMN.

The objective of this facility is to improve the overall quality of the NDICI Rapid Response and Peace, Stability and Conflict Prevention thematic areas by providing high quality research services.

We will provide the FPI with flexible and ad hoc research services and prepare literature reviews and rapid assistance reports in the thematic areas specified below.

The objective of the assignment was assisting the European Delegation to the Republic of Macedonia in selecting the best-quality proposals (concept notes and full application) to be received in the frame of calls for proposals under the IPA Civil Society Programme 2021-2023.

The specific objective of the calls for proposals was providing a support to civil society and media organisations to contribute to the EU related sector reforms in a number of pre-defined sectors/thematic priorities based on all-inclusive consultations with civil society and other national and international stakeholders in the country.

Areas covered included:

• Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption;
• Gender Equality and Anti-discrimination;
• Youth, Protection of Rights and Disability inclusion;
• Socioeconomic development and social economy;
• Green Agenda, Energy Efficiency and Climate Change;
• Freedom of speech and media integrity;
• Digital technologies;
• European Accession - Civil Society Platforms and Networking for EU Dialogue;

The main objectives of this evaluation were to provide the relevant services of the European Union and the interested stakeholders with:

• an overall independent assessment of the performance of the TACSO programme (in its three phases), paying particular attention to its different levels of results measured against its expected objectives; and the reasons underpinning such results
• key lessons learned, conclusions and related recommendations in order to improve current and future interventions.

In particular, this evaluation served:

• To inform the implementation of the programme fourth phase, which will be implemented through an extension of the current contract (TACSO 3);
• To inform the decision-making on the appropriateness of a potential fifth phase of the programme, to be launched with the next programming exercise (CSF 2024-2026);
• To inform the potential programme exit strategy to ensure the sustainability of its results.

The main users of this evaluation are the relevant EU services (DG NEAR HQ and EU Delegations of the targeted region) and the implementing partners.

The main objectives of this evaluation are to provide the relevant services of the European Union, the interested stakeholders with:

• An overall independent assessment of the performance of selected CT-P/CVE measures funded by FPI.2 during the years 2017-2022, paying particular attention to its different levels of results measured against its expected objectives; and the reasons underpinning such results
• As a particular approach to regional actions, a specific case study shall be carried out to assess the regional framework for support to CT-P/CVE measures in the Asian context, managed by the Regional Team in Bangkok. It is expected that the present evaluation assesses the relevance, added value and success of developing a model for CT and P/CVE actions, respectively, which have been replicated in different countries/contexts in Asia/Pacific (in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Maldives for CT; and in Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka and Maldives for P/CVE). If deemed relevant, links can also be made to regional approaches in other RTs;
• Key lessons learned, conclusions and related recommendations in order to improve current and future interventions.

In particular, this evaluation will serve the contracting authority and other interested services to better understand the performance of the Intervention, its enabling factors and those hampering a proper delivery of results to inform the planning and implementation of current and future support to tackle CTP/CVE.

The main use of the results of the evaluation is expected to be

• To draw general lessons that can be used for the future approach to interventions in the sector
• To draw specific lessons that can be replicated in other similar interventions
• To draw specific lessons from the regional approaches, in particular the one applied by the Regional Team in Bangkok in terms of stocktaking, dynamics and replicability.

The main users of this evaluation will be the contracting authority, FPI.2, including its Regional Teams in Bangkok, Nairobi, Dakar, Eastern Europe and Central Asia (managed from Brussels). The Regional Team in Brasilia is less involved since they currently do not manage any CT-P/CVE projects.

This evaluation has two overarching objectives. Firstly, to analyse the extent to which and in which manner the support of the European Union (and of the European Commission in particular) has contributed to the overall political, economic and social development in North Macedonia in the period 2014-2020. In particular, the evaluation aims to:

• assess the contribution to the reform process in the framework of the country’s EU accession process;
• assess the design, implementation, responsiveness, results and impact of the EU support.

And secondly, to identify key lessons and produce recommendations in order to inform decision makers on how to improve the European Union’s current and future strategies, programmes and actions with regard to North Macedonia, and in particular to inform future decision making choices related to the programming of Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) III in North Macedonia.

The thematic scope of the evaluation focus is on priority reforms in i) Democracy and Governance, ii) Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights, and iii) Economic development and Social cohesion. It will include IPA national programmes; the various implementation modalities, instruments and tools utilised; and the policy dialogue that has been taking place at different levels. The evaluation also considers the contribution of multi country programmes in the areas of transport and environment in North Macedonia

The purpose of this study is i) to provide an independent and evidence-based assessment of the EU's past and current external action support in the policy area of environment and climate change in Enlargement and Neighbourhood regions; and ii) based on this assessment, to provide lessons learnt and recommendations for decision-makers at EU level.

The evaluation encompasses both spending and non-spending activities between 2014 and 2020. It examines all funding mechanisms and modalities of implementation used under the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) II and the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) in a variety of sectors (e.g. energy, water and waste management).

The evaluation covers all thematic areas related to environment and climate change, paying special attention to i) issues of mainstreaming in EU external aid programmes and projects for the ten sectors in the environmental chapter of the acquis; and ii) the EU support provided through international organisations, in particular support aimed at strengthening environment and climate change governance at national and regional levels. Process and context factors – conducive to or hampering the performance of EU support, including in terms of the convergence with EU legislation in the regions under scope – are also systematically assessed.

The evaluation aims to contribute to ongoing EU strategic discussions on the use of innovative financing, in particular blending, which is playing an increasingly important role in EU support to environment and climate change. The evaluation results are also useful in enriching ongoing reflections on the future role of European Development Finance Institutions in EU external action. Finally, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the evaluation contributes to identifying good practices that can strengthen Team Europe’s ongoing efforts to help ‘build back better’ and design ‘risk-informed and climate-smart’ recovery actions.

The purpose of this evaluation was to build an evidence base regarding SDC’s engagement in climate change adaptation and mitigation, including partnerships established by SDC to address climate change adaptation and mitigation at global, regional and national level.

The evaluation was designed to:

• Contribute to strategic decision-making (i.e. for the Dispatch 2021-2024).
• Derive lessons learnt in order to improve institutional performance.
• Serve as one measure of accountability towards the Parliament and the public.

The evaluation : i) assessed the successes, difficulties / challenges (including failures) of programmes and projects in Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation implemented by SDC; ii) identified ‘good practices’ and determined how they could be systematically applied within SDC; iii) conducted a comparison / benchmarking of SDC’s performance compared to international practices; and iv) assessed the effectiveness and rate of achievement of projects and programmes.

The evaluation covered activities implemented during a period of six years (2015-2020) from all domains of SDC (i.e. South Cooperation; Global Cooperation; Humanitarian Aid; and Cooperation with Eastern Europe). It concentrated on projects in the area of climate change adaptation (CCA) and climate change mitigation (CCM) that SDC steers or co-steers. This includes direct implemented projects, mandates and contributions to trust or basket funds, etc. It excludes core contributions to multilateral organizations, large Funds (GCF, IDA, etc.) and NGOs.

The purpose of this evaluation was to provide an independent assessment and evidence on the extent to which EU external action has contributed to the achievement of objectives and intended impacts of the EU’s policy towards local authorities (LAs) in enlargement and neighbourhood regions during the 2010-2018 period.

The specific objectives of this evaluation were:

• To assess the performance (relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, coherence, impact, sustainability and EU value added) of EU support (policy dialogue and financial assistance) to LAs and associations of local authorities (ALAs) in partner countries between 2010 and 2018;
• To assess the coherence, complementarity and coordination of EU interventions financed from IPAI/II and ENPI/ENI with other actions financed from other EU instruments, actions carried out by Member States, regional and international donors (state and/or international organisations) to support LAs and ALAs in partner countries;
• To provide recommendations for future programming and policy purposes, particularly on how to engage with LAs and ALAs in the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and in the context of the Commission proposals for the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) and the Instrument for Pre-Accession III.

The results of the evaluation were used to:

• Take stock of the results achieved by the European Commission's support to local authorities and associations of local authorities in enlargement, neighbourhood regions over a large period of time (2010 to 2018) and identify the contributing (and hindering) factors;
• Consider those results against the problems and needs the EU's support to local authorities and associations of local authorities sought to address, resources deployed, as well as instrument and implementation modalities available;
• Measure the extent to which strategic orientations and principles were operationalised within the design, implementation and monitoring of the EU's support (political and policy dialogue as well as financial assistance) to local authorities and their associations;
• Identify areas of improvement for future policy and financial assistance orientations and guidelines, as well as for the future programming of interventions for the remaining period of the 2014-2020 Multi-annual Financial Framework and for the future one

The overall objective of the project was to further improve the Information and Communication Technologies in the justice sector and strengthen the overall ICT structure and capacities of the institutions and to overall increase their performances.

The project purpose was the preparation of Action Plan with detailed budget for the implementation of the Strategy, feasibility study, and technical specification, standard operational procedures for supply of necessary equipment as well as to conduct market studies and cost estimation for the above mentioned equipment in order to perform successful tender procedure for the supply contract(s) under IPA II Action “Improving the E-justice system through the development of ICT infrastructure, E-services and access to justice tools, as well as inter-operability between relevant institutions”.

The global objective was to select the best-quality Concept Notes and Full Application proposals for the Restricted Call for Proposals for IPA II 2014 Grant Scheme ”Strengthening the impact of the Civil Society in effective Justice Sector reforms”, in line with the criteria set in the Guidelines for applicants.

The specific objective of this assignment was to provide independent technical expertise as an assessor (non-voting member) to increase efficiency in the evaluation of project proposals, according to the rules of the Practical Guide to Contract procedures for EU external actions - PRAG.

More specific, the assessors provided technical expertise to:

• Assess and recommend best quality Concept Notes (Step1 – evaluation of Concept Notes) for passing on to the next stage of the evaluation, i.e. the evaluation of Full Applications (Step 2);
• Assess the best quality Full Application (technical and financial assessment) forms (Step 2 – evaluation of Full Applications) for passing on to the final stage of the evaluation, i.e. the evaluation of the eligibility check (Step 3); and identify, based on the evaluation of the application forms, projects that were proposed for funding.

The objectives of the evaluation were to:

• support the decision-making, both at EU strategic (planning) level, and at the level of the design of the action programmes /interventions;
• feed into the reflection on the revision of future development policies in view of the recent adoption of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda;
• demonstrate whether already on-going/planned IPA (I) II, ENPI/ENI, DCI and EDF action programmes/interventions in the area of social protection have taken on board the latest lessons learnt from the previous programming period;
• provide recommendations on the best way to approach and improve its support to the development of social protection systems, in partner countries both in terms of the use of policy dialogue and financial assistance;
• contribute to the preparation and adjustment of action programmes, namely for IPA II, ENI, DCI and EDF assistance to the extent possible;
• feed in the Mid-term Review of financial instruments;
• feed in Mid-term Reviews of country/region multi-annual indicative programmes.

The evaluation used the five standard OECD/DAC evaluation criteria, namely relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability. In addition, the evaluation also looked at the EU added value and the 3Cs.

The evaluation focused on EU support (policy dialogue and financial assistance) provided for the development of social protection systems in partner countries, more specifically on the social insurance and social assistance measures to address the following risks and needs: unemployment, parental responsibilities, sickness and healthcare, work accidents/employment injuries disability, loss of a spouse or parent, old age, housing and social exclusion.

The evaluation covered:

• IPA I beneficiary countries;
• ENPI partner countries;
• Countries covered by DCI and EDF.

The evaluation was conducted in four phases

• An Inception Phase, focusing on the design and the methodology of the evaluation including the reconstruction of the intervention logic and the compilation of an inventory;
• A Desk Phase, focusing on gathering and analysing existing data and information (through literature/document reviews and interviews/focus groups/surveys);
• A Field Phase, including preparation of field missions, visits to the case study countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia*, Malawi, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestine*) and drafting of country reports;
• A Synthesis Phase, producing a final report and dissemination of results to concerned stakeholders.

The purpose of the evaluation was to provide an overall independent assessment of the regional organisations and fora in the Western Balkans and the instrumental role they play in the regional integration and accession perspective including recommendations on possible streamlining.

The specific objectives of the evaluation were the following:

• Mapping of existing regional organisations and initiatives;
• Assessment of administrative and financial costs for its member countries of each organisation/initiative;
• Assessment of benefits for the region/countries of each organisation/initiative;
• Proposal for possible streamlining.

The evaluation mapped 56 organisations in the six Western Balkan IPA countries that were still active in June 2016 (cut-off date) and analysed 31 of them in detail. The key sectors included: connectivity (transport, energy and environment), competitiveness (industry and private sector development, trade), skills and mobility (human capital development, higher education), good governance, fighting crime and security cooperation.

The project objective was to further approximate and implement the environmental acquisition, through strengthening the administrative capacities for environmental management on central and local level in the fields of water management, waste management, nature protection, air management and climate change.

The specific objective of this assignment was to assist the Beneficiary institution – MoEPP with the preparation of Technical Specification for TAIB 2012 Supply Contract for appropriate equipment to exchange and manage information and monitoring for water, waste, air management, nature and climate change.

Relevant background

Since early 2007, the Commission, the UN-family and the World Bank have worked together in setting up a platform for cooperation on post-crisis needs assessments for natural disaster (Post-Disaster Needs Assessment, PDNA) and conflict (Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessment (RPBA), previously named Post-Conflict Needs Assessment, PCNA) scenarios. This trilateral cooperation was framed and formalised through the signature of a Joint Declaration on “Post-Crisis Assessments and Recovery Planning” in September 2008. The EU/UN/WB platform covers the whole PDNA/RPBA(PCNA) process, including strategic coordination, development of joint methodologies for post-crisis assessments, joint deployment of assessment teams, joint training and joint recovery planning and monitoring.

In line with the 2008 Declaration on Joint Post-crisis Assessments and Recovery Planning, the overall objective of the project is to assist and develop third countries’ in-country capacity to gradually assume a more prominent role in Post-Disaster Needs Assessments and Post-Conflict Needs Assessments (now changed to Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessments, RPBA).

The purpose of this project was:

• to support further development of joint PDNA/RPBA(formerly PCNA) methodologies, tools, training programmes, etc.;
• to support joint PDNA/RPBA(formerly PCNA) missions in-country/in region (in coordinating with EU Heads of Delegations and with the European External Actions Service (EEAS) and European Commission). While such support could cover any relevant technical field (long-term and short-term expertise), it is foreseen that a particular emphasis is put on expertise in mission planning and development of final reports/recovery frameworks.

The two phases of the project contributed to a variety of outputs and results, including:

• Phase 1 (01/01/2013 – 31/07/2015): revision of the PDNA methodology and development of the joint EU/UN/WB PDNA Guide, development of the Disaster Recovery Framework (DRF) Guide, review of the PCNA methodology, development of training and capacity building materials, delivery of information/capacity building sessions, joint PDNA/PCNA training courses for national authorities and regional/international organisations, support to over 15 joint EU/UN/WB PDNA/PCNA missions;
• Phase 2 (10/07/2015 – 09/07/2017): revision of the PCNA methodology and development of the RPBA methodology, development of training and capacity building materials, delivery of information/capacity building sessions, joint PDNA/RPBA training courses for national authorities and regional/international organisations, support to over 10 joint EU/UN/WB PDNA/RPBA missions.

The Evaluation of the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II) assessed whether IPA II is fit for purpose to deliver EU resources towards EU's external policy, both at start of the planning period (2014) and at the time of the evaluation (2017), and considered the place of IPA II – its complementarities and synergies – within the wider set of external financing instruments.

The objective of the IPA II evaluation was: 1) to provide the relevant external relations services of the European Union and the wider public with an independent assessment of the IPA II instrument, including complementarities/synergies between IPA II and the other EFIs; and 2) to inform the future programming and implementation of the current EFIs, as well as the next generation of the EFIs.

The evaluation was evidence-based using a non-experimental mixed methods approach combining quantitative and, more importantly, qualitative data and was guided by Evaluation Questions (EQ) covering EU evaluation criteria (relevance; effectiveness, impact and sustainability; efficiency; added value; coherence, consistency, complementarity and synergies; leverage).

The main analytical tools consisted of a rigorous assessment of documentation, analysis of statistics and quantitative data and a consultation of stakeholders (via interviews, group discussions, the online-survey focusing on EU Delegations and the Open Public Consultation).

The report is available at:

https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/sites/near/files/final_report_ipa_ii_evaluation.zip

The purpose of this project was to support the Beneficiary country’s institutions in implementation of the EU Birds and Habitats Directive.

Through the project, the Contractor assisted the authorities in implementing the NATURA 2000 network requirements in accordance with the national and EU legislation.

This project also aimed at laying foundations to future establishment of Natura 2000 network.

In this regard the project aims to initially identify the potential Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) in accordance to Habitats Directive and potential Special Protection Areas (SPAs) in accordance to Birds Directive.

In this identification it was important to fully align the national legislation with these two EU directives, thus legislative work was needed as a base to provide conditions to implement measures to future potential Natura 2000 sites, in order to reach the following results:

1. Harmonization of National legislation with EU directives related to nature protection ( Prepared draft Amendments to the Law on Nature Protection and other relevant implementing (primary and secondary) legislation, and Prepared Plan for implementation of Birds and Habitat Directives);

2. Assessment at national level of potential sites, according Birds and Habitat Directives, for NATURA 2000 Network (At least seven potential Natura 2000 sites proposed which would correspond to the requirements of Birds and Habitats Directives)

3. GIS system for NATURA 2000 developed;

4. Administrative capacity for implementation of nature protection legislation strengthened;

5. Public awareness campaign for NATURA 2000 implemented.