Evaluation of European Union funded projects in Pakistan

The European Union (EU) funded projects are part of the previous Multi-annual Indicative Programme (MIP) 2014–2020, which was based on the EU 2011 Agenda for Change. The MIP focused on three sectors:

• Rural Development, with a focus on fragile and underserved communities, who are unlikely to benefit from development, in order to reduce social and economic inequality, improving resilience, and enhancing opportunities for economic growth in rural areas.
• Education (& TVET), with the aim to accelerate human development and achieve related SDGs by improving access, quality and governance of the education system.
• Good Governance, Human Rights & Rule of Law, with the aim to contribute to the consolidation of democratic institutions at the federal, provincial and local levels, support to the rule of law, and inclusive and rights-based society.

The overall project objective is 'A more effective management of the EU Delegation to Pakistan's development cooperation portfolio'. Specific project objectives – through undertaking 15 evaluations – include: 
1) key lessons learned conclusions and related recommendations to improve EU’s current and future programming in Pakistan; 
2) seek clarifications on cross-cutting issues; 
3) evaluate mainstreaming of gender, environment and climate change in the EU project operations; 
4) evaluate identification of relevant SDGs and establishing their interlinkages by EU projects; and 5) assess incorporation of the EU principle of the Leave No-One Behind (LNOB) and the rights-based approach methodology in the design and implementation of EU projects, their governance arrangements and monitoring.

Out of the 15 evaluations, we are mandated to carry out five mid-term evaluations, nine final evaluations, and one ex-post evaluation.

Challenges

Pakistan is located in a volatile region prone to natural disasters and with a rapidly growing population, a fulcrum for democratic and sustainable development in South Asia with important implications for its neighbourhood.

Pakistan faces enormous challenges in its development due to a structurally low-income growth and a rapidly growing population. The challenges are further linked with high levels of insecurity, terrorism and increasing criminality, a substantially underemployed youth population, and slow progress on Sustainable Development Goals.

The EU project evaluations demonstrate the important role evaluation plays in building and maintaining a culture of accountability and learning. It seeks to inform different stakeholders involved in evaluation by setting out the common principles and standards, which guide evaluation. By establishing a clear institutional framework, these evaluations contribute not only to improving both quality and consistency of evaluation practice, but also tackling challenges in Pakistan.

Expertise

Under the EU Projects Evaluation Plan, we are undertaking project evaluations using the 5-standard OECD-DAC evaluation criteria: Relevance, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Sustainability and Impact.

In addition, our evaluations also address two EU specific evaluation criteria: 
1) EU added value, the extent to which the EU project brings additional benefits to what would have resulted from Pakistan’s interventions only; and 
2) the coherence of the EU project itself, with the EU strategy in both Pakistan and sector(s) covered by the project and with other EU policies and Member State Actions, and other donors, when relevant.

Expected Impact

Our EU Projects Evaluation Plan aims to document key lessons learned, conclusions and related recommendations in order to improve current and future implementation of EU-supported projects in Pakistan.

The target audiences of our EU evaluations are: the EU Delegation to Pakistan, Services of the European Commission and other European Institutions; the media, civil society actors and wider public in Pakistan and in the European Union; Provincial and Federal Governments of Pakistan and other public authorities in the country; policy-makers and interventions’ designers both in-country and internationally; managers, partners and operators involved in the implementation of different projects; and networks of experts.