Ex-post evaluation of the National Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 in Romania

Written By Nicola Brignani
Publishing 28 November 2016

The consortium formed by ACZ Consulting (Lead partner) and t33 has been awarded the contract for the Ex-post evaluation of the National Rural Development Programme (NRDP) 2007-2013 in Romania.

The Ex-post evaluation analyses the axes and measures of the NRDP in terms of:
a) Relevance: review of the programme in light of the extent to which the programme objectives and design are consistent with: i) the challenges and the specific particularities of rural area and ii) the beneficiaries’ needs and priorities.
b) Effectiveness and achievements: analysis of how the interventions set by the programme would lead to the expected changes by addressing the most relevant needs of rural areas and whether the interventions could meet the objectives of rural development policy and priorities defined at EU level and at national and regional level.
c) Efficiency: examination of the relationship between the allocated resources, and the programme’s achievements and results. This analysis will have to reveal if the same funds allocated could have obtained more achievements and results or if the same outputs and results could have been achieved with fewer resources.
d) Results: analysis of the changes occurred within the programme’s group of beneficiaries, following the implementation of interventions, reported to the needs of rural areas, the programme objectives and the priorities of the EU.
e) Impact: evaluation of the extent to which changes observed in rural areas can be attributed to the programme and of the extent to which the programme addresses the EU rural development priorities, taking into account the influence of other factors intervened.

The evaluation analyses at the same time the factors that contributed to the success and failure of the programme, also highlighting good practices.
Nicola Brignani as key expert of rural development, Andrea Gramillano as key expert of financial analysis and Pietro Celotti as key expert of the LEADER axis, participated at the kick-off meeting with the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development organised in Bucharest on the 20th of September. The meeting allowed to start the evaluation work in a very effective way, verifying the availability of data and conducting preliminary workshops with the institutional stakeholders.

The Ex-post evaluation work follows the Ex-ante evaluation of the National Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, conducted by a consortium led by ACZ Consulting and including t33, with the participation of Alessandro Valenza as team leader and Nicola Brignani as senior evaluator.