Who's Who? > European Evaluation Network for Rural Development

The European Evaluation Network for Rural Development (abbreviated to ‘Evaluation Expert Network’) has been set up to facilitate an exchange of expertise and to support the evaluation of the European Union’s rural development policy.

Objective

The overall objective of the Evaluation Expert Network is to increase the usefulness of evaluation as a tool for improving the formulation and implementation of rural development policies.

This is being achieved through these specific objectives:

• to improve methods and tools in evaluating Rural Development Programmes (RDPs);
• to increase capacity in implementing rural development evaluation processes and;
• to share knowledge in the evaluation of Rural Development Programmes.

View the graph [PDF ] which shows the three specific objectives, broken down into operational objectives forming the basis of each Annual Work Programme.

Role

The Evaluation Expert Network supports the evaluation community (evaluators, programme managers, policy makers) in dealing with evaluation requirements for RDPs 2007-2013 and encourages networking between stakeholders in order to create a genuine common approach to evaluation across the EU.

The Evaluation Expert Network is an integral part of the European Network for Rural Development, but it works independently in its daily tasks. While the Evaluation Expert Network deals with evaluation related issues, the European Network for Rural Development covers other aspects related to the implementation of RDPs. The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, which manages the networks, ensures synergies and good coordination between the two.

An Evaluation Helpdesk, established and operated by an external contractor, runs the day-to-day operational matters of the Evaluation Expert Network. The activities of the network and its Helpdesk are advised by the Expert Committee on Evaluation of Rural Development Programmes (abbreviated to ‘Evaluation Expert Committee’), which is comprised of two representatives of each national competent authority and chaired by a representative of the Commission.

View the Management Structure of the networks [ JPEG ]

Annual Work Programmes

To steer the work of the Evaluation Expert Network, work programmes are drawn up and agreed with DG Agriculture and Rural Development on an annual basis. For this, the Evaluation Expert Network also consults with the Evaluation Expert Committee which advises on the work programmes’ content.

Each Annual Work Programme is developed on a set of clearly identified objectives, based on proposals from the Evaluation Helpdesk which carries out needs assessments of Member States (through focus groups, surveys, missions, visits, participation at events, etc) and SWOT analyses of the evaluation system. The Annual Work Programmes aim at providing practical support to the Managing Authorities and other stakeholders from the evaluation community.

Here are the three main work areas developed in each Annual Work Programme:

 

Further reading

	Legal basis for the Evaluation Expert Network Annual Work Programme 2013 [PDF ] For earlier versions of the AWP see “Our Publications”.
	Presentation leaflet "Building a vibrant evaluation community for the future of rural areas" – Evaluation Expert Network –  June 2008 [PDF ]