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The purpose of the Exploratory Mission was to collect factual information concerning this election process, in line with the criteria contained in the Commission Communication on Electoral Assistance and Observation [COM(2000)191]

The experts had in particular to:

• Assess the pre-election situation in the light of international standards for democratic elections and national legislation. The assessment will cover: (i) Political situation, (ii) Legal and Electoral framework, (iii) election administration, (iv) voter registration, (v) party and candidate registration, (vi) human rights and fundamental freedoms, (vii) potential for electoral violence, (viii) traditional and online media, as well as social media, (ix) security aspects, (x) logistics and operational matters, (xi) use of electoral ICT and (xii) any other relevant issues relating to the elections and possible deployment of an EU EOM.
• Assess, when relevant, the state of implementation of recommendations of previous EU election missions (both EU EOMs and EEMs).
• Make necessary preliminary logistics related enquiries and provide advice on how to organise the operational component of a possible EU EOM.
• Assess the security situation in the country, in particular in connection with the possible deployment of an EU EOM.
• Advise on the composition, number and length of stay of the Core Team members and long and short-term observers of the EU EOM.
• Draft tentative specifications and Terms of Reference of a possible EU EOM and related estimated costs and budget breakdown.
• Assess the relevance of providing support to domestic observer organisations.
• Acquire updated information on EU election support (both EU and Member States) and other major partners (Canada, Norway and Switzerland) and possible other major actors plans in this field, including in the area of electoral assistance.
• Liaise closely with domestic and international election observation organisations that may be present on the ground regarding the preparation of elections.
• Prepare a number of specific reports as outlined in section 'VI. Output' of these ToR.
• Participate in the briefing of the EU EOM Core Team should the deployment of an EU EOM be decided.

This independent evaluation of the WFP Country Strategic Plan in Bhutan assessed the strategic positionning, added-value and results of WFP operations in the country from 2018 to 2022.

The evaluation served the double purpose of accountability (performance and result assessment) and learning (why certain results occurred or not, lessons and evidence for decision-making). It is envisioned that the evaluation will inform the design of the new CSP for Bhutan, which was scheduled for Executive Board consideration in November 2023.

CSP key sectors and activities included:

• Emergency preparedness and response
• Nutrition and school feeding
• Social protection
• Agriculture value chains and smallholder farmer support
• Resilience, disaster risk reduction and management, and climate change
• Institutional capacity strengthening

Cross-cutting themes included: Gender equality and empowerment of women (GEEW), humanitarian principles and protection, accountability to affected populations (AAP), WFP partnership strategy.

The evaluation employed a mixed-method approach that triangulated qualitative and quantitative data from a variety of sources. For this purpose, the evaluation team conducted interviews with different stakeholders including WFP staff at HQ, regional and country level, WFP cooperating partners, donors, UN agencies, ministries as well as focus group discussions with the beneficiaries.

The final report is available at: https://www.wfp.org/publications/evaluation-bhutan-wfp-country-strategic-plan-2019-2023

The overall objective of the project is to provide technical support to the implementation and management of the 16 ENI CBC Programmes listed in the ENI CBC Programming Document.

The purposes of this contract are the following:

• to enable participating countries to manage and implement the ENI CBC Programmes in the most efficient way and to ensure effective cooperation between the Member States and the partner countries;
• to improve the project development and management capacity of organisations eligible to participate in the ENI CBC programmes – such as local and regional authorities, CSOs and other relevant players. These activities should benefit CBC partner countries (including Turkey and the Russian Federation).
• to stimulate coordination not only among ENI CBC programmes but also between ENI CBC programmes and other similar instruments. This would allow for exchanges of best practices among both Programmes and projects and increase the ENI CBC visibility.

Results achieved:

• ENI CBC programmes stakeholders will be able to share experiences and best practices with their counterparts in other ENI CBC programmes and with players involved in European Territorial Cooperation and in CBC programmes under the Instrument for pre-accession (IPA) where relevant;
• The Commission and the ENI CBC programme stakeholders will receive assistance to solve implementation problems;
• Studies and/or tools of general nature requested by the Commission or ENI CBC stakeholders will be carried out;
• Active networking among programme stakeholders will be established enabling them to share information, good management practices and to improve procedures.
• Level of awareness of cross-border and regional cooperation opportunities in the beneficiary regions will be increased;
• Visibility of the ENI CBC instrument will be strengthened;
• Coordination of ENI CBC instrument with other sources of funding will be increased,
• Partners capacity in CBC partner countries to identify and prepare good quality projects will be increased;
• Partners capacity in the CBC partner countries to manage local/regional development projects will be increased;
• Number of good quality projects prepared and approved for implementation will be increased.

This independent evaluation of WFP Country Strategic Plan (CSP) in Madagascar assessed the strategic positioning, added-value and results of WFP operations in the Country from 2019 to 2023.

The evaluation served the double purpose of accountability (performance and result assessment) and learning (why certain results occurred or not, lessons and evidence for decision-making). The evaluation was envisioned to inform the design of the new CSP for Madagascar, scheduled for Executive Board consideration in November 2023.

CSP key sectors and activities included:

• Emergency preparedness and response, including cash-based transfers
• Unconditional resource transfers to support access to food
• Malnutrition prevention activities
• Nutrition and school feeding
• Livelihoods activities, including smallholder farmer support
• Institutional capacity strengthening
• Logistics, supply chains and humanitarian aid coordination

Cross-cutting themes included: Gender equality and empowerment of women (GEEW), humanitarian principles and protection, accountability to affected populations (AAP), environment

The evaluation employed a mixed-method approach that triangulates qualitative and quantitative data from a variety of sources. For this purpose, the evaluation team conducted interviews with different stakeholders including WFP staff at HQ, regional and country level, WFP cooperating partners, donors, UN agencies, government entities as well as focus group discussions with the beneficiaries.

Link to the publication: https://www.wfp.org/publications/evaluation-madagascar-wfp-country-strategic-plan-2019-2023

The objective of the contract was the identification, development, implementation and monitoring of a trade facilitation project in Senegal. The project developed was titled “Automation of the Import Process for Agro-Industrial Products”. It was anchored within the Invest for Jobs program in Senegal implemented by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It was part of the operational framework of the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation (GATF), which contributed its expertise, lessons learned and best practices to the project.

The project focused on the digitalisation and automation of parts of the import process for pilot agroindustrial products with the aim to reduce the time and costs involved in importing these products. It also aimed to contribute to improving trade and investment conditions for African and European companies in Senegal, in the agro-industrial sector.

The result was the operationalization of the newly-developed digital platform for requesting import permits for agro-industrial products. The related outputs were the following:

1. Digital tools were designed to automate the import process for agro-industrial products and were integrated into the electronic single window.

2. Cross-border agencies and SMEs were enabled to use the new digitalised procedure for importing the pilot agro-industrial products.

3. The capacities of the public and private. stakeholders to coordinate and monitor the digitalised import processes for agro-industrial products were improved.

During contract implementation, the contract was expanded to include a second project focusing on technical support to the DPV (Direction de la Protection des Végétaux) for the implementation of an "E-Payment" solution in line with the digitalisation process set up by the DPV through the implementation of the ePhyto project, which aims to digitize the phytosanitary certificate as well as the payment of services rendered by this department.

The results of the contract were as follows:

• Reduction of time (7.9 hours per permit) for border / documentary compliance for imports.
• Reduction in the documentary and border compliance cost imposed on businesses for imports (savings of 18,301 F CFA per permit).
• Reduction of indirect supply chain costs for imports (reduced transit time, storage costs, demurrage, opertional costs related to personnel needed for the process, etc.).

The project was a catalyst for the digitalisation of the DPV's processes, extending the platform's functions to other services such as importer registration and approval, and the implementation of an electronic payment solution. Trade facilitation in agro-industry and the related sectors (services linked to agro-industry) will ensure greater gender equality and empower women, given that this sector employs more than half of the global female workforce.

The specific objectives were:

1. To raise awareness of EU's policies, principles and values in Uzbekistan, notably in relation to the protection of the environment and climate action in the Aral Sea basin.

This was expected to be done through the organisation of a study visit to the Aral Sea region in order to:

i) disseminate information about the work being done by the Government and MPHSTF in the Aral Sea region;

ii) demonstrate a successful case that proves it possible to achieve significant and long-lasting results with limited funds;

iii) pave the way for future green investments and support to the region.

2. Provide assistance to the government of Uzbekistan in its efforts to mitigate negative effects of the Aral Sea disaster to the environment and population of Karakalpakstan.

3. Contribute to improvement of the ecosystem and sustainable life in the saline lands of the dried bottom of the Aral Sea by planting of 27 000 trees that are resistant to the climatic conditions of the region, such as ash, elm, catalpa, willow, saxaul, kandym, and others.

"Dialogue with Civil Society for Rights and Equality in the ENI Southern Neighbourhood" was a Technical Assistance Programme with the overall objective to strengthen the role of CSOs active at the regional scale, in building sustainable development, regional cohesion and resilience, as well as in influencing policymaking in the Southern Neighbourhood and the Euro-Mediterranean Space.

The specific objective was to strengthen the overall capacities and accountability of civil society organisations and facilitate their involvement so as to boost their contribution to the political and institutional framework at the regional level. This meant reinforcing the existing initiatives of support to CSOs in the Neighbourhood South, complemented with new elements, and to make CSOs efforts in the ENP South region more visible and structured. It aimed at enabling civil society to advocate and promote regional solutions to regional challenges, working jointly with governments, authorities and regional institutions while holding them to account.

Results:

1. Effective engagement with regional organisations and advance their agendas through policy dialogue.

2. Creation of regional thematic networks of CSOs.

3. Enhanced the capacities of Majalat, the regional hub of CSO on structured dialogue at regional level and with the EU Institutions.

4. Increased participation of young women and men in public life by expanding programmes for young civil society leaders.

5. Increased CSO contribution to developing resilience, defined in this instance as the capacity to resist adverse conditions, as well as contributing to stability at regional level by enabling CSOs to articulate their messages to regional authorities more effectively.

6. Support to EU Delegations in their engagement with civil society in partner countries provided.

The FEMIP Trust Fund, launched in 2004, was set up to provide support to critical projects and more generally the economic development of the EU’s Southern Neighbourhood. The evaluation aimed to support the Assembly of Donors’ decision on the future of the Fund with solid evidence on the Fund’s performance and ongoing relevance, including in light of other similar instruments currently available.

The purpose of the evaluation was to determine the extent to which the FEMIP Trust Fund has helped to improve EIB operations in EU’s Southern Neighbourhood countries since its establishment. Particip analysed the functioning of the FEMIP Trust Fund, its decision-making process, its governance arrangement and its organisation, including a review of the portfolio of TA operations that were financed through the FEMIP Trust Fund.

The evaluation work encompassed the following main phases:

• Structuring phase: the evaluation team took ownership of the evaluation framework and approach, further amended and developed it where necessary.
• Data collection and analysis phase: this phase entailed a thorough desk review, data collection, validation and analysis. The analysis, focussing on 10 case studies of TA operations lead up to the drafting of the Evaluation Report
• Preparation of the final report: the Team Leader participated in the presentation of the evaluation’s emerging findings to IG/EV and to the Evaluation Reference Group. Based on the Feedback of the Reference Group, the Team Leader drafted and finalised the Evaluation Report under the guidance of IG/EV.

Systematic and timely evaluation of its programmes and activities is an established priority of the European Commission.

The focus of evaluations is on the assessment of achievements, the quality and the results of Actions in the context of an evolving cooperation policy with an increasing emphasis on result-oriented approaches and the contribution towards EU foreign policy objectives and the implementation of the SDGs.

From this perspective, evaluations should look for evidence of why, whether or how these results are linked to the EU intervention and seek to identify the factors driving or hindering progress.

Evaluations should provide an understanding of the cause and effect links between: inputs and activities, and outputs, outcomes and impacts. Evaluations should serve accountability, decision making, learning and management purposes.

This Transaction Technical Assistance (TRTA) is provided to assist the Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (DHERST) to

• Design and prepare a project that will address key TVET challenges able to respond to labour market needs,
• Assess the technical suitability, economic, financial and social viability, capacity and institutional issues, gender issues and proposed actions, address environmental and social safeguards of the project; and
• Identify and implement selected measures to improve project implementation capacity of DHERST and other relevant government agencies.

The TA designs, undertakes due diligence and prepares project documentation for the future TVET project. The TA also assists in building the capacity of the government during their assignment, including implementing project management trainings and coaching as required.