The purpose if this evaluation was the assessment of both budget support and blending operations of the EU in the Kyrgyz Republic between 2010 and 2019. The EU has implemented ten budget support programmes in the country. All programmes contain, in addition to the funds transferred to the national budget, funds covering the provision of technical assistance for institutional capacity development, support to the elaboration of coherent policies, and/or evaluation, visibility and communication activities. The EU is using blending as financing modality in Kyrgyzstan since 2011. The funds for the EU blending operations in Kyrgyzstan come from the envelope for regional cooperation and are channelled through the Investment Facility for Central Asia (IFCA). Almost 40% of the total portfolio of funds managed by the EU Delegation to the Kyrgyz Republic is channelled through the blending instrument. Furthermore, Kyrgyzstan is the main beneficiary of the IFCA funds, with 75% of these funds going to this country.
This evaluation entailed two components. First, it provided an assessment of EU budget support in the country applying the 3-Step approach of the OECD-DAC guidelines on the evaluation of budget support. In particular, building on smaller, more specific evaluations and other studies produced in recent years, it assessed to what extent EU budget support contributed to Kyrgyzstan´s achievements in terms of the outcomes and impacts of its education and social protection sectors and of the country’s latest electoral reform policy. The analysis focused on how EU budget support, by enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of Kyrgyzstan’s policies, strategies, spending actions, administration capacities and PFM system, contributed to sustainable outcomes in the sectors supported and, in turn, to growth and poverty reduction.
Second, the evaluation focused on EU blending operations in Kyrgyzstan’s Energy and Water management sectors. Specifically, the evaluation looked into the overall logic of these operations as a whole and assesses to what extent their design and implementation are suitable to achieve the expected results of this instrument in said sectors.
Report available here: https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/publications/evaluation-eu-budget-support-and-blending-kyrgyz-republic-2010-2019_en