The general objective was to provide the relevant Commission services and other key stakeholders with an independent assessment of the contribution of blending to the achievement of EU policy objectives in the EU Neighbourhood and Western Balkans regions.
The specific objectives forevaluation were:

• To provide an assessment in both qualitative and quantitative terms on the relevance, conditions of implementation, and performance of Blending as an aid modality, particularly its efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability, impact, and added value, with emphasis on experience from the implementation of blending operations;
• To assess the EU cooperation potential and the EU added value;
• To identify lessons learnt (both positive and negative), best practices, and recommendations, in particular regarding the efficiency and effectiveness of Blending and the explanatory factors that facilitated or hampered the contribution of Blending to EU policy objectives.

The results of the evaluation fed the ground for the operationalisation of the EFSD+ in the coming years, defining greater synergy effects with the EU's political and reform objectives and for the overall programming, monitoring, reporting, and implementation of EU financial assistance.
The geographical scope of this evaluation was the Eastern and Southern Neighbourhood and the Western Balkans.
The thematic scope of this evaluation covered bilateral blended operations as well as operations implemented under the umbrella of the regional investment facilities (NIP and WBIF) in the sectors of:

• Private Sector Development and Access to Finance
• Energy
• Environment (with a focus on water/sanitation and waste management)