The objective of the evaluation was to provide an overall independent assessment of the performance of the African Peace Facility (APF) for the period 2014-2016 and, on this basis, draw key lessons and recommendations in order to improve current and future support through that instrument.
The evaluation served policy decision-making and project management purposes. The main users of this evaluation were DG DEVCO, the EEAS, EU delegations in the APF beneficiary regions; the AU and the REC/RMs. The evaluation also generated results of interest to governmental and civil society partners and the EU member states.
Evaluators followed a two-step approach:

• First, the evaluation provided an assessment of what has been achieved through the APF for the period 2014-2016 with regards to Peace Support Operations and capacity-building, taking into account the conclusions and recommendations of th11-0248-052e 2013 APF evaluation.
• Second and based on the findings of the first step, the evaluation offered concrete and actionable follow-up as well as new recommendations to address the remaining and new challenges faced by the APF.