The evaluation assessed the EU’s cooperation strategy in Côte d’Ivoire as well as its implementation between 2007 and 2015. Both levels – strategy and implementation – were evaluated. The main objectives of the evaluation were:

• to provide a global and independent assessment of the past and current EU cooperation and to put it into perspective with the general objectives and political priorities of the EU with regards to the country, not only for EU services but also for member states and for a broader public in general;
• to draw the main conclusions and to formulate recommendations in view of (i) improving current decisions and (ii) providing better information for future decision-making with regards to the cooperation strategy;
• produce a document that will serve as base for the upcoming joint programming in 2016 between EU, France, Germany and Spain, and which will answer to the challenges of such an effort.

The scope of the evaluation covered:

• All agreements, the cooperation framework and other official commitments of both EU and Ivory Coast, including the objectives and priorities of EEAS with regard to EU-Côte d’Ivoire relations.
• The following financial instruments: envelopes of the European Development Fund (EDF), of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), of the Instrument for Stability (IfS) and of thematic programmes financed through Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI).
• The coherence between interventions managed by DG DEVCO-EuropeAid and those managed by DG ECHO, the European Investment Bank EIB or other EU interventions and policies in the field of development cooperation which affect Côte d’Ivoire. A particular attention will be laid on the interim economic partnership agreements (EPA) with Côte d’Ivoire for the fisheries sector.

The report is available at:
https://ec.europa.eu/international-partnerships/external-strategic-evaluation-eus-cooperation-republic-cote-divoire-2007-2015_en