The main objective of the evaluation was to analyse and evaluate the capacity building support provided to civil society by both regional and bilateral programmes during the period 2012-2016. This evaluation has focused on the efforts funded under ENPI and ENI.
The evaluation was also supposed to provide a series of recommendations to support innovative ways for contributing to building capacities of civil society organizations at a regional level in the future in complementarity with the political objectives as set out in the revised ENP and in the 2012 Communication of the European Commission - The roots of democracy and sustainable development: Europe's engagement with Civil Society in external relations and related Council Conclusions, as well as the EU Country Roadmaps for Engagement with Civil Society, a joint initiative between the European Union and Member States which aims to strengthen the strategic engagement with civil society.
Specific objectives

• to provide an overall independent assessment of the support given by the European Union to build capacities of civil society in the Neighbourhood South from both regional and national programmes - mainly through i) the Technical Assistance programme of the Civil Society Facility; ii) the Regional Grants of the Civil Society Facility; iii) bilateral support to capacity building (managed by EU Delegations) and iv) specific support to two institutions: Anna Lindh Foundation and European Endowment for Democracy. The assessment was supposed to take a look into issues related to their design, implementation and overall performance;

==Drawing up from key lessons; provide recommendations in order to inform the identification of current and future regional initiatives supporting capacities of civil society, especially in light of the complementarity and added value that can be given to efforts implemented at the national level