Learning Portal - Planning evaluations

• Demonstrating the progress and achievements of a CAP Strategic Plan and justifying the use of its funding.
• Providing information that improves the focus of interventions and therefore increases policy efficiency.
• Ensuring accountability and transparency of a CAP Strategic Plan’s implementation.
• Serving as a communication channel between the Managing Authority and the European Commission, as well as key stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of the plan.
• Providing evidence and a solid analytical base for the design of future plans and policies.
• Constituting a continuous learning and improvement process that contributes to a higher level of quality during the implementation and future designs of the plan.

• Information on evaluation activities and findings (i.e. progress made in carrying out evaluations, syntheses of evaluations and follow-ups on findings).
• And any amendments to the evaluation plan itself.

The evaluation plan ensures that:

• All appropriate evaluation activities will take place.
• Sufficient and appropriate resources will be available to undertake all the necessary evaluations.
• The data required for evaluations will be available in a timely manner and appropriate format.

Thus, the evaluation plan enables Member States to:

• Improve the planning and structuring of evaluations of a CAP Strategic Plan.
• Improve the orientation of monitoring and evaluation activities, establish a clear link between them and align them to the priority needs of different stakeholders involved in a CAP Strategic Plan.
• Improve the use of evaluation results, as well as their effective integration, communication and dissemination.

As set out by Article 140 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, evaluations improve the quality of plans' design and implementation. Member States are required to evaluate their CAP Strategic Plan during and after the implementation period (ex post evaluation).

To meet evaluation requirements, Member States shall develop an evaluation plan that meets the minimum requirements listed in Annex II of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1475. The evaluation plan contains, among other things, information on the planned evaluations during the implementation period from 2023 until 2027 and for the ex post evaluation in 2031.

• Identifying LEADER added value.
• National CAP Networks.
• The Agricultural Knowledge and Information System (AKIS).
• Climate architecture and the environment.

The simplification of administrative burdens on beneficiaries is also a potential topic for an efficiency assessment.

• Evaluations conducted during the implementation period of the 2023-2027 CAP programming period.
• An ex post evaluation that has to be completed by 31 December 2031.

Evaluations should be planned during the implementation period so results are timely available for the discussions on the following programming periods (i.e. after 2027), both at the national level and at an EU level. Member States are encouraged to use data available from the previous 2014-2022 programming period for their assessments as well.

• Use relevant evaluation criteria considering the scope, type and up-take of a CAP Strategic Plan’s intervention. The criteria are effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and EU added value. In addition, Member States will also assess the impacts in relation to their contribution to achieving the General and Specific Objectives addressed by a CAP Strategic Plan through the use of impact indicators. This means that if a Specific Objective is not addressed, there is no requirement to assess the impacts thereof. However, a justification needs to be provided. The overall impact of the CAP Strategic Plan will be assessed only during the ex post evaluation (i.e. 2031).
• Where relevant, consider the territorial scope of interventions. This applies particularly to interventions that are not implemented at a national level but at local or regional levels.
• Identify key evaluation elements to assess (e.g. for the evaluation criteria of effectiveness, Annex I of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1475 includes further specifications, notably for each Specific Objective, in which key evaluation elements as well as factors of success are identified. However, for the other evaluation criteria, Annex I does not include any specifications).
• Formulate evaluation questions and factors of success to assess evaluation criteria of effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and the EU added value (Annex I of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1475 offers recommendations for factors of success). During the previous CAP programming period (2014-2022), there were 30 EU-wide common evaluation questions, accompanied by judgement criteria for focus areas and for the programme level. For CAP 2023-2027, a Member State can develop its own evaluation questions for assessing the above evaluation criteria.
• Consider all relevant common indicators (output, result, impact and context) for analysing the effects of a CAP Strategic Plan on Specific Objectives. Net effects should be calculated for the individual impact indicators (listed in Annex III of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1475).
• If needed, use additional relevant information (quantitative and qualitative) and additional indicators other than the common ones to help draw relevant conclusions on the impact of a CAP Strategic Plan.

The regulatory framework uses the term ‘where relevant’ in various instances when referring to what and how to evaluate. This means that Member States should address all relevant aspects. Some aspects may always be relevant (e.g. LEADER added value), which are included in all CAP Strategic Plans and should, therefore, be evaluated by all Member States. Other aspects may be relevant in some Member States (e.g. the territorial scope is more relevant in regionalised Member States as opposed to non-regionalised Member States).

• Evaluating CAP Strategic Plans is essential for demonstrating progress and ensuring policy effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and EU added value.
• An evaluation plan must clearly outline the objectives, methodology and importance of the evaluation process.
• Evaluations should focus on each Specific Objective of a CAP Strategic Plan, assessing them individually or in groups, and justify any objective not evaluated.
• Evaluations are conducted during the implementation period (2023-2027) with a final ex post evaluation expected by 31 December 2031.
• A robust evaluation framework should include relevant criteria and evaluation questions, as well as consider territorial scope and the use of common indicators.