Monitor and Evaluate PA/HA Progress

Monitoring and Evaluation of PA/HA performance is a difficult undertaking. The performance of and results achieved by MRSs in general, and the performance of the PA/HAs in particular, gets  embedded into larger macro-regional performance context, which makes it very difficult to determine which of them can be attributed to performance of Policy Areas/Horizontal Actions.

Nevertheless, in addition to setting out objectives and a strategic framework for its impact and operation, a corresponding Monitoring framework, i.e. a management system to enable involved parties to monitor what is important and make adequate choices and decisions, on the operational level (e.g. flagships, networks) and on the PA/HA strategic level, is of utmost importance for the successful performance of the EUSBSR.

A Monitoring framework has three objectives:

1. To signal the ambitions of the PA/HA strategy and Action plan to all PA/HA-stakeholders

- to ensure that the right roles and priorities are set, and confirm commitment of the Member States as well as the individuals and their institutions involved

- to provide a clear direction for the PA/HA- operation formats (e.g. flagships, networks)

2. To provide a framework to track progress of the PA/HA on both levels (strategic and operational) - to ensure doing the right things and doing them in the right way - to highlight existing and possible barriers to progress, as well as possiblities/opportunities, for the given thematic priorities - to track dynamics in the areas of attention pertaining management of the PA/HA and its strategic relevance in a broader context (the EUSBSR and the macro-region as such).

3. To enable more efficient and effective communication - to enable smooth and transparent reporting to the Commission, Members States and other stakeholders - to enable clarity and more effectively promote the work of the PA/HA and its flagships and other formats.

PA/HA Monitoring framework: Targets and Indicators

A monitoring framework helps to align strategic perspectives with operational ones, on the level of targets and indicators. When designing a M&E-system for a PA/HA, and considering between quantitative and qualitative indicators, a PAC/HAC faces the fact that almost all of their work is ’intangible and unmeasurable’ in conventional terms. While we acknowledge the skills needed for setting and managing quantitative targets and indicators (applied for projects and project-like elements of flagships), we try to focus on assisting you in developing less tangible / qualitative targets and indicators needed for strategic assessment of a Policy Area or a Horizontal Action.

In Phase 1, the PAC/HAC’s attention should be largely given to the strategic landscape of the area, and concern given to issues of strategic conversations within the internal stakeholder community, about

A) Impact and Added value of the PA/HA - in the larger system of the EUSBSR and the Baltic Sea region as such, and

B) Governance and Management of the PA/HA, to ensure long-term/strategic guidance and operating capacity of the PA/HA

In the M&E Helpdesk carried out as part of the EUSBSR Support project, targets and indicators were discussed within the context of the sub-objectives and the ‘road to implementation’, helping to create and define achievable indicators that could be directly linked to the work of the PACs/HACs. As some of the sub-targets turned out to be rather general or unrealistic, it was the aim of the Help Desk to help identify and clarify the steps needed in order to come closer to fulfilling the objectives. Some of the measurable indicators suggested by the Help Desk were combinations of qualitative and quantitative in nature, to be measured followed up through numbers of workshops and surveys, counting the number of initiated collaborative platforms and their process, as well as monitoring communication output (what is communicated, visibility of the project, report downloads (if any), policy briefs written, and their impact on e.g. political agenda-setting). This also requires a thorough establishment of the baseline values from the current situation.

A feasible approach that emerged from the Helpdesk was to pay attention in the Action Plans on monitoring progress in terms of strategy and management and monitoring process in terms of flagships and projects, which is presented in the two subpages and through the link boxes below.

There are two documents where You find information on M&E, on PA/HA level it is “On the way to a coherent EUSBSR” and on the level of flagships, “Flagship as a modus operandi: Concept and Guidelines for design”.