Mid-Term Evaluation of RDPE

Defra submitted the Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE) report to the European Commission at the end of December 2010, in accordance with evaluation requirements. The European Commission has placed the final MTE report from England on its website.

Background:

The purpose of the MTE is to review the Programme’s progress against objectives, quality, efficiency and effectiveness, and to develop recommendations for the remainder of the period. It’s an EU requirement that the MTE is carried out by an independent organisation and Defra has chosen Hyder Consulting to carry out this task.  Hyder Consulting is leading the evaluation, working closely with ADAS and DS Research and other specialist advisors. 

Defra want this to be a high quality and useful evaluation so  the scope of the project is significantly wider than that required to meet EU Regulations alone. The evaluation will provide a valuable opportunity for those responsible for delivery, funding beneficiaries and stakeholders to have their say about the RDPE, and how to maximise its achievements towards and post 2013.  View the full briefing about the Mid-Term Evaluation.

The evaluation, completed by Hyder in partnership with ADAS, DS Research and peer reviews, drew upon evidence including monitoring data, literature reviews, telephone surveys, interviews and case studies. Subject to agreement from Ministers Defra plans to publish the evaluation soon.

What next:

The evaluators will be submitting three further reports to Defra in mid-2011, these include:

1. To provide an assessment of how well the RDPE is meeting the Regulatory requirements for ongoing evaluation and, if there are gaps, remidial work needed; and on the bases of analysis of the intervention logic make recommendations on the type of indicators and the timing of reporting in order to improve the Common and Monitoring and Evaluation Framework;
2. A comprehensive analysis of the RDPE and recommendations for moving forward with rural development: an examination of the Programme's policy priorities and evidence of the degree of success of RDPE schemes and interventions. Building on previous reports, provide recommendations for future implementation and focus of the RDPE (2011-2013) and input for the next Rural Development Regulation and priorities for future rural development in England (post 2014); and
3. A survey of Environmental Stewardship (ES) beneficiaries, planned for February 2011. This will involve a telephone survey of approximately 500 beneficiaries with the intention of testing ideas for developing Stewardship and, in particular, how it's effectiveness could be improved.

How the RDPE Network has been involved:

The RDPE Network is engaged with the Mid-Term Evaluation project in three ways: 

1. Through providing the views that you have shared through the Network’s activities and events to the project as evidence, e.g. event write-ups and discussion forum postings (which are available via the website);
2. Supporting the communication of the project’s progress, e.g. through our e-news services;
3. The Network itself is being evaluated as part of the project.

 For further information on the Network’s involvement in the Mid-Term Evaluation, please contact Rebecca Frost. 

Further information:

The evaluators have provided some updates throughout the course of their evaluation these can be read below:

• Read the October update.
• Read the August update.
• Read the July update of the project
• The Executive Summary of the MTE is now available.