The Politics of Evaluation in Co-financed Projects: the Case of Scottish Executive and the Evaluation of the Structural Funds

This paper combines an analysis of the different theories expressed in the literature in relation to the process of evaluation and their empirical application to the case of a project evaluation undertaken by the Scottish Executive. The evaluation undertaken by the Scottish Executive is analysed in...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Delia M. Costân
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Institute of Romania 2009-06-01
Series:Romanian Journal of European Affairs
Subjects:
Online Access:https://rjea.ier.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/articole/RJEA_Vol_9_No2_THE_POLITICS_OF_EVALUATION_IN_CO-FINANCED_PROJECTS_THE_CASE_OF_THE_SCOTTISH_EXECUTIVE_AND_THE_EVALUATION_OF_THE_STRUCTURAL_FUNDS.pdf
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850110424287019008
author Delia M. Costân
author_facet Delia M. Costân
author_sort Delia M. Costân
collection DOAJ
description This paper combines an analysis of the different theories expressed in the literature in relation to the process of evaluation and their empirical application to the case of a project evaluation undertaken by the Scottish Executive. The evaluation undertaken by the Scottish Executive is analysed in the context of the various theories and hypotheses expressed in the evaluation literature. Insight into the activity undertaken by the Scottish Executive and access to primary documents used, was facilitated by the author’s participation in a six week internship within the Structural Funds Division of the Scottish Executive. The analysis of the evaluation of the co-financed projects in Scotland revealed that the challenges to the process of evaluation in Scotland resulted in part from the existence of different understandings by the various stakeholders involved in the setting of the goals of the evaluation process. The author’s findings on the application of Article 4 in Scotland are that the different interpretations of Article 4 come from the European Commissions’ general approach to evaluation;, the Scottish Executives’ emphasis on meeting the absorption requirements of the Structural Funds and less on detailed evaluation, and the Programme Management Executives’ focus on supporting the project beneficiaries and less on evaluating the projects.
format Article
id doaj-art-7c7bb0690c60447a808c217658eb06fb
institution OA Journals
issn 1582-8271
1841-4273
language English
publishDate 2009-06-01
publisher European Institute of Romania
record_format Article
series Romanian Journal of European Affairs
spelling doaj-art-7c7bb0690c60447a808c217658eb06fb2025-08-20T02:37:50ZengEuropean Institute of RomaniaRomanian Journal of European Affairs1582-82711841-42732009-06-01923345The Politics of Evaluation in Co-financed Projects: the Case of Scottish Executive and the Evaluation of the Structural FundsDelia M. Costân0Public Manager within the General Direction for Social Affairs and Child Protection, Timiş, Romania. MSc in European Public Policy within the Department of Government of Strathclyde University, Scotland, UKThis paper combines an analysis of the different theories expressed in the literature in relation to the process of evaluation and their empirical application to the case of a project evaluation undertaken by the Scottish Executive. The evaluation undertaken by the Scottish Executive is analysed in the context of the various theories and hypotheses expressed in the evaluation literature. Insight into the activity undertaken by the Scottish Executive and access to primary documents used, was facilitated by the author’s participation in a six week internship within the Structural Funds Division of the Scottish Executive. The analysis of the evaluation of the co-financed projects in Scotland revealed that the challenges to the process of evaluation in Scotland resulted in part from the existence of different understandings by the various stakeholders involved in the setting of the goals of the evaluation process. The author’s findings on the application of Article 4 in Scotland are that the different interpretations of Article 4 come from the European Commissions’ general approach to evaluation;, the Scottish Executives’ emphasis on meeting the absorption requirements of the Structural Funds and less on detailed evaluation, and the Programme Management Executives’ focus on supporting the project beneficiaries and less on evaluating the projects.https://rjea.ier.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/articole/RJEA_Vol_9_No2_THE_POLITICS_OF_EVALUATION_IN_CO-FINANCED_PROJECTS_THE_CASE_OF_THE_SCOTTISH_EXECUTIVE_AND_THE_EVALUATION_OF_THE_STRUCTURAL_FUNDS.pdfeu structural fundsevaluation of co-financed projectsevaluation theoriesscottish executive
spellingShingle Delia M. Costân
The Politics of Evaluation in Co-financed Projects: the Case of Scottish Executive and the Evaluation of the Structural Funds
Romanian Journal of European Affairs
eu structural funds
evaluation of co-financed projects
evaluation theories
scottish executive
title The Politics of Evaluation in Co-financed Projects: the Case of Scottish Executive and the Evaluation of the Structural Funds
title_full The Politics of Evaluation in Co-financed Projects: the Case of Scottish Executive and the Evaluation of the Structural Funds
title_fullStr The Politics of Evaluation in Co-financed Projects: the Case of Scottish Executive and the Evaluation of the Structural Funds
title_full_unstemmed The Politics of Evaluation in Co-financed Projects: the Case of Scottish Executive and the Evaluation of the Structural Funds
title_short The Politics of Evaluation in Co-financed Projects: the Case of Scottish Executive and the Evaluation of the Structural Funds
title_sort politics of evaluation in co financed projects the case of scottish executive and the evaluation of the structural funds
topic eu structural funds
evaluation of co-financed projects
evaluation theories
scottish executive
url https://rjea.ier.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/articole/RJEA_Vol_9_No2_THE_POLITICS_OF_EVALUATION_IN_CO-FINANCED_PROJECTS_THE_CASE_OF_THE_SCOTTISH_EXECUTIVE_AND_THE_EVALUATION_OF_THE_STRUCTURAL_FUNDS.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT deliamcostan thepoliticsofevaluationincofinancedprojectsthecaseofscottishexecutiveandtheevaluationofthestructuralfunds
AT deliamcostan politicsofevaluationincofinancedprojectsthecaseofscottishexecutiveandtheevaluationofthestructuralfunds