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Evaluation of the Interreg IV energy projects in the Euregio

oude Egbrink, M. (2011) Evaluation of the Interreg IV energy projects in the Euregio.

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Abstract:Since the fifties local governments and other organizations in the Euregio are participating in crossborder cooperation to solve cross border problems. Since 1991 the European Union is funding these local initiatives in order to let the internal European borders fade away and to contribute to the regional development. The Euregio as an organization is responsible for carrying out the EU cross border funding program, called Interreg. In this research, the energy projects of the Interreg IV program in the Euregio have been evaluated. Five projects in the area of renewable energy and energy savings technologies are currently (2011) running in the Euregio. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the implementation and goal achievement of the five projects, and to analyse factors which facilitate or hinder the implementation. The first activity of this research has been to analyse the projects as being policy. This means that the goals, means and time-choices of the projects have been described. On the basis of this an evaluation of the implementation as an indirect evaluation of the goal achievement has been done. This means that the focus is on the implementation, and more specifically on the effectuation of the plans made in the projects. The results show that in all five projects the project partners are implementing the means. They are therefore doing what they are supposed to be doing. There are however some differences with regard to the planning and some other problems. The planning of activities of some projects is reasonable and they do not encounter many problems, other projects show considerable delays or deviations from the initial project planning. Overall the implementation of project activities is done adequately in all five projects. The second main activity of this research was to assess the influence of certain factors on the cooperation and implementation of all five projects. Focus in this research was on the cooperation between organizations in networks and on cross-border cooperation. Several factors of both characteristics have been analysed that might have an influence on the cooperation and therefore the implementation. Overall most factors influencing cooperation seem to function well in the projects, which is in line with the findings on the implementation of the projects. Theory on the factors therefore seems to be able to explain the quality of the implementation. Two hindering factors that are present in every project are the low need for cross-border cooperation, and the high density of rules and administration the project partners have to cope with. Especially the latter factor has a negative influence on the cooperation according to the lead partners. With regard to the hindering factors in the projects almost no links were found between them and the implementation. This means that the theory on the factors does explain a good implementation, but has not been able to explain the differences between the projects. In general, the findings on the implementation in the five projects are quite positive. The means are being implemented and not many factors seem to be hindering the cooperation. On the basis of this a high level of goal achievement can in principle be expected, the prospects are good, but directly measuring goal achievement was not possible. When looking more closely at the projects it can be seen that the link between goals and means is sometimes not totally clear or direct, and needs to be strengthened by third parties who have to help achieving the goals by for example applying the knowledge developed in the projects. On the basis of the hindering factors at least two recommendations can be given which seem particularly important for new projects: try to increase the need for cross-border cooperation, and try to reduce the density of rules and administration. Especially the latter has been indicated as having a very negative effect on the cooperation. Overall the influence of the hindering factors should not be overestimated since the implementation is going rather well.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Clients:
Euregio, the Netherlands
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:88 social and public administration
Programme:Public Administration MSc (60020)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/62323
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