Evaluation of the European Commission's Co-Operation With
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Evaluation of the European Commission’s Co-operation with Thailand Final Report Volume 2 October 2009 Evaluation for the European Commission This evaluation was commissioned by: Italy the Evaluation Unit common to: Aide à la Décision Economique Belgium EuropeAid Co-operation Office, Directorate-General for Development and PARTICIP GmbH Germany Directorate-General for External Relations Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik Germany Overseas Development Institute United Kingdom European Institute for Asian Studies Belgium Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales Spain The evaluation was carried out by Particip GmbH within a consortium led by DRN. The external evaluation team was composed of Max Hennion (team leader), Jörn Dosch, Steven Ney, Florence Burban, Claudio Schuftan, René Madrid, Christopher Veit, Marcel Goeke, Tino Smaïl. Particip GmbH was the evaluation contract manager. The evaluation was managed by the evaluation unit who also chaired the reference group composed by members of the services (EuropeAid, DG Dev, DG Relex), the EC Delegations to Thailand and representatives of the Royal Thai Embassy in Brussels. Full reports of the evaluation can be obtained from the evaluation unit website: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/how/evaluation/evaluation_reports/index_en.htm The opinions expressed in this document represent the authors’ points of view, which are not necessarily shared by the European Commission or by the authorities of the countries concerned. Evaluation of European Commission’s Cooperation with Thailand Country Level Evaluation Final Report The report consists of 2 volumes: Volume I: FINAL report Volume II: Annexes VOLUME I: FINAL REPORT 1. Introduction 2. Methodology 3. Background 4. Findings 5. Conclusions 6. Recommendations VOLUME II: ANNEXES 1. Field mission information collection plan 2. List of people met 3. List of documents consulted 4. Information Matrix 5. List of EC projects TABLE OF CONTENTS ANNEX I: FIELD MISSION INFORMATION COLLECTION PLAN..................................................1 ANNEX II: LIST OF PEOPLE MET....................................................................................................9 ANNEX III: LIST OF DOCUMENTS CONSULTED .........................................................................11 ANNEX IV: INFORMATION MATRIX ............................................................................................20 ANNEX V: LIST OF EC PROJECTS ...............................................................................................142 Evaluation of the European Commission’s Cooperation with Thailand DRN-ADE-PARTICIP-DIE-ODI-EIAS- ICEI ANNEX I: FIELD MISSION INFORMATION COLLECTION PLAN The field phase is designed to generate additional evidence which can be used to fill gaps in the preliminary findings above, as well as test and probe whether the preliminary findings and conclusions based on them are sound. In the case of Thailand, a relatively large number of project final evaluations and Mid-term Reviews are already available, many of which involved substantial collection and analysis of statistical data and the use of focus groups at the level of beneficiaries. This information has already, for the most part, been incorporated into the Desk Report although one aspect of the field mission will, of course, be the search for additional documentation. In this Country Strategy Evaluation, therefore, the main tool applied in the field will be the semi- structured interview, either at the level of the EC Delegation, Government, or the project (see following chart). In order to give a framework for these interviews, a set of working hypotheses to be probed has been constructed (see pages following). A combination of Bangkok and province / district-based interviews are planned, covering EC Delegation officials in Bangkok, in Government ministries, at the level of Provincial government, in districts were projects have been implemented, in various bilateral and multilateral partner offices, and in project units (see pages following). Because of the limited number of field days available, provincial interviews will be carried out in one province, to be identified with the Delegation. Final Report October 2009 Page 1 Evaluation of the European Commission’s Cooperation with Thailand DRN-ADE-PARTICIP-DIE-ODI-EIAS- ICEI Sources and respondents Project Bene‐ MSs & EC Delegation Ministries NSAs management ficiaries donors 1 To what extent have the Commission's interventions contributed to improved trade and main economic partnership with the country? 2 To what extent have the Commission's interventions in the sector of higher education main contributed to increase mutual understanding and awareness? 3 To what extent have the Commission's interventions in the sector of public health and health main services contributed to the universal health care coverage? 4 To what extent were the EC programmes in the country consistent with the global objectives of EC response to global challenges main faced by ASEAN, particularly environment issues? 5 To what extent has EC mainstreaming of gender, governance and human rights into main its cooperation programmes resulted in enhanced governance in the country? 6 To what extent did the EC assessed and considered (i) the government’s priorities, (ii) the needs of the country and, (iii) the evolving context main in programming its strategic response, including the follow-up of the implementation strategy? 7 To what extent did the combination of instruments, approaches, financing modalities and/or channels main of disbursement used by the EC contributed to achieve EC aid objectives? 8 To what extent has the EC coordinated and cooperated with EU Member states and IFIs intending to main improve the complementarity of their interventions? 9 To what extent did the EC approach result in progress toward a balanced economic partnership between Thailand and the EU that would not main have occurred absent EC co- operation programmes? Final Report October 2009 Page 2 Evaluation of the European Commission’s Cooperation with Thailand DRN-ADE-PARTICIP-DIE-ODI-EIAS- ICEI Projects proposed for analysis Case studies in bold. 1 To what extent have the Commission's Small Projects Facility, ECAP, TREATY, interventions contributed to improved trade and economic partnership with the country? 2 To what extent have the Commission's AsiaLink, AUNP, FWP (particularly the INCO programmes), Erasmus interventions in the sector of higher education Mundus contributed to increase mutual understanding and awareness? 3 To what extent have the Commission's HlthCareRefProj(HCRP641);Wom+ChCare+SuppHighHIVPrev(815);M interventions in the sector of public health and igrHlthProj(912);ThaiVillHlthProjMSariang(612); health services contributed to the universal ComprCare+SuppPersons HIV+families(2320). health care coverage? 4 To what extent were the EC programmes in the COGEN, EAEF, ProEco projects (EcoToursim), CHARM, Asia Urbs country consistent with the global objectives of EC response to global challenges faced by ASEAN, particularly environment issues? 5 To what extent has EC mainstreaming of gender, All major programmes/projects + CCIs oriented ones governance and human rights into its cooperation (refugees/governance) programmes resulted in enhanced governance in the country? 6 To what extent did the EC assessed and All major programmes/projects such as SPF, Health Care Reform, considered (i) the government’s priorities, (ii) the etc.. needs of the country and, (iii) the evolving context in programming its strategic response, including the follow-up of the implementation strategy? 7 To what extent did the combination of All major programmes/projects such as SPF, Health Care Reform, instruments, approaches, financing modalities etc.. and/or channels of disbursement used by the EC contributed to achieve EC aid objectives? 8 To what extent has the EC coordinated and All major programmes/projects such as SPF, Health Care Reform, cooperated with EU Member states and IFIs etc.. intending to improve the complementarity of their interventions? 9 To what extent did the EC approach result in Trade policy dialogue, SPF progress toward a balanced economic partnership between Thailand and the EU that would not have occurred absent EC co-operation programmes? Hypothesis to be checked 1 To what extent have the Commission's interventions contributed to improved trade and economic partnership with the country? • The favourable trade regime had been negotiated in Brussels and are not the direct result of the EC’s cooperation programme; • Individual SPF projects had a specific impact on trade relations; • EC interventions and the Delegation contribute to achieving effective policy/legislative responses by the RTG; Final Report October 2009 Page 3 Evaluation of the European Commission’s Cooperation with Thailand DRN-ADE-PARTICIP-DIE-ODI-EIAS- ICEI • The most significant push for Europe’s visibility has been Thailand’s ASEM membership (and the pro-active role that Thailand has played in the forum); • There are no specific programmes with an explicit focus on the promotion of European FDI and improvement of investment conditions. 2 To what extent have the Commission's interventions in the sector of higher education contributed to increase mutual understanding and awareness? • EC interventions have been successful in constructing functional and effective institutional vehicles of exposure and interaction; • these programmes are administered in small doses with beneficial effects