Evaluation of the INTERREG V-A Latvia Lithuania Programme 2014- 2020 and its Communication strategy 1 Report by SAFEGE Baltija Contents Tables .............................................................................................................................................................................. 3 Pictures .......................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................................. 7 1. How balanced is territorial coverage? ................................................................................................. 12 1.1. Territorial distribution of projects and project partners ..................................................... 12 1.2. Main bottlenecks and drivers for the involvement of newcomers .................................. 16 1.3. Main conclusions and areas for action ......................................................................................... 17 2. What results does the Programme plan to achieve .............................................................................. 20 2.1. What is the planned contribution of the approved projects toward achievement of the result indicators and output indicators? ...................................................................................................... 22 2020 and its Communication strategy Communication its and 2020 - 2.2. How much the projects have committed under each specific objective per each Programme region? ............................................................................................................................................... 27 2.3. What are the main factors that influence the commitment? ....................................................... 31 2.4. What is the state of play of the current achievement of outputs in projects? ...................... 34 2.5. What is the possible impact of existing commitment on the achievement of Programme result indicators and their target values? .................................................................................................... 35 Top of 2.6. What is the potential impact of additional ERDF funding in 2018 on the target values of the result indicators? .................................................................................................................................................... 37 Docume nt 2.7. Main conclusions and areas for improvement ................................................................................... 38 A Latvia Lithuania Programme 2014 Programme Lithuania A Latvia - 3. Wider contribution to the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region and horizontal principles39 3.1. How does the Programme contribute toward delivery of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region and horizontal principles? ........................................................................................................... 39 3.2. Main conclusions and areas for action ......................................................................................... 41 4. Planning for Programme impact evaluation in 2020 .......................................................................... 43 4.1. Evaluation focus and goals ......................................................................................................................... 43 4.2. Evaluation context and potential evaluation questions ................................................................ 44 Evaluation of the INTERREG V the INTERREG of Evaluation 4.3. Availability and validity of data ................................................................................................................ 45 4.4. Main conclusions and areas for action ......................................................................................... 46 5. Has Programme implementation become more efficient? ................................................................ 47 5.1. Which simplification measures should be preserved? ................................................................... 47 5.2. Did simplification measures decrease administrative burden? ................................................. 50 5.3. Main conclusions and areas for action .................................................................................................. 51 6. How well the Programme has ensured communication? ............................................................ 52 6.1. Communication with project applicants and project partners ................................................... 52 2 6.2. Communication with wider public................................................................................................. 56 6.3. Main conclusions and areas for action ......................................................................................... 58 Annex 1 Recommendations for further improvement ............................................................................ 60 Annex 2 Territorial coverage of the projects by Programme’s priorities ....................................... 65 Annex 3 Calculation of Programme result indicators .............................................................................. 70 Annex 4 Potential impact of output commitments to the achievement of Programme result indicators .................................................................................................................................................................... 73 Annex 5 Programme projects per EUSBSR objectives and policy areas .......................................... 75 Annex 6 Connections between the Programme Specific Objectives and the EUSBSR Objectives and Policy Areas ...................................................................................................................................................... 76 Annex 7 Good practice projects ........................................................................................................................ 77 Annex 8 Simplification measures for applicants and project partners introduced within the Programme (2014 – 2020) ................................................................................................................................. 91 Annex 9 Logical model of Specific Objectives ............................................................................................. 92 Annex 10 Outcome Harvesting ........................................................................................................................ 100 2020 and its Communication strategy Communication its and 2020 Annex 11 Results of the survey ....................................................................................................................... 102 - Annex 12 Information on communication activities ............................................................................. 107 2014 Annex 11 Questions of the interview with Programme bodies ........................................................ 110 Annex 13 Questions of the interview with project partners .............................................................. 112 Annex 14 List of Interviews .............................................................................................................................. 115 Annex 15 Evaluation Methods ......................................................................................................................... 118 Annex 16 Description of Criteria of Evaluation rubrics ....................................................................... 123 A Latvia Lithuania Programme Programme Lithuania A Latvia - Tables Table # 1 Division of programme funds and number of approved project applications per priorities and Calls for proposals, June 2019 ..................................................................................................... 7 Table # 2 Commitment of Programme regions to the total values of output indicators Source: eMS, project applications, 10th April, 2019 ...................................................................................................... 29 Table # 3 Number of projects from the region contributing to the output indicators .................. 30 Evaluation of the INTERREG V the INTERREG of Evaluation Table # 4 Current state of play of the commitment and achievement of output indicators within projects ............................................................................................................................................................. 35 Table # 5 Baseline and target values of result indicators .......................................................................... 35 Table # 6 Potential impact on the achievement of Programme result indicators........................... 37 Table # 7 Improvement to facilitate a wider contribution to the EUSBSR and horizontal principles ........................................................................................................................................................................ 42 Table # 8 Potential focus of the upcoming evaluation ................................................................................ 44 Table # 9 Potential evaluation questions ......................................................................................................... 44 3 Table # 10 Necessary data,