Use of ‘factors of success’ in evaluation

According to Article 1 of the European Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1475 “When evaluating their CAP Strategic Plans, Member States shall define evaluation questions and factors of success to assess the evaluation criteria of effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and Union added value referred to in Article 140(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115”.

‘Factors of success’ are key components of the design of every evaluation. They explain how the evaluation questions and related key evaluation elements will be answered, by specifying what must be assessed and by setting the rationale for the use of specific metrics (financial allocations, output, result and impact indicators). They establish the benchmark for assessing whether CAP interventions are effective, efficient, relevant or coherent. They can be used as the core component around which evaluation findings can be structured.

These guidelines have been prepared by the Evaluation Helpdesk of the EU CAP Network to further develop the capacity of Member States to formulate complete and consistent evaluation frameworks, and to demonstrate the full path from objectives to evaluation questions to measurement and attribution of the change observed due to CAP Strategic Plans.

The full report is available HERE.