Government Office North East, Mid Term Evaluation of the North East of England Objective 2 Programme
The Brief: Government Office North East asked us to complete a mid term evaluation of their Objective 2 Programme. We used a variety of research techniques and completed an in depth analysis of the programme performance, resulting in a series of key recommendations. We have recently been commissioned to undertake an update of the evaluation.
We carried out the mid term evaluation of one of the largest European-funded regeneration programmes in the UK. The work took place over a twelve month period from September 2002 and involved widespread consultation with stakeholders across the North East, including One NorthEast (the Regional Development Agency), local authorities, business organisations and the voluntary and community sector. The work included more than 30 workshops, 30 stakeholder interviews, and a postal questionnaire of over 600 partners. The research involved an in depth analysis of Programme performance, measured success against the strategic objectives through the achievement of targets, assessed its continuing relevance and examined the quality and effectiveness of the implementation and management procedures.
A series of key recommendations were made as a result of the findings and involved changes to the structure and criteria of the SPD, a redistribution of the financial allocations across the priorities, a re-quantification of the targets for each of the priorities, changes to the Programme’s management and delivery arrangements and specific recommendations around the Business Brokerage model, Sub-Regional Action Plans and Package Resources.
We have recently been commissioned to undertake an update of the Mid Term Evaluation focusing on the outputs and results likely to be achieved by the Programme.
Sheffield