AMIF-ISF/2024/01: Essential elements of 2014-2020 national programmes ex post evaluation reports

Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË – Tel. +32 22991111

Office: LX46 05/002 – Tel. direct line +32 229-86749

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR MIGRATION AND HOME AFFAIRS

Directorate E – HOME Affairs Funds

The Director

Brussels HOME.E.1/AA

NOTE FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE MEMBERS OF THE ASYLUM, MIGRATION AND

INTEGRATION AND INTERNAL SECURITY FUNDS COMMITTEE

Ref.: AMIF-ISF/2024/01

Subject: Note on essential elements of the Member States 2014-2020 ex post

evaluation reports of the AMIF-ISF national programmes

Dear Members of the AMIF-ISF Committee,

As a follow-up to the previous communication AMIF-ISF/2023/02 on the key elements of

the ex-post evaluation of the AMIF-ISF 2014-2020 national programmes, and as the

Member States continue to progress on delivering the ex post evaluations, this notes aims

to provide a few reminders on essential elements to ensure the reports meet the

requirements established in the legal basis.

The Horizontal Regulation establishes that the Member States shall submit an ex post

evaluation report to the Commission by 31 December 2024 (Art. 57(1) point (b) of

Regulation (EU) 514/2014). Additional formal requirements are laid down by Commission

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/207 on the Common Monitoring and Evaluation

Framework for the AMIF and ISF (hereafter CMEF).

To deliver the reports, the Member States shall upload the full ex post evaluation report in

SFC2014, as per article 2(3) of the CMEF.

The reports shall follow the template established by the Commission, in line with article

2(1) of the CMEF.

The template was presented in the Webinar of 20 July 2023 on the key elements of the Ex-

post evaluation Home Affairs Funds 2014-2020 and included in the Consolidated

Background Note – October 2023. The template is reproduced in the box below.

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Box 1 – Template for the ex post evaluation report

Executive summary

It should present the key achievements, findings and lessons learned that could be relevant from

a policy perspective. If the report is drafted in the national language, it should be translated into

English.

Introduction

This section should clarify the purpose of the evaluation, provide information on the

independence of the evaluators3 and an overview of the analytical approach (methods used to

collect and assess qualitative and quantitative data). It should also point out the main limitations

of the analysis and information on the robustness of the findings.

Intervention logic

This section should provide an overview of the relevant socio-economic context in which the

AMIF and ISF intervention take place, identifying the key needs in the area and how the actions

carried out in the national programmes were expected to contribute to addressing them.

State of play of the implementation

This section should provide a factual description of the progress made by the programmes, in

terms of their financial as well as physical implementation. It should delineate the main

challenges faced by the programme and any contextual changes that led to deviations from the

initial plans.

Evaluation findings, by question and sub-question

Questions are organised by the evaluation criteria of effectiveness, efficiency, relevance,

coherence, complementarity, EU added value, sustainability and simplification and reduction

of administrative burden. The answers to the evaluation questions and sub-questions should be

supported by a full triangulation of qualitative and quantitative evidence collected and assessed

by the independent evaluators in connection to the judgement criteria agreed with the

Responsible Authority. The national evaluation reports should cover only the actions

implemented under the national programmes (shared management). Emergency Assistance

projects and Union Actions will be addressed only under the coherence and complementarity

area. All questions and sub-questions should be addressed.

Conclusions and lessons learned

This section is to wrap up on the key findings from the evaluation and to describe corresponding

lessons learned to inform the policy cycle. Good (bad) practice cases should be included to the

extent possible in connection to the lessons learned.

Annexes

The independent evaluators should include in the Annex the detailed methodological approach

followed and the evaluation matrix. The annexes can be used to provide further detail into the

qualitative and quantitative data used for the evaluations.

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The reports shall include a reply to each of the questions defined in Annex 1 (AMIF) and

II (ISF) of the CMEF and make use of the indicators listed in its Annex III and IV, as per

Article 2(2).

For further details on submission of the national evaluation reports and the report

requirements, see the aforementioned Background Note in SFC2014.

In addition, the Commission is required to submit an ex post evaluation report on the

implementation of the AMIF and ISF to the European Parliament, to the Council, to the

European Economic and Social Committee, and to the Committee of the Regions by 30

June 2025 (Art. 57(2) point (b) of Regulation (EU) 514/2014).

As the deadline for the submission of the Commission’s report arrives shortly after the

deadline for the Member State’s national evaluation reports, it is imperative that Member

States submit their reports on time for the national evaluation reports to contribute to the

Commission’s report.

In addition, the Member States are kindly reminded to transmit to the Commission data

stored at the Member State level as soon as available and no later than September 2024 to

contribute to the Commission’s evaluation report. A template for this transmission of data

is available on SFC2014 1. The completed templates should be uploaded in SFC2014 under

the head “Evaluation /Evaluation Documents” and use the document type “Data for the

ex-post evaluation – HR Article 55(5)”.

Responsible Authorities are invited to refer to the functional mailbox HOME-FUNDS-

[email protected] in case of doubts, requests for clarifications or issues with

the data uploaded in SFC2014 by the Commission, keeping their Desk Officer in copy.

Yours faithfully,

Silvia MICHELINI

1 Templates are different in scope to reflect the fact that not all Member States participate in all Funds/

Instruments. Each Member State is invited to use the template corresponding to the Funds/Instrument in

which it participates.

Electronically signed on 12/04/2024 20:07 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121