The Policy/Impact Evaluation of EUSDR instruments, tools and activities for measuring the impact in the Danube Region was finalised and can be downloaded here. The assessment was carried out by Spatial Foresight from July 2021 to May 2022.

The EUSDR Impact Evaluation answers nine evaluation questions structured along four themes: (A) implementation, (B) impact, (C) communication and (D) effects of COVID-19 pandemic. The evaluation builds on the complex intervention logic of the EUSDR and its recent alignments, namely the revised EUSDR Action Plan 2020. The theory-based evaluation focuses on changes envisaged by the Strategy and looks to identify and assess the processes behind the changes.

To summarise the findings, the revised EUSDR Action Plan 2020 is going well. The Strategy is being implemented based on a solid governance structure and with a clear distribution of roles and responsibilities that only need fine-tuning in specific cases (e.g. when new staff take over the EUSDR tasks). Processes and tools effectively support the implementation.

Administrative tasks such as reporting, internal communication and coordination with multiple stakeholders within and outside the EUSDR system produce a workload that is highly relevant for the implementation of the EUSDR Action Plan 2020. This might be seen as burdensome, especially by the professionals that do not work full-time on the EUSDR implementation.

In the positive context of implementation, five recommendations could increase efficiency for EUSDR stakeholders and, especially, maximise the impact and contribution to wider policy objectives.