Work Package 3: Evaluation of the project
 
Background and objectives
An evaluation is a systematic assessment of a program, a project or a policy with the aim to support decisions and promote learning. The Work Package 3 (WP3) aims to evaluate the project in terms of:
  1. Respect of scheduled milestones and deliverables according to the project WPs;
  2. Achievement of the stated project indicators, both for quantitative and qualitative aspects;
  3. Active participation of both associated and collaborating countries in the project activities.
Methods
EpiSouth official planning document specifies completion and acceptance criteria to evaluate the project. The first comprise: a) deliverables on time and compliant to what was foreseen initially, b) respect of deadlines by all partners and c) results measurable and satisfying. Each partner institution will signal the completion of the activities under its responsibility directly on EpiSouth’s web-site. Acceptance criteria at the end of project include:
  1. Deliverables on time and compliant to what was foreseen initially;
  2. Results measurable;
  3. Results satisfying in quality, validated and endorsed by peers;
  4. Website with a strategy for sustainability on the long term;
  5. Progression over the three years of visits to the website, increase of identified partners in the Mediterranean countries (outside EU), increased dissemination of bulletins, increase of the interest /attendees to the training courses;
  6. Analyse of the profile of users and visitors to the site;
  7. Content of final report compliant with the whole description of the project and the deliverables mentioned under each work package;
  8. References to the financial support of the Commission.
EpiSouth’s monitoring and evaluation focuses particularly on aspects which are critical for building the Network and for the outputs of the individual WPs. As far as Network building is concerned the key question to which EpiSouth’s monitoring and evaluation should answer is: “How far has the project contributed to resources and information sharing among the Network’s members?”. With regard to the vertical packages the main question should be: “Have specific WP’s delivered their products and achieved their objectives?”
The evidence used to assess the project’s degree of success will be extracted from the following sources: a) Key products (e.g. Training modules, Procedures on cross-border epidemics control); b) Web site structure, contents, frequency of use and customers’ satisfaction; c) Participating institutions and quality of presentations at final conference; d) Meeting minutes; e) Interviews with important stakeholders; f) Focus groups with professionals involved in the project; g) Six questionnaires specifically designed to investigate the project’s main aspects.
Expected results
WP3 key products are the Evaluation Plan and its output, i.e. the Final evaluation report and interim 1st and 2nd year reports. The Final evaluation report’s outline will consist of the following chapters: a) EpiSouth evaluation’s goal and methods; b) Description of the Project as planned; c) Project management: resources, structures and processes; d) Project implementation; e) Achievement of goal and objectives; f) Impact and unintended consequences; g) Relevance and sustainability; h) Context: opportunities and constraints.
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