1. EuropeAid INTRODUCING STANDARD INDICATORS IN EUROPEAN COMMISSION FUNDED PROJECTS FOR THE AGGREGATION OF AID EFFECTS Guy Doucet Operations Quality Support, DG EuropeAid, European Commission OECD World Forum on Measuring and fostering the progress of societies Session on use and abuse of indicators, 9 -10.30 am, Thursday 28th of June 2007

2. EuropeAid Objective of the presentation 1.To introduce the process of promoting a more systematic use of indicators in EuropeAid 2.To highlight the perceived risks 3.Provide lessons learnt

3. EuropeAid Standard Indicators - Needs Indicators used now are project specific Standard Indicators are introduced: to enhance accountability to citizens and Parliament to obtain a quantified general overview of the effects of aid in a given sector, country or region to appraise trends over a given period of time to follow the recommendations of thematic evaluations requesting standard indicators

4. EuropeAid Standard Indicators – Context The increase of EU development aid The commitment to enhance accountability (Paris Declaration) The importance of progress indicators and regular evaluation (European Consensus on Development) The requirement of annual reports detailing implementation and results (Development Cooperation Instrument regulation) The new possibilities of co-financing between Member States, other donors and the European Commission (revised Financial Regulation)

5. EuropeAid Standard Indicators - Approach To go beyond measuring input (financial data: commitments, payments) To achieve this, we had options for the way forward o Drop the idea – too complicated o Wait – international consensus o Learning-by-doing The chosen approach is a pilot phase with o A limited number of sectors o An open dialogue o An evaluation after one year o Inform others – open approach

6. EuropeAid Pilot Phase - Coverage Pilot Phase for projects starting from September 2007 in the following sectors: -Human Development -Good governance -Security, Migration and Asylum -Food Security, Rural Development and Environment -Infrastructure Indicators are all associated to one or more OECD DAC Purpose Codes

7. EuropeAid Pilot Phase – Criteria used for selection Relevance to the objective Practices of key donors Coherent with other indicators (MDG-related…) Aggregation Measurable Values with/without project Applicable to all projects in a given sector Easily available data sources

8. EuropeAid Pilot Phase – some examples Road Transport Rural access % of road network in good or fair condition Number of Km maintained, rehabilitated, constructed Water and Sanitation % of Population with access to improved water sources % of Population with access to improved sanitation Health Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel Proportion of 1-year-old-children immunised against measles

9. EuropeAid Pilot Phase – Introduction of indicators in project cycle o Project Identification Indicators: confirmation of selection (by DAC codes for the project) o Project Formulation Indicators: Baseline values and values of expected effects calculated Will initially only cover Ex-ante effects

10. EuropeAid Perceived risks – misleading reporting? Risk: Indicators might give an incomplete picture of the real effect of aid Small number of indicators & limited sector coverage Indicators are mainly on output and outcome level Country/regional context should be taken into account Solution: Not meant to replace indicators at country or project level Need to be accompanied by explanations and definitions

11. EuropeAid Perceived risks – Affecting Policies? Risk: Distorting priorities of partner countries policies Concerns that standard indicators will encourage development of programmes to fit indicators Solution: Country Strategy Papers are developed in line with partner countries strategies Evaluation will assess the impact of indicators

12. EuropeAid Perceived risks – Additional burden? Risk: Obliging partner countries to set up new monitoring systems Solution: The majority of the indicators are basic An evaluation will be done of the compatibility of the standard indicators with the partner countries monitoring system

13. EuropeAid Lessons Learnt Important to begin with a needs analysis and to make the process of selecting the indicators as openly as possible It is a complex issue – still a lot of scepticism and resistance to change Never underestimate the time it takes to introduce new schemes Overlaps with other data collection instruments should be considered An evolving approach as not everything can be solved before the start of the pilot phase For further information contact: EuropeAid-E-INDICATORS@ec.europa.eu

14. EuropeAid Key concepts – calculating the values Project A in Ghana in Health Sector Indicator: = 2008200720092011 Δ A1 =200 1200 1300 1500 Without Project A With Project A No. of assisted deliveries Time 2008200720092011 2000 2100 With Project A =Without Proj.A Total No. of Deliveries Time D A2 = 2100 No. of assisted deliveries (Δ) Total No. of deliveries Increase in % of assisted deliveries due to project

15. EuropeAid Key concepts: aggregation Project A in Ghana (decided in 2008) Project B in Togo (same decision year 2008) Time 20082007200920112013 Δ A1 = 200 1200 1300 1500 Without Pr. A With Project A No. of Assisted Deliveries 1800 1900 2500 Δ B1 = 600 With Project B Without Pr. B Time 20082007200920112013 2 000 2 100 Total No. of Deliveries With Project A = Without Pr. A D A2 = 2100 Aggregation 3 500 D B2 = 3500 With Project B = Without Proj..B 3 000