Regional Policy European Commission 1 10/17/2015 Wolfgang Petzold DG REGIO 10 September 2004 SFIT meeting on evaluation DG REGIO's Information and Communication as seen by its users

Regional Policy European Commission 2 10/17/2015 Development of an information and communication strategy and actions in relation to the policy priorities of the DG Coordination and monitoring of information and publicity programmes carried out by the Member States (Art. 46 of Regulation (EC) 1260/1999 and Regulation (EC) 1159/2000) …and control quality of the approach through on-going evaluation actions REGIO's Information and Communication Unit

Regional Policy European Commission 3 10/17/2015 REGIO's Output in 2003  10 new publications  60,000 subscribers for REGIO publications listed  70-80,000 visitors on REGIO’s website per month  about 17,000 people at REGIO conferences and events  5,800 information requests  170,000 documents sent  60 press releases published

Regional Policy European Commission 4 10/17/2015 DG REGIO’s information  Actors on EU, Member State and regional level  Citizens  Press/Media Member States and regions’ information  Regional actors  Potential beneficiaries  Citizens  regional press Regulations, Reports/Studies, Periodicals, Brochures, Website Guidelines/Forms, Brochures, Periodicals, Websites Networking EU Structural Funds: Shared responsibility for Communication

Regional Policy European Commission 5 10/17/2015 Accession: capacity building of regional policy actors in candidate countries publications in new languages, events and seminars Awareness: highlighting the success of Cohesion Policy and its added value evaluations, publications, seminars ISPA, URBAN, INTERREG etc., OPEN DAYS (Sept. 04) Reform: stimulating and feeding the public debate about structural policy after 2006 seminars, website forum, 3rd Cohesion report (Dec. 03) and Cohesion Forum (May 04) Internal communication: Enhancing communication tools inside REGIO REGIO's 2003/04 communication priorities

Regional Policy European Commission 6 10/17/2015 Evaluation of communication actions: based on internal indicators – the DG's annual management plan and external surveys Baseline: the DG's Annual Management Plan (AMP) sets objectives related to priorities and measures outcome and impact based on indicators Outcome: figures collected and measured against AMP (e.g. new publications, demand, website visitors, events etc) Impact: measured through external evaluators (Grupo SOGES, Torino) since 2002 within a framework contract and an annual work programme; methods used: written and online surveys/audits; interviews with regional policy experts

Regional Policy European Commission 7 10/17/2015 REGIO's communication evaluation: impact Paper publications: interviews with about 50 experts in EU25 on REGIO's newsletter and magazine; outcome: change of approach for the magazine (includes now a thematic "Focus" translated in all official languages since 2004; views mixed on whether more or less electronic communication) Web site: based on an online survey which created 300 filled in reply forms and a qualitative audits (thematic interviews) with 20 experts; outcome: are in general satisfied with the site; want an easier navigation and access to documents, wish more languages to be covered…website restructuring is planned for and will include an accompanying user group Events: paper and questionnaires used for REGIO events; outcome: more interactive settings

Regional Policy European Commission 8 10/17/2015 Example from web site survey: "Which docs do you find most useful on REGIO's site?"

Regional Policy European Commission 9 10/17/2015 Regional Policy European Commission 910/17/2015 EU25+: develop new language regime for information tools Partnership: enhance networks with regional authorities, relays, media and strengthen information output Evaluation: build on demand, develop new communication strategies and tools develop user group approach Cohesion Policy reform: accompany the process, feed the debate and contribute to capacity building Mid-term perspectives for communication and evaluation Web site: complete revision in 2005