COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT On the implementation, results and overall assessment of the European Year for Development 2015 Accompanying the document REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS On the implementation, results and overall assessment of the European Year for Development 2015
Date: 2016-12-01
Institutions: Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development, European Commission
Subjects: European cooperation, European cultural event, development aid, public awareness campaign, sustainable development, the EU's international role

EN 

   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 1.12.2016  SWD(2016) 286 final   COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT On the implementation, results and overall assessment  of the European Year for Development 2015  Accompanying the document REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS On the implementation, results and overall assessment  of the European Year for Development 2015  {COM(2016) 525 final}  
 
 
Contents  

Section 1: Executive summary .................................................................................................. 3 

Section 2: Introduction .............................................................................................................. 5 

Section 3: Background to the EYD initiative ............................................................................ 5 

Section 4: Evaluation questions ................................................................................................ 9 

Section 5: Method ................................................................................................................... 10 

Section 6: Results .................................................................................................................... 11 

Section 7: Answers to the evaluation questions ...................................................................... 14 

Section 8: Conclusions ............................................................................................................ 21 

Annex 1: Procedural information ............................................................................................ 23 

Annex 2: Stakeholder consultation ......................................................................................... 27 

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Section 1: Executive summary 

In 2015 the Commission conducted a year-long communication campaign to inform citizens 
about  EU  development  cooperation  and  its  benefits,  and  to  encourage  their  active  interest, 
critical  engagement  and  direct  involvement.  This  Staff  Working  Document  presents  the 
findings of an independent evaluation (by Coffey and Deloitte) of the implementation, results 
and overall performance of the European Year of Development (EYD2015) campaign1. The 
aim  is  to  help  EU  institutions  learn  how  to  run  better  communication campaigns  (including 
other  "European  Years")  by  identifying  areas  in  which  EYD2015  fell  short,  while  taking 
advantage  of  innovations  that  worked  effectively,  building  on  the  networks  created  or 
developed, and integrating successful practices and experiences used elsewhere in Europe. 

Findings 

Relevance and complementarity: EYD2015 met the needs of its participating partners, while 
complementing  other  European,  national  and  local  initiatives  to  promote  development 
cooperation. The objectives set by the European Parliament and the Council in the EYD2015 
Decision2  were  designed  to  dovetail  with  existing  national  and  local  development 
communication approaches in Europe. The branding of the exercise was strong, although the 
evaluator found that stronger political messages on some issues would have further increased 
the efficacy of the campaign. The campaign's approach to communicating about development, 
particularly through the co-curation of EYD2015 social media accounts and the use of story-
telling  to  illustrate  the  results  of  European  development  policies,  was  appropriately  pitched 
and successful. 

Effectiveness and impact: Political and public support was good, notably in terms of outreach 
to  young  people.  The  general  effectiveness  of  campaign  management  at  central  level  is 
illustrated by the strong relationships forged with  partners, the active involvement of MEPs 
and  the  visibility  achieved  through  non-funded  organisations.  The  focus  on  targeting  young 
people was clearly acknowledged in stakeholder surveys and project reporting, although the 
reliance  on  campaign  partners  as  multipliers  tended  to  limit  opportunities  for  messages  to 
reach  beyond  the  development  community  and  civil  society.  The  provision  of  a 
comprehensive  campaign  toolkit  (motto,  visual  identity,  materials)  was  beneficial,  and  the 
device of assigning a specific theme to each month of the year was effective in developing a 
more  focused  approach  to  communicating  with  young  people.  Although  the  website  might 
have been made more accessible to the general public, the extensive use of online and social 
media (particularly including co-curation and partnering) was highlighted as very positive. As 
regards press coverage, activities at national level were effective in addressing the campaign's 
three  objectives.  Overall,  while  the  sheer  volume  of  activity  can  reasonably  be  assumed  to 
have had a significant impact, with the attention of political leadership very much focused on 
migration  issues,  that  impact  is  liable  to  have  been  most  significant  at  the  level  of  public 
opinion. 

Efficiency,  coherence  and  EU  added  value:  The  focus  on  working  through  partnerships 
(mainly with members of the development community) to implement the EYD2015 campaign 
was  an  efficient  way  of  empowering  stakeholders  and  reaching  a  wider  European  public, 

1 See Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee 
and  the  Committee  of  the  Regions  on  the  implementation,  results  and  overall  assessment  of  the  European  Year  for 
Development 2015 (COM(2016)525). 
2 Decision No 472/2014/EU. Link: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32014D0472 

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especially young people. Although the evaluator acknowledges that it was difficult to gauge 
efficiency  with  the  tools  available,  partners  generally  concurred  that  campaign  activities 
provided good value for money. While some of the contractor's media outreach work in the 
Member  States  had  mixed  results  owing  to  coordination  issues,  coordination  between  the 
Commission and the national administrations implementing EYD work programmes (NWPs) 
worked  very  well.  With  the  exception  of  some  doubts  expressed  about  complementarity  in 
certain  cases,  campaign  activities  were  largely  deemed  coherent,  and  the  evaluator 
emphasised the EU's added value in this process thanks particularly to sound management and 
implementation practices at central level.  

Sustainability:  In  the  policy  recommendations  of  the  Civil  Society  Alliance3  and  the  Joint 
Declaration by the European Parliament, the Council, and the Commission on the legacy of 
EYD  20154,  NGOs  and  Member  States  alike  have  expressed  a  strong  commitment  to 
maintaining  the  partnerships  created  by  the  campaign  for  communicating  on  development 
issues. EYD 2015 is widely perceived by stakeholders to have opened doors, and to have laid 
the foundations for the development of dynamic and sustained networks promoting exchanges 
on  best  practice,  joint  campaigns  and  greater  professionalism,  notably  in  working  with 
traditional and social media on development issues; there is in particular a strong motivation 
to take this "EYD legacy" forward in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable 
Development. 

Conclusions 

The  overall  conclusion  of  the  evaluation  is  that  EYD2015  fulfilled  its  objectives  and 
successfully  reached  its  intended  audiences.  The  campaign  brought  practical  benefits  to  all 
parties  involved  –  Member  States  as  well  as  NGO  partners  -  in  terms  of  development 
communication  practices  and  networks,  and  activities  were  generally  effective  and 
complementary across the EU. Branding was strong, with a corporate, pan-European identity 
created  by  the  logo,  motto  and  other  visuals,  supported  by  a  dedicated  campaign  toolkit, 
flagship events, and online and social media coverage.  Based on these findings, EYD 2015 
has  enabled  the  EU  significantly  to  improve  its  capacity  to  communicate  with  European 
citizens on development issues, and establishes a benchmark and a legacy from which future 
campaigns in other domains can benefit. 

3 http://concordeurope.org/2016/05/03/eyd2015-learnings-legacy/ and  
http://concordeurope.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/EYD2015_FinalEvaluation.pdf?43b376 
4 http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/sites/devco/files/declaration-eyd2015_en.pdf 

4 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
Section 2: Introduction 

The  evaluator  was  asked  to  provide  an  overview  of  the  results  achieved  by  EYD2015,  a 
qualitative  and  quantitative  assessment  of 
implementation,  and 
recommendations  as  to  how  the  management  of  future  European  Years  might  be  improved. 
The  findings  of  the  evaluation  will  be  made  available  to  all  Commission  departments  and 
EYD2015  stakeholders  and  will  also  be  published  online  in  order  to  allow  future 
communication actions to build on the EYD2015 experience. 

the  campaign's 

The task of the evaluator was to show what a pan-European campaign of this kind can achieve 
in bringing development messages to the general public, to indicate the extent to which it is 
possible  to  attract  a  large  and  diverse  number  of  interested  parties, and  to  demonstrate  how 
partnerships  and  networks  can  add  value  to  informing,  engaging  and  raising  awareness  on 
development  in  the  years  to  come.  The  findings  are  intended  to  be  used  to  improve  the 
communication practices of the development community and EU institutions, especially in the 
planning and  management of campaigns. 

In  terms  of  scope,  the  evaluation  covers  the  activities  funded  by  the  Commission's 
Directorate-General  for  International  Cooperation  and  Development  (DG  DEVCO)  and 
carried out by DG DEVCO and its strategic partners under the umbrella of the EYD2015: 

  EU-level  activities  with  a  dedicated  emphasis  on  the  EU-wide  information  and 

promotional campaign and related activities; 

  National  activities,  in  particular  those  carried  out  by  the  national  coordinators  (a  field-

study of six Member States was undertaken by the evaluator); 

  Actions led by Civil Society Organisations; 

  Coordination with strategic partners inside the European Commission; 

  Coordination with partners outside the European Commission. 

Section 3: Background to the EYD initiative  

EYD2015 came at a crucial juncture, when major developments affecting the future of every 
citizen  were  in  the  offing.  The  EYD2015  Decision  established  three  key  objectives  for  the 
Year as a contribution to the long-term goal of ensuring continued support for development 
cooperation.  The  objectives  were:  (i)  to  inform  citizens  about  the  work  of  the  EU  and  the 
Member  States  on  development  cooperation;  (ii)  to  foster  direct  involvement  and  critical 
thinking  about  development  policy;  and  (iii)  to  raise  awareness  about  the  benefits  of 
development cooperation and its global dimension among citizens in partner countries and in 
the EU. 

5 

 
EYD2015  was  designed  to  have  an  impact  on  the  way  in  which  the  European  Commission 
and its stakeholders communicate on development cooperation, and to contribute to building 
expertise on how to improve communication in this area. In terms of target audiences, the key 
goal was to reach the broadest number of people, but with a particular focus on young people 
(primarily  between  15-24  years  old).  Other  key  target  audiences  included  development 
experts/academia, civil society, policy makers and media/information multipliers. 

DG  DEVCO  was  responsible  for  the  overall  coordination  of  the  initiative,  while  additional 
staff was brought in to cope with the workload. The implementation strategy adopted was to 
work in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders – including civil society representatives 
-  at  EU,  national  and  local  level,  in  order  to  maximise  impact  and  visibility.  This  approach 
engendered  a  number  of  innovations,  such  as  creating  networks  involving  a  wide  range  of 
development partners, inviting –for the first time ever – partners to co-curate EYD2015 social 
media  accounts  (with  a  different  partner  taking  over  every  week),  and  getting  development 
messages across by telling original stories from partner countries in 23 languages.  

At  centralised  level,  this  entailed  establishing  and  coordinating  partnerships  and  providing 
them  with  comprehensive  campaign  materials.  Thanks  notably  to  the  work  of  the  Inter-
institutional  Working  Group,5  all  EU  institutions  contributed  significantly  to  these  tasks, 
which  included  the  organisation  of  flagship  events,  and  a  series  of  press,  web  and  social 
media communication activities all designed to provide opportunities for partners – as well as 
EU  services  and  staff  (including  in  the  Delegations)  -  to  become  more  involved  in  global 
discussions  on  development.  The  global  EYD2015  motto  -  "Our  world,  our  dignity,  our 
future" - and the concept of assigning a specific theme to each month of the year , established 
a strong conceptual framework for communication on the Year. 

At decentralised level, the aim was to sign national EYD work programmes (NWPs) with as 
many Member States as possible, and at the very least to organise EYD events and activities 
in all 28 Member States, and to agree on a pan-European activity in celebration of a European 
Development  Day.  The  Commission  was  also  determined  to  involve  the  European  Civil 
Society Alliance (CONCORD6) as closely as possible to add the voices of civil society and 

5 The IWG met 8 times in 2015, with participants from the European Commission services, the European External Action 
Service,  the  Council,  the  European  Parliament,  the  Committee  of  the  Regions,  the  Economic  and  Social  Committee  and 
CONCORD. 
6 http://concordeurope.org/ 

6 

 
 
                                                 
local  authorities  to  the  campaign.  International  organisations  such  as  the  United  Nations 
agencies  and  the  World  Bank  were  welcomed  as  substantial  contributors  to  the  EYD2015 
campaign, and the participation of the private sector was also encouraged. 

The intervention logic diagram below illustrates the links between the campaign's objectives 
and  activities  carried  out,  and  the  contribution  of  the  different  types  of  activity  organised 
during the year. The campaign budget had a total budget of over EUR 10.5 million, 42% of 
which  was  accounted  for  by  the  centralised  component,  with  58%  being  allocated  to 
decentralised activities7. The Commission covered 80% of the cost of the NWPs implemented 
by Member States and of grants awarded to CONCORD projects. 

7 The exact total of EUR 10,579,344.92 came from four Decisions: C/2013/8977, C/2013/9197, C/2014/5179, C/2015/4689 

7 

 
                                                 
8 

 
 
 
Establishing a baseline 

Development  was  at  the  heart  of  a  global  policymaking  in  2015,  when  the  international 
community  was  making  decisions  on  three  major  new  initiatives:  the  replacement  of  the 
Millennium Development Goals with a new set of global goals (the Sustainable Development 
Goals), as part of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development; the Addis Ababa Agenda for 
Action on financing for Development; and the Paris Climate Deal at the COP21 conference8.  

At  the  start  of  the  EYD  campaign,  a  special  Eurobarometer  survey9  assessed  European 
attitudes  to  development  cooperation:  with  some  divergences  among  the  different  Member 
States,  altogether  some  85%  of  respondents  considered  development  important  in  tackling 
poverty  (the  number  was  even  higher  among  the  16-25  age  group).  However,  only  12%  of 
respondents were  aware that  2015 had been  designated a "year of development"  by the EU, 
and only 4% felt they had good understanding of where development money goes. This data 
was essential in helping us to understand citizens' awareness of, and attitude to, development 
issues,  and  to  design  better  coordinated  and  targeted  activities  and  events  to  address  their 
perceptions and concerns.   

Section 4: Evaluation questions 

The  implementation  and  results  of  the  campaign  were  assessed  in  line  with  five  evaluation 
criteria, as required by the Better Regulation guidelines: effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, 
relevance  and  EU  added  value.  Complementarity,  impact  and  sustainability  were  also 
assessed. The evaluation questions were categorised in four groups, in each case with a set of 
sub-questions, as follows: 

1. Relevance and complementarity 

o  To what extent were the activities of EYD2015 relevant to the needs of the interested 
parties? 

o  To what extent were the activities complementary with other existing national and EU 
initiatives? 

2. Effectiveness and impact 

o  To  what  extent  did  the  activities  undertaken  in  the  framework  of  EYD2015  improve 
popular and political support? 

o  To what extent were the activities undertaken in the framework of EYD2015 effective 
in achieving its three specific objectives? 

o  To  what  extent  were  the  activities  undertaken  in  the  framework  of  the  EYD2015 
effective  in  creating  a  synergistic  pan-EU  campaign,  with  EU  citizens  as  the  target 
audience and special attention to youth? 

o  To what extent were EU Member States, European Commission DGs and services and 
EU Institutions and bodies coordinated and provided with support to organise their own 
EYD 2015 activities and to participate in the centralised campaign activities? 

8 The Paris Climate Conference, officially known as the 21st Conference of the Parties (or “COP21”) to the United Nations 
Framework Convention on Climate Change. 
9 Special Eurobarometer 421 (2015) "The European Year for Development – citizens' views on development, cooperation and 
aid": http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_421_en.pdf  

9 

 
                                                 
o  To what extent were other interested parties such as CSOs, International organisations, 
Private  Sector  representatives,  Academia  and  Think  Tanks  engaged?  Was  their 
participation  in  EYD  2015  facilitated?  Were  they  encouraged  to  initiate  and  label  own 
activities as EYD2015? 

o  To  what  extent  were  the  activities  conducted  carried  out  and  outputs  produced  as 
planned? To which extent did the centralised activities achieve their expected results? 

3. Efficiency, coherence and EU added-value 

o  How  efficient  were  the  activities  undertaken  in  the  framework  of  EYD2015  in 
conveying the appropriate messages and achieving the expected results? 

o  Were the actions undertaken properly coordinated and coherent with other actions? 

4. Sustainability 

o  To  what  extent  has  EYD2015  been  successful  in  delivering  sustainable  outcomes  in 
relation to its three specific objectives? 

Section 5: Method 

The  methodology  was  based  on  an  analytical  framework  consisting  of:  desk  research;  a 
stakeholder survey (asking partner organisations about their views on their own activities and 
those of the Commission); ex-ante and ex-post strategic interviews of people working for the 
Commission  and  EYD2015  partners  (other  EU  institutions,  the  private  sector,  international 
and  civil  society  organisations)  regarding  their  perceptions  of  the  campaign;  fieldwork 
research  in six  countries implementing  a NWP10;  and  attending workshops  organised by the 
European Commission with National Coordinators (NCO), the European Development Days, 
the 2015 Development Education Awareness Raising (DEAR) Fair11, the UK distribution of 
the World's Best News, the closing events in Luxembourg12 and a Kapuscinski lecture.13 

Constraints 

The data gathering process had to contend with a number of constraints. Challenges arose due 
to (i) Member States in some cases not submitting reports at all, and in other cases providing 
only  limited  reporting;  (ii)  a  clash  of  deadlines  between  the  evaluation  and  reporting  from 
Member States and CONCORD, which further complicated results analysis; (iii) the absence 
of  a  requirement  on  Member  States  –  even  those  receiving  significant  sums  -  to  carry  out 
external  evaluations  of  their  national  activities,  which  handicapped  the  overall  evaluation 
process; (iv) staff rotations within DG DEVCO; (v) additional methodological developments  
and  a  more  extensive  reporting  process  than  initially  envisaged;  (vi)  an  unwillingness  of 
interviewees outside DG DEVCO to make themselves available within the desired timeframe; 
and (vii) the fact that respondents were not invited to give an opinion on other organisations' 
activities  (except  those  of  the  Commission),  for  fear  that  their  overview  would  not  be 
sufficiently  broad,  and  that  they  might  be  deterred  from  answering  the  survey  at  all  by  the 
additional time required to complete it. 

10 The outcomes of this fieldwork research in six countries are included in Annexes B to G of the consultant's report. 
11 https://europa.eu/eyd2015/en/european-union/events/dearfair 
12 http://www.eu2015lu.eu/en/actualites/articles-actualite/2015/12/09-aed-cloture/    
13 http://kapuscinskilectures.eu/ 

10 

 
                                                 
In  certain  cases,  these  challenges  were  ironed  out  by  mid-year,  for  example  by  rearranging 
interviews  and  standardising 
the  evaluator 
acknowledges that certain findings, conclusions and recommendations need to be considered 
in the light of these data collection constraints. In particular, the report draws extensively on a 
survey of stakeholders who had themselves implemented activities under the campaign, which 
implies a potential risk of positive bias. 

the  data  collection  process.  However, 

Section 6: Results 

When the special Eurobarometer survey on development was published in February 201614, it 
documented  an  increase  in  European  public  support  for  helping  people  in  developing 
countries, from 85%  in January  2015 to  89% in 2016. The survey further demonstrated that 
tackling poverty15 was considered to be in the EU's interest, while the visibility of EYD2015 
itself had also improved,recognition of the campaign having increased by 50% by the end of 
the  year.  These  outcomes  in  terms  of  European  public  opinion  trends  were  particularly 
encouraging  given  the  significance  of  the  global  policy  decisions  made  in  2015  on 
development cooperation and climate change. 

Overall results 

In order to maximise impact and visibility, EYD2015 was implemented in partnership with a 
wide range of stakeholders. Twenty-five Member States formally participated in the campaign 
by implementing a national work programme (NWP), while EYD2015-related activities took 
place  across  all  28  Member  States.  A  major  highlight  was  the  European  Development  Day 
celebration  organised  in  19  Member  States  between  September  and  October  2015.  Key 
outputs and outcomes of these initiatives included: 

 

 

 

1,923,240 participants in 3,828 events in all EU Member States 

1,105,372 followers on social media received EYD2015 updates from campaign partners 

803,873 unique visitors accessed dedicated websites and sub-sites created by partners 

  The  Kapuscinski  Development  Lectures  in  2015  attracted  about  7,000  participants  plus 

35,000 online followers 

  The campaign toolkit was accessed 14,684 times via the website 

 

1,864,027 copies of EYD material were disseminated throughout Europe 

  EYD hashtag: 328,900 mentions over the year 

 

 

3,914 media articles on development cooperation mentioned EYD2015 in the news 

250,000 print versions of 2 newspaper editions put together with the World's Best News16 

  EYD2015 Facebook had 32,000 likes and EYD2015 Twitter had 3,550 followers 

14 Special Eurobarometer 441 (2016) "The European Year for Development – citizens' views on development, cooperation 
and aid": http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/sites/devco/files/sp441-devco-report-final_en.pdf 
15  According  to  Article  208  of  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union,  the  primary  objective  of  the  EU 
Development Policy is the reduction and, in the long term, eradication of poverty. 
16 https://europa.eu/eyd2015/en/content/campaign-toolkit 

11 

 
                                                 
Implementation at centralised level 

Implementation  at  centralised  level  was  recognised  as  critical  to  the  success  of  a  pan-
European  campaign  during  the  preparatory  phase.  The  global  motto  of  EYD2015  -  "Our 
world, our dignity, our future"17 - and the device of assigning a specific theme to each month 
of  the  year18  provided  clear  guidance  to  all  concerned  in  terms  of  messaging.  Key 
achievements and activities included: 

 

282,900 visits to the official EYD2015 website 

  Campaign  materials  were  made  available  for  download  via  the  EYD2015  website19, 
wherever  possible  in  all  EU  languages.  These  included:  two  EYD2015  videos;  a  radio 
spot;  a  book publication of all  52 "Stories of  the  Week"; a monthly newsletter;  monthly 
thematic factsheets, infographics and posters; an EYD2015 (thematic) poster; PowerPoint 
presentations;  two  editions  of  the  EYD-World  Best  News  newspaper;  an  educational 
toolkit on the EYD2015; a full visual identity toolkit; a photo-bank; roll-up templates; and 
a limited number of giveaways (pens, notepads, lanyards); 

  Actions specifically targeting young people, including:  

o  A photo contest ("Our future is on the table") with a photo exhibition at the European 

Development Days (EDDs20). 

o  A  selection  of  12  young  people  from  across  the  globe  who  spoke  alongside  political 

and civil society leaders in high-level panels at the EDDs. 

o  A video in collaboration with a young blogger, Sabina Trojanova, who visited five EU 
projects in 3 continents in 10 days. It was widely disseminated on social media and in 
cinemas  across  Europe  in  the  course  of  November  and  December  2015  with  the 
hashtag #changeperspective. 

The  outcome  was  that  the  video  had  become  DEVCO's  most  viewed  audiovisual 
material on its YouTube channel21 by January 2016. 

o  DEAR  beneficiaries  in  all  Member  States  took  EYD2015  into  account  in  their  2015 
programmes, which included: photo exhibitions/competitions, film and music festivals, 
writing  contests,  development  summer  camps,  cultural  events,  people  and  teachers' 
fora. 

  Flagship activities: 

o  Opening and closing events (under the auspices of the Council Presidencies). 

o  28 Kapuscinski Lectures22 (as opposed to the usual 10 each year). 

17 Article 1 of the Decision No 472/2014/EU 
18  January  –  Europe  in  the  world;  February  –  Education;  March  –  Women  and  girls;  April  –  Health;  May  –  Peace  and 
security; June – Sustainable green growth, decent jobs and businesses; July – Children and youth;   August  –  Humanitarian 
aid; September – Demography and migration; October – Food security; November – Sustainable Development and Climate 
Action; December – Human rights and governance. 
19 https://europa.eu/eyd2015/en 
20 https://eudevdays.eu/ 
21 http://www.youtube.com/EUintheWorld 
22 https://europa.eu/eyd2015/en/kapuscinski-development-lectures 

12 

 
                                                 
o  The  Ban  Ki-moon  interactive  event  for  young  people  at  Bozar,  which  was  web 
streamed and open to young people to ask questions via #AskBanKimoon. It showed 
up in the Twitter feeds of over 10 million people in the course of the two-hour event. 

o  EYD2015  was  the  main  theme  of  the  Open  Doors  Day  by  the  EU  institutions  on 

Europe Day (9 May 2015). 

o  Prominence for EYD 2015 at the European Development Days (EDDs). 

o  The EYD 2015 Presidency Gender Event in Riga. 

o  The UN70 celebrations in the Grand Place Brussels. 

o  A European Development Day organised in 19 EU Member States with the support of 

the Danish NGO World's Best News. 

European  Commission  Representations,  EU  Delegations  and  European  Direct  Information 
Centres also organised numerous activities. 

A  Joint  Declaration  on  EYD23  including  lessons  learned  for  the  future  was  signed  at  the 
closing ceremony in Luxembourg in December 2015 by the European Parliament, the Council 
and the Commission. The Delcaration articulates the commitment of the EU and its Member 
States, in their communication on development policy, to continuing to: 

  Build on partnerships and engage new stakeholders beyond the development community 

  Address young people 

  Put people at the centre 

  Be interactive 

  Be fact-based 

  Keep the spirit of the EYD 

Implementation at decentralised level24 

CONCORD25  led  a  Civil  Society  Alliance  (CSA)  of  60  organisations.  The  partnership 
resulted  in  417  contributions  by  CSA  members  to  the  EYD2015  website,  with  20  posts, 
information  on  five  events  and  one  press  release  being  uploaded.  Fifteen  videos  of  various 
events  and  a  video  by  sub-grantees  'You  can  make  a  Change'26  were  posted  on  YouTube. 
These attracted up to 200 views per video and were also shown at events. The 17 sub-granted 
projects,  with  budgets  of  EUR  10,000-85,000,  adopted  a  variety  of  approaches:  some  were 
local/regional,  some  were  national,  some  covered  a  number  of  EU  countries  (11-18),  and 
some  were  international  (including  countries  outside  the  EU).  CONCORD  organised  or 
supported 50 events, including two civil society conferences on sustainable consumption with 
60 participants and one on sustainable development at the Milan Expo with 160 participants. 

23 http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/sites/devco/files/declaration-eyd2015_en.pdf  
24 Those that benefitted from grants by the EYD2015 campaign. 
25 http://concordeurope.org/2014/12/08/eyd2015/ 
26 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU-4wXlWD0c&index=16&list=PL1rxZeFVIPsnufZmIwLNXln8578-lJjI3 

13 

 
                                                 
Twenty-five Member States implemented national EYD work programmes (NWPs). A great 
diversity  of  activities  was  organised,  with  stakeholders  reporting  on  them  through  the 
monitoring  system.  In  total,  data  was  gathered  on  814  events,  194  press  activities,  161 
materials, 74 websites, and 70 social media accounts. While - given the decentralised nature of 
the activities organised at national level and the voluntary nature of the reporting requirements 
- it was not possible to collect information on all the activities that took place, the Commission 
identified 3,828 events as having taken place in the context of EYD2015. This figure certainly 
understates the true scale of the national components of the campaign, as not all partners had 
been able to report on all activities and events by the time the evaluation was completed. 

Section 7: Answers to the evaluation questions 

On relevance and complementarity: 

  To what extent were the activities of EYD 2015 relevant to the needs of the interested 

parties? 

  To what extent were the activities complementary with other existing national and EU 

initiatives? 

According  to  the  evidence  gathered  by  the  evaluator,  EYD2015  was  both  relevant  and 
complimentary  to  the  work  of  interested  parties  and  to  other  initiatives  put  in  place  by 
partners.  The  activities  carried  out  during  EYD2015  at  both  centralised  and  decentralised 
level largely corresponded to the needs of the target audiences, particularly the development 
community  (as  important  multipliers  of  our  messages  to  a  wider  audience),  but  also  the 
general  public  and  young  people  in  particular  (see  Figure  1  and  2).  However,  stakeholders 
expressed some doubts about the relevance of centralised activities. 

Figure 1 - Relevance of the messages disseminated by the European Commission by target 
audience 

stakeholders

32% 

51% 

14% 

4% 

citizens

youth

21% 

19% 

43% 

39% 

30% 

32% 

6% 

11% 

Excellent

Good

Not very good

Poor

Source: The evaluation stakeholder survey 

Figure 2 - Relevance of the messages disseminated by partner organisations according to 
their own assessment 

stakeholders

37% 

37% 

21% 

5% 

citizens

youth

52% 

54% 

36% 

34% 

9% 

3% 

10% 

2% 

Excellent

Good

Not very good

Poor

14 

 
 
 
Source: The evaluation stakeholder survey 

The issue of policy coherence for development was deemed too difficult to communicate on 
effectively  by  partners,  although  this  did  not  detract  from  the  overall  appreciation  of  
relevance  of  the  topic.  The  fact  that  EYD  objectives  were  broadly  framed  allowed  Member 
States to adapt messages to local needs, although some national coordinators noted a certain 
lack  of  clarity  regarding  the  balance  between  communicating  on  EU  and  Member  State 
development  cooperation.  Stakeholders  also  observed  that  benefits  could  have  been  drawn 
from linking specific political events in 2015 (such as the migration crisis) to the campaign, 
for  example  by  explaining  the  link  between  development  cooperation  and  migration  from  a 
broader perspective. 

The  creation  of  a  brand  and  a  logo,  and  the  storytelling  approach  adopted  to  illustrate 
development cooperation results were all considered to be relevant and to have enhanced the 
visibility  of  development  action.  Levels  of  complementarity  were  high  across  all  types  of 
activity  and  organisation,  including  at  national  level.  However,  some  stakeholders  did  also 
note  that  that  the  motto  and  the  image  were  not  always  a  perfect  fit  with  the  degree  of 
maturity of their own messaging and the level of awareness of public opinion. 

On effectiveness and impact: 

  To what extent  did the activities undertaken in the framework of  EYD 2015 improve 

popular and political support? 

  To what extent were the activities undertaken in the framework of EYD 2015 effective 

in achieving its three specific objectives? 

  To  what  extent  were  the  activities  undertaken  in  the  framework  of  the  EYD  2015 
effective  in  creating  a  synergistic  pan-EU  campaign,  with  EU  citizens  as  the  target 
audience and special attention to youth? 

  To what extent were EU Member States, European Commission DGs and services and 
EU  Institutions  and  bodies  coordinated  and  provided  with  support  to  organise  their 
own EYD 2015 activities and to participate in the centralised campaign activities? 

  To  what  extent  were  other 

international 
organisations,  Private  Sector  representatives,  Academia  and  Think  Tanks  engaged? 
Was their participation in EYD 2015 facilitated? Were they encouraged to initiate and 
label own activities as EYD 2015? 

interested  parties  such  as  CSOs, 

  To  what  extent  were  the  activities  conducted  carried  out  and  outputs  produced  as 
planned? To which extent did the centralised activities achieve their expected results? 

The  stakeholder  survey  and  field  interviews  conducted  by  the  evaluator  suggest  that  many 
EYD2015 activities helped increase public support for development cooperation and reached 
new audiences, including the target group of young people. Interviewees reacted positively to 
the high level of activity in the Member States and to the absence of negative media coverage. 
While the campaign was successful in informing citizens and in raising awareness about the 
mutual benefits of development cooperation, interviews indicate that it was more difficult to 
foster  critical  engagement.  Looking  into  survey  results  in  particular,  tTwo-thirds  of  survey 
respondents  felt  that  the  Commission's  activities  did  in  fact  contribute  to  improving  public 
and political support in equal measure (see Figure 3). The European Parliament stood out as 
the institution with the strongest impact on the promotion of the campaign, thanks to the very 

15 

 
active  involvement  of  MEPs.27  This  is  in  line  with  statements  by  stakeholders  highlighting 
that  the  presence  of  policymakers  and  politicians  increased  the  visibility  and  impact  of 
EYD2015 activities in comparison with other European Years. Overall, the Commission had a 
bigger impact on political support, while the activities of the Member States and civil society 
had a greater effect on public support. 

Figure 3 – Impact on public and political support for EYD activities undertaken by the 
Commission  

popular (citizens’) support for development 
cooperation 

15% 

49% 

31% 

5% 

political (policy makers’) support for 
development cooperation 

13% 

52% 

30% 

5% 

Excellent

Good

Not very good

Poor

Source: Evaluation stakeholder survey 

The evidence of successful outreach to the general public as a whole is less clear cut, but there 
was an organised effort to target young people, and there are a number of examples of good 
practice  across  all  audiences.  The  World's  Best  News  initiative  by  the  Danish  NGO  of  that 
name is the main example of cross-border synergies involving young volunteers. Centralised 
events are felt primarily to have reached policymakers and the development community, but 
there were also  good results from targeting young people. However, several  Member States 
conceded  that  many  events  failed  to  attract  audiences  beyond  the  circles  of  people  already 
interested in cooperation. This phenomenon is to some extent explained by monitoring system 
data which shows that 38% of the events on which stakeholders reported targeted civil society 
professionals and 28% of them targeted development cooperation professionals, while 24% of 
these events did not have a specific target audience. The figures must also be treated with a 
degree  of  caution,  as  it  is  not  possible  to  distinguish  between  numbers  for  dedicated  EYD 
events and numbers for larger events, such as music festivals or exhibitions, where it is not 
known how many participants were aware of the EYD angle. That said, effective cooperation 
among  various  players  benefiting  from  DEVCO  support  was  widely  acknowledged  in  the 
field  research,  which  also  confirmed  that  cooperation  between  DEVCO  and  with  a  large 
number of Commission DGs and other EU institutions was consistently good. 

The  great  number  of  events  and  activities  organised  was  effective  in  providing  general 
information  and  raising  awareness.  Online  and  social  media  activity  contributed  most  to 
providing information and to projecting the EU as a global player (see also section 6  of this 
paper).  Website  visits  peaked  in  May,  before  dropping  over  the  summer  period,  and  then 
peaking  again  towards  the  end  of  the  year,  when  the  number  of  visits  reached  43,973  in 
December (see Figure 4). 

27  Data  from  the  European  Parliament  Report  on  the  EYD2015,  from  interviews  with  the  EP  and  from  Member  States 
Narrative Reports.  

16 

 
 
                                                 
Figure 4 – Number of visits to EYD 2015 website 

43973 

23567 

21870 

27024 

20118 

18770 

21085 

22817 

28453 

25528 

16432 

13220 

Source: Evaluation stakeholder monitoring 

Opening the production of website content up to 208 partners and the co-curation of EU social 
media accounts (47 partners) were good ways of building new relationships and reaching new 
audiences.  However,  there  was  scope  for  the  website  to  have  greater  reach  and  the 
commitment of partners to co-curation and alignment with EYD2015 messaging varied. The 
results  of  the  survey  presented  in  Figure  5  show  that  respondents  believed  that  the  website 
was most effective in informing citizens (78% of positive opinions), highlighting the results 
of  the  EU  as  a  global  player in  development  policy  (77%  of  positive  opinions)  and  making 
citizens  more  aware  of  the  benefits  of  development  aid  (71%  of  positive  opinions).  Survey 
results from website users further support the thesis that the original content (notably Stories 
of the Week and themes of the month) was the most popular attraction for visitors. 

Figure 5 – Effectiveness of the EYD 2015 website in meeting the objectives 

highlighted the results of the EU as a global player in
development policy

informed citizens about EU and Member States'
development activities

33% 

32% 

44% 

46% 

17% 

6% 

17% 

6% 

made citizens more aware of the benefits of
development aid for both the beneficiaries and the…

24% 

47% 

19% 

10% 

achieved a broader understanding of policy coherence

19% 

43% 

25% 

13% 

stimulated critical thinking and engagement on the part
of citizens

16% 

35% 

34% 

15% 

Excellent

Good

Not very good

Poor

Source: Evaluation stakeholder survey 

New relationships were also forged with international organisations, academia and the private 
sector, all of which were effective ways of reaching a wider audience than in the past. As an 
example,  a  special  preparatory  workshop  organised  for  the  private  sector  in  2014 

17 

 
 
 
acknowledged  that  the  EU  needed  to  work  more  closely  with  private  sector  partners  to 
promote development policies. The 20 new partnerships28 created by the end of the campaign 
was  a  positive  outcome  in  this  respect.  Private  sector  partners  saw  benefits  in  raising  their 
visibility with the Commission and some believe this paved the way for a closer relationship 
in  the  longer  term.  Member  States  also  made  successful  efforts  to  build  new  alliances, 
including leveraging visibility from organisations that did not receive EYD2015 funding. 

As  a  result  of  the  efforts  of  the  Commission  and  of  national  coordinators,  levels  of  press 
coverage were good. However, the evaluation found that as a result of a lack of clarity about 
roles  and  responsibilities,  there  had  been  difficulties  in  using  the  contractor's  network  to 
complement  this  coverage.  Media  monitoring  nevertheless  registered  some  3,914  articles 
mentioning EYD2015, of which 70% were published online and 30% appeared in print. These 
media outlets had an estimated total readership of one billion. Eighteen percent of the articles 
monitored covered one or other of the 12 monthly themes, with an average of 82 articles per 
topic,  with  particular  attention  dedicated  to  education  (126  articles),  women  and  girls  (115 
articles),  sustainable  development  and  climate  change  (99  articles),  health  (96  articles)  and 
food  security  (91  articles).  The  countries  where  coverage  was  greatest  were  Spain,  Italy, 
Portugal, Germany and Romania. 

The  common  motto/visual  identity,  the  website  and  the  campaign  toolkit  provided  by  the 
European  Commission  were  considered  highly  valuable  contributions,  scoring  approval 
ratings of 89%, 80% and 80% respectively in the stakeholder survey (see Figure 6). 

Figure 6 – Contribution of different elements to a synergistic pan-EU campaign 

Common motto and visual identity

Thematic Months

56% 

47% 

The official EYD 2015 website in its entirety

Stories of the Week

The EYD2015 communication toolkit as a concept

The EYD 2015 Facebook page

Educational toolkit

The EYD 2015 Twitter account

Co-curation of social media

Partnering with the website

EC EYD 2015 activities targeting citizens

EC EYD 2015 activities targeting youth

EC EYD 2015 activities targeting information multipliers

38% 

37% 

34% 

34% 

34% 

27% 

27% 

26% 

25% 

24% 

23% 

29% 

42% 

32% 

46% 

40% 

36% 

38% 

42% 

44% 

46% 

43% 

54% 

33% 

8% 

4% 

16% 

8% 

16% 

4% 

21% 

10% 

15% 

5% 

20% 

24% 

6% 

6% 

26% 

10% 

24% 

23% 

8% 

7% 

20% 

9% 

24% 

10% 

17% 

6% 

Cooperation on media issues with the contractor

Other press activities

16% 

14% 

40% 

33% 

32% 

12% 

28% 

25% 

Excellent

Good

Not very good

Poor

28  Private  sector  partners  were:  The  EU-Africa  Chamber  of  Commerce;  the  European  Fair  Trade  Office;  Fair  Trade 
Movement; Microsoft; Fashion Revolution; Cooperative Europe; European Federation of Pharmaceuticals Industry, EFPIA; 
CSR  Europe  (BASF,  ENGIE,  Danone,  Michelin,  Novo  Nordisk,  Solvay,  Axa,  Volkswagen);  Tetra  Pack;  Dairy  Planika; 
Volvo  group;  Ernst  &  Young;  KPMG;  INDEX;  UNIDO;  EURELECTRIC;  BASF;  Novo  Nordisk;  LOUVRANGES 
BROADCAST. 

18 

 
 
                                                 
Source: Evaluation stakeholder survey 

On efficiency, coherence and EU added value29 

  How  efficient  were  the  activities  undertaken  in  the  framework  of  EYD2015  in 

conveying the appropriate messages and achieving the expected results? 

  Were the actions undertaken properly coordinated and coherent with other actions? 

As  no  comprehensive  data  was  available  for  the  evaluator  to  analyse  due  to  the  constraints 
identified  in  section  5  of  this  paper,  it  is  possible  to  draw  only  cautious  conclusions  with 
regard to the findings on efficiency, coherence and EU added-value.  

The partnership approach was an efficient way of empowering national and local stakeholders 
to  use  funds  to  generate  interest  through  specific  activities  and  to  reach  out  to  the  general 
public  and  to  young  people  in  particular.  Field  interviews  suggest  that  partners  believe  that 
they achieved a great deal with little money and that the Commission had consequently made 
good use of financial resources available (see Figure 7). Relying partly on partners to produce 
content for EYD2015, most notably through social media co-curation, proved to be the right 
approach; the number of co-curation applications received exceeded the available slots, which 
also  resulted  in  an  increase  in  the  number  of  organisations  that  partnered  with  the  website. 
However,  some  stakeholders  did  suggest  that  there  were  limits  to  the  efficiency  of  the 
partnership approach, with some NGOs feeling that it would have been more efficient to carry 
out an EU communication campaign with an external/independent public relations agency if 
the intention was to promote EU messages. 

Figure 7 – Extent to which Commission activities made good use of financial resources 

Thematic Month concept

34% 

41% 

17% 

8% 

Stories of the week

31% 

43% 

20% 

7% 

Co-curation approach to EYD 2015 social media

25% 

Events organised by the DEVCO EYD 2015 team

22% 

48% 

56% 

20% 

7% 

19% 

3% 

The activities undertaken by the EC

16% 

52% 

22% 

9% 

Excellent

Good

Not very good

Poor

Source: Evaluation stakeholder survey 

The  partnership  model  adopted  for  EYD2015  required  good  coordination  at  EU  level,  and 
stakeholder  survey  respondents  felt  that  human  and  financial  resources  were  managed 
efficiently, both centrally and through the delegation of responsibility for national campaigns 
to the Member States (see Figure 8). Coordination worked well, even if "cruising speed" was 
only  reached  during  the  second  half  of  the  Year.  There  were  some  initial  difficulties  in  the 
run-up  of  the  implementation  of  EYD2015  partly  due  to  understaffing,  but  in  general  

29 Qualitative data was available only for the assessment of the efficiency component. 

19 

 
 
                                                 
coordination by the European Commission (EU added value) was rated highly. Some 75% of 
stakeholder survey respondents thought that Member States, Commission DGs and services, 
and  other  EU  institutions  and  bodies  received  good  or  excellent  support  from  the  DEVCO 
EYD2015  team  in  organising  their  own  EYD  2015  activities,  while  67%  indicated  that  this 
had also been the case for their own participation in centralised campaign activities.  

Figure 8 – Value added of EU coordination 

3% 

17% 

35% 

46% 

Excellent

Good

Not very good

Poor

Source: Evaluation stakeholder survey 

Finally,  the  monitoring  requirements  were  considered  burdensome  by  some  funding 
recipients, who mentioned that they would have preferred more advance warning in order to 
incorporate these into their work programmes and budgets. 

On sustainability30 

  To  what  extent  has  EYD  2015  been  successful  in  delivering  sustainable  outcomes in 

relation to its three specific objectives? 

The building blocks  for sustainability  have  largely been  put in  place  by EYD2015  partners. 
There are already examples of lessons learned for the future, of networks which wish to build 
on  the  work  done,  and  in  some  cases  funding  has  already  been  made  available.  The 
Commission  organised  a  first  post-EYD2015  meeting  of  development  communicators  from 
the  Member  States  in  June  2016  to  preserve  the  legacy  of  the  campaign  and  to  carry  the 
momentum and the partnerships created forward into concerted communication  work on the 
the new challenge of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The policy foundations 
are  in  place  in  the  form  of  the  recommendations  of  CONCORD/CSA31  and  the  Joint 
Declaration  by  the  European  Parliament,  Council  and  Commission  on  the  Legacy  of  the 
EYD2015, which paves the way for sustained communication outcomes with all stakeholders 
at local, national, European and global level32. 

From  a  partner's  perspective,  one  of  the  key  sustainable  benefits  of  the  EYD  campaign 
identified by survey respondents at Member State level was learning to work beter with the 
media.  Some  stakeholders  (UK,  Poland)  also  highlighted  their  role  in  reaching  out  to 
decentralised  or  rural  areas  in  ways  or  to  an  extent  that  had  not  happened  before,  e.g.  by 

30 At this point, it is only possible to assess intentions; it is too early to assess actual sustainability. 
31  Link:  http://concordeurope.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Policy_RecommendationEYD2015_Civil_Society_Alliance-
1.pdf?1d6b43 
32 http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/sites/devco/files/declaration-eyd2015_en.pdf   

20 

 
 
                                                 
having a more citizen-focused website (Estonia), learning to communicate better with young 
people,  the  diaspora,  activists  and  other  new  target  groups  (Finland,  UK),  organising 
competitions and educational initiatives (Slovakia) and new forging cross-border partnerships 
(between  Germany  and  neighbouring  countries  and  between  Sweden  and  Estonia).  Civil 
society  stakeholders  particularly  highlighted  that  EYD2015  had  "opened  a  lot  of  doors", 
enabling NGOs to work with institutional partners to whom they had previously had limited 
access.  Stakeholders  assessed  the  dissemination  of  EYD  results  positively,  with  a  68% 
approval rating for the Commission's efforts in this area and 85% for their own. 

The  evaluator  notes  the  consistent  willingness  of  stakeholders  to  preserve  the  content 
generated during the campaign. One area that partners feel to be in need of more sustainable 
results is education, where there is an as yet unmet necessity for educational platforms based 
on thorough information, which could help teachers enrich their lessons and raise awareness 
about development cooperation among their pupils. 

Section 8: Conclusions 

The evaluation concludes that the EYD2015 campaign largely met its objectives. On the basis 
of the evaluation criteria (and bearing in  mind the constraints  identified), we can assert that 
the  campaign  established  a  solid  foundation  for  sustained  improvement  in  development 
communication by the EU and its partners. 

As  regards  relevance  and  complementarity,  EYD2015  was  successful  in  helping  to  raise 
awareness,  and  to  foster  knowledge  and  understanding  among  the  general  public  about 
development cooperation. It proved beneficial to adopt a particular focus on young people and 
to have timed the Year to help develop a broader sense of engagement with, and ownership 
of,  the  Sustainable  Development  Goals.  It  was  appropriate  to  create  an  overarching 
framework for communication on development cooperation with broad objectives and target 
groups, allowing Member States and others the freedom to tailor content and activities to the 
needs of their own particular environments.  

The evaluation report shows that all EYD2015 activities were relevant to at least one of the 
objectives  and  at  least  one  of  the  target  groups  of  the  campaign,  and    were  complementary 
across  the  European  Commission,  the  EU  institutions,  international  organisations  and  at 
national level. Various types  of coordination mechanisms, generally set  up well in advance, 
helped considerably in identifying and complementing existing initiatives. 

On  effectiveness  and  impact,  the  objectives  of  providing  general  information  and  raising 
awareness  about  the  benefits  of  development  cooperation  and  of  the  EU  as  a  global  player 
were  effectively  met.  The  more  ambitious  objective  of  stimulating  critical  thinking  and 
explaining policy coherence for development to the public proved more of a challenge.  

EYD2015 led to the creation of new partnerships and exchanges of good practice at European 
and  national  level.  The  creation  of  a  single,  unifying  logo/label,  motto  and  toolkit  was 
effective in creating a corporate and pan-European identity. The brand was strong and even 
unfunded  partners  were  motivated  to  use  it  and  commit  to  the  objectives  of  the  Year.  The 
device of assigning a specific theme to each month of the year undoubtedly enabled partners, 
particularly NGOs, to communicate more effectively. Opening the website and social media 
accounts  up  to  partners  was  an  innovative  and  effective  way  of  consolidating  existing 
partnerships  and  communities  and of  building  new  ones.  Thanks  to  the  combined  efforts  of 
the  Commission,  national  coordinators,  NGOs  and  the  external  contractor  of  the  EYD2015 
campaign,  press  coverage  was  often  greater  than  might  have  been  expected.  Coordination 

21 

 
across major players, and the work done by the Commission to create partnerships with other 
EU  institutions,  international  organisations,  and  civil  society  was  effective,  with  many  new 
relationships established. 

On efficiency, coherence and the EU's added value, the partnership approach is perceived 
to have been efficient in reaching the development community and civil society as multipliers; 
while  new  audiences  and  partnerships  were  created  among  the  general  public,  and  young 
people in particular, as well as among international organisations and the private sector. The 
European  Development  Day  and  the  World's  Best  News  initiative  that  took  place  in  19 
countries  in  September  and  October  2015  was  a  good  illustration  of  how  pan-European 
synergies  were  achieved.  After  2014  a  changeover  year  for  both  the  Parliament  and  the 
Commission,  coordination  between  the  European  Commission  and  its  partners,  especially 
Member States, improved significantly as more staff were deployed. However, staffing levels 
remained  lower  than  expected,  which  limited  the  scope  of  the  Commission  to  increase  its 
visibility at Member State level. The monitoring requirements were useful, but suffered from 
being viewed as burdensome, partly owing to a lack of initial clarification, which would have 
allowed partners to plan and budget better.  

In  terms  of  sustainability,  new  working  methods  were  developed  and  the  Commission 
programme  DEAR  took  root  for  the  first  time  in  some  Member  States,  although  there  was 
scope for more and better dissemination of results. Engagement with the media was one of the 
key  challenges  of  the  year,  and  the  new  contacts  established  and  the  new  structures  and 
networks  set  up  will  bring  benefits  in  future.  The  foundations  were  laid  for  sustainable 
outcomes,  notably  in  the  form  of  a  Declaration  from  the  European  Parliament,  the  Council 
and the Commission, but there is a need to ensure that the impetus is sustained and that the 
requisite  energy  and  resources  allocated  to  taking  the  EYD  legacy  forward  into  the  new 
challenges  of  the  2030  Agenda  for  Sustainable  Development.  Partners  are  committed  to 
preserving  and  consolidating  the  gains  and  the  media  partnerships  made  in  the  course  of 
EYD2015,  and  to  continuing  to  work  closely  with  the  Commission  on  development-related 
communication.  

22 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Annex 1: Procedural information 

The independent evaluation report of the EYD2015 communication campaign was carried out 
for the European Commission by the external contractor Coffey & Deloitte under SPECIFIC 
CONTRACT n° DEVCO-05/17/2014 implementing the Multiple Framework Contract with 
reopening  of  competition  n°  PO/2012-3/A3/TEP  -  Lot  1.  The  contract  was  signed  on 
November 2014 for 20 months. 

Organisation and timing 

The evaluation consisted of three parts: 

1.  Evaluability study 
2.  Interim evaluation 
3.  Ex-post evaluation 

A  European  Commission  Steering  Group  was  established,  made  up  of  members  from  DG 
DEVCO and DG COMM. 

1  December  2014:  First  meeting  (Kick-off/Inception).  This  meeting  enabled  the  evaluation 
team and the European Commission to: 

o  Clarify the objectives and the scope of the assignment; 
o  Discuss the enlarged EYD 2015 stakeholder workshop;  
o  Exchange information and documents relevant to the evaluation process; 
o  Agree  on  the  organisation  of  individual  meetings  with  the  members  of  the 

Steering Committee. 

Individual  meetings  were  then  organised  with  DG  DEVCO  and  DG  COMM  officials 
(Steering  Group),  as  well  as  with  Media  Consulta  and  CONCORD,  in  order  to  deepen  the 
understanding of the evaluation team of their functions, activities and objectives. 

15 December 2014: First ad-hoc meetings with Steering Group members and evaluation team. 

19  January  2015:  Second  ad-hoc  meeting  to  discuss  updates  on  the  progress  of  the 
implementation of the EYD2015 and feedback on the draft notes on the website, events and 
press  relation,  and  to  validate  the  outline  of  the  "evaluability"  report  and  the  outline  of  the 
intervention logic. 

Preliminary desk research 

Following  the  initial  interviews  and  based  on  the  information  received,  a  first  set  of 
documents  was  analysed  by  the  evaluation  team,  particularly  relating  to  the  activities  to  be 
undertaken  by  CONCORD,  Media  Consulta,  and  the  national  work  programmes  of  the  EU 
Member States participating in the EYD2015 campaign. 

Refined methodological approach: 

The proposed methodology was refined in close collaboration with the European Commission 
and  was  based  on  the  kick-off/inception  meeting,  the  preliminary  interviews,  and  the  initial 
desk research. 

23 

 
 
 
 
 
Monitoring and reporting mechanisms including guidelines and templates: 

Following  the  preliminary  desk  research  and  interviews,  the  evaluation  team  submitted  two 
draft  notes  concerning  the  key  monitoring  and  evaluation  aspects  to  be  taken  into  account 
when  working  with  the  website,  organising  events  and  dealing  with  the  press,  as  agreed 
during the Kick-off Meeting. 

The  monitoring  and  reporting  mechanism  in  the  National  Work-Programmes  were  analysed 
after having asked additional questions, notably to the national coordinators. 

Evaluability report: 

Consensus was reached on the final version of the "evaluability" report on 6 February 2015, 
after a meeting with the Steering Group and the evaluation team. 

Interim evaluation: 

A  mid-term  report  was  submitted  in  July  2015,  after  a  meeting  with  the  Steering  Group  in 
which both parties agreed on the templates for the stakeholders. 

Ex-post Evaluation Report: 

The  work  was  conducted  between  January  and  April  2016,  and  the  first  draft  report  was 
submitted in May 2016. The final version was adopted in June 2016 after two meetings with 
the Steering Group, one held on 23 May 2016 and the second one on 14 June 2016.  

Chronology of the evaluation procedure between September 2015 and July 2016:

Evidence used in the evaluation: 

Coffey  and  Deloitte,  the  independent  evaluators  of  the  EYD2015  campaign,  consulted  all 
partners. The work was conducted between 1 January 2016 and 5 April 2016. 

  Sources used were:  

o  Interviews with EYD2015 partners: 

24 

 
 
  DG  DEVCO  project  officers  and  contractors  in  charge  of  the  EU-wide 

campaign;  

  Other DGs and EU institutions;  
  EU delegations;  
  International organisations;  
  European Civil Society Alliance of NGOs, "CONCORD";  
  DEAR (Development Education and Awareness Raising) Beneficiaries;  
  Private sector  
  MediaConsulta 

o  Fieldwork in 6 EU Member States that included the financial and narrative reports 
of  each  Member  State  on  their  work  during  the  EYD2015  campaign  as  well  as 
interviews with national coordinators and/or national beneficiaries: 

  Germany; 
  Spain; 
  Hungary; 
  Luxembourg; 
  Poland; 
  United Kingdom 

o  Surveys  

1.  Stakeholder  survey:  A  total  of  216  replies  were  collected  from  the  following 

stakeholder categories: 

International Organisations 

  European Commission 
  EU institutions other than European Commission 
 
  Member States and their sub-grantees 
  NGOs funded by the EC 
  Other (mostly EDICs) 

EYD stakeholder survey respondent profile 

A national coordinator or a Member State
institution
An EU Representation

Another EU institution

A DEAR Project

A sub-grantee of a National Work
Programme
Concord or a member of Concord

An international organisation

Another EU DG

DEVCO/Europeaid

Source: The evaluation stakeholder survey 

50,5% 

0,0% 

13,9% 

11,6% 

8,3% 

7,4% 

5,1% 

0,9% 

0,9% 

1,9% 

2,3% 

2,8% 

2.  EYD2015 website survey: EYD2015 website users were surveyed about their profiles 
and their views on the website. The survey was carried out between 12 October 2015 

25 

 
 
 
 
and 15 January  2016 under the title 'We want to hear from  you!', and a total of 183 
responses were collected. 

26 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Annex 2: Stakeholder consultation 

The  European  Commission  extensively  consulted  all  partners  and  stakeholders  both  during 
the  campaign  in  2015  and  afterwards,  in  2016.  The  systematic  and  comprehensive  work 
undertaken  by  Coffey  and  Deloitte  (C&D)  through  reporting  templates,  interviews  and 
fieldwork required the extensive commitment of all partners and stakeholders to reporting and 
evaluating the EYD2015.  

The entire endeavour of the EYD2015 campaign was built on a cooperative approach which 
entailed constant consultation with the partners and stakeholders before, during and after the 
Year.  The  highly  participatory  approach  was  one  of  the  main  underlying  principles  in  the 
planning,  implementation  and  evaluation  phase.  The  co-curation  of  the  EYD2015  social 
media by a different partner every week, the co-production of materials and the fact that 80% 
of the content of the website was filled by EYD2015 partners was a clear indication of their 
full involvement.  

1.  Interinstitutional and interservice consultations: 

Throughout  2015,  a  formal  EYD2015  Interinstitutional  Working  Group  and  an  EYD2015 
Interservice  Working  Group  provided  a  platform  for  constant  communication  and 
consultation on the progress of the implementation of the campaign. 

Specifically on the EYD2015 Interinstitutional Working Group:  

o  Participants  were  representatives  of  the  European  Commission  services,  the 
European External Action Service, the Council, the European Parliament, the 
Committee of the Regions, the European Economic and Social Committee and 
the European Civil Society Alliance (CONCORD) 

o  Eight interinstitutional meetings were held in 2015: (6 January; 28 January; 19 

March; 5 May; 29 June; 3 September; 26 October; 9 December) 

Specifically on the EYD2015 Interservice Working Group: 

o  Members were all from European Commission services and the meetings were 

organised by DG COMM 

o  2 Interservice meetings were held: (5 February; 25 June) 
o  In addition, 16 bilateral meetings were held in 2015 with various EC services 

with the purpose of exchanging information and agreeing on synergies. 

2.  Ex-post evaluation report: 

Coffey  and  Deloitte,  the  independent  evaluators  of  the  EYD2015  campaign,  consulted  all 
partners. The work as conducted between 1st January 2016 and 5 April 2016. 

  Sources used were33:  

o  Interviews with EYD2015 partners: 

  DG  DEVCO  project  officers  and  contractors  in  charge  of  the  EU-wide 

campaign;  

  Other DGs and EU institutions;  
  EU delegations;  

33 See Annex 1 for further information. 

27 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
  International organisations;  
  European Civil Society Alliance of NGOs (CONCORD);  
  DEAR (Development Education and Awareness Raising) beneficiaries;  
  Private sector;  
  MediaConsulta 

o  Fieldwork in 6 EU Member States that included the financial and narrative reports 
by  each  Member  State  on  their  work  during  the  EYD2015  campaign  and 
interviews with national coordinators and/or national beneficiaries: 

  Germany; 
  Spain; 
  Hungary; 
  Luxembourg; 
  Poland; 
  United Kingdom 

o  Web-based surveys: 
1.  EYD Website 
2.  National Coordinators 
3.  Stakeholders involved in the national work programmes  
4.  CONCORD members/grantees 

o  Monitoring reports from DG DEVCO, from DG COMM and from MediaConsulta. 

3.  EU Member States and national work programme reports: 

Participating  Member  States  (25  in  total)  reported  on  their  activities  and  work  using  the 
detailed templates established for this purpose.  

Regular  workshops  held  in  the  Member  States  in  2014,  2015  and  2016  contributed  to 
constructive consultation on the progress of the campaign. 

  Specifically,  the  dates  of  the  Workshops  were:  21  May  2014;  9-10  October  2014;  5 

March 2015; 2 September 2015; 9 December 2015; 14 June 2016 

4.  Public and stakeholder survey: 

Two  surveys  were  carried  out:  a  comprehensive  survey  of  stakeholders,  which  aimed  at 
obtaining their views on the Commission’s and on their own activities, as well as a survey of 
the public on the europa.eu/eyd2015 website, in order to obtain a snapshot of users and their 
views. 

  Stakeholders survey:  

Responses  were  received  from  (i)  Member  States,  (ii)  EU  institutions,  (iii)  EC 
Representations, (iv) DEAR beneficiaries, (v) international organisations, (vi) EC DGs 
and (vii) CONCORD 

  Public survey at the EYD2015 website: 

o  183 respondents. 
o  Carried out between 12 October 2015 and 15 January 2016 
o  Title: WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! 

28 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
o  Open to the public and available in all language versions of EYD2015 website 

5.  DG DEVCO preliminary report: 

A  preliminary  (flash)  report  with  an  accompanying  infographic34  was  produced  in  mid-
January 2016 and was adopted by the management of DG DEVCO. It was widely distributed 
with the purpose of informing all involved partners about the achievements of the European 
Year. This flash report included input from a wide variety of sources, such as DEVCO Units, 
European Commission services and other EU institutions, CONCORD, Media Consulta and 
Member States. 

6.  DEVCO bilateral meetings with partners: 

DEVCO met numerous EYD2015 partners in 2016, both to present its preliminary report and 
also  to  exchange  views  and  receive  feedback  on  how  to  move  forward  with  a  strategy  on 
communication for development: 

  Commission:  

o  participation  at  the  External  Communication  Network  (ECN)  of  the  EC  and 

presentation/discussion with communication officers (2 February 2016) 

o  presentation of the audiovisual materials produced during the campaign to the 

Audiovisual Network of the EC run by DG COMM (25 February 2016) 

  EU institutions:  

o  Presentation/discussion of  the  preliminary  report  at  the  CODEV  group  of  the 

Council (11 February 2016) 

o  Presentation  of  the  EYD2015  preliminary  report  results  to  the  European 
Parliament  and  discussion  with  the  DEVE  committee  on  the  outcome  of  the 
campaign (18 February 2016) 

o  Preliminary  report  of  the  EYD2015  campaign  distributed  to  the  Information 

Group of the Council (23 February 2016) 

  Member States: bilateral meeting in Brussels with the UK national beneficiary, BOND 

(12 February 2016) 

  NGO: meeting with CONCORD, the European Civil Society alliance, in their Brussels 
office to discuss the campaign, talk about the initial results and agree on next steps (8 
March 2016) 

  Young people/academia: presentation of the results of the EYD2015 campaign at the 

 

College of Europe in Bruges (16 March 2016) 
International  organisations:  discussions  with  the  UN  Regional  Information  Office  in 
Brussels, a key partner of the EYD2015 campaign, were held on 23 March 2016. 
Throughout  2015,  the  UN  and  its  Brussels-based  agencies  were  key  partners  of  the 
EYD2015  and  regular  meetings  were  held  to  coordinate  actions,  such  as  the  UN 
Cinema Festival and the UN70 celebrations in the Grand Place. 

In the spirit of consultation with all interested parties, consultation rounds on the setup of the 
EYD2015 campaign were organised twice in Brussels in 2014.Specifically: 

34 https://europa.eu/eyd2015/sites/default/files/toolkit/infographic-2015-eyd-at-a-glance_en.pdf 

29 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
 
 

the 1st stakeholder event took place in June 2014. 
the 2nd stakeholder event took place at The Egg venue in Brussels (9 December 2014) 
with a large number of participants (over 150).  

7.  Eurobarometer 441 (2016) on Development: 

The  Commission  published  the  Eurobarometer  survey  on  Development  and  the  European 
Year  for  Development  on  29  February  201635.  The  results  of  the  Eurobarometer  survey 
regarding the views and attitudes of the public towards development and the EYD2015 were 
very positive and encouraging. All key indicators showed an improvement. 
Key findings included the following:  

o  1 in 5 European Union citizens was aware of the EYD2015 
o  1 in 3 European Union citizens was aware of the Sustainable Development Goals 
o  9  in  10  European  Union  citizens  say  it  is  important  to  help  people  in  developing 

countries 

o  8 out of 10 European Union citizens agree tackling poverty in developing countries is 

also in the EU's own interest 

o  7 out of 10 European Union citizens view development aid as a way to tackle irregular 

migration 

8.  EC Representations and European Information and Documentation Centres: 

A report to showcase the involvement of the EC Representations in all EU MS was produced 
by DG COMM in March 2016.  

9.  Other reports by partners: 

Several  other  reports  were  produced  by  partners  and  were  either  sent  directly  to  the 
Commission or made public: 

  CONCORD:  

o  Please find more information on the project, its achievements and the materials 

produced, especially its 17 successful sub-granted projects here: 
http://concordeurope.org/project/european-year-development-2015/ 

o  You can find more information on the final report by the independent external 

evaluator Alecos Kelemenis here: 
http://concordeurope.org/2016/05/03/eyd2015-learnings-legacy/ 

  World's Best News: 

The Commission also  received the report  of Danish  NGO  World's Best  News  on the 
joint action to hold a European Development Day in 19 EU MS between September 
and October 2015. 

  MediaConsulta (MCgroup): 

The  external  contractor  of  the  European  Year  sent  mid-term  and  flash  report  on 
progress during the campaign. 

35http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/special-eurobarometer-441-european-year-development-citizens-viewson-development-
cooperation-and-aid_en   

30