This report presents the findings of the 2011 Regional Level Evaluation of the Commission of the European Union’s cooperation with the Caribbean Region. The evaluation was carried out to provide meaningful feedback to the Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS), but also to the general public, on the results achieved by the Commission’s co-operation strategies and their implementation for the period 2003-2010 in the Caribbean Region. This means that this evaluation covered the Regional Strategy Papers for the ninth European Development Fund(EDF9; 2003-2007) and EDF10 (2008-2013),but also took into consideration activities during the evaluation period that had been financed with resources from EDF8.
The report covers the different sectors that the Commission supported and all financing modalities used in this period. Thematically, the focus was on regional economic and political integration as well as private sector development, human resources development, natural disaster prevention and mitigation, and reduction of drug related crime. Lessons from this evaluation will be used to improve the current and future strategies of the European Union in cooperating with the Caribbean Region. The evaluation checked if the recommendations of the previous regional level evaluation covering the period 1996-2002 have been taken into account.
The report’s principal conclusions are:
- The regional strategies of the EDFs 9 and 10 were highly responsive to the priorities of Forum of the Caribbean Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (CARIFORUM), thanks to an increased political dialogue. They were coherent with CARIFORUM policies on poverty reduction, sustainable development and integration into the world economy.
- With the exception of OECS, the Caribbean region is still little integrated. The effectiveness of the international efforts to enhance regional integration has been significantly reduced by the lack of a donor coordination framework.
- Two important efficiency issues are the weaknesses of the Carribean Community Secretariat (CCS) and the limited capacity at the national level to implement policies decided at the regional level.
- Effectiveness and impact of the regional EU support is limited by the fact that regional integration has lost some political momentum in many Caribbean countries.
- In most areas reviewed during the evaluation, the outcomes and results of EU interventions were modest, with the positive exception of the support to the EPA negotiations and the growth of some exports (like rum for the entire region, and bananas for Dominican Republic).
The report recommends:
- The EU should continue to support the development and adoption of the comprehensive and efficient donor coordination system that was due to be presented by the CCS in June 2011.
- In application of new programming guidelines, complementarity should be enhanced by drafting the Regional Strategy before the National Strategies and by making it a frame of reference for the bilateral cooperation of EU member states with the region.
- The Delegations should press for the application of visibility rules by all EU funded projects/programmes in the Region
