EUROPE Ltd was commissioned by the European Commission, DG Enlargement, Unit D2 (Financial Assistance Post Accession) to undertake the project On the spot monitoring of Transition Facility projects in Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. The main objective of the present project is the verification with on the spot visits of the attainment of the objectives of selected 11 projects. Objectives were to be verified in the light of the indicators of the LogFrame matrix from the last approved version of the project fiches. The selected portfolio to be monitored comprised the following projects:

Evaluation and monitoring of EU projects.

By completing the stage of site interviews & visits, the collected information was filled in Monitoring Guidance Tables, ready for processing, analysis and conclusions.  The most important key findings were presented in the report from two main angles:

• as project related general observations discussing the key aspects of the monitored projects according to the five evaluation criterion of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability
• providing an overall assessment of achievement of results in the projects monitored.

Recommendations were formulated for the areas of:

• grant programming,
• support of central budgetary institutions,
• procedures for results evaluation,
• utilization of experience in the Structural Funds environment,
• central IT systems for visibility and monitoring purposes,
• monitoring methodology of future EU programmes,
• impact assessment of Phare grant schemes in the area of SME development;
• exchange of experience among the new EU member states.