Mid-term, Up-date, Final & Ex-post Evaluation of the Rural Development Plan 2014-2020 for the Sicily Region

The Regional Rural Development Plan Help to improve competitiveness for farming and forestry, protect the environment and
the countryside, improve the quality of life and diversification of the rural economy and support locally based approaches to rural
development.
Evaluation contributes to policy learning through the utilisation of evaluation results in improving the design, quality and implementation of the
policy in question. Evaluation results also help policy makers to target available resources more effectively and efficiently. Evaluation enables the
demonstration of policy achievements in a transparent way through the collection of evidence on the performance, effectiveness, efficiency,
results and impacts of policy interventions. These are important means to justify the funds spent and to enhance the transparency and
accountability of EU rural development policy for stakeholders and taxpayers. The validation of policy achievements serves to legitimise funding for
rural development measures, and is important at European, national and regional levels.