Feedback from the Mid-Term Assessment
(MTA) of Information and publicity activities of
operational programmes
8th INFORM network conference
Brussels,7-8 December 2011
Peter Fischer, European Commission, DG Regional Policy
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Overview
• Analysis of Annual Implementation Report with
the help of Geographical units (language issues,
sheer volume of reports)
• Guidance questions
• Presentation is largely based on feedback
received from geographical units (response rate
was about 67%)
• Level of detail provided varied greatly – often a
direct reflection of the quality and content of the
various Mid Term Assessments.
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Click to add text
1. Internal or external assessment?
Very mixed picture:
• Internal (Managing Authority) assessment (e.g.
AT, LV, PT, SI)
• Mix of internal and external assessment: (e.g.
CZ, FR, IE, LT, RO, SK, UK,)
• Examples of countries with external input:
CY,DK, ES, HU, NL
• ETC programmes: ratio is about 50-50
• External assessment itself did not always
produce better recommendations
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2. Did the assessment refer to both
quantitative and qualitative data ?
• Most assessments included both types of data
• Quality of the qualitative data varied greatly –
often base line indicators were missing or
realistic objectives absent
• Qualitative data were often opinion polls (which
do not necessarily give answers to the impact of
specific communication actions)
• -> feedback from specific target groups (such as
conference participants, website users) was not
always collected, although is relatively easy to do
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3. Examples of major information
activities in the reporting period
• Various conferences, (often for stakeholders)
• Communication campaigns; incl. Project roadshows, TV or radio
spots, postcards, newsletters
• Europe Day activities: project exhibitions, bicycle tours for
journalists/general public
• Interactive communication and games: - photo or essay
competitions for journalists; school children; general public;
• Public opinion surveys
• Launch of new website
• Flying the flag all-year-round on MA premises
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4. Main target groups? Primary
media channels used?
• Trend esp. for OPs with smaller communication
budgets, focus on potential beneficiaries in the first
2-3 years of programme duration
• Primary media channels: no uniform approach
• Large campaigns have a multimedia approach,
including TV, radio and the web (sometimes also
postcards and posters)
• Most ETC programmes have a primarily web-based
communication approach
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5. Budget spent on communication
• Enormous range: e.g. 61% of info&com. allocation
already spent in Vorarlberg, Austria, but only 5.2% in
Lithuania;
• Most programmes: about 20%
• But: many MTA did not contain information about the
budget spent on communication for 2007-2010, nor
on annual basis (and also not in the AIR) - Why?
• Total communication budget for some programmes
still missing (Spain and most UK regions)
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6. Good / interesting practices
• Online voting on best project website (CZ)
• Competitions for journalists / school children /
general public (PL; EE, CZ)
• Project roadshows (e.g. AT, DK, FR)
• Quiz (IE)
• User friendly websites: e.g. with advice for
beneficiaries/applicants how to avoid mistakes
with project implementation (RO)
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6. Good practices continued
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Press breakfasts (e.g. FR)
Project fairs (e.g. FR, ETC programmes)
Collaboration with regional TV stations (e.g. FR, AT)
Training seminars for potential beneficiaries (e.g. LT, SI)
Awards for strategic projects (ETC programme FR-BE)
Better harmonised visual identity of 4 Dutch OP thanks
to work of national communicators network
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7. Validity of Communication plan?
Modification necessary?
• Very few OPs change the communication strategy
(Poland, Hungary) – who else?
• Programmes shy away from a modification of the
communication strategy, even if recommendations
seem to imply it may be needed
 Without clear target indicators, it is difficult to
measure if you are on the right track…
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Your reactions please!
• What were your experiences with the Mid-Term
Assessment?
• In case you outsourced the task, were you
satisfied with the result and would outsource
again?
• In case you made the MTA with internal
resources – was this satisfactory and would you
do it again?
• In view of 2014-2020 (Art. 106 (3)): Are you already
making annual assessments of your information
and communication activities?
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