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Evaluating Country Programmes
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In practice, there have been significant divergences between the programme
design, as it appears in the Action Plans, and the actual priorities identified in the
implementation, which could be resumed as follows:
– In the domain of restructuring privatisation and enterprise in both the industrial
and agricultural sectors, a large proportion of resources (about 40% of the
total share) has been allocated and spent.
– In the domain of supporting training and education to promote management
and technical skills, investment has been significant in Human Resources
Development, although less than what was planned and feasible, given the
high potential of the working population.
With respect to the other strategic priorities, it can be said that:
– Few resources have been invested in building the new legal and institutional
framework.
– Governance and decentralisation started being considered a priority only in
the later stages of the implementation.
– Democracy and civil society issues have only been marginally addressed.
This discrepancy between, on the one hand, policy and medium-term planning
and, on the other hand, annual budgetary decisions, should be better considered
by the aid agencies. 1
The political framework
The political framework governing the relationship between donor and recipient
should be considered. This is particularly important for bilateral co-operation
agencies and the EC. The political framework between donor and recipient – as it
is laid out in general international agreements and/or specific co-operation
initiatives – provides a set of objectives against which a CP should be evaluated.
In the case of the EU and Russia, a Partnership and Co-operation Agreement
(PCA) was signed in 1994 and entered into force in 1997. Among the key aims of the
PCA, the following are of particular importance for Tacis:
– The search for a global partnership: political, economic, and cultural.
– The establishment of a regular dialogue on political issues.
– The strengthening of generalised trade and investment links.
– The gradual integration of Russia into a wider European economic area.
– The future establishment of a free trade area between the European Union
and Russia.
The Agreement follows a number of guiding principles:
– Democratic principles and human rights.
– And economic integration between Russia and Europe… “aims… at an exceedingly
high level of ambition”. 2
OECD 1999