Capacity Building European Facility for the Readmission of Migrants – EURCAP, Final Evaluation

Title Final Evaluation of the European facility  EURCAP “EU READMISSION CAPACITY BUILDING FACILITY – PHASE III”

Location Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Costa d’Avorio, Iraq, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Gambia

Duration Novembre 2023 – Febbraio 2024

Partner IOM Regional Office Brussels

Funding  European Commission’s Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs.

 

Context

The main objective of the EURCAP Facility (Phase III) is to contribute to effective and efficient cooperation in migration governance between the EU and its partner countries through capacity-building initiatives. The specific objectives are to strengthen partner countries’ capacities to:

  1. manage returns and cooperate on readmission with the EU;
  2. prevent irregular migration.

The following intermediary outcomes contribute to these specific objectives: 1) Targeted partner countries have enhanced their capacity to manage returns and increased their understanding and dialogue with their European partners; 2) Targeted migrants from partner countries return in a dignified, safe and orderly manner, and their sustainable reintegration is facilitated; 3) The targeted population of the partner countries is aware of the risks related to irregular migration to Europe and of the benefits of safe migration; 4) Knowledge, analysis and effective communication on migration governance in targeted partner countries is strengthened.

Each Support Action developed in partner countries under Phase III of the EURCAP Facility with the support of the Local Project Teams (LPTs) contributes to one or more of the above outcomes. The Project Management Team (PMT) ensures that a similar workflow is applied for each Support Action. The individual outputs and activities of Support Actions are defined by the respective concept notes or proposals in agreement between LPTs, PMT and DG HOME. The EURCAP Facility has among its primary target groups public authorities in partner countries dealing with cooperation on readmission with the EU and public authorities from EU Member States. Furthermore, the Facility targets experts, stakeholders and representatives from within IOM, other partner countries, regional / international organizations, academia and civil society actors.

 

General Objective

In November 2023, approaching the end of the Phase III of the Facility, IOM Regional Office Brussels involved ARCO to carry out the final evaluation of EURCAP Facility Phase III and report on the findings and recommendations. The overall purpose of the evaluation is to assess the processes and achievements of the project, focusing in particular on the partner countries supported, i.e., Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Côte d’Ivoire, Iraq, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and The Gambia.

 

Our contribution

Based on the evaluation objectives, ARCO proposes a mixed-method approach that complements quantitative and qualitative research methods to produce reliable indicators that measure and assess the changes achieved and all other aspects of interest.

In order to explore the processes and dynamics put in place by the EURCAP Facility, the evaluation strategy used builds on the theoretical basis of the Outcome Mapping (OM) methodology.

The evaluation study focuses on the countries in which Support Actions were implemented under Phase III – Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Côte d’Ivoire, Iraq, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, The Gambia – with a specific focus in the country in which the software e-RCMS was piloted, Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan has been selected together with the EURCAP PMT as a Case Study of particular interest and a field visit by ARCO evaluators has been organized, during which ARCO conducted all data collection activities in person. During the final evaluation process, semi-structured interviews have been conducted with several stakeholders and a web-based survey have been administered to public authorities representatives.

 

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