Evaluation of development operational programs in rural areas: consistency between planned targets and implemented actions

The role of policies evaluation has gained weight over time in the EU and is now an accepted and integral part of the policy process, offering the potential to learn from experience in the design and implementation of European programs. The aim of this paper is the evaluation of a LEADER+ local operational program, in particular concerning the ex‐post evaluation and the consistency between planned targets and weighted implemented actions. The local operational program includes eight targets and 34 actions. The paper evaluates the local operational program by using the PROMETHEE II multicriteria analysis method. The data used concern the budgets per action and regard the year of planning and the year of the ex‐post evaluation of the program. The analysis focuses on the ex‐post evaluation of the local program and suggests how it could best be planned and designed to serve the strategic and operational needs of decision‐makers. It also provides guidance for other evaluations carried out at program level and is helpful for further evaluations at local level.