Has rural development policyevaluation come of age?
L’évaluation de la politique dedéveloppement rural est-elleentrée dans l’âge adulte ?
Ist die Evaluation der Politik zurEntwicklung des ländlichen Raumsden Kinderschuhen entwachsen?
This Special Issue explores the
difficult issues surrounding the
evaluation of rural development (RD)
policy with contributions by
distinguished authors from the EU
and North America. It is a very
welcome sequel to Special Issue 7 (1)
which compared and contrasted
approaches to RD policies on both
sides of the Atlantic. A key contrast
was the way in which RD policy in
the EU had evolved as an element of
a multi-annual programme of
agricultural policy reform, whereas
in the US it was more community or
area based, more organic in nature
and less tied to agriculture (Blandford
and Hill, 2008). RD is clearly a
complex and somewhat contested
area of policy, posing significant
challenges for policymakers and
evaluators alike.
We are entering an era in which the
use of public funds increasingly will
be budget-constrained and where
policies should come under increased
scrutiny. This has a particular
resonance for RD policy. In the EU
there is a growing demand, especially
by the more radical reformers, that
rural policy should be driven much
more by the principle ‘public money
for public goods’. In a more budget-
constrained environment this
approach may well gain political
support and will increase the
pressures for greater transfers of the
direct farm payments in Pillar I of
the CAP into Pillar II which embodies
the wider RD goals of environment,
cohesion and agricultural
competitiveness. The recent
Declaration on CAP Reform by a
group of distinguished Agricultural
Economists may intensify pressures
(see letter on page 61).
It seems highly likely, therefore, that
the rural policy and the evaluation
communities will both need to raise
their game when it comes to the
evaluation of future RD policy
options and priorities. There will be
even greater demands to clarify
where state interventions in rural
affairs might generate the greatest
social returns or value for money.
This is particularly so in the EU
where there is a pressing need to
develop a political consensus around
the shape of rural policies for the
post-2013 programming period.
In seeking this enhanced
performance it is worth keeping in
mind both the supply and demand
sides of the RD policy evaluation
nexus. This issue of the journal
covers many of the supply side issues
associated with RD evaluation
concepts, processes and methods.
But evaluators should also keep in
mind the needs of their customers in
the policy and practice communities.
Do we always understand adequately
the nature of demand from these
groups? Arguably, this is equally
important in delivering rigorous,
relevant and influential evaluation.
The policy community, for example,
tends to be a quite rapidly changing
group with apparently little
institutional memory and sometimes
a limited appetite for rigorous
evaluation findings. This raises
formidable challenges for the
evaluation process itself and the
effective communication of results.
I am extremely grateful to our Guest
Editors, Professor David Blandford
and Professor Berkeley Hill, for their
tireless work along with the journal’s
editorial team in bringing together
the material for this special issue. It is
only through further informed and
accessible discussion and debate
amongst stakeholders – the origins of
the articles in this issue – that RD
policy evaluation can reach maturity.
Further Reading
n Bergschmidt, A. (2009). Powerlessevaluation. EuroChoices, 8(3): 41–46.
n Blandford, D. and Hill, B. (2008).Directions in rural developmentpolicy – Lessons from both sides ofthe Atlantic. EuroChoices, 7(1): 6–12.
n Davis, J. (ed.) (2008). Specialissue comparing EU and US ruraldevelopment policies. EuroChoices,7(1): pp 64.
n http://www.reformthecap.eu/posts/declaration-on-cap-reform
John Davis,
Chief Editor of EuroChoices
ƒ‘‘Sowohl die
Akteure in der Politik
zur Entwicklung
des landlichen Raums
als auch die Evaluatoren
mussen mehr
Einsatz zeigen.,,
ƒ‘‘La politique rurale
et la communaute des
evaluateurs doivent
tous deux faire monter
les enjeux.,,
ª 2010 The Author EuroChoices 9(1)ƒ 03
Journal compilation ª The Agricultural Economics Society and the European Association of Agricultural Economists 2010
