The goal of the course is to help the students understand that design, implementation and evaluation constitute a planning "continuum", in which evaluation is the most crucial of all successive stages.

In a period of competitiveness, entrepreneurship and globalization, where "value-for-money" questions are dominant, regional planning increasingly focuses on the estimation (at the ex-ante stage), monitoring (throughout the implementation stage) and assessment (ex-post) of the output, the results and the impact of specific policies and programmes.  Furthermore, regional programming has become, in EU member countries, increasingly dictated by more or less restrictive common rules and inclined to imitating the so-called "best practices".

Students will acquire the necessary qualifications in order to be able to apply methodological planning tools and techniques with analytical clarity, prospective thinking and strategic approach. The course includes the following topics:

–    Terminology of development planning: planning – implementation – monitoring – evaluation

–    Aspects and perceptions of development

–    Methodology and tools of development planning

–    Evaluation: ex-ante, on-going and ex-post

–    Programme management and monitoring

–    Impact assessment.

Student performance evaluation will be based on successive take-home assignments (50% of final grade) and a final exam (50% of final grade).

Assigments’ themes:

• EU WORKING PAPERS ON PROGRAMME EVALUATION: AN ASSESSMENT OF CONSTANT AND VARIABLE OBJECTIVES AND TOOLS
• EVALSED, SOURCEBOOK 2, METHODS AND TECHNIQUES: THEIR VALIDITY IN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES
• 4th COHESION REPORT: A MORE THAN EXECUTIVE, ANNOTATED AND CRITICAL SUMMARY
• CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF BARCA REPORT: PAST AND FUTURE OF EUROPEAN COHESION POLICY
• ASSESSMENT OF SPANISH REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME DESIGN: NSRF 2007-2013 AND PREVIOUS PLANS
• 5th EUROPEAN EVALUATION CONFERENCE: MAJOR THEMES, PROBLEMS AND PROPOSALS
• EVALSED, SOURCEBOOK 2, BUILIDNG CAPACITY FOR EVALUATION: ASSESSMENT OF EXPERIENCE