A negative vote was given by The Green Tank in the draft Evaluation Plan of the Just Transition Development Program proposed by the Program’s Monitoring Committee. As a voting member of the Committee, The Green Tank submitted detailed comments, recommending a comprehensive revision of the evaluation process. The main criteria for creating an effective evaluation plan should be the integration and participation of all stakeholders in the process, which are missing in the proposed Plan. The achievement of a more inclusive process could rely on the cooperation with members of the Monitoring Committee of the Just Transition Development Program as well as members of Territorial Committees.
In summary, The Green Tank’s recommendations focus on six points:
- There is a need to take into account the immediate challenges faced by the regions in transition and to integrate in the Evaluation Plan all stakeholders as well as specific indicators that will give a clearer picture of the response of the JTDP to the specificities of the regions in transition.
- Prior to each milestone of the evaluation plan, and adding to the work of the independent evaluators, the Monitoring Committee and the newly established Territorial Committees should be convened and given sufficient time to provide comments. Various means of collecting views may be used to ensure better representation of local stakeholders.
- Opportunity to participate in the Training Programme provided in the Evaluation Plan with focused areas of training.
- Close cooperation and communication of the evaluators with the Monitoring Committee, the Territorial Committees and other stakeholders with the obligation to organise additional communication actions, interact and exchange views.
- Selection of appropriate qualitative and quantitative output and outcome indicators for the individual investments to be financed by the JTDP and in particular i. carbon footprint reduction indicator for all investments related to the actions financed by the JTDP and ii. an indicator to curb youth drain in lignite areas.
- In order to address the lack of information among local communities and especially young people, it is proposed to redesign the communication and promotion actions of the JTDP with regular evaluation of these actions, as well as to explore more effective ways of communication with the assistance of local stakeholders.
The comments and recommendations by The Green Tank were submitted on July 06, 2023. You can read the full text here (in Greek).
