The evaluation framework enables the understanding of where in the policy cycle or at which governance level challenges of coherence and cross-compliance emerge, why the results are achieved and how better performance towards the EGD can be obtained.
When assessing the level of coherence between policies, we are considering coherence between the objectives and the measures of the policies.
Coherence assessments mainly concern the interrelationships between policies. However, it is useful to start the assessment with a close consideration of the individual policies that are to be compared. Understanding internal coherence of the individual policies facilitates understanding external coherence between the policies.
Internal coherence assessment: This step examines individual policies, their internal coherence and relation to overarching objectives (such as from the European Green Deal).
External coherence assessment: This step examines the interactions within a group of policies, assessing whether they are in conflict or create synergies, and identifying where trade-offs may arise.
For both internal and external coherence assessments, we provide two options:
In addition to assessing coherence, the framework raises the question why results are achieved, providing evaluations of reasons for success or failures.
A set of explanatory factors (categories of barriers and enablers) helps to understand the reasons behind varying levels of policy coherence.
These explanatory factors play a key role in policy design and implementation. They can help pinpoint why policies are incoherent and how coherence can be enhanced. Examples are added throughout the chapter to illustrate various barriers and enablers.
Hold the primary responsibility for designing and implementing policies. These organizations range from local (such as municipalities) to national (like agencies or ministries) to EU and international levels (for example, EU Directorates, UN agencies). A policy issue is often managed by several governmental organizations. The interactions between these organizations, including coordination, distribution of responsibilities, and power dynamics, affect the design and implementation of policies. This interplay is a key factor in explaining the occurrence of coherence or incoherence.
Describe processes of how knowledge and data is being produced, transferred, and utilized in decision-making processes. Effective SPSIs can promote and support policy coherence, as they allow for evidence-based policy processes. Exploring SPSIs implies to look at the various actors involved in the knowledge system, what type of knowledge is being used, and how it influences decision-making.
Describes how different interested and affected parties participate in policymaking and policy implementation.
Inclusive and transparent involvement can generally enhance coherence by ensuring that multiple perspectives are considered. In turn, unbalanced stakeholder involvement that is strongly dominated by certain powerful actors can have the opposite effect and cause incoherence. Investigating existing stakeholder involvement mechanisms and power dynamics is therefore important for explaining different levels of coherence between policies.
