COIN

Aim:

This workshop brings together the scientists from the Bioeconomy unit (JRC. D1) mandated to design and implement the EU Bioeconomy Monitoring System (pursuant to the action plan of COMM/2018/673), with scientists of the European Commission’s Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards (COIN) with a view to discuss together how to further improve the index and to ensure that it is developed using the highest standards in composite indicator methodology.

Description:

The 2018 EU Bioeconomy Strategy Action Plan foresees the development of an EU-wide system to monitor the progress towards a circular and sustainable bioeconomy, to be led by the JRC. The team in D.1 has developed a conceptual framework and populated it with a set of indicators (albeit incomplete), whose aim is to monitor the EU’s progress towards the five main objectives of the strategy. The goal of the composite indices will be to aggregate indicators in each objective to provide a single score for each objective. Some indicators are simple and measured, while others are more complex, for example the environmental footprint indicators. The framework reports several indicators which, analogous to the instruments of a symphony, are in themselves useful and meaningful, but whose value is enhanced once they are placed within an orchestra. Only when the indicators interplay jointly is the ensemble capable of estimating the progress of EU bioeconomy and its contribution towards the Sustainable Development Goals, highlighting related trade-offs and synergies.

Societal impact:

The composite indices will be the signature indicators for this EU Bioeconomy Monitoring System. They will therefore be the most visible tool in the system to our main target audience, EU policy officers. We will also publish the underlying indicators in order to provide stakeholders access to detailed information about the “sustainability” of the EU bioeconomy. Through the indices, users will be able to, for instance, compare the performance of various EU countries, and highlight potential trade-offs among the strategy objectives. Policymakers will use the indices to identify potential areas of intervention to steer the bioeconomy to a sustainable path. A sustainable bioeconomy is an essential step to achieve the sustainable development goals and a proper monitoring system can provide policymakers the necessary tool for timely and targeted interventions.

Aim:

This workshop brings together the European Commission’s Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development with scientists of the European Commission’s Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards (COIN) with a view to discuss together how to further improve the Monitoring and Learning Systems of the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa and to ensure that it is developed using the highest standards in composite indicator methodology.

Description:

The European Union Emergency Trust Fund for stability and addressing root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons in Africa (EUTF for Africa) funds activities that aim in particular at addressing the root causes of destabilisation, forced displacement and irregular migration.

In the Sahel and Lake Chad and Horn of Africa, EUTF implementing partners’ M&E systems are complemented by an overarching Monitoring and Learning System (MLS), which includes in particular the following components:

• Aggregation of the output indicators reported on by implementing partners [system currently in use]
• Aggregation of the outcome and impact indicators reported on by implementing partners [system currently being developed]
• Aggregation of external data (not coming from the implementing partners) into high-level indicators [system currently being developed]

EUTF high-level indicators aim at informing key thematic areas that the EUTF is expected to alter, including forced displacement, stability, socio-economic trends, and governance. The data used is external - not coming from the implementing partners, but rather from IOM, UNHCR, ACLED, country-specific survey, etc. The work on high-level indicators is well under way, with multiple sources of data already gathered for each “pillar” (for example for resilience: data on health, education, nutrition, etc.). The MLS aims at summarising the data for each ‘pillar’ by aggregating the different indicators into single composite indicators, by region or by country.

The MLS is also considering using composite indicators when aggregating some of the outcome indicators reported on by EUTF implementing partners.

Societal impact:

High-level indicators will inform future European Union programming by identifying the geographical and thematic areas that experience improvements, and those for which non-improving/worsening trends may highlight the need for targeted interventions. It will also analyse possible contributions of EUTF interventions to changes at the local and regional level.

The aggregation of implementing partners’ outcome and impact indicators will enable EUTF managers to gain unique insights into the thematic and geographical areas where EUTF-funded projects have been a success and those where it may have been less successful. This will be important for accountability purposes and will ultimately benefit future programming as well.