The European Union has been providing support at regional and bilateral levels in the field of Digital technologies and services in the neighbourhood South countries since 2014. The overall objective of the project was to give an estimation of the level of support already provided to digital in the region and inform future actions, based on extrapolation of data collected from 16 projects identified in the scoping phase. The project aimed to provide an overall independent assessment of past performance, paying particular attention to results measured against expected objectives.

The specific objective of this assignment was to answer four issues:

• Issue 1: What is the estimated level of support provided to digital in the neighbourhood south?
• Issue 2: In which areas have targeted or mainstreamed actions in favour of digital been particularly effective and why?
• Issue 3: Are there any critical aspects to support digital innovation in the region that have not been or insufficiently been addressed so far and what should be done to improve this possible situation?
• Issue 4: What are the level, areas and approaches to prioritise in future European commission interventions in the field of digital? What are the most appropriate levels (regional or bilateral) for these interventions?

The final output consisted of a Final Report including Executive Summary delivered to the DG NEAR in Brussels, discussing findings, conclusions and recommendations. A final slide presentation was also delivered to key stakeholders.

• Conducted background and stakeholder analysis
• Designed the methodology, including information gaps and hypotheses to be tested during Field Phase
• Gathered primary evidence through interviews and other data collection techniques during a Field Phase in the Neighbourhood South countries
• Analysed data to provide formulation of overall assessment, conclusions and recommendations
• Managed stakeholders through kick-off, debrief and final meetings in Brussels