The CARIFORUM is a grouping of Caribbean States, which are signatories of the Georgetown Agreement establishing the ACP Group of States. CARIFORUM States have all signed the Economic Partnership Agreement. The CARIFORUM-EU EPA is a trade and development agreement signed between the EU and 15 Caribbean countries in 2008. The CARIFORUM States intend to honour commitments made in the EPA, to participate in the Joint Institutions of the EPA and to seek to take advantage of opportunities created by the EPA. 

The 11th EDF “Support for CARIFORUM Role in Regional Cooperation and Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Implementation” was signed on 23rd December 2016 for the period 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2020 with a budget of EUR 6,790,000. This action was also co-financed by CARIFORUM for an amount of EUR 800,000. Further addenda were approved to increase the EU contribution by EUR 1.240.000 and extend the operational duration by 18 months. 

The specific objectives of this programme were: 

1. To strengthen Caribbean Regional Cooperation and Integration processes;
2. To support the policy and political dialogue as well as the development cooperation relationship between CARIFORUM and the EU; and
3. To support the implementation of the CARIFORUM/EU EPA.

The main objectives of this evaluation were to provide the relevant services of the European Union, the interested stakeholders and the wider public with: 

• an overall independent assessment of the past performance of the 11th Caribbean Regional Indicative Programme (CRIP) Support to CARIFORUM Role in Regional Cooperation and EPA Implementation, paying particular attention to its intermediate results measured against its expected objectives; and the reasons underpinning such results;
• key lessons learned, conclusions and related recommendations in order to improve current and future Actions.

The main users of this evaluation were the staff of the CARIFORUM Directorate and CARICOM, the European Delegation to Barbados, public authorities in the EU and CARIFORUM. 

The evaluation assessed the intervention using the six standard DAC evaluation criteria (relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and early signs of impact).  In addition, the evaluation also assessed the EU added value (the extent to which the Action brings additional benefits to what would have resulted from Member States’ interventions only). 

Gender, environment and climate change aspects were mainstreamed.  

• Document / data collection
• Background analysis 
• Inception interviews
• Stakeholder analysis
• Reconstruction of the LogFrame
• Methodological design of the evaluation (questions with judgement criteria)
• Interviews and virtual meetings 
• Gathering of primary evidence with the use of interviews 
• Analysis of findings and  slide presentation
• Formulation of the overall assessment, conclusions and recommendations
• Drafting of the Final Report and separate Executive Summary.