Independent of a particular topic, evaluation means to investigate a specific project or programme to the effect of finding out whether, why, and with what effort project or programme goals have or have not been met and which effects the project or programme has had on previously defined target groups. Evaluation is carried out in order to collect and then assess information as a basis for decision making.

Rupprecht Consult has considerable experience in socio-economic project evaluation and served as the independent evaluation manager of projects, in particular in the Information Society Technologies Programme (IST) of the European Union. We co-ordinated evaluation activities in several large projects in this programme, including CENTURi21, INTERACT, TOSCA and HEAVEN. We carried out the mid-term evaluation of the INTERREG IIIB North-West Europe Programme. Our responsibilities also included the evaluation of MILES - a project co-funded under the EU's Asia Pro Eco Programme to manage spatial information for local urban environment in Sri Lanka. The results of our evaluation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in Europe assisted the European Commission to review their ICZM Recommendation and to submit an evaluation report to the European Parliament and Council by the end of 2006 for further Community action.

We base our evaluation activities on a co-operative approach. Evaluation co-ordination activities typically include support in the development of indicators and evaluation tools, survey formulation and design, data analysis and interpretation as well as the preparation of detailed evaluation plans and project-concluding independent evaluation reports.