EDGE Mid-Term Performance Evaluation

Date

September 2023

Location

Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, and Ukraine

Contract

The USAID Economic Development, Governance, and Enterprise (EDGE) Growth Project in Europe and Eurasia was designed to employ a flexible and adaptive learning approach to create and respond to economic growth opportunities. The EE Bureau asked Integra to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the EDGE project in addressing activity objectives and develop recommendations to inform the EE Bureau’s thinking regarding future design(s) of regional economic growth activities. Of EDGE’s three goals, this mid-term evaluation focused on reducing barriers to cross-border trade and investment, improving market integration, and expanding market linkages.

The Evaluation Team conducted two intensive weeks of in-country data collection in North Macedonia and Kosovo and one week of remote data collection in Georgia and Moldova. The evaluation team found that several aspects of the EDGE project produced tangible regional value chain integration results through its capacity-building efforts. However, in the absence of national reforms, there is little that a project like EDGE can do other than support individual tour operators or increase the capacity of associations. EDGE has provided firm-level support to SMEs in the region to obtain export certifications and fostered best practices in quality control and management. Evaluation Recommendations included 1) to continue and expand technical assistance to associations and organizations with experience certifying compliance of products and services, 2) address logistics and internal transportation challenges by prioritizing the identification and resolution of logistics and internal transportation challenges that impede competitiveness, and 3) Strengthen government partnerships critical in facilitating linkages to multilateral structures and addressing political challenges that hinder cross-border movement of goods and services.

See infographics below the final report.

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