Despite recent progress in macroeconomic stability and industrial development, Paraguay suffers from high levels of poverty and informality. Some of the country’s structural problems include a vulnerability to external shocks and climate change, high levels of inequality and low economic diversification. Against this economic backdrop, the MiPYME Compite Programme (via five separate contracts and multiple implementing partners) seeks to increase MSME competitiveness, foster improved trade and strengthen national legal, policy and institutional frameworks. 

The focus of the evaluation was on the assessment of the Programme’s achievements, the quality and the results of interventions in the context of an evolving cooperation policy agenda, with an increasing emphasis on result-oriented approaches and disaggregating the contribution towards the implementation of the SDGs. The evaluation was premised on a participatory approach and included consultations with multistakeholder groups including the different implementing organisations, EU to business associations, state authorities and ministries. 

Particular emphasis was placed on horizontal aspects such as the introduction of sustainable production principles as well as the promotion and implementation of circular economy at the level of public institutions and MSMEs. The evaluation yielded forward-looking insights and led to the formulation of lessons learnt and recommendations on how to improve project implementation and the design of future EU interventions in Paraguay in the area of private sector development. The evaluation assessed among other components: 

1. The adequacy of the structure and management of the implementation teams with respect to their adequacy to achieve the expected results, both at the global level of the intervention and for each component and implementing partner;
2. The extent to which the results-based management approach has been operationalised and applied;
3. The extent to which gender mainstreaming and environmental best practices have been achieved in programme design;
4. The overall impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the intervention implementation.

The mid-term evaluation methodology assessed the intervention using the six standard DAC evaluation criteria, namely: relevance, coherence, efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability and perspectives of impact. Additionally, the evaluation will assess the EU’s added value.

• Finalised evaluation methodology, including the definition of judgement criteria and indicators per Evaluation Questions, the selection of data collection tools and sources.  
• Refined evaluation approaches based on a participatory and mixed-methods approach, including data collection tools such as questionnaires, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, surveys and site visits. The methodology will be gender sensitive and contemplate the use of sex- and age-disaggregated data.
• Conducted in-depth document analysis and facilitation of online consultations to discuss projects’ status, identify information gaps and refine monitoring hypotheses to be tested during missions.
• Designed strategy on how to best engage stakeholders to participate in the evaluation process, particularly, women and marginalised groups.
• Facilitated two workshops to disseminate and validate evaluation findings.