The Spanish Agency for the Evaluation of Public Policies

Abstract

The Spanish Agency for the Evaluation of Public Policies (Agenda Estatal de Evaluatión de las Políticas Públicas y la Calidad de los Servicios — AEVAL) was established in 2007. One of the original justifications for creating this agency was to improve public policy evaluation with the end result of improving government’s coordination of public policy implementation in the context of a decentralized Spain. From the 1980s, Spain had been transformed from a highly centralized system to a decentralized territory composed of 17 regional governments, or Autonomous Communities, henceforth, ACs. Improving coordination was not the only reason to establish AEVAL, but it is on this task that this chapter focuses. Other important objectives included: promoting a more rational use of public resources; improving public service quality; and bolstering accountability to citizens. However, in the period leading up to its final creation, the political complexities underlying the urge to improve coordination issues as a result of decentralization became apparent. Today, the AEVAL functions as an evaluator of public policy, but significant issues related to coordination practices between central and regional governments remain. This chapter presents and evaluates AEVAL as regards its creation, organization, functions and performance to date. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.