External evaluation of the Municipal Energy Efficiency and Management Project (MEEMP) in Serbia

• Forschungsstelle: SECO
• Projektnummer: 2025-WEIN104/SECO-063.514

Kurzbeschreibung (Englisch)

The MEEMP evaluation finds that the project was highly relevant for Serbian municipalities, with infrastructure investments delivering visible benefits and some municipalities—particularly Kruševac and Vrbas—demonstrating strong ownership of energy management tools. Effectiveness was mixed: most outputs were achieved, but outcome-level results like energy savings and GHG reductions were not consistently measured, and capacity gains were not anchored in national structures. Efficiency was uneven, as municipal implementation worked well but centralized procurement caused major delays and weakened local ownership, while the separation of components reduced potential synergies. Sustainability is a key concern, with only two municipalities embedding practices institutionally and no national mechanisms established to support long-term continuity or scale-up. The project’s impact was further limited by the absence of a clear Theory of Change, exit strategy, and handover planning. Key lessons highlight the importance of local ownership, decentralized implementation, integrated project design, and national-level institutionalization, leading to recommendations such as embedding the EEA framework, decentralizing procurement, building national training systems, and strengthening visibility and incentives for a follow-up phase.

Zugehörige Dokumente

• WEIN 104 Final evaluation report [PDF] 2'355 kB
• WEIN 104 Management Response [PDF] 376 kB