D5.3: Final Evaluation report

This Final Evaluation Deliverable reports on the use of the STEP platform by the pilot partners in carrying out e-Participation activities with Young People across the various European municipalities and regions involved in the project.
The current deliverable presents the case for each STEP pilot, the experience gained and the lessons learnt by each pilot partner. As part of the evaluation activities we conducted a number of qualitative interviews with relevant actors in the STEP pilots. Additionally we conducted two questionnaires, one with Public Officers and a second with Young People in the pilot countries. The results of the evaluation are discussed in relation to a number of core objectives and targets defined originally for the STEP project. The data analysis conducted for this evaluation show positive results for STEP in the achievement of the project objectives. STEP is indeed seen by both Young People and Policy Makers as a useful platform for the conduction of e-Participation on environmental issues and the actors generally said they would use the platform again and would suggest its use to their respective peers. Overall the evaluation has also shown that some improvements may still be required for fine tuning the usability of the platform. Results have shown further that the mistrust of Young People toward policy makers still persist, however STEP is seen as a platform which can help in the conduction of participatory policy making in the area of environmental issues.
The deliverable is organized as follows: we begin with a general presentation of the project success indicators and objectives, a detailed presentation of each STEP pilot and an initial breakdown of the data collection for the evaluation; this is followed by an overview for each pilot of the results achieved and some of the problems identified directly by the pilots; then the qualitative data is presented, starting with the Public Officers/Policy Makers and then turning to Young People; then there is the presentation of the
analysis of the questionnaires again following the order of Public Officers/Policy Makers and then turning to Young People; we then present an overall SWOT analysis for STEP before concluding the deliverable.