In 2006-2007 ECORYS, in cooperation with two partner companies, performed an ex ante evaluation of the Netherlands Rural Development Programme 2007-2013 and a Strategic Environmental Assessment. The objective of the ex ante evaluation is to come to an effective use of the financial means and to improve the quality of the programme.

With the Rural Development Program (2007-2013) the Netherlands aims at balancing the quality of nature and landscape and its use. This includes the use for agriculture and forestry, residential purposes, recreation, health and personal well-being. In short: a more beautiful, vital and livable rural area.

Within this project ECORYS assessed the comprehensiveness of SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threads) analysis of the current situation in the rural areas and analysed the reasons for backlog, which is essential to target the policy. ECORYS identified factors for sustainable rural development and contributed to the quantification of context and impact related baseline indicators. A final component was to evaluate the priority-setting of backlogs and needs in the Program and, subsequently, their translation to goals and concrete priorities for action. These activities resulted in recommendations for a more effective and efficient Program for Rural Development.