CONTENTS Section 1: Title of Rural Development Programme Section 2: Member State and Administrative Region

Financial Weighting of Axes and Measures 3.2.29 The policy framework set out in the Wales Annex of the UK National Strategic Plan and the integrated method of working required to meet the Welsh Assembly Government’s objectives, means that, despite the hierarchy set out above, each of the Axes is important and cross-Axis working and utilisation of the Leader approach will be a significant part of. [...] 3.3.2 In summary, the results and recommendations of the Ex Ante Evaluation are as follows: The problems the RDP is expected to tackle – medium and long-term needs It is the view of the Ex Ante report that the SWOT analysis is complete in its coverage of medium and long-term needs in the context of the preparation of the Welsh RDP for the period 2007-2013. [...] Added value of Community involvement The impression of the ex-ante evaluators is that the designers of the Wales RDP have considered the issues of Community added value and that the proposals (taken together with the NSP) reflect this. [...] However the main change in implementation has been the centralisation of delivery, resulting from a review ‘Making the Connections: Delivering Better Services for Wales’; this led to the delivery of Tir Gofal being passed from the Countryside Council for Wales to the Welsh Assembly Government and the incorporation of the Welsh Development Agency within the Welsh Assembly Government. [...] Assessment of the provisions for managing, monitoring and evaluating the programme It is clear that the recommendations made in the Mid Term Evaluation of the 2000-2006 RDP have been incorporated in the planning of monitoring and evaluation for the 2007-2013 programming period.