National Peer Review Initiative (NPRI)

Year
2019
Status
Ongoing
Lead country and contact

Italy I Giuseppe Sgorbati

Italy I Fabio Carella

Tags Good practice Methodology Peer review

🌍The National Peer Review Initiative (NPRI) was launched to empower national environmental networks to develop and manage their own peer review systems. These peer reviews are designed to improve organizational performance through dialogue, collaboration, and the sharing of best practices between peers within the same network.

🔍 How NPRI Works

In a peer review, experts from other national networks work alongside a country’s own team to assess how certain tasks or processes are being carried out. They offer practical feedback, identify areas for improvement, and suggest solutions based on shared experiences.

This learning-by-doing method builds local capacity so that countries can eventually carry out peer reviews independently, creating a sustainable path to continuous improvement.

🌱 What NPRI Delivers

NPRI is a long-term learning process, not a quick fix. It typically takes 18–24 months for a country to complete its first full cycle. But the results are lasting.

NPRI helps countries to:

  • Find weak points in how their networks operate
  • Apply solutions that work locally and across countries
  • Identify and share best practices
  • Understand what’s needed to adopt EU-level standards

It’s especially useful for countries working to align with EU environmental laws.

📈 Impact So Far (2022–2023)

NPRI has already helped several countries improve their environmental governance:

  • Italy & Netherlands: Traditional peer reviews to enhance performance
  • Slovakia: Organizational reform based on internal/external needs
  • Romania: Improvement of complex, multi-agency processes
  • Portugal, Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Albania: Support for EU alignment and performance upgrades

👉 The project released recently "An Overall Report for the period 2019-2024". Please, visit the “Project Outputs” section on the right to view all project and country reports published since 2018.

🚀 Looking Ahead (2025–2027)

With rising interest and proven value, NPRI is expanding to more countries. Future plans include:

  1. New peer reviews in additional countries
  2. Teleconferences and collaboration with IMPEL members developing NPRI projects
  3. Growth of the NPRI expert team to support broader implementation
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