The overall aim of these guidelines is to improve the evidence-base to inform the policy debate on return by identifying a common methodology for monitoring and evaluation that Member States can apply on a voluntary basis. Through such monitoring, Member States will be able to design more effective and efficient AVR(R) programmes. Specifically, the guidelines propose a common set of core indicators for monitoring and evaluation which – if applied consistently in all EU Member States – will enable the analysis of EU-level aggregate data on AVR(R) programmes. The core indicators have been selected on the basis of their usefulness for evaluating the programmes and data-collection feasibility. Indeed, many of the indicators are already being collected in Member States.