Ex-post eva­lua­ti­on of the European Social Fund

The European Social Fund (ESF) is the main funding instru­ment through which the EU trans­la­tes its labour market, education, and social inclusion policies into action as well as rein­forces the insti­tu­tio­nal capa­ci­ties of public admi­ni­stra­ti­ons, public services and stake­hol­ders. The ESF con­tri­bu­tes to the imple­men­ta­ti­on of the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI), providing support to young people living in regions where youth unem­ployment was higher than 25%.

The study is aimed at providing the European Commission with evidence and analysis to support its eva­lua­ti­on of ESF thematic objec­ti­ves and the YEI in the 2014–2020 pro­gramming period.

In par­ti­cu­lar, the following goals are pursued:

• Take stock of the results of ESF and YEI support in the pro­gramming period 2014–2020
• Assessing the results and impact of the ESF and YEI based on the eva­lua­ti­on criteria and also addres­sing the added value, com­ple­men­ta­ri­ty and coherence with other funds
• Provide lessons learned, which can be relevant for the imple­men­ta­ti­on of the European Social Fund Plus
• Underpin the Commission’s Staff Working Document on the ex-post eva­lua­ti­on of the ESF and YEI
• Contribute to the design of future pro­gram­mes beyond 2027.

The study is coor­di­na­ted by Ecorys and Ismeri Europa, with 3s and wmp con­sul­ting also being part of the study team. 3s is con­tri­bu­ting to several tasks, including the mapping of ESF and YEI moni­to­ring data for assessing the imple­men­ta­ti­on process and iden­ti­fy­ing outcomes, as country experts (inter­views and on case studies), and the deve­lo­p­ment of visually attrac­ti­ve country fiches pre­sen­ting key figures and evidence for each of the 28 countries.