ESF 2007-2013 Ex-post Evaluation Synthesis

Written by Metis GmbH in Consortium with Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini Panteia and SEOR

October ndash 2016

ESF 2007-2013 Ex-post

Evaluation Synthesis

Thematic EU Synthesis Report

Strengthening Institutional Capacity

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Directorate-General for Employment Social Affairs and Inclusion

Directorate G mdash Audit and Evaluation

Unit EMPL G4 mdash Evaluation and Impact Assessment

E-mail EMPL-G4-UNITeceuropaeu

European Commission B-1049 Brussels

ESF 2007-2013 ex-post synthesis evaluation

Synthesis EU thematic report Strengthening Institutional Capacity

Directorate General for Employment Social Affairs and Inclusion





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This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (httpwwweuropaeu)

Luxembourg Publications Office of the European Union 2016

copy European Union 2016

Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged

ISBN [978-92-79-61657-0]

doi [102767271126]

Please quote this report as Metis GmbH (2016) 2007-2013 ESF 2007-2013 Ex-post Evaluation Synthesis

Thematic EU Synthesis Report Strengthening Institutional Capacity for the European Commission Directorate-General Employment Social Affairs and Inclusion The opinions expressed are those of the Contractor only and do not represent the Commissionrsquos official position

Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers

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ESF 2007-2013 ex-post evaluation synthesis

Thematic EU synthesis report Strengthening Institutional Capacity

Glossary of key concepts

Access to Employment

(A2E)

A key policy area in the ESF focused on enhancing access to

employment and the sustainable inclusion in the labour market

of job seekers and inactive people preventing unemployment

in particular long-term and youth unemployment encouraging

active ageing and longer working lives and increasing

participation in the labour market A2E is one of the Priorities

of Article 3 ldquoScope of assistanceldquo of the ESF Regulation No

10812006

Action The second level in the OP architecture usually the Priority Axis (see below) consists of several actions

Adaptability A key policy area in the ESF consisting of activities to increase the adaptation of workers and enterprises to the changing economic circumstances and labour market demands - one of the Priorities of Article 3 lsquoScope of assistancersquo of the ESF Regulation No 10812006

Allocated expenditure Expenditure allocated to the ESF activities during the programming stage of the Operational Programmes

Annex XXIII categories The socio-economic characteristics of ESF participants reported in the ESF monitoring systems relating to the participant gender labour market status (employed (of which self-employed) unemployed (of which long-term unemployed) inactive of which in education and training) age (young people aged 15-24 and older people aged 55-64) disadvantaged status (migrants minorities disabled other disadvantaged)

and educational attainment status (by ISCED levels)

Category of expenditure (CoE)

Categorisation of the Structural Fund expenditure cf ANNEX IV of COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 10832006 of 11 July 2006 ESF expenditure relates to Categories 62 to 74

Certified expenditure Expenditure incurred in the implementation of the ESF activities which has been approved by the Managing Authority

of the Operational Programme and the European Commission

Cluster A group of actions or interventions with common objectives and activities

Community added value (CAV)

The extent to which the ESF activities provided effects additional to the national regional activities

Convergence region NUTS level 2 regions in the EU Member States whose gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was less than 75 of the

average GDP of the EU-25 for the same reference period

Effectiveness The extent to which the set aims and objectives have been reached

Efficiency The comparison between the achieved outputs and results and the costs incurred

Gender sensitivity The extent to which the planning design implementation and monitoring reflects the gender issues

Human capital (HC) A key policy area in the ESF consisting of activities to develop the skills and knowledge of human resources across the different stages of the education and training system cycle



this theme is subject to another thematic evaluation - one of the Priorities of Article 3 lsquoScope of assistancersquo of the ESF Regulation No 10812006

ISCED International Standard Classification of Education an

international standard classification used to classify the education levels

1 Primary education

2 Lower secondary education

3 Upper secondary education

4 Post-secondary non-tertiary education

5 Short-cycle tertiary education

6 Bachelor or equivalent

Intermediate Body (IB) The organisation charged by the Managing Authority to implement the ESF funds in the OP

Intervention The third level in the OP architecture usually the Actions in the OP consist of several interventions

Managing Authority (MA) The institution in each Member State OP responsible for the

strategic direction and financial management of the OP

Multi-Objective OP An OP in which both RCE and Convergence regions participate

Operational Programme (OP)

The means through which the ESF support was implemented in the Member States as agreed between the European Commission and the Member States Each OP consists of several Priority Axes which in turn consist of several actions

which in turn consist of several interventions

Output The immediate reach of the ESF activity (eg number of participants reached number of schools or enterprises supported)

Participant The person who participated in the ESF funded activity

Priority Axis (PA) The first level in the OP architecture usually the OP consists of several Priority Axes (concepts of priorities areas and others

are also used in the OPs) which in turn consist of several actions and each action of several interventions

Project promoter The organisation in charge of implementing specific ESF funded projects

Promoting Partnerships (PP)

Policy area focused on partnerships pacts and initiatives

through networking of relevant stakeholders such as the social

partners and non-governmental organisations at the

transnational national regional and local levels in order to

mobilise for reforms in the field of employment and labour

market inclusiveness PP is one of the Priorities of Article 3

ldquoScope of assistanceldquo of the ESF Regulation No 10812006

Regional competitiveness and employment objective

(RCE)

NUTS level 2 regions in the EU Member States whose GDP per capita was above 90 of the average GDP of the EU-25 for

the same reference period

Result The change achieved through the activity leading to long term achievements of ESF activities (eg number of qualifications



acquired by participants number of enterprises providing training)

Social Inclusion Refers to a wide range of issues and activities covering

aspects such as fundamental rights access to adequate

income support and quality services From the perspective of

ESF SI interventions the most common strand of activity in

the Recommendation is that relating to inclusive labour

markets This focus is also echoed in the ESF Regulation

where the SI priority focuses on inclusion into the labour

market as the best means of integrating individuals into

society and of combatting social exclusion SI is one of the

Priorities of Article 3 ldquoScope of assistanceldquo of the ESF

Regulation No 10812006


A key policy area focussing on the efficiency of public

administrations and public services at national regional and

local level by promoting mechanisms to improve good policy

and programme design monitoring and evaluation and

capacity building in the delivery of policies and programmes in

the relevant fields SIC is one of the Priorities of Article 3

ldquoScope of assistanceldquo of the ESF Regulation No 10812006 and

is the object of this evaluation

Sustainability The extent to which the achieved results last



Acronyms

A2E Access to employment and sustainable integration into employment

AIR Annual Implementation Report

CAV Community Added Value

CoE Category of expenditure

CSR Country Specific Recommendation

EC European Commission

EEN Expert Evaluation Network

ESF European Social Fund

EU European Union

HC Human Capital

LTU Long Term Unemployment

MA Managing Authority

MS Member State

NGO Non-governmental organisation

OP Operational Programme

PA Priority Axis

PAR Public Administration Reform

PES Public Employment Service

SFC Structural Funds Common Database

SIC Strengthening Institutional Capacity



Table of contents

Executive Summary i

1 Introduction 6

11 Background 6

12 Objectives 6

13 Scope 7

14 Methodological Approach and information sources 7

15 Structure of the report 7

2 Key SIC challenges and policy directions in the EU in the 2007-2013

programming period 9

21 Evolution of the institutional capacity building focus 9

211 The origins of institutional capacity building support 9

212 Good governance as a deciding factor for competitiveness and cohesion 9

213 Definitions and concepts 10

22 Capacity building and ESF 11

3 Overview of key ESF SIC investment features in the 27 Member States 13

31 Links to the national and EU policy priorities main activities and target

groups 13

311 Links to the national and EU policy directions 13

312 Key characteristics of activities and target groups at EU and MS level 17

313 Key characteristics of specific dimensions and categories 19

314 Structures and processes 20

315 Human resources 24

316 Tools 27

32 The overall strategy for ESF SIC investment 28

33 The impact of the economic crisis on ESF SIC priorities actions and funding

(EU-27) 33

34 The ESF expenditure in the area of SIC 34

341 Overall funding levels 34

342 Programmed expenditure on Category of Expenditure 81 36

4 The effectiveness efficiency sustainability gender sensitivity community

added value and the socio-economic impact of ESF SIC investment in the 27 Member

States 39

41 The effectiveness of ESF SIC interventions 40

411 Progress in the financial implementation of ESF SIC 40

412 Types of output and result indicators selected by the OPs 44

413 Overall achievements 46

414 Achievements in specific fields of activity 48

415 Effectiveness 49

416 Reaching the different target groups 53

42 Efficiency 56

43 The sustainability of ESF SIC interventions 57

44 Gender sensitivity of ESF SIC interventions 58

45 Community added value of ESF SIC interventions 60

451 Volume effects 60

452 Scope effects 61

453 Role effects 62

454 Process effects 62

46 The socio-economic impact of ESF SIC 63

461 Impact indicators and evidence from national ESF evaluations 63



462 Impacts in relation to changes in the quality of administrations65

463 Key factors determining success or failure 68

5 Overview of key lessons learned 72

51 Key lessons in terms of policy choices 72

52 Key lessons in terms of target groups 74

53 Key lessons in terms of appropriate programming 74

54 Key lessons in terms of effective implementation 76

55 Key lessons in terms of monitoring 76

56 Key lessons in terms of evaluation 77

References

Annex I Overview of OPs PAs and Actions explicitly addressing SIC

Annex II Country specific recommendations in the field of SIC

Annex III Factors influencing success and failure of SIC interventions for individual

countries per category

Annex IV Evaluations relevant to SIC interventions



List of figures and tables

Figure 1 SIC in OPs and PAs 29

Figure 2 Total allocated funding (EU plus national) on SIC PAs per MS ( of funds

allocated to SIC-related Priority Axes over total ESF budget) 35

Figure 3 Budget allocated to expenditure category 81 per MS 36

Figure 4 Government effectiveness 65

Figure 5 Regulatory quality 66

Figure 6 Rule of law 67

Figure 7 Key factors for success and failure mentioned for MS 69

Table 1 Institutional capacity objectives tree for ESF 11

Table 2 SIC-related challenges in MS with a dedicated SIC PA or OP 14

Table 3 CSR addressed under SIC interventions by MS 15

Table 4 Contribution of ESF SIC interventions to MS policies 16

Table 5 Key characteristics of SIC related actions absolute number of actions

concerned and as of total number of actions addressing a certain category 18

Table 6 Key characteristics of ESF initiatives at MS level (occurrence of a

characteristic in one or more actions within a MS) 19

Table 7 Characteristics of SIC actions 20

Table 8 Countries covered in programming and expenditure based analyses 30

Table 9 Overview of SIC dedicated OPs and PAs by MS 31

Table 10 ESF SIC investment and over total ESF (total funding) 35

Table 11 Allocations for community funding to CoE 81 and OPPAActions

programming in MS 37

Table 12 SIC and overall ESF implementation rate () by MS (31 December 2014)

40

Table 13 Share of the budget spent per SIC relevant PA43

Table 14 Target setting and achievement for outputs SIC and ESF 50

Table 15 Achievement of output targets for SIC and all ESF interventions 50

Table 16 Target setting and achievement for results SIC and ESF 51

Table 17 Achievement of results targets for SIC and all ESF interventions 52

Table 18 Annex XXIII Participations of SIC interventions and ESF (31st Dec 2014) 54

Table 19 Annex XXIII Participations of SIC interventions (31st Dec 2014) women

participants55

Table 20 Funding per participation for SIC related OPsPAs 56

Table 21 Examples of tentative impact evaluations 64

Table 22 SIC related evaluations in Member States ESF 2007-2013 100



i

Executive Summary

Key findings

EU-28 Member States (MS) allocated euro2419 million to Operational Programmes

(OPs) or Priority Axes (PAs) that were dedicated to Strengthening Institutional

Capacity (SIC) objectives This includes funding from national (public and private)

sources as well as the amount of co-funding foreseen from the EU

As of the 311220141 693 of SIC allocated funding at EU-27 level was spent

compared to 793 of total ESF budget which demonstrates that on average

fewer SIC funds have been spent in relation to overall ESF funding The economic

crisis contributed to budget reductions or lower impact in several MS

Almost 14 million participations were reported to have been involved in SIC-

related interventions

Almost all participants are employees of beneficiary institutions the majority

are women (64) and well educated (ISCED 5 and 6)

Most countries used ESF to provide additional funding for good governance to

test new and innovative activities to reach new target groups and to

improve public administration service and delivery systems and methods

In doing this they responded to the issues identified by Country Specific

Recommendations in the SIC field

At least 17000 training programmes were developed while 4000 studies

campaigns public consultations reviews (laws procedures) and reports have been

implemented amongst other actions At least 1500 projects or activities were

launched Other achievements include the production of some 250 guides and

guidelines as well as the establishment of around 150 new structures

including client centres or regional offices

ESF contributed to reforms of the judiciary system improved access to e-

government services a better business environment and a better

management of public administrations in general

Introduction

This report analyses how the theme of strengthening institutional capacity (SIC) was

integrated in the ESF 2007-2013 programming in EU-27 MS how it was implemented

and what its main achievements were with a view to determining the key lessons

learned and recommendations for ESF programming and implementation

Strengthening institutional capacity (SIC) is one of the policy priorities supported by

ESF in the 2007-2013 programming period Article 32b of the ESF Regulation No

10812006 which only covers Convergence regions describes the policy field

ldquostrengthening institutional capacity and the efficiency of public administrations and

public services at national regional and local level and where relevant of the social

partners and non-governmental organisations with a view to reforms better

regulation and good governance especially in the economic employment education

social environmental and judicial fieldsrdquo With the support for SIC a more horizontal

approach to capacity building was introduced in the 2007-2013 programming which

1 It is to be noted that according to the Regulation expenditure of the 2007-2013 period is eligible if incurred by 31122015 which is why the current report does not cover the last year of implementation Final data on spending participants and results are then higher than the ones reported



ii

complemented the existing institutional capacity support provided in other policy

fields Notable areas where this was the case include employment education and

social inclusion as well as in the implementation of the structural funds themselves

(technical assistance)

Programming of SIC under the ESF

During the 2007-2013 programming period 14 MSs included Priority Axes

dedicated to SIC interventions in their ESF programming (the report does not

cover Croatia due to late start of ESF activities upon accession to EU) Four of them

(BG EL HU RO) have explicitly dedicated one OP to institutional capacity building

The remaining ten countries (CZ EE IT LT LV MT PL SI SK UK) have OPs with

one or more PA dedicated to SIC In total 21 OPs were dedicated to SIC or had one or

more PA dedicated to this theme In total 34 PAs and 78 actions were targeting SIC

Most OPs are national but in Italy (5 out of 7) and in the United Kingdom there are

also regional OPs

ESF SIC investment is closely linked to SIC-related challenges in the relevant MS

and the corresponding Country Specific Recommendations (CSR) that the European

Commission issued during the programming period Besides a general need for

improved effectiveness and efficiency of public administrations recurring themes in

the CSRs are simplifying the regulatory system and improving the business

environment Other themes include the introduction of e-government reforms in the

judiciary sector and anti-corruption policies and public procurement regulation and

practices Most of the individual CSRs were explicitly addressed by ESF SIC

interventions

Capacity building under the SIC theme addressed structures and processes as well as

human resources Some 70 of actions at the level between PA and the actual

interventions addressed structures and processes The horizontal approach under

SIC enabled the development of more thematic approaches such as those related to

improving the business environment introducing strategic planning and management

strengthening quality assurance or the role of the regional or local level in policy

development and implementation In the majority of actions organisational changes

address national local or regional levels by optimising the structures of the central

district and municipal administration An almost equally high share of the actions

addressed the development of human capital This included staff capacity building

interventions as well as the development and implementation of human resources

management strategies Developing human resource management under ESF covers

several areas including recruitment staff motivation systems for accreditation of

public servants internal mobility gender mainstreaming and mutual learning ESF

SIC also supported the development of tools related to e-government and helped

improve monitoring and evaluation systems While most activities seem to target the

public sector as a whole some focus on a specific policy sector such as the judicial

system

In capacity building interventions the target group is typically the staff of the

beneficiary organisations

Financial programming and implementation

In the EU-28 a total of euro2419 million was allocated to OPs or PAs that were dedicated

to SIC objectives This constitutes 21 of total allocated funding under ESF and 4

of funds available in convergence regions and includes funding from national (public

and private) sources as well as the amount of co-funding planned from the EU This

sum includes euro10 million allocated in Croatia whose interventions do not fall under

the scope of the present study The highest absolute levels of SIC allocation are found

in EL and PL while countries that allocate the highest share to SIC relative to their

overall ESF budgets (over 12) are BG and LT followed by MT and SI

The total amount of certified eligible expenditure by the end 2014 was euro167 million

This constitutes 693 of SIC allocated funding at the EU-27 level For comparison



iii

the implementation rate (level of spending) for the total ESF budget of SIC allocated

funding amounted to 793 Implementation rates differ considerably between

countries and PAs It is worth mentioning that the lack of adequate administrative

capacity of beneficiaries might have contributed to the low absorption of ESF SIC

investments in these MSregions according to the so-called ldquocapacity traprdquo effect

Effectiveness and impacts

In total 14 million participations were registered in SIC related interventions

Participants in SIC interventions are above all staff from public institutions social

partners and NGOs receiving training These participations result in a set of

characteristics which is very different from other ESF priorities as almost all

participants are employees and most of the participants in SIC interventions (57)

are well educated (ISCED 5 and 6) Participants in SIC interventions are older than

ESF participants on average Young people (15-24) are strongly under-represented

(4 for SIC interventions versus 31 for ESF as a whole) The majority of

participants are women (64)

In terms of outputs during the 2007-2013 programming period 17000 training

programmes were conducted and 4000 studies campaigns public consultations

reviews (laws procedures) reports etc implemented Some 95000 organisations

institutions were involved in SIC-related interventions The organisations that the ESF

supported besides public administrations include bodies of the judiciary county level

government offices boards of public benefit activities at the regional level and

municipalities Other outputs include at least 1500 projects or activities launched

some 250 guides and guidelines produced and 150 new structures established


The results achieved through ESF SIC funding during the 2007-2013 period vary

Approximately 512000 individuals gained a qualification 87000 reported other

positive results some 2000 entities or organisations were established or recorded

other positive results and more than 1700 productssystemstools were developed It

should be mentioned however that due to data limitations it was not possible to

aggregate all results as reported in the AIR of ESF programmes and as a consequence

this leads to systematic underreporting of the results of ESF

ESF supported interventions helped to reduce the administrative burden for citizens

and businesses and contributed to the production of better quality policies and

legislation Management systems and practices were changed to incorporate modern

human resource management and planning techniques The support for developing

institutional capacity also contributed to achievements in specific policy areas such as

equal opportunities environmental policies and the social dialogue

Four fields of activities were analysed in more depth during the study

Strengthening of the judiciary was supported by activities including the training of

magistrates or employees of judiciary offices and the introduction of court case

management systems These activities resulted in a reduction of the duration of

judicial procedures in several countries (SI PL) The effectiveness of judiciary bodies

and offices was also increased in terms of management and quality assurance HR and

provision and equipping judiciary staff dealing with economic cases Strategic

planning and management was improved (EL LT LV and PL) by increasing the

number or the share of public administration offices that implemented management

systems and quality assurance processes Increasing the number of services available

to citizens and businesses online and training public administration staff to use them

properly were a means to achieve MS ambitions in the field of e-government

Improving the environment for businesses was achieved by shortening the time

needed for setting up or registering a business and decreasing administrative costs

Other achievements include the simplification of administrative procedures and

implementation of the lsquoone-stop-shoprsquo system related to start up business



iv

Information on impacts is available for six countries only Typically this information

is of a more qualitative nature and does not permit hard conclusions to be drawn

According to World Bank data improvements in the quality of public administrations

occurred between 2007 and 2014 especially in the field of government effectiveness

and rule of law The perception of regulatory quality improved in several countries

particularly the three Baltic States as well as in Poland and Romania It is to be

expected that ESF has contributed to these changes However this causal relationship

can only be established through impact assessments and evaluations The evidence

available at this point is insufficient to draw conclusions in this respect

The political and institutional environment is flagged up as a crucial factor for

successful SIC interventions under ESF by various countries (CZ EL HU IT LT MT

RO SK) Rapid changes in government politicised institutions and lack of political

support were all cited as impediments to the effectiveness of SIC interventions

Other evaluation findings

The findings regarding four further evaluation criteria are as follows

Efficiency Available information does not allow conclusions regarding the

efficiency of SIC interventions The assessment of efficiency is hampered by the

fact that the outputs of various activities are not defined in terms of the

number of persons or objects

Sustainability SIC interventions sustainability refers to both the continuation

of funded projects (with or without EU funding) and the achieved results in

terms of increased empowerment and adaptation to new needs as they

develop The sustainability of SIC interventions is particularly dependent on the

context in which they are implemented and which these same interventions aim

to support

Gender sensitivity Gender equality is seldom targeted directly by SIC

interventions through positive actions However in some countries SIC

interventions were designed in such a way that in their implementation at

least women and womenrsquos interests are taken into account or possibly

furthered SIC interventions typically have more female than male participants

For most countries this reflects the over-representation of women in public

institutions

Community added value The main effect from ESF SIC support is a volume

effect This effect has been even greater than it otherwise would have been due

to the impact of the financial crisis on MS budgets ESF has also added value by

broadening the scope of the interventions undertaken by MSs or by putting

administrative capacity on the agenda SIC funding played a relevant role in

supporting the introduction and testing of innovative tools or systems such as

the introduction of e-government

Overview of key lesson learned

Based on the findings of the study key lessons were drawn for six areas

Policy choices The findings of this evaluation confirm the need for supporting

more general horizontal capacity building interventions as provided by the

activities under the SIC priority The contribution of ESF SIC to the Europe

2020 Strategy might be further enhanced by specifying the more relevant fields

of ESF SIC support such as e-government or business-friendly administration

The institutional and political context remains a key success and risk factor for

capacity building interventions

Target groups These have a specific meaning in the framework of SIC

interventions referring in particular to staff of the beneficiary organisations

With regard to beneficiaries both their motivation and their capacity are

important factors for the success or failure of SIC interventions

Appropriate programming A comprehensive and strategic approach to

capacity building as well as a well-defined intervention logic are required by



v

MS Programming should go well beyond the specific objectives and into the

realm of intermediate and final impact Support provided to countries should

consider the five key factors that influence the success of SIC interventions

management strategic approach and intervention logic motivation and

capacities of beneficiaries cooperation and coordination and context factors

New programmes need to make sure that results and impacts whose

sustainability required further funding are indeed continued

Effective implementation Issues concerning the management of the OP or

PA are often linked to a lack of administrative capacity in the Managing

Authority or Intermediate Body both in terms of the number and qualifications

of staff Significant personnel turnover and frequent changes in staff

contributed to mistakes being made in financial reporting by beneficiaries

which was further hampered by complicated and often-changing rules and

errors in the implementation process

Monitoring The following improvements are suggested extend the use of

compulsory indicators to cover an agreed classification of interventions review

ex-ante the output and result indicators proposed by MS to see if they comply

with SMART criteria apply a categorisation into common output and result

indicators in the SFC database More systematic guidance on the difference

between indicators for capacity enhancement performance and impact

indicators could help countries formulate better indicators for monitoring

results In addition a benchmark is needed against which achievements can be

measured

Evaluation Fields of activities as found in the CSRs for example could

provide a starting point for the development of impact indicators for ex-post

evaluation



6

1 Introduction

11 Background

This report is for Task 3A Thematic EU Synthesis Reports of the ldquoESF 2007-2013 Ex-

Post Evaluation Synthesisrdquo (Contract No VC20150098)

The purpose of the Ex-Post Evaluation is to synthesise and update the results of three

ESF thematic ex-post evaluations that were launched by DG EMPL during 2014 and

covered the following ESF Priorities Adaptability and Human Capital (grouped under

the ex-post evaluation Investment in Human Capital) Supporting the Integration of

Disadvantaged Groups into Labour Marked and Society (Social Inclusion) and Access

and Sustainable Integration into Employment (Access to employment) Under Task 3A

the Synthesis shall provide a supplementary evaluation of the ESF Priorities

lsquoStrengthening Institutional Capacityrsquo (ESF Reg 10812006 Art 32b) - the present

report - and - lsquoPromoting Partnershipsrsquo (Art 31e) which is presented in a separate

document These priorities were not covered by separate services and therefore

providing the key information needed in order to compile the EU synthesis report

covering all the ESF Priorities

Strengthening Institutional Capacity (SIC) is one of the policy priorities supported by


108120062 only covers Convergence regions and describes the policy field





social environmental and judicial fieldsrdquo

Strengthening institutional capacity was a new theme introduced for the 2007-2013

period Until then capacity building was supported for specific sectors notably

employment social inclusion and education and for the implementation of the

structural funds themselves (technical assistance) With SIC a more horizontal

approach was introduced that aimed at improving good policy and programme design

monitoring and evaluating a variety of activities and supporting capacity building in

the delivery of policies and programmes Specific fields supported by ESF SIC include

strategic planning and management support to the judiciary sector e-government

and promoting a business-friendly environment

This thematic report builds upon the knowledge and information collected during the

previous tasks of the synthesis evaluation particularly the Country Synthesis Reports

(CSR) that provide information on each and every ESF policy priority including a

summary overview of the Strengthening Institutional Capacity priority

12 Objectives

This thematic synthesis report provides an overview of the implementation of the ESF

Priority SIC at EU level in terms of implemented actions financial resources

participants outputs and results The report also illustrates how resources have been

used the effectiveness of implemented interventions (in terms of results) and

efficiency measured in terms of financial resources spent in order to achieve them

2 Regulation (EC) No 10812006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the European Social Fund and repealing Regulation (EC) No 17841999



7

The report also aims to provide an assessment of the sustainability community added

value and contribution to gender equality of the SIC priority thus feeding the most

relevant lessons learned and conclusions of the analysis

13 Scope

In total 14 of the EU-27 MSs defined one or more ESF OPs that have one or more

Priority Axes (PA) that predominantly address SIC (in total 34 SIC-related PAs in 21

OPs)3 A full list of these Priority Axes is presented in Annex I The programmes

covered the period between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2013 with operations

continuing until 31 December 2015 However the evaluation could only draw on 2014

data reported by the MSs in the Annual Implementation Reports (AIR) submitted to

the Commission by 30 June 2015

14 Methodological Approach and information sources

The identification of Priority Axes relevant to SIC was based on the Preparatory Study

of the Ex-post evaluation of the ESF 2007-2013 the ESF Expert Evaluation Network

reports and the three ex-post thematic evaluations This selection was used as the

main reference to identify MSs and OPs with Priority Axes relevant to this field this

selection was further refined over the course of Task 2 ndash Country Synthesis Reports

For these PAs an analysis of the participants was carried out (Annex XXIII data) as

well as of the groups of outputs and results achieved by the ESF Each MS has to

report on these in the AIR and they can be extracted from the System for Fund

Management in the European Union (SFC2007)

Country experts in the relevant MSs were asked to review and integrate SFC data

(based on AIRs) if necessary Most importantly experts were asked to fill in country

templates enabling the assessment of the main activities of SIC that have been

carried out under the selected OPs for this report Also any other relevant information

such as the sustainability of the activities and results the contribution to gender

equality the community added value (CAV) the key success and failure factors and

the main lessons learned These templates were to be completed based on the

expertrsquos own assessment information drawn from the Operational Programmes and

AIRs 2007-2014 relevant evaluations or other sources of information available at

national level and in some cases through ad-hoc interviews with Managing

Authorities (MA)

The Country Synthesis Reports and templates filled in by country experts were a key

information source as the SIC Priority covers a relatively small share of ESF resources

SIC differs from the other priorities as it is not directly focused on educationtraining

or employment-related objectives for individuals but rather focuses on strengthening

structures and entities directly or indirectly involved in implementing such objectives

For this reason available quantitative data may not be representative of the relevance

and effectiveness of related interventions which is why additional qualitative

information had to be collected

15 Structure of the report

The report begins by reviewing briefly the background and content of the theme

(Chapter 2) Chapter 3 links SIC interventions to national and EU policies and

3 Please note that this could be a PA but in some cases also sub priorities when a PA is split up across more than one ESF theme



8

explains and analyses the activities foreseen It goes on to describe how SIC related

interventions are integrated into the ESF programming by MSs and the subsequent

impact of the economic crisis on the actual implementation Finally this chapter

discusses the financial performance Chapter 4 focuses on the evaluation criteria (ie

effectiveness efficiency sustainability gender sensitivity community added value and

socio-economic impact) The conclusions of the above analyses are presented in the

final chapter (Chapter 5) in terms of the lessons learned in six areas



9

2 Key SIC challenges and policy directions in the EU in the 2007-2013 programming period

Key findings

The quality of public policies and their implementation has been on the European

agenda since the beginning of the century It was also a key issue in the

preparation of countries for EU accession and the support the EU provided to them

amongst others in the framework of the PHARE programme

The modernisation of public administration was identified as one of the five

priorities in the Commissionrsquos recent Annual Growth Surveys Between 2012 and

2014 around 20 countries have been receiving country specific recommendations

related to public administration every year

Three dimensions of institutional capacity can be identified structures and

processes human resources systems and tools

Article 32b of ESF 2007-2013 Regulation identifies SIC as one of the five ESF

priorities focusing exclusively on Convergence regions

21 Evolution of the institutional capacity building focus

211 The origins of institutional capacity building support

The concept of institutional capacity owes much to the work conducted in the

framework of development aid According to De Koning et al (2006) the term

capacity building was introduced in the late 1980s It has various predecessors

though with the concept of institution building arising as early as the 1950s

It was also a key issue in the preparation of countries for EU accession and the

support the EU provided to them amongst others in the framework of the PHARE

programme It was recognised that only by developing appropriate administrative and

judicial structures would the new or adapted legislation be implemented effectively

(European Union 2010 p 16-17) The PHARE programme and the instrument for

pre-accession assistance (IPA) as of 2007 the Technical Assistance and Information

Exchange instrument (TAIEX) and Twinning have helped accession countries to

increase their institutional capacity After accession further support was deemed

necessary in this area and the ESF became the new vehicle for delivering it (European

Union 2010 p 18)

According to Ferry (2013) institutional capacity has remained an issue for Cohesion

policy in these countries His literature review revealed that there are many absorption

challenges faced by EU-10 countries both during and after accession Administrative

reforms and institutional instability were impeding the effectiveness of management

and implementation systems The collection and analysis of monitoring data has also

greatly suffered from this as did the implementation of ESF Ferry refers to a number

of issues in particular ldquoadministrative capacity weaknesses in managing authorities

(MA) lack of funding shortages of administrative resources high staff turnover lack

of political steer and administrative complexitiesrdquo (Ferry 2013 p 30)

212 Good governance as a deciding factor for competitiveness and cohesion

The quality of public policies and their implementation has also been on the European

agenda since the beginning of the century In the early 2000s the European

Commission identified the reform of European governance as one of its four strategic

objectives This entailed adapting European institutions and increasing the coherence

of its policies The Lisbon Treaty (ratified at the end of 2009) supported this by giving

a stronger role to the European Parliament and national parliaments and more

opportunities for citizens to have their voices heard The Lisbon Treaty also underlines

the importance of public services in MSs for social and regional cohesion it also

included key principles for action to promote effective services of general economic

interest Subsequently the Europe 2020 strategy for smart sustainable and inclusive

growth builds on this and emphasises the modernisation of labour markets and



10

enhancing the performance of education systems The modernisation of public

administration was identified as one of the five priorities in the Commissionrsquos recent

Annual Growth Surveys Between 2012 and 2014 around 20 countries have been

receiving country specific recommendations related to public administration every

year4

The reason for making institutional capacity a priority across the European Union is

that it is assumed to promote competitiveness eg through a stable business

environment and lower regulatory and administrative burdens This will also help

increase employment levels along with the number of stable and high quality jobs It

can also be argued that increased administrative capacity will foster social inclusion

and social cohesion Increased revenue from taxation and social security contributions

from well-functioning economies as well as government services operating more

efficiently will allow the maintenance of adequate levels of social protection It will in

brief increase productivity and in the economy improve the quality of the design and

implementation of policies for growth and employment and is the basis for good

governance (European Union 2010)

The European Union has been systematically and actively promoting public

administration reforms (PAR) in central and Eastern European countries both during

and after the accession process These MSs are part of an EU-wide effort of

modernising Public Employment Services (PES) and other institutions in the field of

labour social and educational policies which are supported under the Human Capital

and Access to Employment priorities (and are covered by the relevant thematic

evaluations)

213 Definitions and concepts

A number of dimensions of capacity building can be emphasised De Koning et al

(2006) identify investment in the human capital of individuals group-oriented

development organisational development or institutional development Building on

the classification applied by the World Bank the Ecorys (2011) report identifies three

dimensions that have since been used in various sources These concern structures

people and tools and are as follows

Structures relate to legislation delivery and development structures as well as

overall coordination cooperation and partnership

Human resources area include competence gaps (especially among senior and

line managers) staff turnover lack of HR policies (especially of modern HR

management approaches) lack of employee engagement and rigorous

application to tasks and in some cases a focus on narrow specialisms rather

than on broader management and public service competences

Systems and tools include the use of ICT and its embeddedness in

organisational processes the management of information systems finance

monitoring and evaluation and the state of play with regards to performance

management and the management of workloads

4 For more information see httpeceuropaeueurope2020making-it-happencountry-specific-recommendationsindex_enhtm



11

De Koning et al (2006) also distinguish different types of interventions that may be

used in capacity building projects and programmes knowledge skills tools and

equipment

22 Capacity building and ESF

The ESF thematic paper on promoting good governance highlights the importance of

having high quality public administration for economic prosperity as well as the well-

being of societies and their citizens (European Commission 2014)

For the 2007-2013 programming period three articles of the ESF Regulation (EC

10812006) are of particular relevance to capacity building

Article 31b addresses both the Convergence and the Regional

Competitiveness and Employment objectives It states that the ESF shall

support actions in MSs by promoting the modernisation and strengthening of

labour market institutions particularly employment services and other relevant

initiatives in the context of the strategies of the European Union and the MSs

for full employment

Article 31d refers to ESF support to enhance human capital by promoting the

design and introduction of reforms in education and training systems [] and

the continual updating of the skills of training personnel

Article 32b focuses exclusively on the Convergence regions mentioning that

the ESF shall support actions in MSs that are strengthening institutional

capacity and the efficiency of public administrations and public services at

national regional and local level Where relevant Article 32b also focuses on

strengthening social partners and non-governmental organisations These

interventions are targeted towards implementing reforms better regulation and

good governance This is especially the case in the economic employment

education social environmental and judicial fields

Article 32b covers SIC interventions as evaluated in the present study The focus on

institutional capacity and efficiency was new in the 2007-2013 programming period

Before 2007 the ESF objectives were defined only in the areas of employment social

inclusion and education

SIC interventions represent one of the additional objectives for so-called Convergence

regions Convergence regions are defined as those regions having per capita gross

domestic product (GDP) less than 75 of the average GDP of the EU-255

The following table summarises the logic behind ESF interventions in the field of

institutional capacity

Table 1 Institutional capacity objectives tree for ESF

Driver Economic growth employment and good governance (Lisbon Strategy)

Global objectives

The ESF shall contribute to the priorities of the Community with regard to

strengthening economic and social cohesion by improving employment

and job opportunities encouraging a high level of employment and a

5 Commission Decision C(2006)3475 of 4th August 2006 and Commission Decision C(2007) 1283 of 26 March 2007 amending Decision 2006595EC as concerns Bulgaria and Romania)



12

greater number of better jobs It shall achieve this by supporting MSs

policies aiming to achieve full employment ensure quality and

productivity at work promote social inclusion including the access of

disadvantaged people to employment and reduce national regional

and local employment disparities

Specific objectives

Article 32b Within the framework of the Convergence objective ESF shall

support actions in MSs under the priorities listed below

ldquoStrengthening institutional capacity and the efficiency of public

administrations and public services at national regional and local level Where

relevant these policies will also target social partners and non-governmental

organisations with a view to reforms better regulation and good governance

especially in the economic employment education social environmental and

judicial fieldsrdquo

Types

of interventions

(i) Mechanisms to improve good policy and programme design monitoring

and evaluation will be achieved through studies statistics expert advice

support for interdepartmental coordination and dialogue between relevant

public and private bodies

(ii) Capacity building in the delivery of policies and programmes in the

relevant fields including those regarding the enforcement of legislation

especially through continuous managerial and staff training as well as specific

support to key services inspectorates and socio-economic actors this includes

social and environmental partners relevant non-governmental organisations

and representative professional organisations

Source Assessment of administrative and institutional capacity building interventions and future needs in the context of European Social Fund (VC2009066 - 009)

The analytical framework developed for the previous evaluation of administrative

capacity under ESF (Ecorys 2011) summarised the need for capacity building

interventions as follows

poor performance of public administration

weak response to citizensrsquo and firmsrsquo needs

higher well-being of citizens through increased competitiveness and cohesion



13

3 Overview of key ESF SIC investment features in the 27 Member States

Key findings

ESF SIC investment is closely linked with SIC-related challenges in the relevant

MS All countries that have programmed a SIC-dedicated OP or PA received CSR

over the 2007-2013 period covering SIC-related themes

SIC-related CSR can take the form of general recommendations such as improving

the overall effectiveness of the public administration of the regulatory capacity of

the public bodies for example or they can relate to specific fields of interventions

such as the judiciary or the business environment

Some 70 of SIC actions at the level between PA and the actual interventions

addressed structures and processes The horizontal approach under SIC

enabled the development of more thematic approaches such as those related to

improving the business environment introducing strategic planning and

management and strengthening quality assurance

An almost equally high share of the actions addressed the development of human

capital This included staff capacity building interventions as well as the

development and implementation of human resources management strategies

ESF SIC also supported the development of tools such as those related to e-

government and the improvement of monitoring and evaluation systems

While most activities seem to target the public sector as a whole some focus on a

specific policy sector such as the judicial system

During the 2007-2013 programming period 14 of EU-27 included Priority Axes

dedicated to SIC interventions in their ESF programming Four of them (BG EL

HU RO) have explicitly dedicated one OP to institutional capacity building The

remaining ten countries (IT LT LV MT PL RO SI SL SK UK) have OPs with one

or more PAs dedicated to SIC In total 21 OPs were dedicated to SIC or had one or

more PA dedicated to this theme In total 34 PAs and 78 actions were targeting

SIC

Within EU-28 a total of euro2419 million was allocated to OPs or PAs that were

dedicated to SIC objectives (EU+national) this constitutes 21 of total allocated

funding under ESF and 4 of the funds available in convergence regions The

highest absolute levels of SIC allocation are found in EL and PL while countries

that allocate the highest share to SIC relative to their overall ESF budgets (over

12) are BG and LT followed by MT and SI

31 Links to the national and EU policy priorities main activities and target groups

311 Links to the national and EU policy directions

ESF SIC investment is closely linked with SIC-related challenges in the relevant MS

All countries that have programmed a SIC-dedicated OP or PA received Country

specific recommendations over the 2007-2013 period covering SIC-related themes

Country Specific Recommendations (CSRs) are issued for each MS

In the context of the European Semester since 2011 the Commission undertakes a

detailed analysis of MS plans for budgetary macroeconomic and structural reforms

and provides them with CSR for the next 12-18 months These recommendations also

contribute to the objectives of the EUs long-term strategy for jobs and growth and the

Europe 2020 strategy

Annex I presents a full overview of how SIC interventions addressed country specific

recommendations

The content of the CSRs varies from country to country and from year to year

Although all MSs have their own CSR proposals there are common themes that arise

This section highlights the common key messages in the fields that are relevant for



14

SIC and provides an overview of the types of categoriesmeasures in which the

European Commission issued CSRs over the years from 2007-2013 and indicates how

these relate to specific MSs

Table 2 below shows how these CSRs clustered by typology are lsquodistributedrsquo across

the relevant MS over the 2007-2013 programming period SIC-related CSR can take

the form of general recommendations such as improving the overall effectiveness of

the public administration of the regulatory capacity of the public bodies for example

or they can relate to specific fields of interventions such as the judiciary or the

business environment The table illustrates that the overall improvement of the public

administration is a challenge identified in at least nine out of the 14 MSs Improving

the business environment facilitating entrepreneurship and business start-ups and

increasing the attractiveness of a country as an investment destination has been

identified a challenge in at least 11 MSs Improving the regulatory capacity of public

bodies and supporting simplification (including the aim to improve the business

environment) has been identified as a challenge in at least six MSs The reform and

the support of the judiciary sector has been identified as a specific challenge in at

least three MSs (this does not mean it is not a challenge for other MS with the

judiciary being a part of public administration)

Table 2 SIC-related challenges in MS with a dedicated SIC PA or OP

Type of challenge BG CZ EE EL HU IT LT LV MT PL RO SI SK UK

effectiveness and efficiency

of the public administration x x x x x x x x x

effectiveness of the judiciaryreform x x x x

business environment x x x x x x x x x x x

Anti-corruptionpromotion of rule of law x x x

public procurement x x x

absorption of ESI funds x

e-government x x x x

regulatory systemsimplification administrative burden

x x x x x x

Source own elaboration on the basis of CSR2007-2009 2010-201213

Challenges and related recommendations are also visible in national strategies and

ESF SIC investments constitute an integral part of the national effort to support good

governance and improvements to the public administration in many countries This is

particularly the case in countries that have concentrated a relatively large amount of

ESF resources to this priority or those that have dedicated a full OP to it such as in

the case of BG EL HU and RO

In the case of Bulgaria for example where there is a separate OP devoted to

administrative reform and strengthening institutional capacity ndash OP Administrative

Capacity (OPAC) ndash the ESF plays an important role in supporting reforms and capacity

OPAC financed some of the most important measures in the National Reform

Programme (NRP) and was indeed a key instrument for the administrative reform in

Bulgaria where these reform processes play an important role in the national agenda

also considering its relatively recent accession to the EU and of its political past



15

In Greece a number of reforms have been implemented in the past decade mainly in

the fields of state-citizen relationships the development of e-government human

resource management better regulation and control mechanisms These are fully in

line with the strategic goal of the OP Administrative Reform 2007-2013 which aimed

to improve the quality of governance through enhancing the effectiveness and

efficiency of public organisations whilst also strengthening the accountability and

professionalism through broadening public consultation and the participation of

stakeholders

In Romania the main contribution of the State Reform OP was to support the

accomplishment of the strategy for improving the capacity of the public

administration The main leverage used involved creating more efficient local

administration units and reducing the development gap between local and central

public administrations Increasing the expertise of staff in public institutions through

participation in specialised training (ICT data management systems) helped in

preparing them for the development of e-government services and facilitated the

simplification processes relating to administrative procedures in line with the National

Strategy for the Digital agenda for Romania and the European Digital agenda

During the last few decades public administration reform strategies in Italy have

been focusing on two main areas a) the delivery of (public) services to citizens and

companies b) the management of public (material and immaterial) goods Both areas

have been subject to reforms aimed at improving their levels of effectiveness and

efficiency In more detail the reform strategies focused on service delivery (covering

the national regional and sub-regional level along with relevant policy actors) and

tackling long-standing criticisms such as the overall lack of efficiency in Public

Administrations (especially in terms of the optimisation of governance mechanisms)

They also concentrated in the simplification of administrative rules and regulations and

the efficiency and effectiveness of (mainly civil) justice As for the reforms they

focused on improving the management of public goods the main critical issues that

have been covered relate to the fight against corruption (especially in public tenders

and contracts) the effective spending of public funding (national but also EU) and the

full implementation of relevant infrastructure investments These strategies have been

accompanied by reforms supporting the productivity and assessment of PA employees

and management as well as of the organisations themselves

Table 3 shows the linkage between the CSRs received and whether relevant MSs had

addressed these through ESF SIC investment Only in five MSs (BG CZ EE IT LT)

were the recommendations not fully addressed in some specific years

Table 3 CSR addressed under SIC interventions by MS

Country 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012

BG NA YES partially YES partially YES partially YES partially

CZ YES NO NA YES YES

EE NA YES NA NA YES partially

EL YES YES YES NA NA

HU YES YES YES YES YES

IT NO NO YES YES

LT NA YES partially YES partially YES NA



16

Country 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012

LV NA NA NA NA NA

MT YES YES NA NA NA

PL YES YES NA YES YES

RO NA YES YES NA NA

SI NA NA YES NA

SK YES YES YES YES YES

UK NA NA NA NA NA

Source overall assessment of country experts based on research carried out by them and national evaluations conducted in the country

NA means that no recommendations were made

Details of the recommendations are provided in Annex II

In the Czech Republic SIC-related ESF programming addressed all the

recommendations apart from the one aiming to further quicken the ldquoprogress in the

ICT area including through the implementation and monitoring of a fully enabled legal

environment for e-governmentrdquo This implementation began in 2008 although a start

was made in 2007 as was then recommended

Estonia also used ESF funding for SIC interventions to address most of the

recommendations it received although SIC interventions were not explicitly used to

support the merging of municipalities as was recommended in 2012

Italy did not use ESF funds to explicitly address the recommendations it received in

2007 and 2008 These recommendations involved the introduction of an impact

assessment system and the competition in product and service markets The latter

was taken up again by the recommendations in the following years and ESF SIC

interventions were used to improve the situation

Table 4 below provides an overview of the linkages between MSsrsquo policies and ESF

support to SIC

Most MSs that have included PAs on SIC use ESF to obtain additional funding to

support good governance and to improve the delivery systems and methods for

services to citizens and businesses in their country Most countries also use it to test

innovative activities ESF is least commonly used to reach new target groups which is

understandable for SIC interventions

Table 4 Contribution of ESF SIC interventions to MS policies

ESF provided additional funding to

support good governance

ESF was used to test new and innovative

activities

ESF was used to reach new target groups

ESF was used to improve PA service

delivery- systems and methods

BG Y Y N Y

CZ Y Y N Y

EE Y Y Y Y



17

ESF provided additional funding to support good governance

ESF was used to test new and innovative activities


ESF was used to improve PA service delivery- systems and

methods

EL Y Y N Y

HU Y N N Y

IT Y Y N Y

LT Y Y Y Y

LV Y Y Y Y

MT Y Y Y Y

PL Y Y N Y

RO Y N N Y

SI Y Y Y Y

SK Y Y N Y

UK N N N Y

Source overall assessment of country experts based on research carried out by them and

national evaluations conducted in the country

312 Key characteristics of activities and target groups at EU and MS level

An overview of the key characteristics of activities and targets groups that are the

focus of ESF SIC investment is provided below This is based mainly on the analysis of

lsquoactionsrsquo that have been programmed and carried out at MS level By actions we refer

to the unit of analysis below PA level6

Art 32b of the ESF Regulation distinguishes two main groups of interventions those

that relate to design monitoring and evaluation and those related to the delivery of

policies and programmes Only one in 10 actions focuses solely on the first objective

More than one-third of the actions focus on delivery and almost half of the measures

address both (see Table 5 below)

Most of the actions target the national level (70) However substantial numbers

address additionally local (41) andor regional (53) levels Only 4 of actions

have an international character

6 In the 2007-2013 programming period there is no standardised unit below the PA level such

as the measures in the 2000-2006 period However many Member States distinguish a lsquomeasure typersquo level Sometimes these are still called measures although sometimes other names are given In this report they are referred to as lsquoactionsrsquo and some of the analyses are conducted at this level



18

Public entities were the main beneficiary of SIC actions (85) Social partners and

NGOs were targeted by approximately a quarter of the actions


concerned and as of total number of actions addressing a certain category

Characteristic and categories Absolute

no

Objective (ESF Regulation Art 32b i and ii)

Design MampE 8 103

Delivery 28 359

Both 38 487

No information 4 51

Total 78 100

Level of the intervention (multiple answers possible)

Local 33 423

Regional 42 539

National 56 718

International 3 39

No information 8 103

Recipients

Public entities 66 846

Social partners 21 269

NGOs 19 244

Source country templates - assessment by country experts based on review of relevant

literature and Country synthesis reports

In order to carry out a more detailed analysis we reviewed the key characteristics at

MS level Table 6 below shows whether a certain characteristic occurs in one or more

of the actions in each country This analysis is similar to that carried out at an OP

level However in the analysis at OP level the results for Bulgaria (two OPs) and

Italy (seven OPs) would lsquocolourrsquo the results excessively which is the reason why we

opted for a comparison of MSs

Table 6 illustrates the results for the various characteristics Very few MSs have

measures that focus exclusively on the design monitoring and evaluation of policies

and programmes or measures with an international component Few MSs have

measures that focus on e-government under ESF SIC actions Of course these actions

may be specifically targeted under other themes

Some more detailed conclusions emerge when we compare countries by the most

common types of OPs (section 313) dedicated OPs regional OPs and human

resources or sectoral OPs

Objective of the interventions

In Hungary and Bulgaria only (two of the countries with dedicated OPs) can

actions be found that focus solely on design monitoring and evaluation (obj

32bi)

All four countries with dedicated OPs have one or more actions that uniquely

target the second objective (delivery) In the two other groups this is the case

for around half of the countries

The mixed approach can be found in some of the countries in all three groups

Level of the interventions

All Member States have one or more actions at national level



19

As expected all regional OPs target the regional level In the two other groups

around half of the countries have PAsactions addressing the regional level

In Bulgaria only do the actions under the administrative capacity OP have an

international dimension

Recipients

In all MSs public institutions benefit from institutional capacity building actions

Social partners and NGOs are often targeted as an explicit (BG EE SK) or

implicit (EL IT SI) target group of human resource development actions They

are also more likely to be amongst the recipients when the objective of actions

is to increase cooperation (BG) to further social dialogue (MT) or to improve

service delivery to citizens or businesses (BG LT) Social partners or NGOs are

also target groups when better regulation (EE) and equal opportunities (EE) are

prioritised


characteristic in one or more actions within a MS)

BG CZ EE EL HU IT LT LV MT PL RO SI SK UK Tot

ESF objective 32b i and ii

Design MampE 1 1 2

Delivery 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

Both 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8


Local 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

Regional 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

National 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12

International 1 1

Recipients (multiple answers possible)

Public entities 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 13

Social

partners 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8

NGOs 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8

Source country templates - assessment by country experts based on review of relevant literature and synthesis country report prepared previously

In Italy OP Sicily action linked to Specific Objective ldquoOrdquo and SK action 42 not implemented

so not included in Hungary no information available on level of interventions and recipients in

Slovakia and Czeck Rep no information on objectives

Target groups

In capacity building interventions the concept of target group needs to be considered

carefully If developing structures processes or tools are the objectives of the

intervention the only target group is the staff involved or (other) users of these

systems Thus the target group of SIC interventions are typically the employees of

the beneficiary institutions

313 Key characteristics of specific dimensions and categories

As mentioned above in order to bring out the variety of interventions implemented

with support from the ESF the actions are taken as the starting point for a more

detailed characterisation of SIC interventions The classification departs from the three



20

dimensions distinguished in section 213 structures and processes human resources

systems and tools Categories have been developed that reflect the objectives of ESF

with regard to capacity building on the one hand and the actual objectives and

activities in countries on the other Table 7 below presents the classification as well

as the number of actions to which a dimension or category applies

Table 7 Characteristics of SIC actions

Dimension and categories no of actions

Structures and processes (SampP)

Structures (general) 17

Processes (general or core processes) 5

Structures and processes with a regional or local dimension 36

Processes related to strategic planning and management 12

Structures processes aimed at creating of a business-friendly environment 10

Processes related to quality assurance and quality management systems 6

Human resources (HR)

Human resources management (eg working environment training policies and programmes certification mobility)

17

Staff capacity building 24

Tools

E-governance 14

Monitoring and evaluation systems (MampE) 14

Source information from country templates on objectives and types of activities supported by

ESF

multiple categories possible

The number of actions cannot be added as more than one category may apply to one

action both structures and processes may be addressed in one action as could

human resources systems and staff capacity building Other examples include quality

assurance or e-governance In addition 33 out of the 78 actions (42) could be

classified under more than one dimension

It should be mentioned here that capacity building in the justice system plays an

important role in assuring good governance The activities carried out under these

actions may cover all three of the dimensions identified above

Methodological justification of the classification

The fact that not all actions were classified on all three dimensions is partly due to the nature of

the actions and partly to the fact that this analysis could not be based on a more disaggregated

level of analysis such as the individual interventions The classification was based on a summary description prepared by country experts of the main typologies of interventions or activities that were carried out under the different actions it also includes a global assessment of their characteristics which was also made by country experts The formal titles and the objectives of the relevant OP and PA provided further guidance for the classification These

three sources enabled a detailed classification but cannot capture every single activity and their characteristics carried out in the framework of an action

The three dimensions are discussed in more detail below

314 Structures and processes


Objectives and activities



21

Changing organisational structures is not an aim in itself It is accomplished to create

conditions for other changes that will help realise good governance in the country or

to improve public policies and their implementation directly

In Hungary the ESF SIC investment is aimed at creating lsquothe organisational conditions

for a strategy driven specialised policy approach in the central administrationrsquo This

should contribute to the capacity for self-governance and the quality of legislation

which is targeted under Action 11 of the State Reform OP Under Action 12 support

to the creation and operation of institutional models will help create a simpler and

more transparent organisational structure which in turn will further the development

of more efficient and cost-effective public organisations In Romania revising

developing and optimising the structure of public services (action 21) was undertaken

in order to improve their quality and efficiency

In the majority of actions organisational changes address national as well as local or

regional levels Action 11 of the Bulgarian OP Administrative Capacity aims to create

an effective structure for the State administration by optimising the structures of the

central district and municipal administration ESF SIC support is also used to bring

about and support decentralisation processes Lithuania aims to affect structural

changes at all levels (central regional and local municipality) and identified the need

for support in decentralisation and processes to reduce concentration This is in order

to achieve an optimal distribution of functions among central territorial and local

municipal levels In Romania the main objective of Action 21 in the OP Administrative

Capacity Development is to support structure and process changes resulting from

sectoral decentralisation initiatives The support provided includes training and

technical assistance as well as for the evaluation of pilots for the process of

decentralisation and reducing concentration

Organisational change is sometimes internally driven where it can be aimed at

achieving less fragmentation and duplication of work in Malta for example In other

cases it can be externally driven such as the lsquoone-stop-shoprsquo system developed for

start-ups in Poland (Action 51 OP Human Capital)

The ESF in Poland furthered the development of an important policy design instrument the Social Diagnosis It was a project designed to support the diagnostic work with detailed data

that had been derived from institutional indicators concerning households with a view to investigating the attitudes mind-sets and behaviours of their members It is a diagnosis of Polish conditions and quality of life as they report it Although this research has been ongoing since the 1990s under the ESF programme it has developed and become the main basis for designing policies and providing a source of information for decision makers The scale and impact of the research carried out has been changed considerably thus providing an effective tool for designing policies and strategies7

Beneficiaries and geographical level

All actions address solely public authorities except for the Greek actions that also

target social partners and in one case NGOs Most actions target the national as well

as the regional or local level

Processes (general) 3142


7 EEN 2014 Final country report Poland



22

The Greek administrative reform OP provides a good example to demonstrate the type

of activities undertaken in the framework of structural reforms It captures a range of

activities and interventions which are all addressing the organisational and

operational re-engineering of public organisations A key aim is the rationalisation of

specific administrative functions such as budgeting and the reduction of

administrative burdens Concrete activities include the

introduction of performance and efficiency systems in the central and regional

public organisations

modernisation and rationalisation of the budgeting

simplification of administrative procedures to reduce the administrative

burdens

reduction of the time needed for the issuance of social and state pensions

enhancement of the E-health program (individual e-papers)

introduction of one stop shops for enterprise licences

The Hungarian actions specifically address the renewal of procedures and work

processes as well as organisational development In Malta renewed processes aim to

support the public sector reform whereas in the Czech Republic renewed processes

seek to increase institutional capacity and efficiency The Bulgarian action focuses on

the judicial sector aiming to make it more transparent and effective

The activities undertaken under this heading can be summarised as simplification and

streamlining They include lsquooptimisation of the workflow and better coordinationrsquo in

the judiciary system (BG) streamlining the activities of public administration

authorities (CZ) simplifying the procedures mostly used by the citizens (HU) and

streamlining management processes within the public sector with a view to facilitating

more rapid decision-making and implementation as well as greater accountability of

results (MT)


The SIC interventions that aimed to change processes targeted public administration

itself rather than social partners or NGOs the interventions were a mixture of

national regional and local actions although the emphasis was focused at the national

level


The overarching characteristic of this category of actions is their aim to strengthen

administrative capacity or good governance at the regional or local level These

actions aim to support regional or local authorities in the development and

implementation of policies An element of decentralisation is needed to be present for

actions to be categorised under this heading The classification was performed by

triangulating information from the objectives and description of the OPPA and actions

along with the assessment made by country experts considering the level at which

the actions were foreseen This was the case in regional OPs


Theoretically four elements were identified integrated development territorial

reform regional local and municipal governance and decentralisation In the PAs

dedicated to SIC however no regional planning and development activities were

found Neither were actions aimed at territorial reform Support for decentralisation is

provided as has been discussed above but the undertaking of decentralisation itself is

not encountered in the SIC PAs The only clear decentralisation objective is found in

the Romanian administrative capacity development OP The main objective of action

21 is to support structure and process changes resulting from initiatives of sectoral

decentralisation Studies consultancy training evaluation and mutual learning were



23

all delivered to structures and staff involved in the planning and coordination of the

decentralisation process The evaluation of pilot projects was supported along with

more general studies on the decentralisation process

The predominant types of action classified under this category are therefore those that

aim to strengthen regional local and municipal governance As the majority of

activities undertaken for these actions are already discussed in other categories no

further description is provided here

Some interesting examples of this type of intervention can be found in Italy Two of the most relevant projects implemented by the National OP Governance (that accounts for the majority of ESF SIC-related investment across all OPs) are lsquoCapacitagrave Sudrsquo aimed at reinforcing the

institutional and administrative capacity of Regions in the field of Structural Funds management and networking and lsquoPerformancersquo PA which aims to supporting the reform and modernisation of public administration mainly involving Municipalities At the level of the regional OPs the implementation of the Institution building programme aimed to strengthen the institutional

capacity of the regional public administrations (development of a favourable administrative environment and public policies) the regional OP of Campania in cooperation with the central government funded this programme The main interventions implemented under this

programme include the following organisational support development of a management control system support to administrative simplification and e-government development of an anti-corruption plan and strengthening local development systems


Most of the actions solely target public authorities Actions are always carried out at

regional or local level besides the national level


Six countries have used strategic planning or management tools to enhance their

functioning and performance Estonia Greece Hungary Italy Lithuania and Romania


Most of the activities are part of more general SIC interventions However two

countries have established PAs that are dedicated to performance management

Estonia under its human resources OP has formulated a PA for the enhancement of

strategic management in the public sector and NGOs Hungary also under a human

resources OP formulated a PA dedicated to performance-based career pathways

Examples of such tools are management by objectivesresults policy cycle

management performance management and strategic planning lsquoEfficiency and

performancersquo systems were foreseen for Greece and Hungary which may imply a

somewhat heavy focus on staff performance Information on individual interventions

would be required to clarify this


The beneficiaries are public institutions (all) and NGOs (Greece) The activities target

institutions at national regional and local level

Structures and processes aimed at creating of a business-friendly 3145

environment

Creating a more business-friendly environment is an important feature of the

European 2020 Strategy Actions that address this issue are found in several countries

(including CZ EE EL LT LV MT PL)


Improving the regulatory environment for businesses and reducing their

administrative burden is undertaken with a view to improving the performance of

these and the competitiveness of the MSs Many activities under this heading aim to

improve and simplify the regulatory environment thereby creating an attractive

environment for enterprises and for domestic and foreign investors (CZ EE EL LT



24

MT PL) They also include the development of ex-ante impact assessments or

evaluation systems for calculating the administrative burden for enterprises (EE LT

LV) as well as the introduction of one-stop-shop systems (EL LT PL) Other

activities such as quality assurance and management (discussed below) will also help

to improve the environment in which businesses operate


The end recipients of these actions are businesses but the final beneficiaries are

public authorities at all geographical levels though somewhat more often at national

level

Processes related to quality assurance and quality management 3146

systems

Seven countries focused on quality assurance or quality management as a tool

Bulgaria Hungary Lithuania Latvia Malta Slovenia and Slovakia However the

Slovak action did not end up being implemented


Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Management (QM) systems can and do support

virtually all objectives foreseen for SIC interventions Slovenia for example used the

European common assessment framework (CAF) and the European Foundation for

Quality Management (EFQM) framework Bulgaria Lithuania and Latvia introduced QM

systems with the aim of enhancing the quality of administrative service delivery

These systems are also introduced as part of an overall administrative reform (HU

MT) The introduction of minimum quality standards is part of quality management

although this is not considered to belong in this category if occurring in isolation As

the introduction of quality management systems was usually one of many activities

undertaken in the framework of an individual action more detailed information is not

available on the activities carried out to introduce these systems


The actions undertaken here focus primarily on the public sector on the national level

315 Human resources

In this section we provide an overview of the actions related to human resources

development as they have been programmed and implemented across the 14 MSs

These actions can be divided into two broad categories Human Resources

Management and Capacity building of staff Capacity building of staff usually takes the

form of training activities and programmes although it should be mentioned that

training takes place also outside of HR focused actions In this case training is not a

capacity building objective in itself but aims to improve the strategic management of

an organisation or the implementation an e-government programme

Human resource management 3151


Developing human resource management (HRM) under SIC ESF investment covers

various human resource management areas such as recruitment staff motivation

internships systems of accrediting public servants internal mobility gender

mainstreaming and mutual learning While most activities seem to target the public

sector at large some focus on a specific policy sector such as the judicial system

The Bulgarian Administrative capacity OP has one PA targeting human resource

management in public administration This is further articulated into five actions

Action 21 Modern human resources management in the state (improving recruitment

and human resources management systems including motivation internship

opportunities certification of public servantsrsquo skills and mechanisms for mobility)



25

Action 22 Competent and effective state administration (training programmes and

training for public servants of the central district and municipal administration)

Action 23 Strengthening the capacity of civil society organisations in policymaking

(training for organisational development strategic planning etc)

Action 24 Competent judicial system and effective human resource management

(introducing new human resources management systems and the provision of training

to magistrates and administrative staff)

Action 25 Transnational and interregional cooperation (projects for exchange of good

practices in the field of human resources management)

In Greece the OP for Administrative Reform seeks to improve modernise and reform

the operational capacity of Human Resources Departments in central administrative

units The objective is to improve the quality design and implementation of vocational

education programmes in public administration thereby upgrading the skills

qualifications and knowledge of the personnel in the public administration Concrete

activities include the development of tools for the improvement of the Human

Resources departments and the development of strategic and operational plans for

vocational education institutions Other Greek PAs under the HRD OP focus on gender

mainstreaming in the public sector This is to be attained by a variety of activities

which include improving the legislative framework for gender mainstreaming

increasing the participation of women in decision making evaluating the impact of

public policies in gender mainstreaming enhancing the integration of gender

mainstreaming in public policy enhancing actions targeting the prevention and

combating of violence against women and supporting NGOs that help further female

participation

The Hungarian OP State Reform addressed the need to increase the participation of

women through Human resources improvement strategies through PA 2 (Increasing

the quality of Human Resources) Action 22 which focuses on performance-based

career pathways This PA aims to modernise the instruments for human resources

management focusing in particular on the elaboration and scheduled introduction of

the life path-career management system Aside from the activities such as the

establishment of a government human resource centre which is responsible for the

application of the new HR policy other actions include the elaboration of an

international government officersrsquo and civil servantsrsquo exchange programme along with

the introduction of individual performance assessments that link outcomes to the

remuneration system The PA supports activities that help staff to reconcile obligations

from family and work life

In Lithuania one of the actions under the OP for the development of human resources

targets HRM It aims to improve the management of human resources and strengthen

the administrative capabilities in the public sector Modernising the management of

human resources is undertaken in order to further a more productive use of

knowledge capabilities and skills in the public administration It includes activities

that promote the own initiative of public employees and improving the system of

encouragement

The human resources development OP in Slovenia has an action dedicated to efficient

and effective public administration which includes activities for developing public

management This is done through enforcing the use of modern management

techniques and developing active management of human resources and knowledge

The action also included a system for strategic planning as well as for monitoring the

status of results related to objectives of the priority

In Estonia the OP for human resource development has an action aiming to train and

develop State employees as well as those of local authorities and NGOs It covers

various areas including human resources management Interventions are mostly

implemented in the form of different training studies analyses and development



26

activities Interventions are also to a certain extent enacted through the

development of methodological materials practicing and information activities


All PAs target public authorities The Greek and Estonian PAs also target social

partners NGOs are potential beneficiaries in some Bulgarian Greek and the Estonian

PAs



Sometimes activities under HRM and staff capacity building are strongly intertwined

such as in Poland and the United Kingdom The PA dealing with staff capacity building

under the human capital OP in Poland includes an action advancing the modernisation

of management in public administration and justice administration It used a variety of

activities to achieve this aim revision of all legal acts related to public finance

management improvement of budgetary and strategic planning developing the

system of public tasks evaluation based on indicators strengthening the divisions of

self-government units responsible for monitoring and evaluation improvement of

cooperation mechanisms between public administration units new methods of

management increasing the quality of services implementation of the altered

remuneration system in the public administration development of competence

standards for self-government administration employees and ethical standards

development

Similarly in the United Kingdom the action to build the capacity of public service

sectors includes a more strategic approach to the management of human resources

The aim of staff capacity building in the UK PA is to deliver higher quality services

This entails developing the skills and capacity of the public sector workforce and of the

organisations they are engaged in deliver and sustain the reform agenda It also

included helping leaders and managers build their capacity to lead the workforce

through change securing a more strategic approach to the management of human

resources and addressing specific skills gaps

Specific staff capacity building is undertaken through different types of activities The

main activity is training A variety of possible training subjects are covered by the

Bulgarian example organisational development strategic planning policy making

monitoring of policies business planning and financial management and effective

negotiation and partnership Additional types of training actions are covered by other

MSs such as raising managerial capacity (HU) strategic planning (LV) implementation

of policies and programmes (IT) and negotiation capacities for public private

partnerships (IT)

Other types of activities are found in Malta for example Under the OP that aims to

empower people to seek out new jobs and a better quality of life one of the actions

establishes and elaborates the principle of lifelong learning for the public sector

Activities identified under this intervention area in the OP include training in areas

such as financial regulation and basic skills related to financial management public

procurement project management national environmental and planning legislation

and Community policies which include competition policy Other associated activities

include analyses of training needs scholarships and internships accreditation of

trainers and academic development of the trainers and the introduction of stronger

linkages between training and career development particularly at the boundary

between middle and senior management levels

Greece introduced systems for job profiles and job descriptions programmes for

enhancing the mobility of staff a training needs analysis and a standardisation of

Educational Plans in public administration and certification systems



27

The Estonian OP for human resource development has one action supporting country-

level support structures Interventions include different training counselling

practicing (study tours) and mentoring activities


Most actions aimed at beneficiaries in the public sector Some of the PAs in Greece

Lithuania and Malta also target social partners NGOs are amongst the potential

beneficiaries in Bulgaria Estonia Latvia Malta and Slovakia

Capacity building usually targets the public sector as a whole A clear exception is

found in the Bulgarian lsquoHuman resources developmentrsquo OP The PA dealing with SIC

has two actions with each action concentrating on specific policy sectors

development and modernisation of the labour market system and strengthening the

capacity of institutions for social inclusion and the provision of health services

The target groups do not always remain the same over time however

In Slovakia most of the calls focused on public bodies There was only one call (in two

rounds) designed for NGOs After the experience with the implementation and

administration of projects at NGO level the managing authority took the decision to

focus on the public sector Most of the actions focused on training the employees in

the sector or in some of its institutions (eg building analytical capacities in the

Ministry of Finance capacity building of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak

Republic preparation for EU Presidency and human resource capacity building of

some institutions)

In Latvia the objective was the administrative capacity building of all parties involved

in the design and implementation of action policies This was undertaken in order to

ensure the active participation and representation of all interest groups in

policymaking processes and to improve the quality of decisions made At first the

activities were targeted at the administrative capacity building of social partners

(Latvian Employersrsquo Confederation and Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia) and

to strengthen social dialogue at the regional level This activity resulted in the

establishment of regional structures of the Latvian Employersrsquo Confederation and Free

Trade Union Confederation of Latvia which contributed to the formation of non-

governmental organisations and a significant increase in their activities Another

branch of capacity building activities was targeted at non-governmental organisations

and local governments mainly to promote their participation in decision-making and

the efficient planning and management of EU projects

316 Tools

E-governance 3161

The introduction of some type of e-governance is a horizontal element to many SIC

investments under the ESF In at least six countries support of e-governance was a

key component of capacity building efforts under SIC dedicated OPsPAs (this does not

mean that e-governance support did not also take place in other MSs as part of their

overall SIC strategy) These countries are Bulgaria Greece Italy Lithuania Malta and

Slovenia Some of the actions in this field take place in specific policy sectors justice

(eg BG IT) health (eg EL) and employment (eg IT SI) In some instances such

as in Italy e-governance support was used to implement and improve ESF monitoring

systems Other countries support e-governance across policy sectors (eg BG SI)

The Bulgarian administrative reform OP also supports the introduction of an integrated

information system of the state administration


The support for e-governance was provided with a view to making public

administrations more effective (BG IT) modernise them (EL) and improve the

service delivery to citizens and businesses (BG)



28

In the case of policy sector initiatives some examples of the objectives included the

creation of a transparent and effective judicial system (BG) and the improvement of

the service delivery provided by the bodies of the judiciary The information available

typically mentions the introduction of e-government e-health etc In Slovenia some

more detailed information is available on the type of activities carried out in this

framework Slovenia supported e-government as part of its efforts to achieve an

efficient and effective public administration The support for e-government consisted

of two parts an e-portal and e-administration Within the framework of the e-portal

development further progress of e-government was achieved The objectives were to

secure permanent availability support e-democracy in cooperation with the

interested public in making decisions on the abolition of obstacles in the

administration and further develop e-services E-administration was designed for

legal persons and based on a single access point The activities focused on providing a

permanent single access point for legal personnel and businesses This online

resource harnesses the interaction between the state and businesses Examples of

possible services include the registration of employees data transfer and requesting

confirmation


The beneficiaries always include public sector institutions The actions also target

social partners and NGOs but it is unclear as to whether these concern the e-

governance related or other activities carried out in the framework of these actions

Similarly actions target all geographical levels but it is entirely possible that this is

due to the governance structure in the country or the presence of non e-government

activities within the actions identified here

Monitoring and evaluation systems 3162

Monitoring and evaluation (MampE) systems are an important tool for measuring

progress towards the objectives that governments set themselves in capacity building

interventions They are also important in measuring performance as a supplier of

services to citizens and businesses and in achieving objectives related to these such

as the reduction of the administrative burden The seven countries that included

monitoring and evaluation in their actions are Bulgaria Estonia Italy Malta Poland

Romania and Slovenia


Monitoring and evaluation was used to measure internal and external performance as

well as for capacity building good governance policies and policy sector policies

Consequently MampE systems were developed to measure the needs of target groups

such as marginalised groups labour markets or working conditions (BG IT)

progress in achieving good governance (BG PL) or cooperation (PL) better

application of specific capacity building policies including better regulation or reducing

the administrative burden (BG EE) and sector policies like employment policies (IT

MT RO)

No further information is available on the concrete activities undertaken to introduce

or improve MampE systems


The actions undertaken here focus primarily on the public sector They often address

the national level but also the local or regional level if these levels were targeted by

the actions under which MampE is promoted

32 The overall strategy for ESF SIC investment

As has already been stated during the 2007-2013 programming period 14 out of the

EU-27 MSs included specific SIC interventions in their programming and 21 OPs were

dedicated to SIC or had one or more Priority Axes dedicated to this theme Seven of

these OPs were Italian In total 34 PAs and 78 actions have been identified as



29

dedicated to SIC Four out of the 14 MSs that have integrated SIC into their planning

have explicitly dedicated one Operational Programme to institutional capacity building

These countries are Bulgaria Greece Hungary and Romania The remaining ten

countries have OPs with one or more PAs dedicated to SIC

Figure 1 SIC in OPs and PAs

OPs with SIC dedicated PAs typically aim to develop human resources In Italy (five

out of seven) and in the United Kingdom there are regional programmes In Slovakia

it is the OP Employment and Social Inclusion that has a SIC related PA

The PAs typically apply a horizontal approach Only Bulgaria has focused one of its SIC

PAs on labour market institutions and on social and healthcare services corresponding

with the two sectors to which the OP was dedicated Slovakia originally foresaw both a

horizontal and a vertical PA (Establishing quality management systems in public

administration and NGOs in the field of employment and social policy) but the latter

was never implemented It should be noted though that below the level of PAs

individual actions sometimes do focus again at specific sectors This is further

discussed in the following section

Other MSs have developed interventions that aim to reinforce institutional capacity

under PAs that are dealing with other themes such as access to employment or

reform of the educational system which are covered by the other thematic

evaluations This becomes apparent when looking at Categories of Expenditure (CoE)

where expenditure category 81 Mechanisms for improving good policy and

programme design monitoring and evaluation at national regional and local level

capacity building in the delivery of policies and programmes shows the planned or

actual Union contribution to SIC interventions independent of PAs Furthermore it

should be noted that some capacity building interventions take place under other CoE

Important examples are the modernisation and strengthening of labour market

institutions (or expenditure category 65) the design introduction and implementation

of reforms in education and training systems (or category 72) as well as promoting

partnerships (category 80) SIC is sometimes supported as a crosscutting theme

across all Priority Axes without specific references in programming or reporting

Table 8 below shows that 14 MSs programmed SIC in OPs or PAs Two more countries

(Cyprus and Spain) did not programme SIC but did foresee expenditure on this theme

under category 81

Dedicated OP(s)

Dedicated PA(s)AT

BG

HU

IT

NL

FR

EL

ROLT

UK

CZ EE

SI

SK

LV

MT PL

BE CY

DEDK

ES

FI

IRLUPT

SE



30

Table 8 Countries covered in programming and expenditure based analyses

Country SIC in

programming (OPPA)

With an OP dedicated to

SIC

With expenditure in Cat 81

Yes No

Austria X

Belgium X

Bulgaria X X X

Cyprus X

Czech R X X

Germany X

Denmark X

Estonia X X

Spain X

Finland X

France X

Greece X X X

Hungary X X X

Ireland X

Italy X X

Lithuania X X

Luxembourg X

Latvia X X

Malta X X

Netherlands X

Poland X X

Portugal X

Romania X X X

Sweden X

Slovenia X X

Slovakia X X

UK X X

TOTAL 14 4 16 11

Source Own elaborations on the basis of SFC data and information from Country experts



31

Table 9 Overview of SIC dedicated OPs and PAs by MS

MS OP TITLE SIC PA DESCRIPTION

BG OP Human Resources Development PA 6 Improving the effectiveness of labour market institutions and of social and healthcare services

BG OP Administrative Capacity PA 12

and 3

Good governance Human resources management Quality administrative service delivery and e-

Governance development

CZ OP Human Resources Development PA 4 Public administration and public services

EE OP for Human Resource Development PA 5 Enhancing administrative capacity

EL OP Administrative Reform PA1 - 9

Improving national public policies modernisation of the public administration Development of

the human capital in the public administration strengthening policies aiming at ensuring equal

opportunities for all in the whole range of the public administration

HU State Reform OP PA 1 2

and 3

Renewal of processes and organisation development Improving the quality of human resources

Developments to be attained in the Central Hungarian Region

IT Regional OP Campania PA 7 Institutional capacity

IT Regional OP Calabria PA 7 Institutional capacity

IT Regional OP Sicily PA 7 Institutional capacity

IT Regional OP Basilicata PA 7 Institutional capacity

IT Regional OP Apulia PA 7 Institutional capacity

IT OP Governance and System Actions (Ministry of

Labour) PA E5 Institutional capacity

IT OP Competences for Development (Ministry of

Education) PA 2 Institutional capacity

LT OP for the Development of Human Resources PA 4 Fostering Administrative Competences and Increasing Efficiency of Public Administrationrdquo

LV OP Human Resources and Employment PA 5 Administrative Capacity Building

MT OP II - Empowering people for more jobs and a

better quality of life PA 4 Strengthening of institutional and administrative capacity

PL OP Human Capital PA 5 Good governance

RO OP Administrative Capacity Development PA 1 2 Improving structure and processes of public policies cycle management Improving quality and

efficiency of public services with a focus on decentralisation

SI OP Development of human resources for the

period 2007-2013 PA 5 Institutional and administrative capacity



32


SK OP Employment and Social Inclusion PA 4 Capacity building and enhancement of the quality of public administration

UK OP West Wales and the Valleys PA 4 Modernising and improving the quality of public services

Annex I contains a complete overview of OPs PAs and actions dedicated to SIC



33

33 The impact of the economic crisis on ESF SIC priorities actions and funding (EU-27)

There is a number of reasons why the economic crisis can be expected to have an

impact on the allocation of ESF funds to SIC interventions The main reason is that

high unemployment rates will exert high pressure on political decision makers to

provide measures that directly address the problems resulting from this and can be

expected to yield results in the short term Capacity building interventions can be

expected to contribute to better functioning social protection and labour market

reintegration systems thereby improving social inclusion and employment rates

However they do so indirectly and effects take time to materialise With this in mind

it could be expected that MSs would redirect resources from SIC to other objectives in

response to the crisis

This was not the case for Bulgaria where reallocations were limited and unrelated to

the crisis They were caused by delays in numerous tender procedures resulting from

the insufficient capacity of beneficiaries As such implementation delays may signal

the emergence of the so-called ldquocapacity traprdquo effect where beneficiaries are unable

to use funds for improvement of administrative capacity due to the low initial capacity

Similarly in the United Kingdom funds were switched to other priorities because of

insufficient take-up The transfer of funds was unrelated to the crisis This has also

been the case in several other countries

In other countries some of the resources were reallocated Greece diverted SIC

resources towards employment (OP Human Resources Development) Two Italian

regions reduced their SIC budgets This was the case for the OPs for Sicily and

Campania No reductions were found for the other regions or the two OPs at the

national level The most likely destinations of these funds are the Access to

Employment and Human Capital themes Furthermore in response to the crisis Latvia

diverted resources from SIC to other objectives mainly to promote employability In

Slovakia in 2012 substantial reallocations took place taking away resources from SIC

to spend on other priorities It is not clear if this diversion was caused by the crisis

but according to the reallocation to PA 1 focused on employment it can be assumed

that the crisis was at least one of the reasons

Planned allocations for SIC were not implemented at all in Spain In the Autonomous

Community Castilla-La Mancha there were no certified expenditures on SIC due to a

restructuring of funds to face the economic and financial crisis in order to alleviate

problems related to unemployment reinforcing active employment policies and

supporting the most disadvantaged groups or territories This was a rsquoremedialrsquo action

carried out by several Spanish Autonomous Communities in order to finally dedicate

1687 of the ESF expenditure planned for the 2007-2013 financing period in order to

reduce the national unemployment rate (262 in 2013 compared to 83 in 2007)

which was one of the highest unemployment rates in the European Union

A reallocation of resources was not the only impact that the crisis had on SIC

interventions It also made the implementation of SIC interventions more difficult As

a result of the economic crisis and the Memorandum of Understanding Greece had to

implement downsizing and cuts in the wages and social security benefits of civil

servants Amidst this climate civil servants were bound to become demoralised and

the introduction of reforms was bound to face additional difficulties Italy saw a

general slowdown of its physical and financial implementation especially in ROPs

(other priorities emerged) It increased the role of the national OP from the Ministry of

Labour as it supported cross-territorial interventions The crisis also induced a growing

emphasis on the importance of having effective and efficient Public Administrations

that are more able to cope with crisis effects This applied especially to policy fields

like employment social inclusion education and local development The

aforementioned effect also occurred in Latvia the additional pressure was felt

especially by those implementing activities on the ground who had to use the

available resources as efficiently as possible This side effect of economic crisis



34

manifested itself in a positive way by encouraging political activities and decision

making capacity

Finally the crisis had a negative impact on the results of SIC interventions According

to the evaluation of the effectiveness and the impact of PA 5 lsquoRaising Estonian

administrative capacityrsquo the financial crisis was one of the main external factors that

had a negative impact on the achievement of the results of the PA 5 The

consequences of the crisis were not anticipated during the planning of the objectives

and activities of the programming period One outcome was that the budget cuts

diminished the share of top managers that were participating in the development

activities In addition the reduction of staff levels as a result of the economic

recession increased their workload and thereby reduced their possibilities to engage

in development activities However various activities might not have been carried out

at all if it had not been for the PA mainly due to the severe effects of the financial

crisis on public sector expenditure in general

In Lithuania the number of civil servants and public institutions were reduced in

response to the economic crisis As a consequence the effectiveness of investments in

the quality of public services and improvement of organisational capacities suffered a

number civil servants of beneficiaries lost their jobs and a number of beneficiary

organisations were simply abolished On the other hand the economic crisis also

increased the relevance of ESF support in the area of SIC to some extent The

evidence shows that as a result of the economic crisis the national funds focused on

training civil servants were replaced by ESF funds Thus because of the cuts in

national funds in the area of ISC ESF funds became more important in Lithuania

According to the capacity building OP evaluation in Romania the economic and

financial crisis influenced the public administration sector which also affected the

implementation of this OP The reduction of tax revenues resulting from the

decreased income from private businesses and taxpayers along with the reduction of

state budget allocations towards public administrations units (main OP beneficiaries)

lead to the impossibility of insuring appropriate co-financing for running projects and

consequently affected the achievement of projectsrsquo programme indicators At the

same time the restructuring measures taken to counter the economic crisis effects

implied reduction of PA unitsrsquo personnel which affected the target groups involved in

the projects and the underachievement of programme indicators

34 The ESF expenditure in the area of SIC

341 Overall funding levels

In total EU-28 MSs allocated euro2418710066 to OPs or PAs that were dedicated to

SIC objectives equating to 21 of total ESF funding (see Table 10 below) This

includes funding from national (public and private) sources as well as the amount of

co-funding foreseen from the EU Most funding is allocated to national Operational

Programmes with only IT and UK having regional OPs In Italy however the majority

of the SIC funding goes to the National OP Governance (20 of total ESF SIC

investment) This sum includes Croatia whose interventions do not fall under the

scope of the present study due to the late start of ESF activities upon accession to EU

The highest absolute amounts allocated to SIC are found in Greece and Poland

followed by Italy and Romania Expenditure on SIC does not always correlate with

overall ESF expenditure In other words MSs consciously choose to prioritise SIC or

not In fact percentages of SIC allocation to overall ESF investment vary considerably

across countries with BG and LT allocating 15 of their ESF budget to SIC followed

by Malta and Slovenia (131 and 128 respectively) Greece invests 81 while

the other countries with high absolute amounts of SIC investments such as PL and IT

allocate a relatively small percentage of their ESF resources to SIC (39 and 18

respectively)



35

Figure 2 Total allocated funding (EU plus national) on SIC PAs per MS ( of

funds allocated to SIC-related Priority Axes over total ESF budget)

Source SFC2007 latest version OPs

Table 10 ESF SIC investment and over total ESF (total funding)

allocation to SIC-dedicated PAs (euro)

over total ESF

BG 209654707 151

CZ 186595775 43

EE 24465675 53

EL 418273566 81

HU 166276830 39

IT 252539187 18

LT 181629418 150

LV 24271094 35

MT 17199118 131

PL 455967699 39

RO 234920609 54

SI 114178243 128

SK 67615059 39

UK 55726379 06

Total SIC EU27 2409313359

HR 9396707 50


TOTAL ESF 115596750390 21

Source SFC2007 Operational Programmes as of 31-12-2014

HR interventions are excluded from this evaluation due to the late start of ESF activities upon accession to EU

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

BG LT MT SI EL RO EE CZ HU PL SK LV EU27 IT UK



36

The total amount of certified eligible expenditure paid by beneficiaries by the end 2014

(or actual expenditure) was euro1669 million The difference between planned and actual

expenditure is discussed in section 411

342 Programmed expenditure on Category of Expenditure 81

In this section we provide an overview of the allocation of Category of Expenditure

81 relating to Mechanisms for improving good policy and programme design

monitoring and evaluation at national regional and local level capacity building in the

delivery of policies and programmes and it involves comparing it with the funding on

SIC-dedicated PAs

The budget foreseen by the EU for Category of Expenditure 81 relating to

Mechanisms for improving good policy and programme design monitoring and

evaluation at national regional and local level capacity building in the delivery of

policies and programmes amounted to euro14 billion ie 19 of the total budget

provided by community funding was allocated to SIC

With regard to the spending foreseen on SIC according to CoE 81 three distinct

groups of countries emerge

Countries with relatively high or fairly high programmed expenditure on SIC

are Bulgaria Estonia Hungary Lithuania Latvia Malta and Romania with

12 5 4 7 4 8 and 5 of their co-funding respectively

Countries with medium scores on SIC Cyprus Czech Republic Poland (3-

4) Italy and Slovenia (2-25) Greece and Slovakia (1-15)

The third group of countries has allocated very small parts of their budget

typically zero or at least less than 1 for SIC Austria Belgium Germany

Denmark Spain Finland France Ireland Luxembourg The Netherlands

Portugal Sweden and the United Kingdom

Figure 3 Budget allocated to expenditure category 81 per MS

Source SFC 2007-2013 latest version OPs community amounts

It is worth noting that capacity building under the ESF is not limited to expenditures

under category 81 only presented above Nor is it limited to SIC-dedicated OPsPAs

-

50 000 000

100 000 000

150 000 000

200 000 000

250 000 000

300 000 000

350 000 000

400 000 000

450 000 000

AT BE BG CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GR HU IE IT LT LU LV MT NL PL PT RO SE SI SK UK



37

In total some euro12 billion out of the euro77 billion8 budgeted for co-funding from ESF

were reserved for the three main other expenditure categories that are likely to

include capacity building actions or activities Modernisation of labour market

institutions (CoE 65) Reforming education and training systems (CoE 72) and

Partnerships Networks and initiatives (CoE 80) Altogether these four categories

constitute 157 of the total community funding budgeted for the 2007-2013

programming period These figures are provided just for completeness of information

as SIC spending (and investment) for the purposes of this report only relates to SIC-

dedicated PAs (ie those PAs which focused exclusively or for a large part on SIC as

per Article 32b of the ESF Regulation

The first group that was identified in the previous section which is comprised of

countries that earmark high shares of their ESF budget to SIC can be expected to

dedicate one or more OPsPAs or actions to SIC This is indeed the case as can be

seen from the table below

Nonetheless one third of the countries that place a medium emphasis on SIC -three

out of nine ndash also included SIC in their programming Czech Republic Italy and

Poland

Even amongst the group with relatively small budgets for SIC one country is found

with dedicated OPs or PAs to SIC the United Kingdom Of course a small share may

still total several millions of euros The United Kingdom earmarked only 1 of its

budget for SIC but this still amounts to euro25 million

Countries devoting neither financial nor material attention to SIC are Austria Belgium

Germany Denmark Finland Ireland Luxembourg the Netherlands and Sweden

The programming of SIC in ESF is discussed in more detail in the following section


programming in MS

MS of total

budget

CoE 81

Community

funding (euro)

No of

dedicated

OPs

No of

dedicated

PAs

No of

dedicated

actions

AT 00 -

BE 00 -

BG 122 143988501 2 4 17

CY 39 4615273

CZ 35 127571573 1 1 1

DE 00 -

DK 00 -

EE 51 20126546 1 1 4

ES 01 6564559

FI 00 -

FR 00 2599325

EL 11 47010448 1 9 9

HU 41 147490451 1 3 6

IR 00 -

8 Source SFC 2007-2013 section on programming ndash operational programmes



38

MS of total

budget

CoE 81

Community

funding (euro)

No of

dedicated

OPs

No of

dedicated

PAs

No of

dedicated

actions

IT 25 171426165 7 7 16

LT 68 69552049 1 1 3

LU 00 -

LV 42 24275976 1 1 3

MT 78 8752517 1 1 4

NL 00 -

PL 38 381835672 1 1 5

PT 01 9888970

RO 54 199682518 1 2 5

SE 00 -

SI 21 15861756 1 1 2

SK 13 19308570 1 1 2

UK 05 24585962 1 1 1

EU27 19 1425136831 21 34 78

Envisaged community funding programmed for category 81 SFC 2007-2013 latest version OPs

Dedicated OPs in this table also includes OPs with one or more SIC dedicated PAs

PA 4 of the OP for Guiana covered both Promoting partnerships and SIC and is discussed

under the thematic review of the former

As explained in section 341 the money allocated for OPs and PAs which has been

specifically dedicated to SIC amounts to euro2409 million However this amount

includes national funding which therefore cannot be compared to the allocated

community funding for category 81 expenditure



39

4 The effectiveness efficiency sustainability gender sensitivity community added value and the socio-economic

impact of ESF SIC investment in the 27 member States

Key findings

The total amount of certified eligible expenditure by the end 2014 was euro167

million This constitutes 69 of SIC allocated funding at EU level versus 793

for total ESF Implementation rates differ considerably among countries and PAs

In total almost 14 million participations were registered in SIC-related

interventions covering mostly staff from public institutions social partners and

NGOs receiving training This results in a set of characteristics which is very

different from other ESF priorities


programmes and 4000 studies were undertaken campaigns public consultations

reviews (laws procedures) reports etc were implemented Some 95000

organisationsinstitutions were involved in SIC-related interventions at least

1500 projects or activities launched some 250 guides and guidelines produced

and 150 new structures established

The results achieved through ESF SIC funding during the 2007-2013 period are

varied Approximately 512000 individuals gained a qualification 87000 reported

other positive results some 2000 entities or organisations were established and

more than 1700 productssystemstools were developed

Activities aimed at strengthening of the judiciary resulted in a reduction of the

duration of judicial procedures in a number of countries Strategic planning and

management was improved by increasing the number or the share of public

administration offices that implemented management systems and quality

assurance processes Increasing the number of services available to citizens

online businesses and training of public administration staff to use them correctly

were a means to achieve MS ambitions in the field of e-government Improving

the environment for businesses was achieved by shortening the time needed for

setting up or registering a business and decreasing administrative costs Other

achievements include the simplification of administrative procedures and



successful SIC interventions under ESF by a number of MS

The sustainability of SIC interventions is particularly dependent on the context in

which they are implemented and which they aim to support

Gender equality is seldom targeted directly by SIC interventions through positive

actions However in some countries SIC interventions were designed in such a

way that in their implementation at least women and womenrsquos interests are

taken into account or possibly furthered SIC interventions typically have more

female than male participants

The main Community added value of ESF SIC investment is a volume effect

ESF has also added value by broadening the scope of the interventions

undertaken in MS or by putting administrative capacity on the agenda SIC

funding played a relevant role in supporting the introduction and testing of

innovative tools or systems such as the introduction of e-government

The data presented in this chapter were gathered from the EC Structural Funds

database (SFC) They reflect the situation as available in December 2014



40

41 The effectiveness of ESF SIC interventions

The effectiveness of the selected interventions was assessed through

Analysis of financial implementation comparing the actual spending reported

with the allocated funds However as many projects in the interventions are

still ongoing the current analysis at the end of 2014 is only indicative of the

final financial implementation of the interventions

Analysis of the different participant groups addressed in the selected

interventions

Analysis of the intervention outputs and results comparing the targets for

outputs and results with those achieved However this analysis needs to be

treated with caution as it was not possible to systematically assess whether

the initial targets were set in a comparable and appropriate way across the OPs

(eg were the set targets challenging comfortable or realistic) In OPs the

targets have also been adjusted over time further complicating these like-for-

like comparisons

Additional evidence and information derived from national evaluations and

other relevant documents

It was not possible to conduct a systematic comparison with the results of similar non-

ESF sponsored interventions in the national regional contexts due to the lack of

sufficiently similar non-ESF sponsored interventions

411 Progress in the financial implementation of ESF SIC

At EU level euro1670 million or 693 of SIC allocated funding was spent as at

311220149 On average less SIC funds have been spent in relation to the overall ESF

funding with an implementation rate of 793 (See Table 12 below)

Table 12 SIC and overall ESF implementation rate () by MS (31 December

2014)

MS certified expenditure (euro) total allocation (euro)

SIC impl rate ()

total

ESF impl rate ()

BG 137491170 209654707 656 758

CZ 94381124 186595775 506 734

EE 21210585 24465675 867 835

EL 381930601 418273566 913 792

HU 122203794 166276830 735 703

IT 131069031 252539187 519 769

9 Figure does not include Croatia



41


SIC impl

rate ()

total ESF impl rate ()

LT 143977869 181629418 793 827

LV 20683459 24271094 852 973

MT 7687444 17199118 447 674

PL 315293255 455967699 691 844

RO 159318804 234920609 678 441

SI 89112721 114178243 780 838

SK 31545122 67615059 467 649

UK 13331326 55726379 239 770

Total 1669537980 2409313359 693 793

Source SFC 2007 The implementation rate corresponds to the percentage of certified expenditure over the total funding of the PA

HR not included

Table 13 below shows considerable differences among PAs Extremely low rates can

be observed for most of the Italian and the UK OPs dedicated to SIC They all spent

less than one-third of their budget for the period by the end of 2014

For Italy low implementation rates were recorded in all (convergence) regional OPs

and in the National OP Competencies for Development which was due in the latter

case to the slow start of activities10 A number of explanations can be offered for the

low implementation rates of regional Italian OPs a) involving public administrations in

reform processes traditionally requires a large amount of time (in Italy) b)

implementation was slow for the regional OPs in general (not only for the SIC PAs) c)

other important public administration reform processes involved MAs and this shifted

its attention from SIC theme implementation d) the theme funding was generally not

so relevant (for regional OPs but also in the case of the Ministry of Education for

national OP for example) e) generally small sized interventions (also for

administrative reasons) have been implemented and the spending speed was

therefore slow f) (probably) an overestimation of funding needs occurred in OPs

Within that context overall allocation to SIC PAs in Italy (EU and national funding)

decreased significantly from the beginning of the programming period due to the

reallocation of resources

10 In fact implementation accelerated significantly in 2015 national data (29022016) account for a commitment rate above 100 and payments around 60



42

Most of the Greek PAs on the other hand had extremely high implementation rates

spending more than 90 of the money budgeted The extremely high implementation

rate of PA 3 in the Greek OP Administrative Reform is due to the fact that this PA

underwent several revisions and eventually financed a major intervention lsquoFemale

entrepreneurship 24-64rsquo (implemented by OAED-Ministry of Labour) Concurrently co-

financing rates were also revised

Other high implementation rates (over 80) can be noted for the Bulgarian

administrative reform OP as well as for the Estonian OP the Latvian OP the Italian

Basilicata region and the Italian national governance OP (the most relevant OP in

terms of SIC investment in Italy) the Lithuanian OP the Czech Republic OP the

Slovenian OP the Hungarian reform OP and one of Romanias PAs



43

Table 13 Share of the budget spent per SIC relevant PA

MS OP - PA

Total

funding

(euro)

Impl rate

()

IT OP Competencies for Development ndash PA2 29740000 1488

UK OP West Wales and the Valleys- A4 55726379 2392

IT OP ESF Calabria ndash PA7 23803512 3109

IT OP ESF Sicily ndash PA7 14350000 3135

IT OP ESF Campania ndash PA7 40000000 3374

IT OP Apulia ESF ndash PA7 31340400 3474

MT Empowering people for more jobs and better quality PA4 17199118 4470

BG OP Human Resources Development ndash PA6 42559453 4569

SK OP Employment and Social Inclusion ndash PA4 67615059 4670

CZ OP Human Resources Development ndash PA44a 178020742 4923

RO OP Administrative Capacity Development 97883587 6282

BG OP Administrative Capacity ndash PA2 62440507 6290

HU State Reform OP ndash PA1 84742365 6750


PL OP Human Capital ndash PA5 455967699 6915

EL Administrative Reform ndash PA4 40905059 7046

RO OP Administrative Capacity Development ndash PA1 137037022 7139


SI OP Development of human resources ndash PA5 114178243 7810

CZ OP Human Resources Development ndash PA44b 8575033 7862

LT OP for the Development of Human Resources - PA4 181629418 7930

IT Governance and System Actions ndash PA5 103634307 7935


IT ESF Basilicata ndash PA7 9670968 8407


LV Human Resources and Employment 24271094 8520

EE OP Human Resource Development ndashPA5 24465675 8670



44

MS OP - PA

Total

funding

(euro)

Impl rate

()


BG Administrative Capacity ndash PA1 38835252 8803







Source SFC 2007-2013 Country Synthesis Reports

412 Types of output and result indicators selected by the OPs

A variety of outputs have been generated by SIC interventions Countries have

developed several types of indicators to monitor them

Important outputs relate to the participation of individuals in ESF activities This

category is made up of the traditional indicators to monitor progress with regard to

participants in events which are usually training events Human resources however

also include interventions other than training for which indicators can also be found

Examples of these indicators refer to number of persons participating in training or

persons achieving a qualification at the end of the intervention

Other outputs relate to the institutions that benefitted or those that were the object of

certain activities As SIC events also address structures and processes a whole series

of indicators have been used that in essence measure the number of supported

organisations This includes the number of supported organisations (eg supported

NGOs) also more specific output indicators have often been formulated to take the

object or content of the intervention into account Example of these are as follows

number of judiciary that have introduced court case management systems

administrations that have introduced systems for in-house electronic exchange

of documents

number of local governments whose employees have completed training

civil society structures that have trained their staff

functional reviews carried out for improving organisation and HR management

A further series of indicators measure the production of tools andor deliverables such

as the number of guides and other methodological documents prepared information

campaigns carried out and e-government services developedintroduced

The results are less easy to cluster and the indicators used raise some questions A

discussion of these issues has been used as a framework to show the types of results

that MSs aim for and achieve with SIC interventions that have been co-financed by

ESF

The first thing that stands out when examining the results indicators used for SIC

interventions is that a number of them are quite similar to the output indicators

discussed above This does not necessarily mean that these are not the correct



45

indicators for the results of the intervention This entirely depends on the type of

intervention and the intervention logic behind it Results indicators build upon the

indicators defined for outputs If these are defined as lsquothe number of trainingsrsquo for

example the results can be measured as the lsquonumber of successfully trained staffrsquo

However if the outputs were measured by lsquothe number of trained staffrsquo the result

should assess the next step in the objectives tree (eg the number of trained staff

that have obtained a qualification or have mastered specific skills) If new

organisations have been set up and this was used as a measure of outputs this could

be accompanied by an indicator for results that measures the use of such a structure

for example the number of visitors or number of services provided Occasionally it can

also be a point of discussion on where to draw the line between output and result

level

Result indicators that could also be found as output indicators are listed below

number of participants gaining a qualificationcertification

share of persons successfully completing a training programme

number of successful course graduates

newly created structures

public administration units supported in improving management standards

number of NGOs per year who have received advice

proportion of civil servants with individualised performance ratings

A second observation concerns the quality of the indicators The results indicators in

some cases appear to be less specific than the output indicators It may be the case

though that the SFC database only mentions the measure used (eg lsquopersonnel

turnoverrsquo or lsquothe average administrative costs associated with starting a business

activityrsquo) while the details (decrease how much by when) are specified elsewhere

The number of countries not specifying targets for results is also somewhat higher

than for outputs Six MSs did not set targets for part of the results of SIC

interventions whereas this only occurs in four countries for outputs

Indicators that are good examples of being specific measurable and relevant are

Administrations that have undertaken the optimisation of procedures as a

result of a functional review

Ratio of persons becoming civil servants within the central administration

system in the current year in relation to those previously employed The hiring

of these new staff members must be the result of an open call for applications

The second example also includes the time element required for SMART indicators

Several indicators refer to the introduction of systems or tools resulting from the

intervention It is clear that certain activities and outputs are required for these results

to be achieved such as training awareness raising promotion or even new legislative

requirements These are examples of indicators that clearly measure results rather

than outputs

legislative drafts accompanied by an impact assessment

administrations using the Single HRM Information System

bodies of the judiciary that have introduced a HRM system

normative acts adopted after consultation with stakeholders

the percentage of local governments that have implemented management

systems involving customer satisfaction measurement

administrations that observe the time standard for service provision

public sectors that have elaborated specific public private partnership rules



46

administrations that have introduced rules of procedure for the monitoring of

policy implementation

number of laws amended as a result of the programme

The more lsquostrategic naturersquo called for in the ESF Regulation is visible in a limited

number of results indicators Examples include

shortening the length of judicial proceedings

reducing the time for servicing clients

increasing the share of persons from target groups receiving services

providing compliance with the Maastricht criteria

Requirements for indicators and targets in the framework of ESF assistance

In its preamble (26) to the General Regulation ((EC) No 10832006) the Council states that ldquoit

is appropriate to set measurable targetsrdquo and that it is necessary to identify appropriate ways to measure and report the attainment of those targets Article 93 specifies the share of the budget to be devoted to activities that further the Unionrsquos objectives regarding competitiveness and job creation including the objectives of the Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs (2005 to 2008) The targets set by MSs should reflect this Article 36c stipulates that targets

shall be quantified ldquousing a limited number of indicators for output and results taking into account the proportionality principlerdquo The ESF Regulation ((EC) No 10812006) specifies for programmes co-financed by ESF that the indicators shall be rdquostrategic in nature and limited in numberrdquo They must also rdquoreflect those used in the implementation of the European Employment Strategy and in the context of the relevant Community objectives in the fields of social inclusion and education and trainingrdquo

413 Overall achievements

In this section we provide an overview of the main achievements in terms of the

values of output and results indicators

In terms of outputs recorded during the 2007-2013 programming period 17000

training programmes were developed and 4000 studies undertaken campaigns

public consultations reviews (laws procedures) and reports have been implemented

Some 95000 organisationsinstitutions were involved under SIC-related interventions

The organisations that the ESF supported besides the obvious beneficiaries include

bodies of the judiciary government offices at county level boards of public benefit

activities at regional level and municipalities At least 1500 projects or activities were


guidelines as well as the establishment of around 150 new structures including client

centres or regional offices

Most of the individuals that participated in a SIC-funded projectinitiative received

support in the form of training Examples of other achievements for individual persons

include lsquoattracting new specialistsrsquo and lsquoemployers assisting or financially supporting

These achievements were monitored through output indicators These figures probably

underestimate the number of outputs as countries have not necessarily included both

the number of organisations involved in training and the number of staff trained as

output indicators Sometimes the development of training plans was a distinct activity

however for many training programmes plans may exist without being monitored

through output indicators



47

The results achieved through ESF during the 2007-2013 programming period are

varied too

In order to illustrate them we first present the aggregate of realised values of result

indicators for SIC based on a limited set of key ESF results common to all ESF

priorities as reported in the EU Synthesis Report of the present service 11

as such

these values can be aggregated and compared with those of other ESF priorities

During the 2007-2013 programming period under the SIC priority approximately

512000 individuals gained a qualification and 87100 reported other positive results

Some 2000 entities or organisations were established or they recorded other positive

results and more than 1700 productssystemstools were developed It should be

mentioned however that due to data limitations it was not possible to aggregate all

results as reported in the AIR of ESF programmes and as a consequence this leads to

systematic under-reporting of the results of ESF12

In addition we provide a more detailed overview of the main types of results

customised to SIC interventions while section 414 provides a more in-depth analysis

of some of these indicators per typology of intervention

However it should be highlighted that several limitations mainly in the quality and

availability of monitoring data and heterogeneity of national evaluations coupled with

a broad range of intervention logics hamper the formulation of a concise and clear cut

assessment of achievements causality and extent to which results have been

achieved at EU level Furthermore as it will be mentioned below in more detail

typically information from national evaluations is of a more qualitative nature with

fewer evidence-based findings and is thus not conducive to drawing hard conclusions

ESF-supported interventions helped in reducing the administrative burden for citizens

and businesses The processing time was shortened for documents servicing clients

obtaining the necessary paperwork for starting a business and judicial procedures

(BG CZ PL) administrative costs were also reduced (EL RO PL)

Services were made more accessible through the introduction of on-line service

delivery at various administrative levels (BG CZ PL)

SIC interventions also contributed to the production of better quality policies and

legislation through the introduction of monitoring and evaluation procedures in

administrative bodies (BG RO) the increase in impact studies conducted before

introducing new legislation (BG CZ) the development of quality management in

public institutions (LV) and laws that were amended to better serve the community

(HU)

Management systems and practices were changed to incorporate modern human

resource management and planning techniques (EE PL LV) performance ratings used

for staff assessment (HU) and new staff that were attracted to join government

11 these are People in employment directly or sometime after the intervention People receiving a qualificationcertificate People reporting positive results other than employment or qualification such as for example improving skills competences or successfully completing the

ESF supported intervention (or reporting a combination of employment qualification and other positive result aggregating combined indicators) People in self-employment Entities being established or obtaining other positive results and Productssystemstools developed

12 For a more detailed analysis of data limitations in calculating ESF results see the EU Synthesis Report Chapter 41



48

institutions (HU) Cooperation with other actors was furthered through the preparation

of rules for public-private partnerships in public administrations (BG) and the inclusion

of NGOs in activities (LV) SIC interventions of course also led to many reforms in

public institutions (RO)

The support to institutional capacity also contributed to achievements in specific policy

areas equal opportunities through the increased number of public bodies of the

central government that promote the integration of gender policy (EL) environmental

policies through the development of territory plans in municipalities (LT) and

environmental management systems in companies (UK) and the social dialogue

through the increased number of employees that are covered by collective agreements

(LV)

The above overview of achievements is based on the indicators that MSs formulated to

measure results From the information provided in chapter 3 it is obvious that this

captures only some of the achievements

414 Achievements in specific fields of activity

In this section we provide a more in-depth analysis of achievements obtained through

the implementation of SIC-related interventions in some specific sectors according to

a classification of indicators per field of activity By looking at these different fields of

activity some interesting findings at country level emerge

Capacity building related to judiciary reforms

Relevant output indicators have been identified in this field in three countries (BG PL

and EL) Five of output indicators (BG and PL) relate to the training of individuals

such as magistrates or employees of judiciary offices and one to the number of

training modules developed (BG) In Greece the selected indicator refers to the

number of implemented upgrading actions of courtsrsquo administrative capacity One

more indicator in Bulgaria refers to the number of judicial bodies that have introduced

court case management systems

Of the twelve result indicators selected by four MSs (BG CZ PL and SI) seven

measure the decrease in the duration of proceedings of judicial cases (CZ PL and SI)

In Slovenia the average duration time for judicial procedures (in months) was reduced

from 95 to 39 thus surpassing the target (6) In the Czech Republic the length of

judicial proceedings was down to 497 (days) by the end of 2014 from an initial

baseline of 1057 (versus a target of 846) The remaining indicators refer to the

increased effectiveness of judiciary bodies and offices in terms of management and

quality assurance HR and provision of services

Results for BG and PL were less positive In Poland although the share of cases

handled by the courts for longer than 12 months decreased to 14 (target 1330

baseline 167) the indicators related to the average duration of proceedings in

commercial cases did not show a progress towards the set target In Bulgaria the

intervention on the web platform for e-justice failed due to lack of interest

Processes related to strategic planning and management

Eight output indicators have been selected by four MSs in the field of Strategic

planning and management (EL LT LV and PL) They refer to the number or the share

of public administration offices that implemented management systems and quality

assurance processes including the training of employees on these subjects

Eight result indicators for this field have been selected by five MS (EE LV LT PL and

RO) which measure the number of units or offices that have changed their

management system or introduced quality standards or management systems

E-government

Six output indicators have been selected in the field of e-government One indicator in

Slovenia refers to the number of online administration services available It is

interesting to note that in the case of Slovenia the target was overachieved by 249



49

(805 services online versus 323 targeted starting from an initial baseline of 308) In

Bulgaria the indicator refers to the number of administration units having introduced

systems for the in-house electronic exchange of documents (in total 108 although no

initial target was set) In Poland the selected indicator refers to the number of

employees who received training for the provision of online services (this indicator

shows a relevant underachievement as only 23 of the foreseen 800 workers received

the training)

By the end of 2014 in Slovenia the availability of e-government services has

increased from an initial baseline of 87 to 95 (initial target over achieved) usage

of ICT services by medical personnel has increased to 65 from an initial baseline of

60 while use by patients has risen to 25 from an initial 22 Usage of e-services

by the unemployed has increased from an initial baseline of 7 to 27

(implementation rate of 163) In Bulgaria 436 services have been made available

online (1000 were foreseen) In the Czech Republic achieved results relate to the

increased use of e-government public administration

Promoting a business-friendly administration

Five MSs selected result indicators relating to the promotion of a business-friendly

administration these mostly relate to shortening the time needed for setting up or

registering a business or in the rebate of administrative costs for business

In Slovenia the number of days required for setting up a corporate entity decreased

from 61 to 29 days (versus a target value of 7) In Poland the OP selected a

relatively high number of indicators to measure the goal of having a more conducive

administrative environment for companies the decrease in the number of days for

registration of an economic activity (for companies and individuals) and of the

administrative costs for setting up a business In all instances the indicators show that

initial targets have been achieved or over-achieved Lithuania also focuses on the

reduction of the time required to set up a business over the 2007-2014 period this

has decreased from 26 to 3 days

In Poland significant results in the area of administrative capacity connected with

diminishing burdens on economic activity have been found Diminishing burdens on

starting-up businesses are connected with a friendlier law and organisational setup ndash

simplifications were made of 92 legal acts which were most relevant in terms of

conducting economic activity (target 40) The average number of days required for the

registration of economic activity (starting up business) dropped to 005 (target 1

baseline 7) for individuals and 348h (target 24h baseline 168h) for companies The

empowerment of citizens was achieved through the results connected with access to

free legal consultations Other successful programmes include the implementation of

the lsquoone-stop-shoprsquo system for start-ups the simplification of administrative

procedures related to start up business increasing the quality of services rendered by

tax administration and equipping judiciary staff with necessary competences relevant

to dealing with economic cases (PA 512)

415 Effectiveness

Effectiveness can be measured by comparing achievements with initially set targets

As targets for outputs and results are defined in different ways a composite indicator

has been constructed which counts the number of targets that have been met and the

number of those that have not been reached for each ESF theme

Outputs

The table below shows the share of output targets achieved and not achieved for SIC

interventions and for ESF interventions as a whole It should be noted that no targets

were set for a number of outputs in Bulgaria the Czech Republic Greece Italy Latvia

and the United Kingdom The share of outputs without targets for these countries

amounted to 5 65 2 65 30 and 24 respectively



50

It is to be recalled that targets were set for the end of the programming period with

the 2007-2013 expenditure being eligible until 31122015 Therefore tables and

figures below underestimate the attainment of targets as data on results refer to

2014 only

For the ESF as a whole only slightly more than half of the output targets were set

Where targets were set for outputs a majority of them were achieved (63) Targets

were more often set in countries that had allocated resources to SIC-related

interventions In those countries targets were set for 61 of the outputs defined

These targets were achieved to roughly the same degree as the other types of

interventions (see table below) For the SIC interventions themselves a relatively

large number of targets was set However only half of these targets were met which

is considerably less than for ESF interventions as a whole and this has not been

explained by the MS Obviously the fact that targets were set for a larger share of the

PAs did increase the chances of failing to meet targets this is because targets were

also set when this was more complicated to achieve (See Table 14)

Table 14 Target setting and achievement for outputs SIC and ESF

Targets set Targets achieved if set

ESF as a whole 54 63

MS with SIC related interventions 61 61

SIC related interventions 78 52

Source SFC 2007-2013Draft Country Synthesis Reports

Achieved or over-performed

In eight of the 14 countries SIC interventions performed better than interventions in

general These countries show the same or higher achievement rates for SIC

interventions than for all ESF interventions the Czech Republic Estonia Hungary

Latvia Romania Slovenia Slovakia and the United Kingdom With the exception of

Slovakia in particular these countries also performed considerably better than the

other countries (See Table 15)

Table 15 Achievement of output targets for SIC and all ESF interventions

ESF

SIC

Below target Above or = target Below target Above or = target

BG 73 27 94 6

CZ 27 73 0 100

EE 16 84 0 100

EL 63 38 74 26

HU 35 65 14 86

IT 37 63 77 23

LT 28 72 47 53

LV 16 84 0 100

MT 50 50 67 33

PL 33 67 42 58

RO 52 48 40 60

SI 35 65 14 86



51

ESF

SIC


SK 63 37 63 38

UK 30 70 25 75

BG Incl PA4 TA

CZ No data for PA 44b

Source SFC 2007-2013Draft CS Reports

Results

Tables 16 and 17 below provide a consolidated overview of the degree to which set

targets for results were met

Table 16 Target setting and achievement for results SIC and ESF







Result targets were considerably more often set for SIC related interventions rather

than for ESF interventions in general (81 compared to 63) Only four out of ten

SIC PAs achieved their targets In this they are comparable to other types of

interventions under ESF

Only four countries have performed equally or better in terms of achieving their

results targets for SIC compared with their performance regarding ESF interventions

as a whole Estonia Hungary Italy and Latvia (see table below)

In general countries set targets for results more often than they do for outputs (63

compared with 54) However the difference is negligible for SIC interventions On

the other hand the targets set for results were achieved much less often than those

for outputs For ESF as a whole 39 of the targets set for results were achieved

compared to 63 for the output targets Only 43 of the SIC interventions met their

targeted results compared with 52 of the output targets As this is the first period

for which targets had to be developed for SIC interventions it could be that these

targets were set at levels which were too ambitious It is conceivable that assessing

the chances of outputs being achieved would be easier than assessing likely results



52

Table 17 Achievement of results targets for SIC and all ESF interventions

ESF SIC


BG 76 24 87 13

CZ 31 69 56 44

EE 34 66 0 100

EL 78 22 100 0

HU 0 100 0 100

IT 78 22 56 44

LT 27 73 50 50

LV 36 64 29 71

MT 36 64 50 50

PL 47 53 52 48

RO 61 39 78 22

SI 52 48 75 25

SK 86 14 100 0

UK 29 71 86 14

BG Incl PA4 TA


For SI PP and SIC data are combined and this table therefore includes the PP interventions too

Source SFC

Of course target achievement is only one way of assessing results and national

evaluations in a number of cases more detailed analyses at the level of PAs have

provided more positive or more nuanced statements about the results (eg EL MT

PL RO SI) One reason is that these evaluations provide more information than is

available in the database or that they make a more detailed comparison between the

effectiveness of PAs or actions related to SIC However the assessment of the results

is also influenced by expectations and previous experience as well as by the use of

other criteria

The PA for lsquoModernising and improving the quality of public services for West Wales

and the Valleysrsquo met only 14 of the results targets according to the SFC database

However it can still be assessed positively when looking at national sources bearing in

mind that most targets were met or exceeded (AIR 2014) Also the projects within this

thematic area had a clear focus on seeking to instigate a positive change with a view

to creating long-standing service improvements This thematic area provided impetus

in moving some agendas and pilot ideas into practice due to the additional funding

provided13

13 Thematic Evaluations presentations PWC dated October 2014 and May 2015 available at httpseufundsgovmtenOperational20ProgrammesMonitoring20CommitteesPagesOperational-Programme-2-2007-2013aspx



53

416 Reaching the different target groups

In total over 14 million participations were reported in SIC-related interventions


partners and NGOs receiving training

The fact that the target groups of SIC interventions are usually the staff of the

institutions concerned is reflected in the participantsrsquo characteristics These differ

considerably from the average ESF population

Almost all participants are as logic suggests employees The only exception is

Slovenia where lsquoonlyrsquo 865 of the participants are employed For the ESF as a

whole only one third of the participants are employed as many interventions focus on

promoting the labour market participation of unemployed and inactive people

The majority of the participants are well educated (ISCED 5 and 6) With 57 of the

participants in this category the educational level of participants is much higher in SIC

interventions than it is for ESF as whole where only 17 fall into this category

Conversely participation of people with lower educational levels especially ISCED 1

and 2 is much higher for ESF participants as a whole The highest educational levels

are found amongst participants in Lithuania Romania and Slovenia the lowest in the

Czech Republic Hungary and Italy

Participants in SIC interventions are older than ESF participants on average The vast

majority of the participants in SIC interventions are 25-54 years of age (86) while

this number amounts to only 63 for ESF as a whole They also belong to the older

age group of 55-65 years of age somewhat more often 11 versus 6 of the

population for ESF as a whole Young people (15-24) on the other hand are strongly

under-represented (4 for SIC interventions versus 31 for ESF as a whole)

Although in some countries young people are better represented (LT LV SI) but with

still far lower shares than for ESF as a whole Countries with the lowest share of young

people in SIC interventions are the Czech Republic Greece and Italy

The majority are women (64) For the ESF as a whole only 52 of the participants

are women This over-representation of women might be due to the fact that they are

usually over-represented in public administration which represents the most

important target of SIC interventions The share of women in SIC interventions is

somewhat lower in Italy and the United Kingdom (50-59) and considerably lower in

Malta and Slovakia (40-49) Women are over-represented in all sub-groups The

difference is however considerably less pronounced amongst the higher educated

This is caused by the fact that for ESF as a whole the share of women amongst

higher educated participants is relatively high (63) while for SIC interventions the

share of women remains in line with SIC interventions as a whole If we assume that

for SIC interventions higher education is accompanied by higher positions in the

organisations concerned this could reflect a lower representation of women at higher

levels in such positions



54

Table 18 Annex XXIII Participations of SIC interventions and ESF (31st Dec 2014)

Source SFC 2007 Country Synthesis Reports

Values BG CZ EE EL HU IT LT LV MT PL RO SI SK UK TOTAL SIC

over

total W TOTAL ESF

over

total W

Total

participants252126 140810 43434 130340 210547 13878 92410 49538 20264 367776 70249 927 42725 822 1436920 64 98658829 52

Employed 241728 140810 43434 126685 205701 13878 87180 46318 20182 352000 70249 802 42151 822 1392409 969 64 33041257 335 53

of which self-

employed8799 - - - 1009 - 3323 1304 792 3619 - 97 170 - 19134 54 2437321 25 45

Unemployed 4531 - - 3655 1653 - 481 599 22 4004 - 78 46 - 15525 72 30039410 304 53

of which LTU 2062 - - - 482 - 166 330 4 935 - 7 11 - 4201 62 8996113 91 52

Inactive 5867 - - - 3193 - 4749 2621 60 11772 - 47 528 - 28986 64 35578162 361 50

of which in

educationtr

aining

1484 - - - 395 - 3967 2621 38 3898 - 41 76 - 12598 63 25207563 256 50

Young

people (15-

24 years)

13524 1 2512 950 4740 7 8022 4275 1270 16823 3497 98 2188 21 58157 40 61 30063502 305 47

Older people

(55-64

years)

39485 48 6384 15697 11244 995 12806 6508 2248 42046 7266 102 6317 101 151350 105 61 6106942 62 50

Migrants 125 - - 16 214 - 34 12 16 3 - 3 15 12 483 56 5152191 52 50

Minorities 9593 - - 38 1083 - 2150 447 - 40 3317 2 428 27 17309 58 3856947 39 47

Disabled 4737 - - 102 745 - 599 1082 94 948 146 12 357 37 8939 63 5265599 53 46

Others 1968 - - 101 - - 2637 48049 209 - - 6 335 - 53468 71 7017829 71 51

Primary or

lower

secondary

education

6421 - 667 3066 7087 7 3227 1041 3988 3909 - 16 4873 25 34454 24 57 38840296 394 48

Upper

secondary

education

49741 4 6730 31186 17941 780 2716 5347 3657 42521 9289 103 10136 169 180739 126 60 26014203 264 52

Post-

secondary

non tertiary

education

23951 - 5844 2970 5744 134 3720 3278 3460 52931 2214 150 1587 - 106029 74 66 4934362 50 57

Tertiary

education172013 71 30193 93114 38649 1385 82378 32254 9159 268415 58746 658 24057 611 812185 565 66 16297940 165 63



55

Table 19 Annex XXIII Participations of SIC interventions (31st Dec 2014) women participants


BG CZ EE EL HU IT LT LV MT PL RO SI SK UK

Total participants 630 633 707 648 601 543 678 725 437 684 606 669 476 564

Employed 631 633 707 638 600 543 684 721 437 685 606 647 476 564

of which self-

employed 574 - - - 640 - 569 712 188 429 - 237 247 -

Unemployed 591 - - 998 600 - 568 791 500 666 - 808 522 -

of which LTU 559 - - - 676 - 512 758 1000 725 - 857 364 -

Inactive 605 - - - 673 - 576 785 450 650 - 809 511 -

of which in

educationtraining 610 - - - 666 - 569 785 526 604 - 829 487 -

Young people (15-

24 years) 603 1000 702 783 536 1000 560 581 521 662 614 571 546 524

Older people (55-

64 years) 586 625 699 579 558 432 705 732 280 634 590 235 512 554

Migrants 448 - - 1000 640 - 529 583 688 667 - 333 67 583

Minorities 561 - - 1000 540 - 610 785 - 675 614 - 614 519

Disabled 621 - - 686 558 - 723 742 202 660 507 417 602 541

Others 615 - - 1000 - - 669 724 282 - - 500 254 -

Primary or lower

secondary

education 556 - 643 698 616 - 553 744 316 607 - 125 591 560

Upper secondary

education 581 750 680 656 554 505 419 732 468 626 571 359 464 556

Post-secondary

non tertiary

education 593 - 702 684 579 500 544 741 464 716 573 320 565 -

Tertiary

education 652 634 716 642 496 453 697 738 467 688 612 465 493 566



56

42 Efficiency

As in other thematic evaluations the lack of information on the costs per result

hinders an assessment of the efficiency of ESF SIC investment It is always possible to

calculate the cost per participant but this is a less relevant and potentially confusing

indicator for SIC interventions The table below illustrates the limitations of this effort

Both Slovenia and the United Kingdom report an extremely small number of

participants and high cost per participant Under the Slovenian PA IT expenditure was

planned which involved substantial budgets for software hardware and expertise

with only a small proportion of the budget reserved for the training of future users

This was not the case for the United Kingdom and this combination of a small number

of participants and high cost per participant may be partly explained by the fact that

the number of trained people fell far below the original target Therefore only by

analysing the interventions undertaken by each country would it be possible to draw

any meaningful conclusions

Table 20 Funding per participation for SIC related OPsPAs

Total participants

Total expenditure (euro)

Cost per participant (euro)

BG 252126 137491170 545

CZ 140810 94381124 670

EE 43434 21210585 488

EL 130340 381930601 2930

HU 210547 122203794 580

IT 13878 131069031 9444

LT 92410 143977869 1558

LV 49538 20683459 418

MT 20264 7687444 379

PL 367776 315293255 857

RO 70249 159318804 2268

SI 927 89112721 96130

SK 42725 31545122 738

UK 822 13331326 16218

Source SFC database

Another indicator for efficiency was used in the ex-post evaluation of the Romanian

capacity development OP This programme was judged to be efficient because with a

similar level of investment it generated more immediate effects than initially

envisaged This is despite the fact that 120 of the selected projects in this country

could not be awarded due to depletion of funds this decreased the efficiency of the

OP somewhat as time was spent on processing and assessing these projects but with

no subsequent activity delivered or results achieved

Another more qualitative dimension of efficiency is assessed by looking at the

implementation process to see if there are features that are impeding or facilitating

the programme Two examples illustrate this In the Czech Republic only 75 of the

financial resources which were committed for the realisation of the selected projects

were fully spent This was caused by mistakes made during the procurement process

that resulted in delays in implementation Hungary showed that reforms could produce

the opposite or mixed effects on efficiency On the one hand state reforms may

increase the activity undertaken and the outputs and results produced On the other

hand the accompanying reorganisation of institutions may have a negative impact on

the efficiency of such interventions as they initially cause inefficiencies where people



57

are adjusting to the new situation Sometimes the complexity of procedures also

influences costs indirectly One example of this is when due to the complexity of

project administration huge amounts of money are spent on project management

which is provided by private companies that were established especially and solely for

this purpose (SK)

It can be concluded that the available information does not allow conclusions to be

drawn regarding the efficiency of SIC interventions The assessment of efficiency is

strongly hampered by the fact that the outputs of various activities are objects rather

than people This renders a comparison of costs per participant between PAs or

countries meaningless In addition there is a wide variation in the objects produced

which can range from studies to IT-systems therefore their costs also cannot be

compared without collecting detailed information on outputs and costs at activity level

The current evaluation does not encompass this level of analysis

43 The sustainability of ESF SIC interventions

Sustainability of SIC intervention refers to both the continuation of funded projects

(with or without EU funding) and the achieved results in terms of increased

empowerment and adaptation to new needs as they develop Although no clear-cut

evidence on sustainability has been detected it could be argued that in this respect

interventions are likely to be sustainable to a large extent Such interventions have

set in motion other activities which will continue beyond the lifespan of the original

activity Alternatively the tools developed provide a platform for new initiatives

without time constraints related to the project that introduced them For example

Those that have upgraded or added value to other interventions These are

mainly the training programmes based on needs assessments made through

functional analysis (BG)

E-governance and other tools (BG MT)

Quality management (LV)

A common learning portal for local authorities (UK)

Training or manpower interventions (EE IT MT)

Sustainability can be deliberately ensured by procedures and regulations to this end

In Poland changes in public administration institutions which were introduced as part

of the ESF project will have a permanent nature this is guaranteed by the

introduction of new procedures and regulations This applies to the Better Regulations

2015 adopted by the Council of Ministers on 22 January 2013 and concerning areas

such as legislative actions of simplification (solutions in removing barriers to

entrepreneurship development) impact assessment (an analytical tool that allows to

design regulations which correspond to the real socio-economic problems) and a public

consultation (the consultation facilitating stakeholder participation in the legislative

process - the on-line consultation system) The situation is the opposite for NGOs the

support they that received significantly influenced the development and strengthening

of the third sector but the lack of proven procedures and constant cooperation

between public authorities and NGOs adversely affects the durability of the results (the indicator - number of local government units that have implemented the

standards of cooperation with NGOs - has been achieved at the level of 856 in

Poland)

It should be mentioned however that the sustainability of SIC interventions is also

dependent on the context in which they are implemented and which these same

interventions aim to support Two main obstacles to sustainability have been identified

in this respect These are the lack of financial resources to sustain the action and the

institutional and political environment

Italy and Lithuania both highlight the importance of earmarking ESF funding for similar

interventions under the next programming period In Italy disappointing results of



58

regional SIC interventions led to the introduction of national thematic objectives

These cover the whole of Italy for the current programming period which the 2014-

2020 regulation now allows14 Between 2014 and 2020 the strategies and actions that

were started during the previous period will be continued and consolidated in a more

structured and defined framework For Lithuania the sustainability of the products

developed and results achieved at the end of the EU funding were identified as

moderate and dependent on the field of intervention and public management

institutions Since the budgets of the state and especially municipal institutions are

limited the continuity of products and results created from the 2007ndash2013 Structural

Funds in the field of public management depend on planned investments during the

2014ndash2020 programming period (this is particularly applicable to the fields of

performance management and e-government) In the case of decentralisation lack of

funding is also more likely to occur and national (or ESF) funding is needed to ensure

that interventions will be sustained (RO) Formalisation through public policies at

national level is required for this

The institutional environment is flagged up as a deterrent to the sustained

effectiveness of interventions in Greece and Slovakia Key institutional factors in this

respect include

a high employee turnover among state employees (SK)

lack of a systematic policy for human capital (SK)

changing management with new elections (EL SK)

an overall administrative culture that is not conducive to change (EL)

44 Gender sensitivity of ESF SIC interventions

SIC may have a direct or indirect impact on gender equality by strengthening and

supporting the gender infrastructure that is an integral part of the institutional set up

of a countryregion The term gender infrastructure refers to the administrative

political and legal mechanisms existing within the public administration which are

aimed at promoting gender equality such as provisions for gender mainstreaming

policies at the central and local level or gender budgeting for example Gender

infrastructure can be targeted directly by SIC interventions through positive actions

(such as training staff on gender issues promoting studies on gender pay gaps or

supporting the creation of gender units) or indirectly by strengthening the overall

capacity of the administration and therefore also implicitly improving awareness on

gender policies whilst also developing their effectiveness

An example of such an approach can be found in Greece which dedicated a PA to

lsquoStrengthening policies aiming at ensuring equal opportunities for all in the whole

range of the public administrationrsquo The PA foresaw measures to enhance the gender

mainstreaming policy in the public administration and increase the participation and

career progress of women in employment Actions included

codification and simplification of law regulations for the enhancement of gender

mainstreaming in all the fields of policy making

evaluation of public policiesrsquo impacts through gender mainstreaming

enhancement of the integration of gender mainstreaming in public policy

14 Institutional capacity being reserved to Convergence areas in the 2007-2013 period



59

enhancement of the participation of women in decision making centres

enhancement of actions in prefecture authorities targeting the prevention and

combating of violence against women

support for NGOrsquoS (womens organisations)

From the available evidence it seems that most of the interventions were

implemented as planned The latter intervention encountered difficulties as it coincided

with the restructuring of the public sector which was necessitated by the economic

crisis Very little is known on the impact of these interventions

Other countries did not address the gender infrastructure However SIC interventions

can also be designed in such a way that in their implementation at least women and

their interests are taken into account or even furthered Although SIC interventions do

not specifically target women in Poland the Polish OP can be considered a good

practice of designing an OP in a gender supportive way with several features that

may help ensure that women really benefit from the interventions

Women were the specific target groups of some of the interventions although

not in the case of any of the SIC interventions which has been continued in the

new programming period however there are no OPs or priorities specifically

dedicated to women

An obligatory minimum standard was introduced in projects so that all of the

institutions implementing ESF funds would respect the principle of gender

equality This meant that in all projects (also those implemented within the

SIC area) it had to be shown how the project would contribute to the fight

against inequalities or at least how it would not sustain or strengthen them

The minimum standard has been continued and developed in all ESF

programmes for the 2014-2020 programming period However the assessment

criteria have been tightened in terms of gender sensitivity which means that

project promoters are supposed to describe how they are going to implement

gender equality at all project stages In the 2014-20 programming period

there are also some requirements in terms of gender equality for project

promoters within other funds (ERDF EAFRD EMFF) The manual on gender

equality published by the MA contains recommendations for the MAs on

gender sensitivity in management OP implementation and the setting of

thematic objectives (the PA) amongst other things

Additionally the MA created a strategic vision on the strengthening of equal

rights for men and women which was adopted in the official MA agenda A

group which included the representatives of the intermediary bodies was

formed to control the application of gender equality as a horizontal issue in the

interventions

All institutions that are engaged in the management and implementation of the

ESF in Poland (ie the MA and the IBs) were assessed regarding their own

equality policies The idea behind this was that they would be in a better

position to stand ldquoon guardrdquo and protect gender mainstreaming and gender

equality if they knew of it from their own experience

SIC interventions and staff capacity building in particular can also be assessed in

light of the contribution they make to womenrsquos careers in the organisations that are

being supported by these interventions

SIC interventions typically have more female than male participants For most

countries this reflects the over-representation of women in public institutions As

precise figures are often lacking it is unclear as to whether women are proportionally

represented in interventions Women are also less represented at the higher and

managerial levels in administrations and sometimes in interventionsactions targeted

at managerial positions in public administrations (IT)



60

Proportional representation provides equal opportunities for women to better their

position It does not level the playing field however as is argued and exemplified in

the Estonia On the other hand more women participated in training than men in

Estonia For example in the central training program 2008-2009 three times more

women were trained than men this was also the case in training for NGOs where the

proportion of women was very high (nearly 75) This training ultimately influenced

the competitiveness of women in the labour market This should in theory help to

reduce the existing gap between women and men However it is not clear whether

the unequal labour market position really results from the differences in knowledge

and it is not likely that the gender pay gap will start to decrease as a result of the

training The effects on such a level are probably rather modest In this respect it is

worth noting that in programmes for top managers in the public sector the ratio

between men and women is very different there are twice as many men as women

Also the competence model and the related methodology for the regular evaluation of

competences which are developed for top managers in the Estonian public service

are gender neutral While this is obviously better than a system implicitly favouring

men this also means that it will not actively pursue a change in the gender balance at

this level

More specific actions would be required to improve the position of women in public

administrations in terms of qualitative criteria such as pay and function levels These

appear to be rare as women are seldom a specific target group in SIC interventions A

number of countries did make equal opportunities a selection criterion for projects

(CZ LT RO) However only two countries include actions that aim to further the

position of women In Greece specific PAs have the objective of enhancing gender

mainstreaming policy in the public administration increasing the participation and

career progression of women in employment and reducing genderndashbased segregation

in the public sector The Hungarian action lsquopromoting performance-based career

pathwaysrsquo includes specific activities to enable staff to better balance domestic and

work obligations which is something that will help women in particular

45 Community added value of ESF SIC interventions

Community added value can be achieved in four different ways volume role scope

and process

In the case of ESF SIC interventions this translates into the following options as

highlighted in Table 4 section 311 above

ESF funding was used to strengthen pre-existing good governance and capacity

building interventions funded by national strategies (volume)

ESF was used to reach new target groups (scope)

ESF was used to test new and innovative activities (role)

ESF was successfully used to improve PA service delivery by improving systems

and methods (process)

For most countries having ESF adds value to what would have been done in the

countries without this support

451 Volume effects

The main CAV dimension detected across the different MSs is the volume effect In

many countries (BG EE LV MT RO IT) interventions have been undertaken on a far

larger scale than would have been possible without the financial backing from ESF

This effect has been even greater than would have otherwise been possible due to the

impact that the financial crisis had on MSsrsquo budgets While this probably holds for

other areas of intervention too SIC interventions are more likely to suffer from budget

reductions as increasing unemployment and poverty rates are likely to be more

pressing concerns especially as administrative reform plans in several of the countries



61

concerned receive limited political backing Some examples of this effect can be

identified as follows

In Bulgaria the ESF provides key funding to support good governance on

municipal district and national levels as well as for reforms in important areas

including the judicial system which is one of the main recommendations to the

country and is the focus of the public opinion debate

In Poland ESF funds were used to train a larger share of public administration

employees

In Malta ESF funding complemented the Governmentrsquos efforts towards further

simplification and through building capacity amongst government employees

to assist citizens in accessing and using e-services Management processes

within the Public Service were streamlined with a view to facilitating more rapid

decision-making and implementation and more accountability of results

Support for regulatory reform in order to reduce the regulatory burdens on

businesses was also provided

In Lithuania available evidence confirms that the ESF provided additional

funding to support good governance according to the evaluation of the

lsquoEuropean Union Structural Funds Investments for Human Resource

Developmentrsquo through the interventions of measures under priorities 1 2 and

4 of the HRDOP more than 286 thousand public sector workers successfully

completed the training The increased quality of human capital in the public

sector resulted in the higher quality of work which was appreciated by the

public who expressed greater confidence in state and municipal institutions

and bodies15 In addition to this it should be mentioned that ESF funds were

almost the only source to support certain target groups in the context of the

economic crisis EU funds have become probably the only source of financing

for the employee qualification development initiatives for public institutions of

Lithuania16

In Slovenia an example of additional funding is the project lsquoInteroperability

and e-exchange of datarsquo which established amongst other things multi-

functional mechanisms for the implementation of complex data queries in

administrative records and an internet portal (NIO portal wwwniogovsi)

Today the latter is the central contact point for open data in the public sector

(Source AIR 2014)

452 Scope effects

ESF has also added value by broadening the scope of the interventions undertaken by

MSs The first way by which the scope of interventions changed was in terms of

actors such as NGOs or social partners (MT LV BG EE) In Slovenia new target

groups also included businesses and entrepreneurs through the creation of two online

portals (EUGO and e-VEM) providing information for the set-up registration operation

and closing of a company All processes can be undertaken online EUGO the Slovenia

Business Point is the English counterpart of e-VEM It helps foreign business entities

that want to do business in Slovenia

15 BGI Consulting European Union Structural Funds Investments for Human Resource Development Summary of the final report of evaluation (EN) 2015

16 PWC Evaluation of the quality and efficiency trainings financed by ESF 2011



62

SIC interventions also altered the scope of the national PAR (HU) or played a key role

in putting administrative capacity on the agenda (IT SK) Finally SIC helped to

introduce topics such as social inclusion equal opportunities and the reconciliation of

work and family life as policies these did not exist in the political agenda prior to the

ESF (SK)

453 Role effects

ESF SIC funding played a role in supporting the introduction and testing of innovative

tools or systems especially those concerning the introduction of e-government In

Bulgaria for example although with several delays and obstacles the Administrative

Capacity OP has supported the introduction of many e-services on a municipal level

as well as for specific national agencies and bodies including the judicial system In

Slovenia as an element of the modernisation and simplification of courtsrsquo

organisations a smart technology that had already been used successfully in the

medical sector was tested for speeding up the writing of judgments through voice

recognition Fifty judges tested this technology in a pilot project After three months

the software was developed fully and then mainstreamed (Source AIR 2013) In Italy

the ESF supported the digitalisation of ESF management administrative processes in

the Apulia OP

Role effects can be also identified in actions and fields not directly related to e-

governance such as

The introduction of monitoring and evaluation systems for policy

implementation on municipal and national levels which is also connected with

the introduction of the mechanism for public discussion of new policies (MT)

In Poland an impact assessment of regulations (an analytical tool that allows

to design regulations which correspond to the real socio-economic problems)

was introduced and tested along with the on-line public consultation system -

the consultation facilitating stakeholder participation in the legislative process

In Latvia under the action Reduction of administrative burden and improving

the quality of public servicesrdquo the Ministry of Environmental Protection and

Regional Development carried out a feasibility study for the setting up of a

single customer service centre network that brings together a number of

services carried out by public administrations

The support to PES in Campania region (IT)

454 Process effects

Process effects occurred in various countries and they relate to the programmatic and

cyclical nature of policy making monitoring and evaluation of policies and work

processes in general Some examples have been provided below

Improvement in the delivery of PA services is the main contribution of ESF SIC

investment in Bulgaria PA service delivery has been improved through the

training of civil servants the implementation of functional analysis on

municipal district and national levels setting up systems from monitoring and

evaluation of policy implementation the introduction of e-services and one

stop shop services exchange and the introduction of good practices from

other countries

In Italy new purchasing procedures were defined through the Ministry of

Education national OP (and also in the Calabria OP) interventions for

increasing the effectiveness of judiciary officesrsquo activities were introduced

(Campania Sicily Basilicata OPs) as well as projects aimed at improving ESF

programming management and control capacities (Apulia Sicily Ministry of

Labour OPs)

In Lithuania ESF support was used to improve PA service delivery systems and

methods for instance the ESF supported the development of the



63

interoperability (interface) system and improved the safety and functionality of

the information systems in public administration institutions Similarly the ESF

also supported the development and implementation of a centralised public

procurement management system Both interventions were included among the

good practice examples in the Strategic Evaluation of the Effectiveness and

Impact of EU Structural Assistance on the Improvement of Public Management

in Lithuania17

In Latvia a specific project devoted to Improving the quality of public services

at national regional and local level was implemented with the funding of 25

projects Within this the State Employment Agency developed a management

method referred to as Management according to the objectivesrdquo in order to

improve its services while the State Land Service developed an e-guide for

customer service

In Slovenia in order to improve the processing of documents an electronic

documentation system was established at the Public Employment Service It

allows for shorter response times and quicker decisions and also lowers costs

The new system was introduced in ten key processes of the PES which

constitute 85 of the administrative activities

46 The socio-economic impact of ESF SIC

461 Impact indicators and evidence from national ESF evaluations

As discussed impact indicators are virtually non-existent for SIC interventions in the

SFC database18 National sources do include information on impacts Typically this

information is of a more qualitative nature and does not permit conclusions to be

drawn on the level of impacts However it is possible to provide an indication of the

type of impacts that are achieved with SIC related interventions

In their strategic reports on programme implementation over the 2007-2013 period

according to the overall report rdquoseveral MSs emphasise the role that the ERDF and

ESF play in fostering national reform efforts particularly in the field of better

regulation reform of education systems the labour market public administration and

structural reforms in the water sector In addition the ESF has fostered capacity

building for the social partnersrdquo (European Commission 2013) In general however

impacts are seldom so clearly defined or evaluated The table below provides an

overview of what can tentatively be called (intermediate) impacts and indicators

Some information on impacts is available for six countries On this basis some

tentative conclusions emerge that could be tested in future evaluations For each of

these the evidence is rated using a three-point scale

Monitoring systems for policies and ex-ante impact assessment of new

regulatory initiatives seem to be effective in increasing the quality of legislation

and monitoring progress in implementation of policies (weak evidence BG)

The impacts of initiatives aimed at furthering institutional cooperation seem too

low after suffering from fragmented or limited implementation (evidence EE

LT)

17 PPMI Strategic Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Impact of EU Structural Assistance on the Improvement of Public Management in Lithuania 2014

18 It is to be noted that they were not required by the Regulation



64

The quality of public services shows clear signs of improvement during the

2007-2013 programming period It is likely that SIC interventions played a role

in this but lsquohardrsquo evidence on this is lacking (Strong evidence on changes but weak on causality CZ-regional level LT PL)

Table 21 Examples of tentative impact evaluations

MS ASSESSMENT

BG Based on the main conclusions in the First Report on the evaluation of OP AC

implementation for the period January-December 2014 the main achievements of this OP contributed to the optimisation and of the work of administration resulting in improved monitoring of policy implementation improved quality of the regulatory documents due to the introduction of their impact evaluation improved capacity of servants by training

CZ There is a slight increase of citizensrsquo satisfaction with the performance of the regional

administrations however the satisfaction with the state administration has been continuously declining

EE Although the effectiveness of the SIC investments has been good and the range of activities has been widened compared to previous programming periods the impacts have still stayed rather modest Even though a strategy unit was established in the

Government Office that has immensely contributed to the decrease in the number of strategic plans there is still room for strengthening the coordination between organisations (the ministries implementing agencies local and central governments) responsible for planning and implementing the strategies Also the social dialogue in policy-making has still room for development A number of joint committees (including the representatives of relevant organisations and social partners) have been created to include relevant partners incl social partners and to consequently add transparency

to policy-making At the same time such committees are criticised facilitating

transparency only seemingly and also diffusing responsibility

LT During the 2007-2013 period the key positive achievements of ESF SIC investments in Lithuania was the improvement of the overall quality and accessibility of public sector services in the country This was achieved through several different mechanisms The

ESF support contributed to the development of the HR capacity in public service Also the investments had positive influence on the management of internal activities in the public sector in Lithuania in particular a number of internal processes were digitalised and a number of strategic planning documents were developed In addition the investments are expected to contribute to the development of e-governance in the country and thereby improve the communication between the public authorities and citizens The key under-achievements of ESF SIC investments in Lithuania were the

very low impact on system-level reforms in public sector as well as low impact on institutional cooperation and partnership building Because of the lack or complete absence of necessary preconditions the reforms at system-level were implemented are fragmentary and are unlikely to produce any significant results Similarly because of a

number of negative factors (lack of coordination of different institutional cooperation initiatives lack of support and awareness on the part of political authorities and executive bodies lack of proper methods for involvement of relevant institutions) the

initiatives enhancing cooperation and partnerships between public institutions will most likely result in low or null impacts in these areas

PL Considering the impact of the ESF on improving the regulatory business environment it is worth mentioning the significant advancement of Poland in the World Banks Doing Business rankings 2015 In terms of ease of doing business Poland took 32nd position

(out of 189 countries) and moved up thirteen places in comparison with the previous year The World Bank assessed countries in 10 categories such as among others ease of opening of the company the necessary start-up capital or tax returns




65

462 Impacts in relation to changes in the quality of administrations

The World Bank publishes a broad range of data on the perceived quality of

governance In particular the Worldwide Governance Indicators cover six broad

dimensions three of which are particularly relevant to this report

government effectiveness

regulatory quality

rule of law

This dataset aggregates the results of many surveys that have been conducted

worldwide It has been doing so since 1996 which means that developments can be

traced throughout the programming period

The charts below present the estimates of the perceived quality for each of the three

dimensions The perception of quality is rated ranging from approximately -25

(weak) to 25 (strong) in order to illustrate governance performance

Better quality services ndash competitiveness of companies 4621

Government effectiveness the first dimension of the Worldwide Governance

Indicators assesses the perception of public service quality the quality of the civil

service and its degree of independence from political pressures the quality of policy

formulation and implementation and the credibility of the governments commitment

to such policies Concerning public attitudes towards government effectiveness in the

case of ten of the fourteen countries citizens businesses and institutions felt that

their government had become more effective between 2007 and 2014 The four

exceptions were Greece Hungary Malta and the United Kingdom

The previous section showed that ESF had contributed to better quality services in the

three countries for which evidence was available (CZ LT PL) For the latter two

countries it is therefore likely that ESF has played a role in improving the regulatory

quality scores for their countries However as section 313 showed nine MSs had

actions aimed specifically at improving their delivery systems and eight MSs had

actions aiming at policy delivery as well as development

Figure 4 Government effectiveness

Source The Worldwide Governance Indicators 2015 Update

-050

000

050

100

150

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Government effectiveness

BU CZ EE EL HU IT LV

LT MT PL RO SK SI UK



66

The dimension of regulatory quality measures the governmentrsquos ability to formulate

and implement sound policies and regulations that permit and promote private sector

development Regulatory quality was receiving slightly higher marks on average in

2007 than government effectiveness However for only five countries this assessment

had improved by 2014 Estonia Latvia Lithuania Poland and Romania Four of these

countries already had relatively high scores in 2007 but so did some of the countries

with decreasing evaluations such as Hungary Slovakia and the United Kingdom

Ten MSs implemented actions that were dedicated to improving the business

environment while 14 MSs had actions aimed at introducing and strengthening the

use of e-services in public administrations (sections 313 and 314) In light of this

the fact that only five MSs were deemed to have improved the quality of their

regulatory process is again a sign that the impact of efforts made under SIC actions is

not or at least not yet noticeable

Figure 5 Regulatory quality


The overall conclusion is therefore that in the majority of the MSs the impact of

these actions on the governmental performance is not yet evident or if it is it is still

not noticeable to citizens and businesses However with the nature of SIC

interventions it may be a matter of time before these impacts become obvious only

then will a further impact on the performance of businesses and the wellbeing of

citizens be expected to occur

000

020

040

060

080

100

120

140

160

180

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Regulatory quality





67

Better quality justice and rule of law ndash a conducive socio-economic 4622

environment

The 2015 EU Justice scoreboard shows that there is significant divergence in the

effectiveness of judicial systems across MSs According to the 2015 EU

Competitiveness report the functioning of justice systems in several countries

requires further improvements19

Rule of law measures the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the

rules of society and more specifically in the quality of contract enforcement property

rights the police and the courts as well as the likelihood of crime and violence The

satisfaction with rule of law increased between 2007 and 2014 for nine countries

which is almost as many as for government effectiveness Greece Hungary Italy and

Malta experienced decreasing evaluations over this period

Of the nine countries with increasing scores for rule of law four countriesrsquo evidence is

available on the results actions undertaken in the justice sector (section 414) These

results were decidedly mixed with SI and CZ showing positive achievements and

Bulgaria and Poland showing under-achievements As the rule of law indicator is a

very general indicator and the evidence on ESF SIC actions in this area are few and

mixed in terms of results the conclusion here is that the necessary evidence on the

impact of ESF SIC actions in this sector is insufficient to draw conclusions

Nonetheless the increased satisfaction with the rule of law is a positive development

Figure 6 Rule of law


19 European Commission Single Market Integration and Competitiveness in the EU and its Member States Report 2015 October 2015 section 326

-050

000

050

100

150

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Rule of law





68

4623 Assessment

Improvements in the quality of public administration occurred between 2007 and

2014 especially in the fields of government effectiveness and rule of law The

perception of regulatory quality improved in a smaller number of countries

The best performance could be seen in Romania Poland and the three Baltic States

These countries improved their ratings on each of the three dimensions between 2007

and 2014 On the other end of the scale three countries saw their assessment

decreasing on all three dimensions Greece Hungary and Malta

It is to be expected that ESF would have contributed to positive changes However

this causal relationship can only be established through impact assessments and

evaluations and the evidence available at this point is insufficient to draw conclusions

in this respect

463 Key factors determining success or failure

Overview 4631

Several factors determine whether interventions are successful and can be considered

good practice in achieving their objectives and whether they do so in an efficient

manner Factors for success and failure are complementary For this reason the two

are discussed together here although the national evaluations do distinguish between

them as can be seen from the figure below

The key factors are similar to those identified in earlier evaluations of ESF SIC

interventions Five factors were identified in national evaluations or by the country

experts based on more general sources

Management this factor is typically linked with the lack of administrative

capacity in the Managing Authority or Intermediate Body itself and was

identified as a key factor for the Czech Republic Italy Romania and Slovakia

Strategic approach and intervention logic this factor refers to coherence and

consistency in policies regarding SIC interventions as well as the detailed

development of an intervention logic It was identified as a key factor for Italy

Lithuania and Romania

Motivation and capacities of beneficiaries this factor directly influences the

performance of individual activities and is therefore of obvious importance It

was identified as playing a key role in Bulgaria the Czech Republic Latvia

Lithuania Malta and Slovakia

Cooperation and coordination efficient coordination of various funded activities

and efficient cooperation between different organisations were listed as key

factors for performance in the Czech Republic Estonia and Lithuania

Context factors these factors include national public administration reform

strategies legislation and the political and institutional environment

Contextual factors are the most regularly cited explanatory factor for success

and failure for Bulgaria Greece Hungary Italy Lithuania Malta Poland

Slovenia and Slovakia



69

Figure 7 Key factors for success and failure mentioned for MS

The colour of the country abbreviations signifies that the factor was deemed either a success

(blue) or a failure (red) for that country In the case of some countries it turned out to be both

Source country templates based on national evaluations or assessment of country experts based on more general sources

Because of its importance the institutional and political context is discussed in more

detail here It also constitutes a rather specific factor for successful capacity building

interventions Annex III provides a complete overview of the success and risk factors

identified for individual countries

The role of the institutional and political context 4632

This section looks at the role of the institutional and political context as a determinant

for success or failure of ESF interventions that were aimed at strengthening

institutional capacity The information in this section is based upon expert assessment

provided by the country experts where these contextual factors were flagged up as a

success or risk factor to a greater or lesser extent The political and institutional

environment has been flagged up as a crucial factor for successful SIC interventions

under ESF by several countries (BG CZ EL HU IT LT MT RO SK) Rapid changes in

government politicised institutions and lacking political support were all cited as

impediments to the effectiveness of SIC interventions

According to the synthesis evaluation country report for the Czech Republic in all

international comparisons the institutional environment is evaluated as one of the

most significant weaknesses of the Czech Republic When discussing the institutional

environment of the country reference is made to inefficient institutions an excessive

regulatory burden and corruption The performance of the countryrsquos administration



70

has been continuously declining since 200620 This is impacting on the performance of

ESF SIC interventions According to the AIR 2014 OP HRE and the evaluation

conducted the realisation of the PA 4 of the OP HRE has been lagging behind the

other priority axes over a long-term period The core problems deal with the

administrative capacity of the Ministry of Interior in its role as an Intermediate Body

as well as the organisational changes of the state institutions in their role as

beneficiaries In addition a high error rate exists in the management of individual

projects which is usually linked to the procurement arrangements and to

irregularities

In Greece the OP Administrative Reform has encountered serious difficulties that

hindered its smooth implementation Besides other factors the institutional

environment plays a key role in this The administrative culture has been criticised for

its absence of strategic action wasteful maladministration of the scarce public

resources organisational overlapping absence of rational planning regarding the

allocation of functions and unsatisfactory services provided to citizens Another

important contextual constraint lies in the absence of an enduring political will and

clientelism accompanied by the politicisation of the senior civil service At least until

very recently these conditions remained unchanged and were reinforced by

widespread corrupt practices Furthermore civil society is only weakly developed in

Greece while consultation structures and practices as part of policy preparation are

also underdeveloped Of particular concern is the on-going politicisation and

subsequent instability at senior levels of the administration

The Hungarian State Reform has gone through essential changes which have had a

substantial impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of the SIC PAs in this country

The direction of the reform was changed and the reform has intensified since 2010

with the election of the new conservative government This has boosted the efforts

made and increased the number of activities and outputs produced under the relevant

PAs This was particularly visible in the number of laws and the activities connected to

their preparation At the same time these political changes seem to have had a

negative impact on the efficiency of the implementation of the PAs This inefficiency

resulted from the fact that new government took time to establish and had partly

different priorities This meant that many changes in the planning and implementation

of interventions had to be made and much adjustment was necessary by those

involved in the implementation

Because of the lack or complete absence of necessary preconditions in Lithuania

the reforms at system-level were implemented in a fragmented manner and are

unlikely to produce any significant results Consequently the key under-achievements

of ESF SIC investments in Lithuania were the very low impact on system-level reforms

in the public sector as well as low impact on institutional cooperation and partnership

building Similarly because of a combination of negative factors the initiatives

enhancing cooperation and partnerships between public institutions will most likely

result in low or no impact in these areas These factors include the lack of coordination

of different institutional cooperation initiatives lack of proper methods for the

involvement of relevant institutions but also the lack of support and awareness on the

part of political authorities and executive bodies

20 Source Supreme Audit Office of the Czech Republic Information from the control action No 1415 The financial expenditures spent on the projects linked with the effective public administration 2015 httpnkuczassetspublikaceeu-report-2015-czpdf



71

In Slovakia the institutional environment is politicised in the sense that as a rule

following every general election new management enters the administration

Systematic work with human capital in public administration is largely absent As a

result employee turnover is high among state employees This in turn is potentially

dangerous to the sustainability of the results and impacts achieved with SIC related

interventions

According to a publication of the EUOECD SIGMA initiative five years after accession

political processes and considerations still substantially impacted the effect and

sustainability of EU capacity building interventions in Central and Eastern Europe In

addition the 2015 single market integration and competitiveness report pointed out

that regulatory and political instability are important barriers to economic growth as

they negatively impact on investment decisions especially longer term ones The

2014 competitiveness report draws attention to insufficient political will as a factor

besides the lack of capacity to enforce rules hampering the effect of anti-corruption

policies in several of the convergence countries From the present study it can be

concluded that during the 2007-2013 period several factors in the institutional and

political environment were indeed hampering progress in achieving the objectives

associated with capacity building interventions These factors include a lack of political

awareness or support (LT) rapid changes in government (EL HU SK) often

changing inefficient change-averse or politicised institutions (CZ EL HU LT) and

clientelism (EL)



72

5 Overview of key lessons learned

Key findings




activities under the SIC priority The contribution of ESF SIC to the Europe 2020

Strategy might be further enhanced by specifying the more relevant fields of ESF

SIC support such as e-government or business friendly administration The

institutional and political context remains a key success and risk factor for capacity

building interventions


interventions referring in particular to the staff of the beneficiary organisations

With regard to beneficiaries both their motivation and their capacity are important

factors for the success or failure of SIC interventions

Appropriate programming A comprehensive and strategic approach to capacity

building is required by MSs as well as a well-defined intervention logic This should

go well beyond the specific objectives and into the realm of intermediate and final

impacts Support provided to countries should take into account the five key factors

that influence the success of SIC interventions management strategic approach

and intervention logic motivation and capacities of beneficiaries cooperation and

coordination and context factors New programmes need to make sure that results

and impacts whose sustainability required further funding are indeed continued

Effective implementation Issues concerning the management of the OP or PA

are often linked to a lack of administrative capacity in the Managing Authority or

Intermediate Body both in terms of numbers and qualifications of staff Significant

personnel turnover and frequent changes in staff contributed to mistakes being

made in financial reporting by beneficiaries which was further hampered by

complicated and often-changing rules and errors in the implementation process


compulsory indicators to cover an agreed classification of interventions review ex-

ante the output and result indicators proposed by MSs to see if they comply with

SMART criteria apply a categorisation to common output and result indicators in

the SFC database

Evaluation Fields of activities as found in the CSRs for example could provide a

starting point for the development of impact indicators for ex-post evaluation More

systematic guidance on the distinction between indicators for capacity

enhancement performance and impact indicators could help countries formulate

better indicators for monitoring results In addition a benchmark is needed against

which achievements can be measured

51 Key lessons in terms of policy choices

In the 2007-2013 period strengthening the institutional capacity and efficiency of

public administrations and public services became an ESF objective for convergence

regions (section 22) Supporting SIC interventions in a general or horizontal manner

was new to the 2007-2013 period as increasing administrative capacity was deemed

to be vital for delivering on the Europe 2020 Strategy

The budget spent on SIC interventions has been small in comparison to overall

expenditure under ESF and in comparison to vertical capacity building aimed at labour

market and education institutions (section 34) Impacts are slow to emerge and

difficult to detect which is particularly the case for this priority theme (section 46)

Capacity building takes time and the crisis has had a negative influence on the results

of SIC interventions in the 2007-2013 programming period Community added value

of SIC interventions supported under ESF (section 45) confirms the need for SIC

interventions It therefore stands to reason for the EU to continue funding such

activities in future programming periods



73

There are specific areas of interest or fields of activity as referred to in this report

(section 412) which are clearly deemed important in the framework of SIC and that

bear a more direct link to the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy These are

visible in the country specific recommendations prepared by the European

Commission but also in the topics chosen by the EU funded network that examined

how to make better use of the ESF for public administration reforms21 ESF SIC

interventions have proven to be instrumental in helping countries follow-up on the

recommendations they receive from the Commission (section 31) At the same time

however many actions focus on more general capacity enhancement In order to

emphasise support for the Europe 2020 Strategy it could be considered to adapt and

further specify the relevant provisions in the ESF Regulation (Article 32b) inserting

those fields of activity that best contribute to this Possible examples include

lsquoimproving the environment for businessesrsquo and lsquoincreasing e-government servicesrsquo

The institutional and political context is a key success or risk factor for capacity

building interventions For all countries it is impossible to achieve results without

political backing and support Some of the countries studied here are still dealing with

structural political and cultural features in their environment that will effectively block

SIC interventions if they are not addressed (section 462)

It is therefore important to make the provision of financial support for capacity

building dependent on proven commitment and capacity in the institutional and

political context As a result the Commission can apply as Knott (2007) phrased it

the logic of consequences The logic of consequences assumes that rational actors will

seek to maximise their welfare or utility through strategic actions Depending on how

it is enforced in practice it constitutes a tool with which resources can be directed to

environments where they are likely to be more effective although MSs with less

favourable conditions in which to choose face an obvious choice Knott quoting

others also distinguishes the logic of appropriateness This logic encourages actorsrsquo

motivation by internalising identities values and norms This raises the question of

whether lsquosofterrsquo methods such as those associated with mutual learning could play a

role in this lsquostrategy for changersquo A good starting point to look for answers is the

existing and ongoing mutual learning benchmarking and policy coordination

mechanisms that are practiced by the EU in its employment and social policies A

second place is the strengthening of mutual learning initiatives for regional and local

actors as these are often absent in regular EU employment initiatives

One of the reasons why output targets are not met includes problems related to the

management of projects by MA and IB (section 46) this would suggest the need to

continue interventions aimed at improving the implementation capacity of such bodies

21 From 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2012 an EU funded project lsquoFacing the Challenge ndash How to Effectively Support Public Administration Reforms by ESF Fundsrsquo sought to learn more about making better use of the European Social Fund for public administration reforms The topics chosen were strategic planning e-governance the partnership principle for better regulation and local development business-friendly administration local government reform



74

52 Key lessons in terms of target groups

As discussed earlier in this report target groups have a specific meaning in the

framework of SIC interventions For SIC interventions the distinction between

beneficiaries and target groups is somewhat blurred Typically target groups will be

employees of beneficiary institutions


factors for the success or failure of SIC interventions Motivation and capacities of

beneficiaries have been cited as a reason why projects are delayed or abandoned

impacting on the degree to which the envisaged outputs and results are achieved ESF

should therefore continue to provide support to beneficiaries However lessons should

also be learned by MSs on the criteria and conditions to be met by potential

beneficiaries before qualifying for support

One reason why output targets are not met (section 41) involves problems related to

the actual implementation by beneficiaries For a number of countries reports exist

about projects that have been abandoned before completion or not even started

Some projects are also poorly implemented with low quality training on offer Some

interventions do not achieve their target Several factors cause this but the interest

and motivation of beneficiaries are a key factor in the success of a programme Higher

involvement of beneficiaries in the preparation of programmes may provide a means

by which to increase such motivation offer concrete support to project managers in

the form of training or provide mutual learning events as a means to increase their

capacity (section 46) However without the right culture in the public sector which

is attentive to human resource management for example this will be insufficient Of

course other factors will also determine the interest of those participating in SIC

interventions such as workload

For several countries the lack of capacity for project management in the target

organisations may itself constitute a barrier to success This applies to those that are

promoting or managing projects This may endanger project implementation but

above all the consolidation of results

Finally with regard to beneficiary institutions it can be observed that national

institutions are the main beneficiary of ESF SIC interventions In the absence of an

objective criterion for the required degree of local and regional authority involvement

it would be good to monitor the satisfaction of these parties in terms of their

involvement in ESF The same applies to NGOs and social partner institutions (section

312)

53 Key lessons in terms of appropriate programming

A number of conclusions can be drawn regarding the strategic approach taken as well

as the intervention logics developed and applied in MSs (section 31)

Strategic approach and intervention logic are related but they are not the same The

strategic approach starts with a call for a unitary coherent and consistent policy

regarding SIC interventions rather than a series of unrelated independent SIC

interventions This can also result in an overall vision or framework for SIC The

strategic approach can also be applied during implementation Selection procedures

for projects based upon calls for project ideas are an example of this Key factors

related to intervention logics include the identification of intervention areas that

respond to a clear need but will also be sufficiently substantial in reaching a critical

mass whilst also fitting the funding possibilities It also concerns the precise

identification and definition of objectives coherence in instruments outputs and

results Target groups need to be well defined but formal delineations should not

prohibit a dedicated search for the actual intended beneficiaries during

implementation

A substantial part of the capacity building interventions takes place under OPs and PAs

that are of a more thematic or sectoral nature (section 34) From the viewpoint of



75

expenditure categories the SIC interventions are small compared to other sectors

notably more policy sector oriented categories Nevertheless and perhaps because of

this SIC interventions have a specific role to play in the interaction with vertical

capacity building interventions For developing such a role the following questions

could provide some guidance

How does SIC relate to capacity building activities in the framework of other

priorities

How does SIC contribute to the wider objectives of this strategy as well as

national priorities

How and where do SIC interventions interact with other capacity building

interventions How does alignment take place at the strategic level during

implementation

Should SIC support be horizontal as was often the case during the 2007-2013

programming period or be more focused on certain sectors

What are the underlying considerations and criteria for this

A SIC strategic approach towards capacity building under ESF could be strengthened

with questions such as

What are the overall needs and objectives of capacity building in the country

How does ESF capacity building fit into to the overall PAR strategy

How does it contribute to and how is it supported by it

This comprehensive and strategic approach to capacity building should be the starting

point for the development of a well-defined intervention logic that goes well beyond

the specific objectives into the realm of intermediate and final impacts At present

few indicators at impact level exist but the results indicators seem to harbour

distinctive levels amongst them Objectives and indicators could be better delineated

through the use of the general intervention logic for example which was developed in

the interim evaluation (Ecorys 2011) This study used the following sequence as the

basis for the objectives tree underlying the intervention logic better administration

performance leads to more effective governance that in turn will ensure a better

response to citizensrsquo and firmsrsquo needs which will eventually contribute to

competitiveness and growth in the European Union

Nevertheless a word of caution is in order here The ESF plays an important role in

providing support for SIC interventions The efforts made are large but the

performance of these interventions seems lower than desired SIC interventions were

less likely to achieve their output targets than ESF interventions in general (section

41) and evidence on quality improvements in public administrations is mixed (section

46) This lower performance may be partly explained by inexperience in target setting

for this type of activity and it does not prevent progress being made Progress is in

fact being made albeit slower in some countries and faster in others Capacity

building needs time For the newer MSs it has been a process driven largely by the

EU-accession process over a long time The 2007-2013 programming period could

have been the period during which the EU assumptions and objectives regarding the

role of modern public institutions could have become more internalised The crisis

has however been a strong counteracting force in this respect with an immediate

impact on staff and human resources development in public institutions Admittedly it

requires time and a long-term perspective for capacity building to realise its effects

and reach the top level of the objectives tree Support to countries in this process

should take into account the five key factors that influence the success of SIC

interventions management strategic approach and intervention logic motivation and




76

54 Key lessons in terms of effective implementation

Issues concerning the management of the OP or PA are often linked to the lack of

administrative capacity in the Managing Authority or Intermediate Body itself (see

Annex III) both in quantitative and in qualitative terms Significant personnel outflow

along with complicated rules and errors in the implementation process as well as

often changing rules contributed to mistakes being made in financial reporting by

beneficiaries (section 46) Vice versa an attentive MA closely monitoring and

aligning project and financial considerations will be a contributing factor to a

successful programme implementation

Other lessons concerning the implementation of ESF interventions relate to

coordination and cooperation Efficient coordination of different funded activities and

efficient cooperation between different organisations involved are factors for success

(section 463) the lack of these elements was identified as a reason for the

unsuccessful implementation of programmes Coordination is also required to avoid

overlap in activities especially when targeting NGOs or local governments as there is

a greater risk that they are being approached from multiple directions for similar

interventions Coordination or alignment of training interventions for example can

also help increase the effectiveness and sustainability of the individual interventions

Fragmentation is in turn likely to increase costs and decrease impacts

55 Key lessons in terms of monitoring

With a greater number of improved indicators it will also be possible to improve

monitoring and evaluation so that results and impacts can be better traced during the

new programming period However this is potentially at odds with the intention to

minimise the administrative burden for organisations involved in the implementation

of ESF interventions For this reason the following improvements have been

suggested

A specificity of SIC PAs and actions seems to be that they tend to cover such a

variety of activities that a comparison of financial and participantsrsquo data is

rather meaningless (section 314) The introduction of compulsory types of

indicators per type of intervention according to a classification of interventions

can be beneficial such as the pre-existing one for training the number of

participants would also help in solving this issue

Ex-ante review of output and result indicators which have been proposed by

MSs to see if they comply with SMART criteria as a minimum measurable and

time-bound

Categorisation of indicators in the SFC database with categories such as the

number of persons supported number of organisations supported number of

studies provided etc

The fields of activity mentioned under section 51 represent objectives at various

levels in the intervention logic Sometimes these fields represent expected results

from the capacity building interventions (introduction of e-government systems and

more efficient public administration) sometimes they seem more focused on impacts

directly following from these results (a business-friendly environment and less

corruption) and sometimes they focus on a specific sector (judiciary reform) They

seem to move back and forth between results and intermediate impacts or between

capacity and performance outcomes More systematic guidance on where to situate

these fields could help countries formulate better indicators for monitoring results

In order to draw conclusions it does not suffice to just have good indicators One

must also establish a benchmark against which achievements can be measured

Sometimes other interventions or countries can act as a benchmark However

additional information is sometimes required This is illustrated by the example of

gender A more direct approach would be to develop indicators or targets that include

such a benchmark such as those based on proportional participation (section 44)



77

56 Key lessons in terms of evaluation

One of the main shortcomings encountered during this evaluation is the lack of

information on achievements (in terms of results) and on impacts

Concerning results several limitations hamper the formulation of a concise and clear-

cut assessment of achievements causality and extent to which results have been

achieved at the level These relate to the quality and availability of monitoring data

and the heterogeneity of national evaluations coupled with a broad range of

intervention logics Furthermore information from national evaluations is typically of a

more qualitative nature with less evidence-based findings and is thus not conducive

to drawing hard conclusions

The formulation of impact indicators is not mandatory and they turn out to be virtually

absent This problem is not compensated for in national evaluations

Any attempt to measure impacts must begin with the formulation of a good

intervention logic as well as an objectives tree Two approaches could be envisaged

Bottom-up measuring the impact of individual activities (actionsPAsOPs)

aggregating the evaluation findings for such individual activities (etc) and

using the indicators developed in the MSs

Formulating one or more lsquoframework intervention logicsrsquo with specific

objectives that are the compulsory final targets of any action of MSsrsquo indicators

Both approaches require further examination with regard to their feasibility The

aggregation of findings from a large number of evaluations may lead to abstract

conclusions that convey little more than a final quantitative score in the most

extreme cases they will only convey whether there has or has not been an impact

This effect can perhaps be mitigated by the agreement of guidelines on the structure

of evaluations carried out at national level With regard to the framework intervention

logic it is important to determine whether this can do justice to the individual and

specific character of the programmes in light of the national contexts This approach

may also imply that the formulation of actions must be aligned with the envisaged

specific objectives of the framework logic The current variety in programming SIC

interventions would need to be reviewed both in terms of the benefits it brings to MSs

in targeting their interventions and the drawbacks it has for evaluation

The distinction between capacity enhancement and performance indicators raised by

the World Bank Institute and their overview of capacity enhancement indicators can

help MSs formulate appropriate (results and) impact indicators

During the analysis of efficiency (section 42) it became apparent that the nature of

SIC activities makes it hard to apply the usual indicators for efficiency based on costs

per participant or institution supported In order to arrive at meaningful indicators

financial data would need to be available at activity level so that they can be linked to

a typology of activities As this seems to be too cumbersome an obligation to be

introduced into the regular monitoring system it is recommended that this should be

addressed in the national ex-ante evaluations so that synthesis evaluations can

expand upon this



78

References

De Koning et al (2006)

Jaap de Koning Katja Korolkova Emiel Maasland Peter van Nes With the assistance

of Marinka van de Kamp Jan Joost Kessler Evaluation of the ESF support to capacity

building Final report October 2006

Ecorys (2011)

Jan Maarten De Vet Aimar Ferran Guijarro Sacha Koppert Colm McClements

Assessment of administrative and institutional capacity building interventions and

future needs in the context of European Social Fund(VC2009066-009) April 2011

Europan Union (2010)

European Union The European Social Fund and institutional capacity of public bodies

2010

European Commission (2012)

European Commission Quality of public administration European Semester 2012 ndash

Thematic Fiche 2012


Strategic Report 2013 ndash Programme implementation 2007-2013 Factsheet

Institutional Capacity Building Factsheet produced in support of the Commission 2013

Strategic report on cohesion policy programme implementation 2007-2013

European Commission (2013b)

Report from the Commission to the European Parliament the Council the European

Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions Cohesion policy

Strategic report 2013 on programme implementation 2007-2013 SWD(2013) 129

final


European Commission Directorate-General for Employment Social Affairs and

Inclusion Unit E1 Promoting good governance European Social Fund thematic paper

2014


European Commission Reindustrialising Europe Member Statesrsquo Competitiveness

Report 2014 Commission staff working document SWD(2014) 278 2014 (chapter 2

Public administration scoreboard)

European Commission (2014c)

Guidance document on indicators Public Administration Capacity building 2014

EIPA (2013)

Guidelines for the verification process of the ex-ante conditionality of the thematic

objective ldquoEnhancing Institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and

efficient public administrationrdquo Guidelines drafted by the European Institute of Public

Administration (EIPA) on behalf of DG Employment Social Affairs and Inclusion of the

European Commission Version 6 - 14 August 2013

EIPA (2014)

Alexander Heichlinger Nick Thijs Julia Bosse From Strengthening Administrative

Capacity Building (ACB) to Public Sector Innovation (PSI) Building Blocks and

Successful lsquoBridgesrsquo EIPA 2014



79

Ferry (2013)

Martin Ferry The Achievements of Cohesion Policy Evidence and Methodological

Challenges from an EU 10 Perspective European Policies research Centre University

of Strathclyde May 2013

Panteia (2013)

Panteia Preparatory study for the ex-post evaluation of ESF 2007-2013 Final report

October 2013

Knott (2007)

Julian Knott the impact of the EU accession process on the establishment of

evaluation capacity in Bulgaria and Romania in International Public Policy Review

Vol 3 No 1 ndash June 2007

The Worldwide Governance Indicators 2015 Update Aggregate Governance Indicators

1996-2014 Sept 25 2015

The World Bank (2003)

Yemile Mizrahi Capacity Enhancement Indicators Review of the Literature WBI

Evaluation Studies No EG03-72 World Bank Institute



80

Annex I - Overview of OPs PAs and Actions explicitly addressing SIC

MS OP PA A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6

BG OP Human Resources Development

PA 6

Improving the effectiveness of labour market

institutions and of social and

healthcare services

61 Development and modernisation of

the labour market system

62 Strengthening the capacity of

institutions for social inclusion

and for provision of health services

BG OP Administrative Capacity

PA 1

Good governance

11 Effective Structure of the State

Administration

12 Transparency and Integrity of

the State

Administration

13 Effective Coordination and Partnership

in Policy-Making

and Implementation of Policies

14 The Administration ndash Partner of the

Business

15 Transparent and Effective

Judicial System

16 Transnational and Inter-

regional

Cooperation

BG OP Administrative

Capacity

PA 2

Human resources

management

21 Modern human resources

management in the state administration

22 Competent and effective

state administration

23 Strengthening

the capacity of the civil society structures

24 Competent judicial system and

effective human resource management

25 Transnational

and interregional cooperation


Capacity

PA 3

Quality administrative

service delivery and e-Governance development

31 Improvement of

the service delivery to the citizens and the business sector including through e-governance

development

32 Standard information and

communication environment and interoperability

33 Improvement of

the service delivery provided by the bodies of the judiciary through development of

information technologies

34 Transnational and interregional

cooperation

CZ Operational Programme

PA 4

Public administration

41 Strengthening of



81


Human Resources

Development

and public services

institutional capacity and

efficiency in public administration

EE OP for Human Resource Development

PA 5

Enhancing administrative capacity

Measure ldquoEnhancement of strategic

management of the public sector and NGOsrdquo

Measure ldquoBetter regulationrdquo

Measure ldquoTraining and development of

employees of the State local authorities and NGOsrdquo

Measure ldquoSupporting county-level

support structuresrdquo

EL OP for Human

Resource Development

PA1 ldquoImproving

national public policies

modernisation of the public administrationrdquo

EL OP for Human


PA2 ldquoImproving

national public policies modernisation of the public administrationrdquo

EL OP for Human


PA3 ldquoImproving


EL OP for Human Resource Development

PA4 ldquoDevelopment of the human capital in the public

administration



82


EL OP for Human Resource

Development

PA5 ldquoDevelopment of the human

capital in the public administration


PA6 ldquoDevelopment of the human capital in the

public administration


PA7 Strengthening policies aiming at ensuring

equal



PA8 Strengthening policies aiming at ensuring equal opportunities for

all in the whole range of the




equal opportunities for all in the whole

range of the



83



HU State Reform OP

PA 1

Renewal of processes and organisation

development

11 Improvement of the capacity for

self-governance and the quality of legislation

12 Renewal of procedures and work processes

as well as organisation development

HU State Reform OP

PA 2

Improving the quality of human resources

21 Establishment of open recruitment and an efficient internal

replacement

22 Performance-based career pathways

HU State Reform OP

PA 3


31 Renewal of the processes and organisational development

32 The improvement of the quality of human resources

IT Campania ROP PA 7

Institutional capacity

Specific Objective O ndash Improving policies programming

monitoring and

evaluation capacities at the National regional and local level with a view to

improving territorial governance

Specific Objective P ndash Strengthen capacity of institutions and

systems for the

implementation of policies and programmes

IT Calabria ROP PA Institutional Specific Specific



84


7 capacity Objective P ndash Improving

policies programming monitoring and evaluation

capacities at the National regional and

local level with a view to improving territorial governance

Objective Q ndash Strengthen

capacity of institutions and systems for the implementation

of policies and programmes

IT Sicily ROP PA

7

Institutional

capacity

Specific

Objective O ndash Improving policies programming monitoring and evaluation

capacities at the National regional and local level with a view to

improving territorial

governance

Specific

Objective P ndash Strengthen capacity of institutions and systems for the implementation


IT Basilicata ROP PA 7


Specific Objective O ndash Improving policies

programming monitoring and

evaluation capacities at the

Specific Objective P ndash Strengthen capacity of

institutions and systems for the

implementation of policies and



85


National regional and

local level with a view to improving territorial

governance

programmes

IT Apulia ROP PA

7

Institutional

capacity

Specific

Objective O ndash Improving policies programming monitoring and evaluation capacities at the

National regional and local level with a view to improving territorial

governance

Specific

Objective P ndash Strengthen capacity of institutions and systems for the implementation of policies and

programmes

IT Governance and System Actions

(Ministry of Labour)

National OP

PA E5


Specific Objective 51 (Increasing

innovation effectiveness

and transparency of public action)

Specific Objective 52 (Improving

inter-institutional negotiation

capacities with specific reference to public-private partnerships)


public services standards)

Specific Objective 54 (Defining together with

Regions standards and methodologies

for managing monitoring evaluating and supporting ESF and non-ESF interventions

quality and effectiveness as

well as their reciprocal

Specific Objective 55 (Strengthening

and integrating the

environmental governance system)



86


complementarity)

IT Competencies for development (Ministry of

Education) National OP

PA 2


Specific Objective H (Improving Education

System Governance and Evaluation)

LT OP for the Development of Human Resources 2007-2013

PA 4

Fostering Administrative Competences and Increasing Efficiency of

Public Administrationrdquo

Specific Objective 1 Improving management of human resources

and strengthening

administrative capabilities in public service

Specific Objective 2 Improving management of activities better

implementing EU policies

improving structure of public administration

Specific Objective 3 Improving regulation of economic

activities and providing

services to people and business

LV OP Human Resources and Employment

PA 5

Administrative Capacity Building

51 Better Regulation Policy

52Capacity Building of Human Resources

53 Administrative Capacity and Development Planning Capacity

Building of

Planning Regions and Local Governments

MT OP II -

Empowering people for more jobs and

a better quality of life

PA

4

Strengthening of

institutional and administrative capacity

Supporting

public sector reform

Lifelong learning

for the Public Sector

Strengthening

the quality of employment services

Promoting a more

effective social and civil dialogue in Malta



87


PL Human Capital Operational

Programme

PA 5

Good governance

51 Strengthening

potential of government administration

52 Strengthening

potential of local government administration

53 Support for implementation

of the Lisbon Strategy

54 Development of the third

sectorrsquos potential

55 Development

of social dialogue

RO OP ACD ndash Operational Programme

Administrative Capacity Development

PA 1

Improving structure and processes of

public policies cycle management

11 - Improving decision making processes at

administrative and political level

12 ndash Increasing public administration

responsibility

13 - Improving organisational effectiveness

RO OP ACD ndash Operational

Programme


PA 2

Improving quality and

efficiency of

public services with a focus on decentralisation

21 ndash Support for sectoral

decentralisation

of services

22 - Improving quality and

efficiency of

public services

SI OP Development

of human resources for the period 2007-2013

PA 5

Institutional and administrative

capacity

51 Efficient and effective public

administration

52 Reform of the institutions

in the labour market

SK Operational Programme

Employment and Social Inclusion

PA 4

Capacity building and

enhancement of the quality of public administration

41 Enhancement of

services quality provided by public administration and NGOs ndash activities focused

on increasing of quality and effectiveness of

the services

42 Establishing of quality

management systems in public administration and NGOs in the field of employment and

social policy ndash improvement of process

management in



88


provided by public

administration


was planned NOTE not implemented

UK West Wales and the Valleys ESF

Convergence programme

PA 4

Modernising and improving the quality of public

services

A = Action see section 312 for clarifications

Source Country experts based on relevant Operational Programmes



89

ANNEX II Country specific recommendations in the field of SIC

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013

BG urgently further strengthen administrative

capacity in particular focusing on key government functions including regulatory authorities and the judiciary

adopt new measures and

rapidly implement adopted measures to

substantially cut red tape and shorten procedural

delays in order to improve the business environment (in particular for SMEs and facilitating start-ups) which will also help in the fight against corruption

tackling undeclared work

by strengthening

institutional capacity to perform inspections and ensure legal enforcement

urgently further strengthen the efficiency and the

effectiveness of the public administration in particular by focusing on key government functions including the competition

supervisory and regulatory authorities and the judiciary and continue taking all measures necessary to ensure effective financial controls and

sound management of structural funds

rapidly adopt and implement

new measures to substantially cut red tape at central and local level and shorten procedural delays in order to improve the business

environment which will also help in the fight against corruption -

(low efficiency of public services quality of staff or key functions e-services)

enhance administrative capacity in key government functions and regulatory authorities in order to make

public services more effective in responding to the needs of citizens and businesses introduce measures to check

public procurement on the basis of risk assessments

strengthen the capacity of the authorities to prevent and sanction irregularities in order to improve quality and value-for-money in the use of public funds

(The use of EU funds remains low )

Complicated administrative procedures

business and regulatory environment

e-government

Step up efforts to enhance

administrative capacity and reforms by reducing red tape

and the cost of tax compliance and collection and further improving the absorption of

EU funds Improve the quality and independence of the judicial system and speed up the introduction of e-government Strengthen public administrative capacity in key transport sectors and

regulatory authorities

Ensure sound implementation

of public procurement legislation Strengthen the prevention of irregularities and effectively apply the sanctions under the Public Procurement

Law and those of the Law on Conflict of Interest

CZ speeding up progress in speeding up progress in (quality of the Czech legal (efficiency of public



90

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013

the ICT area including by implementing and monitoring the development of a fully

enabling legal environment for e-government

meet targets for reducing the administrative burden on enterprises

further developing access

to finance for innovative companies

the ICT area including by implementing and monitoring a fully enabled legal environment for e-

government

and regulatory framework frequent and far-reaching reorganisations of PA impede its efficiency transparency of

public procurement

improve the quality of public services in areas essential for the business environment In this context speed up the

implementation of the anti-corruption strategy in line with the identified targets adopt

the Public Servants Act to promote stability and effectiveness of the public administration and revise the

Commercial Code to abolish anonymous shareholding

administration

e- services

reduction of administrative burden for businesses

Anticorruption

adoption of the new Public Procurement Act)

Adopt and implement as a matter of urgency the Public

Servants Act to promote

stability and effectiveness of the public administration to avoid irregularities

Ensure adequate implementation of the new Public Procurement Act

Address the issue of anonymous share holding

Ensure correct implementation

of EU Funds and step up the fight against corruption

EE - launching the new

immunity and leniency programme and

strengthening competition enforcement

One of the aims within the Priority Axis 5 ldquoEnhancing administrative capacityldquo of OP

for Human Resource Development was to provide more modern and efficient public services From the standpoint of the public

service training and



91

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013

developmental activities it was considered important to assist in the unified formation of the know-how for public

sector workers public servants and NGOs (incl social partners) as regards job skills management cooperation and coordination However the ESF did not

support directly the merging of municipalities)

- (Being limited in size the majority of local governments have difficulties to universally deliver the necessary social

health labour market transport and educational services)

- - Enhance fiscal sustainability of

municipalities while improving

efficiency of local governments

and ensure effective service provision notably through stronger incentives for merger or increased cooperation of municipalities

EL - modernises its public administration by building

up effective regulatory control and enforcement

capacities including

- implement the reform of its public administration

by building up effective regulatory control and

enforcement capacities

- implement reform of the public administration by

building up effective regulatory control and enforcement capacities with

an emphasis on simplifying



92

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013

through upgrading skills so as to also ensure effective use of Structural Funds

by modernising its human resources policy and through effective use of the Structural Funds

- improve further the transposition of internal market legislation

the regulatory environment for business and citizens and reducing red tape

HU - reforms the public administration health

care pension and education systems with a view to ensuring long-term fiscal sustainability and improve economic

efficiency - further reductions of the

administrative burden on enterprises

- continue to reform the public administration

healthcare pension and education systems with a view to ensuring long-term fiscal sustainability and improving economic

efficiency - improving the regulatory

environment through further reducing administrative burden and legislative simplification

- continue to reform the public administration health care

pension and education systems with a view to ensuring long-term fiscal sustainability and improving economic efficiency

- PES administrative capacity - Improve the business

environment by implementing all the measures envisaged for regulatory reform and lowering administrative burdens in the National

Reform Programme

- (transparency and quality of public administration where

progress would also help in improving the stability of the institutional and policy environment)

- capacity of the PES

- Implement measures envisaged to reduce the

administrative burden Ensure that public procurement and the legislative process support market competition and ensure a stable regulatory and business-friendly

environment for financial and nonfinancial enterprises including foreign direct

investors Reduce tax compliance costs

IT - strengthening and fully implementing the system of impact assessment for proposed regulation

- improving the efficiency of regulatory environment

with particular focus on legislative simplification

- support economic activity by advancing implementation of

EU programmes financed by EU structural funds

- (to enhance the performance-orientation and accountability of the public administration

scope for removing regulatory and administrative barriers in product and services markets particularly in professional services)

- Take steps to accelerate

- (deficiencies in terms of administrative capacity continue to hamper absorption

and hence the implementation of the Plan notably in the convergence regions complex and burdensome tax administrative procedures

Although some measures have



93

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013

growth-enhancing expenditure co-financed by cohesion policy funds in order to reduce the persistent disparities between

regions by improving administrative capacity and political governance Respect the commitments made in the national Strategic Reference Framework in terms of the

amount of resources and quality of expenditure

already been adopted to encourage administrative simplification the business environment in Italy remains

complex In particular the judiciary system suffers from a number of inefficiencies in terms of resource utilisation procedures and institutional organisation that are reflected

in the low performance of the Italian civil justice in particular as regards the excessive duration of case-

handling and the amount of backlogs)

- Simplify further the regulatory

framework for businesses and enhance administrative capacity Implement the planned reorganisation of the civil justice system and promote the use of alternative dispute settlement mechanism

LT - improving the efficiency

of regulatory environment with particular focus on legislative simplification

- support economic activity by

advancing implementation of EU programmes financed by EU structural funds

business environment

strengthen business inspectorates increase transparency and reduce the administrative burden on business

LV

(poor transparency complicates evidence-based local decision making)

Take measures to improve

management and efficiency of



94

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013

the judiciary in particular to reduce the backlog and length of procedures Take steps to improve the insolvency regime

and the mediation laws

MT - introducing systematic impact assessment and speeding up progress towards simplification of regulations

- further improving the regulatory environment by continuing simplifying legislation by introducing systematic impact assessments and effective

one-stop-shops for business start-ups

PL - improving human capital and incentives to work

- speeding-up the business

registration process - ensuring timely

implementation of the e-

government programmes - improve the transposition

of internal market legislation

- (quality of the business environment and efficiency of public administration is low)

- Establish a timetable to

simplify legal procedures involved in enforcing contracts revise construction and zoning legislation with a view to streamlining appeal procedures and speeding up administrative procedures

- (business remains high and public administration continues to lack efficiency The main areas of concern

include high compliance costs complex and unstable tax legislation weak contract enforcement lengthy and burdensome licensing Judicial proceedings and other legal actions are lengthy and there

are a relatively high number of cases pending)

RO - urgently strengthen

administrative capacity at both central and local levels of government by building up effective

regulatory control and enforcement capacity

- take rapid measures to

reduce substantially

- strengthen the efficiency effectiveness and independence of the public administration at both central and local level by building up

effective regulatory control and enforcement capacity

- in the context of a coherent

better regulation policy



95

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013

administrative procedures and delays to obtain authorisations as part of a coherent better regulation

policy in order to improve the business environment which will also help in the fight against corruption

urgently implement measures to substantially reduce administrative procedures and delays in obtaining

authorisations in order to improve the business environment which will also help in the fight against corruption

SI - strengthening the enforcement of the legal framework for protecting intellectual property rights

NA NA Streamline regulated

professions and improve the administrative capacity of the Competition Protection Office in order to enhance the

business environment and attract investment

NA

SK - Reduction of

administrative burden is a must

- -Recommendations to improve the evaluation system and to stabilise the administrative

capacities improvements

in the better regulation system

- improve the regulatory

environment notably by implementing a comprehensive better regulation strategy covering both impact assessment and simplification of existing

legislation - full implementation of

one-stop-shops for start-up companies

- implement a comprehensive

better regulation strategy conduct impact assessments and continuously simplify the existing legislation while stepping up the reduction of administrative burdens on businesses particularly SMEs

(quality of the business

environment and efficiency of public administration is low)

- Establish a timetable to simplify legal procedures involved in enforcing contracts revise construction

and zoning legislation with a

view to streamlining appeal procedures and speeding up administrative procedures

(business remains high and

public administration continues to lack efficiency The main areas of concern include high compliance costs complex and unstable tax legislation weak contract

enforcement lengthy and

burdensome licensing Judicial proceedings and other legal actions are lengthy and there are a relatively high number of cases pending)

Strengthen the quality of the

public service including by

improving management of human resources Further



96

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013

shorten the length of judicial proceedings and strengthen the role of the Public Procurement office as an

independent body

UK NA NA

NA NA NA

Sources own analysis of country specific recommendations

Annex III - Factors influencing success and failure of SIC interventions for individual countries per category

Management

The activation of a clear well dimensioned and recognised SIC theme management structure able to assume and carry out the oversight of the various implementing interventions and

equally important of the relations between the different actors and stakeholders (IT)

A ldquoCapacity traprdquo is often at work in weak regions SIC is affected by the same problems that should be solved This reinforces the need for a strong and result oriented governance (IT)

the constant concern of the MA for managing the programme in correlation with the available resources at the level of OP ACD The financial allocation was correlated with the specific objectives of OP ACD for each Priority Axis The financial reallocations between the KAIs of

the same PA show the concern for correlating the available financial allocations with the interest shown by potential beneficiaries and for maintaining the balance between the allocated resources and the result indicators of the programme (RO)

Lack of administrative capacity of the Intermediate Body This was demonstrated for example by a long length of the projectsrsquo evaluation process and by frequent requirements of the IB to get exceptions from the Operational Manual (CZ)

Personal fluctuation and related staffing instability of the IB in projectsrsquo administration (CA)

Finally the SROP projects have extensively involved external experts which proved not to be the guarantee of the success of the SROP projects supposing the lack of familiarity with the local administration (HU)

The low capacity level of MA OP DAC both in terms of headcount and in terms of experience and expertise The significant personnel outflows prevented the development of the OP DAC team in an adequate manner causing faults in communicating with beneficiaries and in effectively managing project implementation from the programme level (RO)

Relevance and quality of the activities for the target groups (eg relevant and high quality

trainings for different categories of civil servants) (LT)

Complicated administration of the projects and often changed rules (SK)

Huge number of mistakes in financial reporting timesheets eligible and non-eligible costs direct and indirect costs (SK)

Non-observance of deadlines by first level financial control (SK)

Strategic approach and intervention logic

Romania The analysis developed in order to support the OP ACD correctly identified the

horizontal issues affecting the Romanian public administration but its lack of focus on types of beneficiaries and target groups led to the elaboration of a programme with objectives which are difficult to quantify with a low level of prioritisation and with an untargeted implementation strategy The lack of depth of the analysis underpinning OP DAC is the weakest point in the logic of intervention of the programmerdquo For some indicators the targets

were not correctly planned due to a lack of analyses and research studies but there were also cases when the targets became unrealistic during the programming period due to the

context changes occurred Finally beneficiaries often lacked a strategic approach particularly in respect of the decentralisation process The question to be answered here is whether these problems were due to contextual factors as described above or had to do with the capacity of institutions and people the very thing the interventions were supposed to address

The approach based on calls for project ideas (for large projects) was one mechanism used

for this strategic approach which proved to be successful This approach resulted in an increased relevance to KAI considering also the contribution to meeting the specific objectives (RO)



98

SIC requires structural and long-term strategy (IT)

Evaluation of SIC must identify a proper theory of change based on fundamental mechanisms and has to identify the structural changes in the PA (IT)

The definition and implementation of SIC theme as an internally coherent and consistent policy line and not as a sum or juxtaposition of single interventions (IT)

The ex-ante identification of few and relevant areas of interventions to tackle with an adequate funds and resources critical mass (IT)

The Public Administration(s) capacity to identify precise objectives definite implementing actions coherent instruments and coherent responsibilities for results and outputs (IT)

Well-developed intervention logic (it was a positive factor in the case of successful development of HR and a negative factor in the case of system-level reforms under PA 4 in Lithuania) (LT)

The target groups of OP DAC are generally relevant for the programme intervention logic but the lack of individualization coming out of the supporting analysis led to their identification in a rather general manner (RO)

Motivation and capacities of beneficiaries

Proper motivation of target groups (for instance in certain cases lack of motivation was one of the key negative factors affecting the results of trainings funded under PA 4 in Lithuania) (LT)

The willingness of the public sector to engage in training activities and the provision of training which is organised in a manner which caters for the need of the public sector (MT)

The evaluation points to the importance of the support of local government leaders as key issues in the success of the interventionsprojects Without strong support the projects have never been successful (HU)

Projectslsquo beneficiaries that resign from the projects lsquorealisation or cancel their projectslsquo proposals (CZ)

guarantors of the projectslsquo proposals that have not enforced implementation of their projects within their subordinate organisations (CZ)

Leadership and organisational maturity on the part of project implementersmanagers Low organisation maturity was a somewhat negative factor in HR trainings funded by ESF (a large part of trainings was implemented by private companies) At the same time it was a positive factor in the case of initiatives focusing on the improvement of internal management activities within public institutions (LT)

The ability of civil society organisations to consolidate their efforts and participate in actions is an important aspect to be addressed as the success of civil organisations depends on their ability to strengthen their capacity and networking opportunities (MT)

The low capacity of project beneficiaries in project formulation implementation and the lack general project management skills (RO)

Errors in implementation process and huge number of projects that were not completed (SK)

Cooperation and coordination

Efficient coordination of different funded activities and efficient cooperation between different institutions in implementing the changes An incomplete cooperation between institutions was

responsible for only partly successful implementation of e-governance measures (LT)



99

inter-ministerial coordination structures that not work continuously (CZ)

Context factors

PAR

The existence before ESF intervention of a clear and explicit capacity building strategy to be integrated and boosted by ESF funding (but able to go beyond ESF support) (IT)

The existence of strategic vision (at statesystem level) in relation to the implemented interventions (LT)

Legislation

Maladjustment of the applicable law to the IT projects In many cases existing regulations require the delivery of documents in paper form Therefore the introduction of electronic services was possible only partially So it is necessary to modify certain provisions as well as

identify such barriers at the stage of diagnosis (PL)

A systemic issue which also causes a significant negative impact on the low efficiency of OP DAC by the end of 2012 is the complex legislation in the area of public procurement and its different interpretation by the institutions involved in certifying and controlling the subsequent procedures (RO)

Huge number of mistakes in public procurement (often changed rules as well) (SK)

Institutional and political

The support and awareness of political authorities and institutions involved on the importance of reformschanges (LT)

Changing political environment (EL SI)

Politicised institutional environment (EL HU)

the support by politicians (SI)

Source Own elaboration on the basis of information provided by Country experts



100

Annex IV - Evaluations relevant to SIC interventions

The following table provides an overview of Member States evaluations that focus on ESF

SIC interventions and were an important source for the assessments made in this

chapter

Table 22 SIC related evaluations in Member States ESF 2007-2013

MS Relevant evaluations for SIC

BG OPAC Interim Evaluation Report for the period 2007-2013 first Report on the evaluation of OP AC implementation for the period January-

December 2014 May 2015

CZ Supreme Audit Office of the Czech Republic Information from the control action No

1415 The financial expenditures spent on the projects linked with the effective public administration 2015 httpnkuczassetspublikaceeu-report-2015-czpdf

Ministry of Interior (2015) Annual report on Smart Administration strategy for the period 142014 ndash 3132015 Ministerstvo vnitra Ročniacute zpraacuteva o Smart Administration

za obdobiacute od 14 2014 do 313 2015 Informace pro vlaacutedu Českeacute republiky zpracovanou 3042015

Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (2014) Final report from the internal evaluation of the PA 4 of the OP HRE Ministerstvo praacutece a sociaacutelniacutech věciacute Zaacutevěrečnaacute zpraacuteva z interniacute evaluace provaacuteděniacute PO 4 OP LZZ

EE The evaluation of the effectiveness and the impact of the PA 5 ldquoRaising Estonian

administrative capacityrdquo CPD 2011 in Estonian

httpwwwstruktuurifondideepublicInimressursi_arendamise_rakenduskava_IARKpdf

Executive summary in English httpwwwavalikteenistuseepublicHaldusmeedeEvaluation_Report_Administrative_Capacity_Estonia_2011_-_Executive_Summary_-_Logopdf

EL Logotech-Prooptiki 2007 lsquoEx-ante evaluation of the OP Administrative Reformrsquo March

2007 Athens EEO Group-Eurotec 2013 lsquoInterim evaluation of the OP Administrative Reformrsquo

February 2013 Athens EEO Group-Eurotec 2014 lsquoField research on women non-governmental organisations

active in the fields of equality and human rights protectionrsquo Athens EEO Group-Eurotec 2014 lsquoField research on a network of improving the quality of

public services towards enterprisesrsquo Athens EEO Group-Eurotec 2014 lsquoField research on a network supporting consumers in issues

relating to indebtednessrsquo Athens

HU Final evaluation (AAM 2012) Final evaluation report on the State Reform OP 2007-2010

institutional development projects executed (Eacuterteacutekeleacutesi zaacuteroacutejelenteacutes az AacuteROP 2007-2010 koumlzoumltt megvaloacutesiacutetott szervezeti ceacuteluacute fejleszteacuteseiről) AAM Consulting November

2012 httpswwwpalyazatgovhukozigazgatasi_fejlesztesek_ertekelese Executive Summary ndashEx-post evaluation of the organisational development measures

founded by the State Reform OP AAM consulting nov 2012 (Az Aacutellamreform OP szervezetfejleszteacutesi ceacuteluacute fejleszteacuteseinek eacuterteacutekeleacutese)

SROP case DUNAUacuteJVAacuteROS (2014) Study paper on the evaluation and revision results of previous State Reform OP system development project (Tanulmaacuteny a koraacutebbi AacuteROP szervezetfejleszteacutesi projekt eacuterteacutekeleacutesi eacutes feluumllvizsgaacutelati eredmeacutenyeiről -

Eredmeacutenytermeacutekek hasznosulaacutesaacutenak eacutes horizontaacutelis szempontok eacuterveacutenyesuumlleacuteseacutenek vizsgaacutelata) Case project of the local government of DUNAUacuteJVAacuteROS (SROP - 1A5 ndash 2013-2013-0090) 2014 February 28

httpwwwdunaujvaroshusitesallfilesdokumentumokpalyazatokarop1a5dunaujvaros_korabbi_arop_felulvizsgalat_1_tanulmany_v30pdf

IT Annual evaluation reports of the Governance and System Actions OP (4 covering until

now w 2011 2012 2013 2014)

LT Evaluation of the implementation of result indicators in the Human Resources

Development Programmes priority axis 4 measures 2 and 3 2009 Evaluation of the quality and effectiveness of the training financed by the ESF 2011 Interim evaluation of the Human Resources Development Operational Programmes

priority axis 4 Final evaluation report 2013

European Union Structural Funds Investments for Human Resource Development 2015

Strategic Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Impact of EU Structural Assistance on the



101


Improvement of Public Management in Lithuania 2014

LV Ongoing evaluation started in 2014 Impact evaluation of 151 Better Regulation

Policy and 152Capacity Building of Human Resources

lsquoImpact evaluation of the activities implemented under the Operational Programme ldquoHuman Resources and Employmentrdquo and Operational Programmersquos Compliment measures 151 ldquoBetter Regulations Policyrdquo and 152 ldquoStrengthening Capacity of Human Resourcesrdquo during the 2007 ndash 2013 programming periodrsquo 2015 httpwwwesfondilvuploadPetijumi_un_izvertejumigala-zin_pec-saskanosanas-sanaksmes_081015pdf

MT Thematic Evaluations presentations PWC dated October 2014 and May 2015 available

at httpseufundsgovmtenOperational20ProgrammesMonitoring20CommitteesPagesOperational-Programme-2-2007-2013aspx The Thematic Evaluation is not published

PL Assessment of the level of achievement the HC OP main and specific objectives as well

as impact of the ESF funds on results accomplished within specific areas of intervention ndash II thematic report (2015) - The main goal of this research was to assess the contribution by ESF funds to the results achieved within specific areas of intervention and their impact on the social and economic changes in Poland (including the level of satisfaction in the population living in the areas receiving support)

Evaluation of the indicator named Gender Index in the institutions participating in the

implementation of the HC OP (2011) ndash Main topics Recruitment releases remuneration promotion training and development work-life balance and prevention of mobbing and sexual harassment - measured in the HC OPrsquos implementing institutions

Evaluation of barriers and legal gaps in the effectiveness of the European Social Fundrsquos support (2013) - legal system of a country and its coherence with ESF requirements

opportunities and provisions Public administration - effective and modern (2011) - achievement of Measures

objectives with regard to capacity of public administration possible strengthening of its potential and modernisation of management system and structure

RO Second interim evaluation OP ACD 2010-2012 - Second evaluation OP ACD 2013 Performance evaluation of OP ACD management and implementation ndash OP ACD

performance evaluation 2015

SI The institutional evaluation of the ESRS (Employment Service of the Republic of

Slovenia) 2012

The institutional evaluation of the ESRS (Employment Service of the Republic of Slovenia) is not considered in this evaluation as it is not related to ESF financing It

evaluates however the effectiveness and efficiency of processes analyses obstacles to effective provision of services and proposes 12 indicators for the monitoring of the processes

SK Possibly relevant evaluations mentioned in EEN-INV_SK but not available on internet

(planned probably not realised) 1) Final Evaluation of Implementation of OP Employment and Social Inclusion (beginning planned in 2014 end planned in 2015 not

available in time for this study) Evaluation of Improvement of Human Resources Quality and Management in Public

Administration and NGOs (end of the evaluation was planned in 2012 not made available in time for this study)

UK Thematic Evaluations of the 2007-2013 Structural Funds Programmes in Wales

including Modernising Public Services (ESF Convergence Priority 4)

Source Country experts



102

HOW TO OBTAIN EU PUBLICATIONS

Free publications

bull one copy

via EU Bookshop (httpbookshopeuropaeu)

bull more than one copy or postersmaps

from the European Unionrsquos representations (httpeceuropaeurepresent_enhtm)

from the delegations in non-EU countries

(httpeeaseuropaeudelegationsindex_enhtm)

by contacting the Europe Direct service (httpeuropaeueuropedirectindex_enhtm)

or calling 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (freephone number from anywhere in the EU) () () The information given is free as are most calls (though some operators phone boxes or hotels may charge you)

Priced publications

bull via EU Bookshop (httpbookshopeuropaeu)

Priced subscriptions

bull via one of the sales agents of the Publications Office of the European Union

(httppublicationseuropaeuothersagentsindex_enhtm)

doi[102767271126]

[KE-0

2-1

6-9

29-E

N-N

]

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Directorate-General for Employment Social Affairs and Inclusion

Directorate G mdash Audit and Evaluation

Unit EMPL G4 mdash Evaluation and Impact Assessment

E-mail EMPL-G4-UNITeceuropaeu

European Commission B-1049 Brussels








LEGAL NOTICE






ISBN [978-92-79-61657-0]

doi [102767271126]





Freephone number ()

00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11






(A2E)








10812006
























1 Primary education




























(RCE)






























Acronyms









EU European Union

HC Human Capital



MS Member State



PA Priority Axis







Table of contents

Executive Summary i

1 Introduction 6

11 Background 6

12 Objectives 6

13 Scope 7












groups 13






316 Tools 27



(EU-27) 33






States 39








42 Efficiency 56






453 Role effects 62















References
































40








participants55






i

Executive Summary

Key findings



























Introduction

















ii














also regional OPs









interventions


















system
















iii
























































iv

























to support







institutions

























v























measured



evaluation



6

1 Introduction

11 Background




































12 Objectives









7




13 Scope




























Authorities (MA)















8










9


Key findings




























Union 2010 p 18)
























10





year4


















evaluations)






















11



equipment












for full employment























Global objectives







12






Specific objectives









Types

of interventions




















13


Key findings


























SIC



















recommendations






14






























x x x x x x

















15








stakeholders






























Country 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012






IT NO NO YES YES




16

Country 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012

LV NA NA NA NA NA

MT YES YES NA NA NA


RO NA YES YES NA NA

SI NA NA YES NA


UK NA NA NA NA NA


















support to SIC










activities




BG Y Y N Y

CZ Y Y N Y

EE Y Y Y Y



17





methods

EL Y Y N Y

HU Y N N Y

IT Y Y N Y

LT Y Y Y Y

LV Y Y Y Y

MT Y Y Y Y

PL Y Y N Y

RO Y N N Y

SI Y Y Y Y

SK Y Y N Y

UK N N N Y




















18






no


Design MampE 8 103

Delivery 28 359

Both 38 487

No information 4 51

Total 78 100


Local 33 423

Regional 42 539

National 56 718

International 3 39


Recipients



NGOs 19 244




















32bi)









19





Recipients








prioritised





Design MampE 1 1 2

Delivery 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

Both 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8


Local 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

Regional 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

National 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12

International 1 1


Public entities 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 13

Social

partners 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8

NGOs 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8





Target groups












20

















17


Tools

E-governance 14



ESF





















21









































22











burdens















results (MT)





level






















23

































environment












24









level


systems


















315 Human resources























25
























participation



















encouragement













26






PAs















development
















partnerships (IT)

















27





















some institutions)














316 Tools

E-governance 3161


















28

















confirmation
























MT RO)














29

































under category 81

Dedicated OP(s)

Dedicated PA(s)AT

BG

HU

IT

NL

FR

EL

ROLT

UK

CZ EE

SI

SK

LV

MT PL

BE CY

DEDK

ES

FI

IRLUPT

SE



30


Country SIC in

programming (OPPA)


SIC


Yes No

Austria X

Belgium X

Bulgaria X X X

Cyprus X

Czech R X X

Germany X

Denmark X

Estonia X X

Spain X

Finland X

France X

Greece X X X

Hungary X X X

Ireland X

Italy X X

Lithuania X X

Luxembourg X

Latvia X X

Malta X X

Netherlands X

Poland X X

Portugal X

Romania X X X

Sweden X

Slovenia X X

Slovakia X X

UK X X

TOTAL 14 4 16 11




31





and 3










and 3























32







33

























































34


making capacity


















































respectively)



35






over total ESF

BG 209654707 151

CZ 186595775 43

EE 24465675 53

EL 418273566 81

HU 166276830 39

IT 252539187 18

LT 181629418 150

LV 24271094 35

MT 17199118 131

PL 455967699 39

RO 234920609 54

SI 114178243 128

SK 67615059 39

UK 55726379 06


HR 9396707 50


TOTAL ESF 115596750390 21



0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16




36









SIC-dedicated PAs





















-

50 000 000

100 000 000

150 000 000

200 000 000

250 000 000

300 000 000

350 000 000

400 000 000

450 000 000




37

















Poland









programming in MS

MS of total

budget

CoE 81

Community

funding (euro)

No of

dedicated

OPs

No of

dedicated

PAs

No of

dedicated

actions

AT 00 -

BE 00 -

BG 122 143988501 2 4 17

CY 39 4615273

CZ 35 127571573 1 1 1

DE 00 -

DK 00 -

EE 51 20126546 1 1 4

ES 01 6564559

FI 00 -

FR 00 2599325

EL 11 47010448 1 9 9

HU 41 147490451 1 3 6

IR 00 -




38

MS of total

budget

CoE 81

Community

funding (euro)

No of

dedicated

OPs

No of

dedicated

PAs

No of

dedicated

actions

IT 25 171426165 7 7 16

LT 68 69552049 1 1 3

LU 00 -

LV 42 24275976 1 1 3

MT 78 8752517 1 1 4

NL 00 -

PL 38 381835672 1 1 5

PT 01 9888970

RO 54 199682518 1 2 5

SE 00 -

SI 21 15861756 1 1 2

SK 13 19308570 1 1 2

UK 05 24585962 1 1 1

EU27 19 1425136831 21 34 78











39



Key findings















































40








interventions







like comparisons











2014)


SIC impl rate ()

total

ESF impl rate ()

BG 137491170 209654707 656 758

CZ 94381124 186595775 506 734

EE 21210585 24465675 867 835

EL 381930601 418273566 913 792

HU 122203794 166276830 735 703

IT 131069031 252539187 519 769




41


SIC impl

rate ()


LT 143977869 181629418 793 827

LV 20683459 24271094 852 973

MT 7687444 17199118 447 674

PL 315293255 455967699 691 844

RO 159318804 234920609 678 441

SI 89112721 114178243 780 838

SK 31545122 67615059 467 649

UK 13331326 55726379 239 770

Total 1669537980 2409313359 693 793


HR not included






















42














43


MS OP - PA

Total

funding

(euro)

Impl rate

()






























44

MS OP - PA

Total

funding

(euro)

Impl rate

()



























of documents










ESF






45












level




























than outputs











46






































47


varied too




as such






























(HU)









48











(LV)






































E-government






49







the training)



































415 Effectiveness





Outputs








50




2014 only


























ESF

SIC


BG 73 27 94 6

CZ 27 73 0 100

EE 16 84 0 100

EL 63 38 74 26

HU 35 65 14 86

IT 37 63 77 23

LT 28 72 47 53

LV 16 84 0 100

MT 50 50 67 33

PL 33 67 42 58

RO 52 48 40 60

SI 35 65 14 86



51

ESF

SIC


SK 63 37 63 38

UK 30 70 25 75

BG Incl PA4 TA



Results




























52


ESF SIC


BG 76 24 87 13

CZ 31 69 56 44

EE 34 66 0 100

EL 78 22 100 0

HU 0 100 0 100

IT 78 22 56 44

LT 27 73 50 50

LV 36 64 29 71

MT 36 64 50 50

PL 47 53 52 48

RO 61 39 78 22

SI 52 48 75 25

SK 86 14 100 0

UK 29 71 86 14

BG Incl PA4 TA



Source SFC








other criteria








provided13




53











































54




over

total W TOTAL ESF

over

total W

Total

participants252126 140810 43434 130340 210547 13878 92410 49538 20264 367776 70249 927 42725 822 1436920 64 98658829 52

Employed 241728 140810 43434 126685 205701 13878 87180 46318 20182 352000 70249 802 42151 822 1392409 969 64 33041257 335 53

of which self-

employed8799 - - - 1009 - 3323 1304 792 3619 - 97 170 - 19134 54 2437321 25 45

Unemployed 4531 - - 3655 1653 - 481 599 22 4004 - 78 46 - 15525 72 30039410 304 53

of which LTU 2062 - - - 482 - 166 330 4 935 - 7 11 - 4201 62 8996113 91 52

Inactive 5867 - - - 3193 - 4749 2621 60 11772 - 47 528 - 28986 64 35578162 361 50

of which in

educationtr

aining

1484 - - - 395 - 3967 2621 38 3898 - 41 76 - 12598 63 25207563 256 50

Young

people (15-

24 years)

13524 1 2512 950 4740 7 8022 4275 1270 16823 3497 98 2188 21 58157 40 61 30063502 305 47

Older people

(55-64

years)

39485 48 6384 15697 11244 995 12806 6508 2248 42046 7266 102 6317 101 151350 105 61 6106942 62 50

Migrants 125 - - 16 214 - 34 12 16 3 - 3 15 12 483 56 5152191 52 50

Minorities 9593 - - 38 1083 - 2150 447 - 40 3317 2 428 27 17309 58 3856947 39 47

Disabled 4737 - - 102 745 - 599 1082 94 948 146 12 357 37 8939 63 5265599 53 46

Others 1968 - - 101 - - 2637 48049 209 - - 6 335 - 53468 71 7017829 71 51

Primary or

lower

secondary

education

6421 - 667 3066 7087 7 3227 1041 3988 3909 - 16 4873 25 34454 24 57 38840296 394 48

Upper

secondary

education

49741 4 6730 31186 17941 780 2716 5347 3657 42521 9289 103 10136 169 180739 126 60 26014203 264 52

Post-

secondary

non tertiary

education

23951 - 5844 2970 5744 134 3720 3278 3460 52931 2214 150 1587 - 106029 74 66 4934362 50 57

Tertiary

education172013 71 30193 93114 38649 1385 82378 32254 9159 268415 58746 658 24057 611 812185 565 66 16297940 165 63



55





Employed 631 633 707 638 600 543 684 721 437 685 606 647 476 564

of which self-

employed 574 - - - 640 - 569 712 188 429 - 237 247 -

Unemployed 591 - - 998 600 - 568 791 500 666 - 808 522 -

of which LTU 559 - - - 676 - 512 758 1000 725 - 857 364 -

Inactive 605 - - - 673 - 576 785 450 650 - 809 511 -

of which in


Young people (15-

24 years) 603 1000 702 783 536 1000 560 581 521 662 614 571 546 524

Older people (55-

64 years) 586 625 699 579 558 432 705 732 280 634 590 235 512 554

Migrants 448 - - 1000 640 - 529 583 688 667 - 333 67 583

Minorities 561 - - 1000 540 - 610 785 - 675 614 - 614 519

Disabled 621 - - 686 558 - 723 742 202 660 507 417 602 541

Others 615 - - 1000 - - 669 724 282 - - 500 254 -

Primary or lower

secondary

education 556 - 643 698 616 - 553 744 316 607 - 125 591 560

Upper secondary

education 581 750 680 656 554 505 419 732 468 626 571 359 464 556

Post-secondary

non tertiary

education 593 - 702 684 579 500 544 741 464 716 573 320 565 -

Tertiary

education 652 634 716 642 496 453 697 738 467 688 612 465 493 566



56

42 Efficiency















Total participants



BG 252126 137491170 545

CZ 140810 94381124 670

EE 43434 21210585 488

EL 130340 381930601 2930

HU 210547 122203794 580

IT 13878 131069031 9444

LT 92410 143977869 1558

LV 49538 20683459 418

MT 20264 7687444 379

PL 367776 315293255 857

RO 70249 159318804 2268

SI 927 89112721 96130

SK 42725 31545122 738

UK 822 13331326 16218

Source SFC database




















57





this purpose (SK)







































Poland)










58


















respect include





























59


















dedicated to women




















interventions

















60


















this level














and process











451 Volume effects











61








employees




















Lithuania16






(Source AIR 2014)

452 Scope effects













62





ESF (SK)

453 Role effects












the Apulia OP


governance such as














454 Process effects










other countries






Labour OPs)





63







in Lithuania17






customer service





























LT)





64





MS ASSESSMENT



















65






regulatory quality

rule of law
























-050

000

050

100

150

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014






66






















000

020

040

060

080

100

120

140

160

180

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Regulatory quality





67


environment






















-050

000

050

100

150

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Rule of law





68

4623 Assessment











in this respect


Overview 4631






























69


























70









irregularities








































71






interventions















clientelism (EL)



72


Key findings































the SFC database
























73









































74



































312)
















implementation





75







priorities


national priorities



implementation









































76


























suggested









time-bound





















77










































expand upon this



78

References





Ecorys (2011)






2010



Thematic Fiche 2012









final




2014







EIPA (2013)






EIPA (2014)






79

Ferry (2013)




Panteia (2013)


October 2013

Knott (2007)





1996-2014 Sept 25 2015






80




PA 6



healthcare services







PA 1

Good governance


Administration


the State

Administration


in Policy-Making



Business


Judicial System


regional

Cooperation


Capacity

PA 2

Human resources

management





23 Strengthening




25 Transnational



Capacity

PA 3



31 Improvement of


development



33 Improvement of




cooperation


PA 4


41 Strengthening of



81


Human Resources

Development

and public services




PA 5









EL OP for Human


PA1 ldquoImproving



EL OP for Human


PA2 ldquoImproving


EL OP for Human


PA3 ldquoImproving




administration



82



Development








equal









range of the



83



HU State Reform OP

PA 1


development





HU State Reform OP

PA 2



replacement


HU State Reform OP

PA 3







monitoring and




systems for the





84









IT Sicily ROP PA

7

Institutional

capacity

Specific




governance

Specific













85




governance

programmes

IT Apulia ROP PA

7

Institutional

capacity

Specific



governance

Specific


programmes



National OP

PA E5
















and integrating the




86


complementarity)



PA 2





PA 4




and strengthening









PA 5





Building of


MT OP II -



PA

4

Strengthening of


Supporting


Lifelong learning


Strengthening


Promoting a more




87



Programme

PA 5

Good governance

51 Strengthening


52 Strengthening






55 Development

of social dialogue



PA 1






responsibility



Programme


PA 2


efficiency of



decentralisation

of services


efficiency of

public services

SI OP Development


PA 5


capacity


administration





PA 4



41 Enhancement of



the services




management in



88


provided by public

administration





PA 4


services





89


2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013








by strengthening

















e-government












90

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013







government


public procurement





administration

e- services


Anticorruption

















91

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013





















92

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013

















Reform Programme





















93

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013
















LV






94

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013





























95

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013









NA

SK - Reduction of

























96

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013


independent body

UK NA NA

NA NA NA



Management
























98























99


Context factors

PAR



Legislation













100




chapter




























now w 2011 2012 2013 2014)








101


















Slovenia) 2012












102


Free publications

bull one copy








Priced publications





doi[102767271126]

[KE-0

2-1

6-9

29-E

N-N

]








LEGAL NOTICE






ISBN [978-92-79-61657-0]

doi [102767271126]





Freephone number ()

00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11






(A2E)








10812006
























1 Primary education




























(RCE)






























Acronyms









EU European Union

HC Human Capital



MS Member State



PA Priority Axis







Table of contents

Executive Summary i

1 Introduction 6

11 Background 6

12 Objectives 6

13 Scope 7












groups 13






316 Tools 27



(EU-27) 33






States 39








42 Efficiency 56






453 Role effects 62















References
































40








participants55






i

Executive Summary

Key findings



























Introduction

















ii














also regional OPs









interventions


















system
















iii
























































iv

























to support







institutions

























v























measured



evaluation



6

1 Introduction

11 Background




































12 Objectives









7




13 Scope




























Authorities (MA)















8










9


Key findings




























Union 2010 p 18)
























10





year4


















evaluations)






















11



equipment












for full employment























Global objectives







12






Specific objectives









Types

of interventions




















13


Key findings


























SIC



















recommendations






14






























x x x x x x

















15








stakeholders






























Country 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012






IT NO NO YES YES




16

Country 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012

LV NA NA NA NA NA

MT YES YES NA NA NA


RO NA YES YES NA NA

SI NA NA YES NA


UK NA NA NA NA NA


















support to SIC










activities




BG Y Y N Y

CZ Y Y N Y

EE Y Y Y Y



17





methods

EL Y Y N Y

HU Y N N Y

IT Y Y N Y

LT Y Y Y Y

LV Y Y Y Y

MT Y Y Y Y

PL Y Y N Y

RO Y N N Y

SI Y Y Y Y

SK Y Y N Y

UK N N N Y




















18






no


Design MampE 8 103

Delivery 28 359

Both 38 487

No information 4 51

Total 78 100


Local 33 423

Regional 42 539

National 56 718

International 3 39


Recipients



NGOs 19 244




















32bi)









19





Recipients








prioritised





Design MampE 1 1 2

Delivery 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

Both 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8


Local 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

Regional 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

National 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12

International 1 1


Public entities 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 13

Social

partners 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8

NGOs 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8





Target groups












20

















17


Tools

E-governance 14



ESF





















21









































22











burdens















results (MT)





level






















23

































environment












24









level


systems


















315 Human resources























25
























participation



















encouragement













26






PAs















development
















partnerships (IT)

















27





















some institutions)














316 Tools

E-governance 3161


















28

















confirmation
























MT RO)














29

































under category 81

Dedicated OP(s)

Dedicated PA(s)AT

BG

HU

IT

NL

FR

EL

ROLT

UK

CZ EE

SI

SK

LV

MT PL

BE CY

DEDK

ES

FI

IRLUPT

SE



30


Country SIC in

programming (OPPA)


SIC


Yes No

Austria X

Belgium X

Bulgaria X X X

Cyprus X

Czech R X X

Germany X

Denmark X

Estonia X X

Spain X

Finland X

France X

Greece X X X

Hungary X X X

Ireland X

Italy X X

Lithuania X X

Luxembourg X

Latvia X X

Malta X X

Netherlands X

Poland X X

Portugal X

Romania X X X

Sweden X

Slovenia X X

Slovakia X X

UK X X

TOTAL 14 4 16 11




31





and 3










and 3























32







33

























































34


making capacity


















































respectively)



35






over total ESF

BG 209654707 151

CZ 186595775 43

EE 24465675 53

EL 418273566 81

HU 166276830 39

IT 252539187 18

LT 181629418 150

LV 24271094 35

MT 17199118 131

PL 455967699 39

RO 234920609 54

SI 114178243 128

SK 67615059 39

UK 55726379 06


HR 9396707 50


TOTAL ESF 115596750390 21



0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16




36









SIC-dedicated PAs





















-

50 000 000

100 000 000

150 000 000

200 000 000

250 000 000

300 000 000

350 000 000

400 000 000

450 000 000




37

















Poland









programming in MS

MS of total

budget

CoE 81

Community

funding (euro)

No of

dedicated

OPs

No of

dedicated

PAs

No of

dedicated

actions

AT 00 -

BE 00 -

BG 122 143988501 2 4 17

CY 39 4615273

CZ 35 127571573 1 1 1

DE 00 -

DK 00 -

EE 51 20126546 1 1 4

ES 01 6564559

FI 00 -

FR 00 2599325

EL 11 47010448 1 9 9

HU 41 147490451 1 3 6

IR 00 -




38

MS of total

budget

CoE 81

Community

funding (euro)

No of

dedicated

OPs

No of

dedicated

PAs

No of

dedicated

actions

IT 25 171426165 7 7 16

LT 68 69552049 1 1 3

LU 00 -

LV 42 24275976 1 1 3

MT 78 8752517 1 1 4

NL 00 -

PL 38 381835672 1 1 5

PT 01 9888970

RO 54 199682518 1 2 5

SE 00 -

SI 21 15861756 1 1 2

SK 13 19308570 1 1 2

UK 05 24585962 1 1 1

EU27 19 1425136831 21 34 78











39



Key findings















































40








interventions







like comparisons











2014)


SIC impl rate ()

total

ESF impl rate ()

BG 137491170 209654707 656 758

CZ 94381124 186595775 506 734

EE 21210585 24465675 867 835

EL 381930601 418273566 913 792

HU 122203794 166276830 735 703

IT 131069031 252539187 519 769




41


SIC impl

rate ()


LT 143977869 181629418 793 827

LV 20683459 24271094 852 973

MT 7687444 17199118 447 674

PL 315293255 455967699 691 844

RO 159318804 234920609 678 441

SI 89112721 114178243 780 838

SK 31545122 67615059 467 649

UK 13331326 55726379 239 770

Total 1669537980 2409313359 693 793


HR not included






















42














43


MS OP - PA

Total

funding

(euro)

Impl rate

()






























44

MS OP - PA

Total

funding

(euro)

Impl rate

()



























of documents










ESF






45












level




























than outputs











46






































47


varied too




as such






























(HU)









48











(LV)






































E-government






49







the training)



































415 Effectiveness





Outputs








50




2014 only


























ESF

SIC


BG 73 27 94 6

CZ 27 73 0 100

EE 16 84 0 100

EL 63 38 74 26

HU 35 65 14 86

IT 37 63 77 23

LT 28 72 47 53

LV 16 84 0 100

MT 50 50 67 33

PL 33 67 42 58

RO 52 48 40 60

SI 35 65 14 86



51

ESF

SIC


SK 63 37 63 38

UK 30 70 25 75

BG Incl PA4 TA



Results




























52


ESF SIC


BG 76 24 87 13

CZ 31 69 56 44

EE 34 66 0 100

EL 78 22 100 0

HU 0 100 0 100

IT 78 22 56 44

LT 27 73 50 50

LV 36 64 29 71

MT 36 64 50 50

PL 47 53 52 48

RO 61 39 78 22

SI 52 48 75 25

SK 86 14 100 0

UK 29 71 86 14

BG Incl PA4 TA



Source SFC








other criteria








provided13




53











































54




over

total W TOTAL ESF

over

total W

Total

participants252126 140810 43434 130340 210547 13878 92410 49538 20264 367776 70249 927 42725 822 1436920 64 98658829 52

Employed 241728 140810 43434 126685 205701 13878 87180 46318 20182 352000 70249 802 42151 822 1392409 969 64 33041257 335 53

of which self-

employed8799 - - - 1009 - 3323 1304 792 3619 - 97 170 - 19134 54 2437321 25 45

Unemployed 4531 - - 3655 1653 - 481 599 22 4004 - 78 46 - 15525 72 30039410 304 53

of which LTU 2062 - - - 482 - 166 330 4 935 - 7 11 - 4201 62 8996113 91 52

Inactive 5867 - - - 3193 - 4749 2621 60 11772 - 47 528 - 28986 64 35578162 361 50

of which in

educationtr

aining

1484 - - - 395 - 3967 2621 38 3898 - 41 76 - 12598 63 25207563 256 50

Young

people (15-

24 years)

13524 1 2512 950 4740 7 8022 4275 1270 16823 3497 98 2188 21 58157 40 61 30063502 305 47

Older people

(55-64

years)

39485 48 6384 15697 11244 995 12806 6508 2248 42046 7266 102 6317 101 151350 105 61 6106942 62 50

Migrants 125 - - 16 214 - 34 12 16 3 - 3 15 12 483 56 5152191 52 50

Minorities 9593 - - 38 1083 - 2150 447 - 40 3317 2 428 27 17309 58 3856947 39 47

Disabled 4737 - - 102 745 - 599 1082 94 948 146 12 357 37 8939 63 5265599 53 46

Others 1968 - - 101 - - 2637 48049 209 - - 6 335 - 53468 71 7017829 71 51

Primary or

lower

secondary

education

6421 - 667 3066 7087 7 3227 1041 3988 3909 - 16 4873 25 34454 24 57 38840296 394 48

Upper

secondary

education

49741 4 6730 31186 17941 780 2716 5347 3657 42521 9289 103 10136 169 180739 126 60 26014203 264 52

Post-

secondary

non tertiary

education

23951 - 5844 2970 5744 134 3720 3278 3460 52931 2214 150 1587 - 106029 74 66 4934362 50 57

Tertiary

education172013 71 30193 93114 38649 1385 82378 32254 9159 268415 58746 658 24057 611 812185 565 66 16297940 165 63



55





Employed 631 633 707 638 600 543 684 721 437 685 606 647 476 564

of which self-

employed 574 - - - 640 - 569 712 188 429 - 237 247 -

Unemployed 591 - - 998 600 - 568 791 500 666 - 808 522 -

of which LTU 559 - - - 676 - 512 758 1000 725 - 857 364 -

Inactive 605 - - - 673 - 576 785 450 650 - 809 511 -

of which in


Young people (15-

24 years) 603 1000 702 783 536 1000 560 581 521 662 614 571 546 524

Older people (55-

64 years) 586 625 699 579 558 432 705 732 280 634 590 235 512 554

Migrants 448 - - 1000 640 - 529 583 688 667 - 333 67 583

Minorities 561 - - 1000 540 - 610 785 - 675 614 - 614 519

Disabled 621 - - 686 558 - 723 742 202 660 507 417 602 541

Others 615 - - 1000 - - 669 724 282 - - 500 254 -

Primary or lower

secondary

education 556 - 643 698 616 - 553 744 316 607 - 125 591 560

Upper secondary

education 581 750 680 656 554 505 419 732 468 626 571 359 464 556

Post-secondary

non tertiary

education 593 - 702 684 579 500 544 741 464 716 573 320 565 -

Tertiary

education 652 634 716 642 496 453 697 738 467 688 612 465 493 566



56

42 Efficiency















Total participants



BG 252126 137491170 545

CZ 140810 94381124 670

EE 43434 21210585 488

EL 130340 381930601 2930

HU 210547 122203794 580

IT 13878 131069031 9444

LT 92410 143977869 1558

LV 49538 20683459 418

MT 20264 7687444 379

PL 367776 315293255 857

RO 70249 159318804 2268

SI 927 89112721 96130

SK 42725 31545122 738

UK 822 13331326 16218

Source SFC database




















57





this purpose (SK)







































Poland)










58


















respect include





























59


















dedicated to women




















interventions

















60


















this level














and process











451 Volume effects











61








employees




















Lithuania16






(Source AIR 2014)

452 Scope effects













62





ESF (SK)

453 Role effects












the Apulia OP


governance such as














454 Process effects










other countries






Labour OPs)





63







in Lithuania17






customer service





























LT)





64





MS ASSESSMENT



















65






regulatory quality

rule of law
























-050

000

050

100

150

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014






66






















000

020

040

060

080

100

120

140

160

180

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Regulatory quality





67


environment






















-050

000

050

100

150

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Rule of law





68

4623 Assessment











in this respect


Overview 4631






























69


























70









irregularities








































71






interventions















clientelism (EL)



72


Key findings































the SFC database
























73









































74



































312)
















implementation





75







priorities


national priorities



implementation









































76


























suggested









time-bound





















77










































expand upon this



78

References





Ecorys (2011)






2010



Thematic Fiche 2012









final




2014







EIPA (2013)






EIPA (2014)






79

Ferry (2013)




Panteia (2013)


October 2013

Knott (2007)





1996-2014 Sept 25 2015






80




PA 6



healthcare services







PA 1

Good governance


Administration


the State

Administration


in Policy-Making



Business


Judicial System


regional

Cooperation


Capacity

PA 2

Human resources

management





23 Strengthening




25 Transnational



Capacity

PA 3



31 Improvement of


development



33 Improvement of




cooperation


PA 4


41 Strengthening of



81


Human Resources

Development

and public services




PA 5









EL OP for Human


PA1 ldquoImproving



EL OP for Human


PA2 ldquoImproving


EL OP for Human


PA3 ldquoImproving




administration



82



Development








equal









range of the



83



HU State Reform OP

PA 1


development





HU State Reform OP

PA 2



replacement


HU State Reform OP

PA 3







monitoring and




systems for the





84









IT Sicily ROP PA

7

Institutional

capacity

Specific




governance

Specific













85




governance

programmes

IT Apulia ROP PA

7

Institutional

capacity

Specific



governance

Specific


programmes



National OP

PA E5
















and integrating the




86


complementarity)



PA 2





PA 4




and strengthening









PA 5





Building of


MT OP II -



PA

4

Strengthening of


Supporting


Lifelong learning


Strengthening


Promoting a more




87



Programme

PA 5

Good governance

51 Strengthening


52 Strengthening






55 Development

of social dialogue



PA 1






responsibility



Programme


PA 2


efficiency of



decentralisation

of services


efficiency of

public services

SI OP Development


PA 5


capacity


administration





PA 4



41 Enhancement of



the services




management in



88


provided by public

administration





PA 4


services





89


2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013








by strengthening

















e-government












90

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013







government


public procurement





administration

e- services


Anticorruption

















91

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013





















92

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013

















Reform Programme





















93

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013
















LV






94

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013





























95

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013









NA

SK - Reduction of

























96

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013


independent body

UK NA NA

NA NA NA



Management
























98























99


Context factors

PAR



Legislation













100




chapter




























now w 2011 2012 2013 2014)








101


















Slovenia) 2012












102


Free publications

bull one copy








Priced publications





doi[102767271126]

[KE-0

2-1

6-9

29-E

N-N

]

LEGAL NOTICE






ISBN [978-92-79-61657-0]

doi [102767271126]





Freephone number ()

00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11






(A2E)








10812006
























1 Primary education




























(RCE)






























Acronyms









EU European Union

HC Human Capital



MS Member State



PA Priority Axis







Table of contents

Executive Summary i

1 Introduction 6

11 Background 6

12 Objectives 6

13 Scope 7












groups 13






316 Tools 27



(EU-27) 33






States 39








42 Efficiency 56






453 Role effects 62















References
































40








participants55






i

Executive Summary

Key findings



























Introduction

















ii














also regional OPs









interventions


















system
















iii
























































iv

























to support







institutions

























v























measured



evaluation



6

1 Introduction

11 Background




































12 Objectives









7




13 Scope




























Authorities (MA)















8










9


Key findings




























Union 2010 p 18)
























10





year4


















evaluations)






















11



equipment












for full employment























Global objectives







12






Specific objectives









Types

of interventions




















13


Key findings


























SIC



















recommendations






14






























x x x x x x

















15








stakeholders






























Country 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012






IT NO NO YES YES




16

Country 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012

LV NA NA NA NA NA

MT YES YES NA NA NA


RO NA YES YES NA NA

SI NA NA YES NA


UK NA NA NA NA NA


















support to SIC










activities




BG Y Y N Y

CZ Y Y N Y

EE Y Y Y Y



17





methods

EL Y Y N Y

HU Y N N Y

IT Y Y N Y

LT Y Y Y Y

LV Y Y Y Y

MT Y Y Y Y

PL Y Y N Y

RO Y N N Y

SI Y Y Y Y

SK Y Y N Y

UK N N N Y




















18






no


Design MampE 8 103

Delivery 28 359

Both 38 487

No information 4 51

Total 78 100


Local 33 423

Regional 42 539

National 56 718

International 3 39


Recipients



NGOs 19 244




















32bi)









19





Recipients








prioritised





Design MampE 1 1 2

Delivery 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

Both 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8


Local 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

Regional 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

National 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12

International 1 1


Public entities 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 13

Social

partners 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8

NGOs 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8





Target groups












20

















17


Tools

E-governance 14



ESF





















21









































22











burdens















results (MT)





level






















23

































environment












24









level


systems


















315 Human resources























25
























participation



















encouragement













26






PAs















development
















partnerships (IT)

















27





















some institutions)














316 Tools

E-governance 3161


















28

















confirmation
























MT RO)














29

































under category 81

Dedicated OP(s)

Dedicated PA(s)AT

BG

HU

IT

NL

FR

EL

ROLT

UK

CZ EE

SI

SK

LV

MT PL

BE CY

DEDK

ES

FI

IRLUPT

SE



30


Country SIC in

programming (OPPA)


SIC


Yes No

Austria X

Belgium X

Bulgaria X X X

Cyprus X

Czech R X X

Germany X

Denmark X

Estonia X X

Spain X

Finland X

France X

Greece X X X

Hungary X X X

Ireland X

Italy X X

Lithuania X X

Luxembourg X

Latvia X X

Malta X X

Netherlands X

Poland X X

Portugal X

Romania X X X

Sweden X

Slovenia X X

Slovakia X X

UK X X

TOTAL 14 4 16 11




31





and 3










and 3























32







33

























































34


making capacity


















































respectively)



35






over total ESF

BG 209654707 151

CZ 186595775 43

EE 24465675 53

EL 418273566 81

HU 166276830 39

IT 252539187 18

LT 181629418 150

LV 24271094 35

MT 17199118 131

PL 455967699 39

RO 234920609 54

SI 114178243 128

SK 67615059 39

UK 55726379 06


HR 9396707 50


TOTAL ESF 115596750390 21



0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16




36









SIC-dedicated PAs





















-

50 000 000

100 000 000

150 000 000

200 000 000

250 000 000

300 000 000

350 000 000

400 000 000

450 000 000




37

















Poland









programming in MS

MS of total

budget

CoE 81

Community

funding (euro)

No of

dedicated

OPs

No of

dedicated

PAs

No of

dedicated

actions

AT 00 -

BE 00 -

BG 122 143988501 2 4 17

CY 39 4615273

CZ 35 127571573 1 1 1

DE 00 -

DK 00 -

EE 51 20126546 1 1 4

ES 01 6564559

FI 00 -

FR 00 2599325

EL 11 47010448 1 9 9

HU 41 147490451 1 3 6

IR 00 -




38

MS of total

budget

CoE 81

Community

funding (euro)

No of

dedicated

OPs

No of

dedicated

PAs

No of

dedicated

actions

IT 25 171426165 7 7 16

LT 68 69552049 1 1 3

LU 00 -

LV 42 24275976 1 1 3

MT 78 8752517 1 1 4

NL 00 -

PL 38 381835672 1 1 5

PT 01 9888970

RO 54 199682518 1 2 5

SE 00 -

SI 21 15861756 1 1 2

SK 13 19308570 1 1 2

UK 05 24585962 1 1 1

EU27 19 1425136831 21 34 78











39



Key findings















































40








interventions







like comparisons











2014)


SIC impl rate ()

total

ESF impl rate ()

BG 137491170 209654707 656 758

CZ 94381124 186595775 506 734

EE 21210585 24465675 867 835

EL 381930601 418273566 913 792

HU 122203794 166276830 735 703

IT 131069031 252539187 519 769




41


SIC impl

rate ()


LT 143977869 181629418 793 827

LV 20683459 24271094 852 973

MT 7687444 17199118 447 674

PL 315293255 455967699 691 844

RO 159318804 234920609 678 441

SI 89112721 114178243 780 838

SK 31545122 67615059 467 649

UK 13331326 55726379 239 770

Total 1669537980 2409313359 693 793


HR not included






















42














43


MS OP - PA

Total

funding

(euro)

Impl rate

()






























44

MS OP - PA

Total

funding

(euro)

Impl rate

()



























of documents










ESF






45












level




























than outputs











46






































47


varied too




as such






























(HU)









48











(LV)






































E-government






49







the training)



































415 Effectiveness





Outputs








50




2014 only


























ESF

SIC


BG 73 27 94 6

CZ 27 73 0 100

EE 16 84 0 100

EL 63 38 74 26

HU 35 65 14 86

IT 37 63 77 23

LT 28 72 47 53

LV 16 84 0 100

MT 50 50 67 33

PL 33 67 42 58

RO 52 48 40 60

SI 35 65 14 86



51

ESF

SIC


SK 63 37 63 38

UK 30 70 25 75

BG Incl PA4 TA



Results




























52


ESF SIC


BG 76 24 87 13

CZ 31 69 56 44

EE 34 66 0 100

EL 78 22 100 0

HU 0 100 0 100

IT 78 22 56 44

LT 27 73 50 50

LV 36 64 29 71

MT 36 64 50 50

PL 47 53 52 48

RO 61 39 78 22

SI 52 48 75 25

SK 86 14 100 0

UK 29 71 86 14

BG Incl PA4 TA



Source SFC








other criteria








provided13




53











































54




over

total W TOTAL ESF

over

total W

Total

participants252126 140810 43434 130340 210547 13878 92410 49538 20264 367776 70249 927 42725 822 1436920 64 98658829 52

Employed 241728 140810 43434 126685 205701 13878 87180 46318 20182 352000 70249 802 42151 822 1392409 969 64 33041257 335 53

of which self-

employed8799 - - - 1009 - 3323 1304 792 3619 - 97 170 - 19134 54 2437321 25 45

Unemployed 4531 - - 3655 1653 - 481 599 22 4004 - 78 46 - 15525 72 30039410 304 53

of which LTU 2062 - - - 482 - 166 330 4 935 - 7 11 - 4201 62 8996113 91 52

Inactive 5867 - - - 3193 - 4749 2621 60 11772 - 47 528 - 28986 64 35578162 361 50

of which in

educationtr

aining

1484 - - - 395 - 3967 2621 38 3898 - 41 76 - 12598 63 25207563 256 50

Young

people (15-

24 years)

13524 1 2512 950 4740 7 8022 4275 1270 16823 3497 98 2188 21 58157 40 61 30063502 305 47

Older people

(55-64

years)

39485 48 6384 15697 11244 995 12806 6508 2248 42046 7266 102 6317 101 151350 105 61 6106942 62 50

Migrants 125 - - 16 214 - 34 12 16 3 - 3 15 12 483 56 5152191 52 50

Minorities 9593 - - 38 1083 - 2150 447 - 40 3317 2 428 27 17309 58 3856947 39 47

Disabled 4737 - - 102 745 - 599 1082 94 948 146 12 357 37 8939 63 5265599 53 46

Others 1968 - - 101 - - 2637 48049 209 - - 6 335 - 53468 71 7017829 71 51

Primary or

lower

secondary

education

6421 - 667 3066 7087 7 3227 1041 3988 3909 - 16 4873 25 34454 24 57 38840296 394 48

Upper

secondary

education

49741 4 6730 31186 17941 780 2716 5347 3657 42521 9289 103 10136 169 180739 126 60 26014203 264 52

Post-

secondary

non tertiary

education

23951 - 5844 2970 5744 134 3720 3278 3460 52931 2214 150 1587 - 106029 74 66 4934362 50 57

Tertiary

education172013 71 30193 93114 38649 1385 82378 32254 9159 268415 58746 658 24057 611 812185 565 66 16297940 165 63



55





Employed 631 633 707 638 600 543 684 721 437 685 606 647 476 564

of which self-

employed 574 - - - 640 - 569 712 188 429 - 237 247 -

Unemployed 591 - - 998 600 - 568 791 500 666 - 808 522 -

of which LTU 559 - - - 676 - 512 758 1000 725 - 857 364 -

Inactive 605 - - - 673 - 576 785 450 650 - 809 511 -

of which in


Young people (15-

24 years) 603 1000 702 783 536 1000 560 581 521 662 614 571 546 524

Older people (55-

64 years) 586 625 699 579 558 432 705 732 280 634 590 235 512 554

Migrants 448 - - 1000 640 - 529 583 688 667 - 333 67 583

Minorities 561 - - 1000 540 - 610 785 - 675 614 - 614 519

Disabled 621 - - 686 558 - 723 742 202 660 507 417 602 541

Others 615 - - 1000 - - 669 724 282 - - 500 254 -

Primary or lower

secondary

education 556 - 643 698 616 - 553 744 316 607 - 125 591 560

Upper secondary

education 581 750 680 656 554 505 419 732 468 626 571 359 464 556

Post-secondary

non tertiary

education 593 - 702 684 579 500 544 741 464 716 573 320 565 -

Tertiary

education 652 634 716 642 496 453 697 738 467 688 612 465 493 566



56

42 Efficiency















Total participants



BG 252126 137491170 545

CZ 140810 94381124 670

EE 43434 21210585 488

EL 130340 381930601 2930

HU 210547 122203794 580

IT 13878 131069031 9444

LT 92410 143977869 1558

LV 49538 20683459 418

MT 20264 7687444 379

PL 367776 315293255 857

RO 70249 159318804 2268

SI 927 89112721 96130

SK 42725 31545122 738

UK 822 13331326 16218

Source SFC database




















57





this purpose (SK)







































Poland)










58


















respect include





























59


















dedicated to women




















interventions

















60


















this level














and process











451 Volume effects











61








employees




















Lithuania16






(Source AIR 2014)

452 Scope effects













62





ESF (SK)

453 Role effects












the Apulia OP


governance such as














454 Process effects










other countries






Labour OPs)





63







in Lithuania17






customer service





























LT)





64





MS ASSESSMENT



















65






regulatory quality

rule of law
























-050

000

050

100

150

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014






66






















000

020

040

060

080

100

120

140

160

180

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Regulatory quality





67


environment






















-050

000

050

100

150

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Rule of law





68

4623 Assessment











in this respect


Overview 4631






























69


























70









irregularities








































71






interventions















clientelism (EL)



72


Key findings































the SFC database
























73









































74



































312)
















implementation





75







priorities


national priorities



implementation









































76


























suggested









time-bound





















77










































expand upon this



78

References





Ecorys (2011)






2010



Thematic Fiche 2012









final




2014







EIPA (2013)






EIPA (2014)






79

Ferry (2013)




Panteia (2013)


October 2013

Knott (2007)





1996-2014 Sept 25 2015






80




PA 6



healthcare services







PA 1

Good governance


Administration


the State

Administration


in Policy-Making



Business


Judicial System


regional

Cooperation


Capacity

PA 2

Human resources

management





23 Strengthening




25 Transnational



Capacity

PA 3



31 Improvement of


development



33 Improvement of




cooperation


PA 4


41 Strengthening of



81


Human Resources

Development

and public services




PA 5









EL OP for Human


PA1 ldquoImproving



EL OP for Human


PA2 ldquoImproving


EL OP for Human


PA3 ldquoImproving




administration



82



Development








equal









range of the



83



HU State Reform OP

PA 1


development





HU State Reform OP

PA 2



replacement


HU State Reform OP

PA 3







monitoring and




systems for the





84









IT Sicily ROP PA

7

Institutional

capacity

Specific




governance

Specific













85




governance

programmes

IT Apulia ROP PA

7

Institutional

capacity

Specific



governance

Specific


programmes



National OP

PA E5
















and integrating the




86


complementarity)



PA 2





PA 4




and strengthening









PA 5





Building of


MT OP II -



PA

4

Strengthening of


Supporting


Lifelong learning


Strengthening


Promoting a more




87



Programme

PA 5

Good governance

51 Strengthening


52 Strengthening






55 Development

of social dialogue



PA 1






responsibility



Programme


PA 2


efficiency of



decentralisation

of services


efficiency of

public services

SI OP Development


PA 5


capacity


administration





PA 4



41 Enhancement of



the services




management in



88


provided by public

administration





PA 4


services





89


2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013








by strengthening

















e-government












90

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013







government


public procurement





administration

e- services


Anticorruption

















91

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013





















92

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013

















Reform Programme





















93

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013
















LV






94

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013





























95

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013









NA

SK - Reduction of

























96

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013


independent body

UK NA NA

NA NA NA



Management
























98























99


Context factors

PAR



Legislation













100




chapter




























now w 2011 2012 2013 2014)








101


















Slovenia) 2012












102


Free publications

bull one copy








Priced publications





doi[102767271126]

[KE-0

2-1

6-9

29-E

N-N

]





(A2E)








10812006
























1 Primary education




























(RCE)






























Acronyms









EU European Union

HC Human Capital



MS Member State



PA Priority Axis







Table of contents

Executive Summary i

1 Introduction 6

11 Background 6

12 Objectives 6

13 Scope 7












groups 13






316 Tools 27



(EU-27) 33






States 39








42 Efficiency 56






453 Role effects 62















References
































40








participants55






i

Executive Summary

Key findings



























Introduction

















ii














also regional OPs









interventions


















system
















iii
























































iv

























to support







institutions

























v























measured



evaluation



6

1 Introduction

11 Background




































12 Objectives









7




13 Scope




























Authorities (MA)















8










9


Key findings




























Union 2010 p 18)
























10





year4


















evaluations)






















11



equipment












for full employment























Global objectives







12






Specific objectives









Types

of interventions




















13


Key findings


























SIC



















recommendations






14






























x x x x x x

















15








stakeholders






























Country 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012






IT NO NO YES YES




16

Country 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012

LV NA NA NA NA NA

MT YES YES NA NA NA


RO NA YES YES NA NA

SI NA NA YES NA


UK NA NA NA NA NA


















support to SIC










activities




BG Y Y N Y

CZ Y Y N Y

EE Y Y Y Y



17





methods

EL Y Y N Y

HU Y N N Y

IT Y Y N Y

LT Y Y Y Y

LV Y Y Y Y

MT Y Y Y Y

PL Y Y N Y

RO Y N N Y

SI Y Y Y Y

SK Y Y N Y

UK N N N Y




















18






no


Design MampE 8 103

Delivery 28 359

Both 38 487

No information 4 51

Total 78 100


Local 33 423

Regional 42 539

National 56 718

International 3 39


Recipients



NGOs 19 244




















32bi)









19





Recipients








prioritised





Design MampE 1 1 2

Delivery 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

Both 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8


Local 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

Regional 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

National 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12

International 1 1


Public entities 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 13

Social

partners 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8

NGOs 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8





Target groups












20

















17


Tools

E-governance 14



ESF





















21









































22











burdens















results (MT)





level






















23

































environment












24









level


systems


















315 Human resources























25
























participation



















encouragement













26






PAs















development
















partnerships (IT)

















27





















some institutions)














316 Tools

E-governance 3161


















28

















confirmation
























MT RO)














29

































under category 81

Dedicated OP(s)

Dedicated PA(s)AT

BG

HU

IT

NL

FR

EL

ROLT

UK

CZ EE

SI

SK

LV

MT PL

BE CY

DEDK

ES

FI

IRLUPT

SE



30


Country SIC in

programming (OPPA)


SIC


Yes No

Austria X

Belgium X

Bulgaria X X X

Cyprus X

Czech R X X

Germany X

Denmark X

Estonia X X

Spain X

Finland X

France X

Greece X X X

Hungary X X X

Ireland X

Italy X X

Lithuania X X

Luxembourg X

Latvia X X

Malta X X

Netherlands X

Poland X X

Portugal X

Romania X X X

Sweden X

Slovenia X X

Slovakia X X

UK X X

TOTAL 14 4 16 11




31





and 3










and 3























32







33

























































34


making capacity


















































respectively)



35






over total ESF

BG 209654707 151

CZ 186595775 43

EE 24465675 53

EL 418273566 81

HU 166276830 39

IT 252539187 18

LT 181629418 150

LV 24271094 35

MT 17199118 131

PL 455967699 39

RO 234920609 54

SI 114178243 128

SK 67615059 39

UK 55726379 06


HR 9396707 50


TOTAL ESF 115596750390 21



0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16




36









SIC-dedicated PAs





















-

50 000 000

100 000 000

150 000 000

200 000 000

250 000 000

300 000 000

350 000 000

400 000 000

450 000 000




37

















Poland









programming in MS

MS of total

budget

CoE 81

Community

funding (euro)

No of

dedicated

OPs

No of

dedicated

PAs

No of

dedicated

actions

AT 00 -

BE 00 -

BG 122 143988501 2 4 17

CY 39 4615273

CZ 35 127571573 1 1 1

DE 00 -

DK 00 -

EE 51 20126546 1 1 4

ES 01 6564559

FI 00 -

FR 00 2599325

EL 11 47010448 1 9 9

HU 41 147490451 1 3 6

IR 00 -




38

MS of total

budget

CoE 81

Community

funding (euro)

No of

dedicated

OPs

No of

dedicated

PAs

No of

dedicated

actions

IT 25 171426165 7 7 16

LT 68 69552049 1 1 3

LU 00 -

LV 42 24275976 1 1 3

MT 78 8752517 1 1 4

NL 00 -

PL 38 381835672 1 1 5

PT 01 9888970

RO 54 199682518 1 2 5

SE 00 -

SI 21 15861756 1 1 2

SK 13 19308570 1 1 2

UK 05 24585962 1 1 1

EU27 19 1425136831 21 34 78











39



Key findings















































40








interventions







like comparisons











2014)


SIC impl rate ()

total

ESF impl rate ()

BG 137491170 209654707 656 758

CZ 94381124 186595775 506 734

EE 21210585 24465675 867 835

EL 381930601 418273566 913 792

HU 122203794 166276830 735 703

IT 131069031 252539187 519 769




41


SIC impl

rate ()


LT 143977869 181629418 793 827

LV 20683459 24271094 852 973

MT 7687444 17199118 447 674

PL 315293255 455967699 691 844

RO 159318804 234920609 678 441

SI 89112721 114178243 780 838

SK 31545122 67615059 467 649

UK 13331326 55726379 239 770

Total 1669537980 2409313359 693 793


HR not included






















42














43


MS OP - PA

Total

funding

(euro)

Impl rate

()






























44

MS OP - PA

Total

funding

(euro)

Impl rate

()



























of documents










ESF






45












level




























than outputs











46






































47


varied too




as such






























(HU)









48











(LV)






































E-government






49







the training)



































415 Effectiveness





Outputs








50




2014 only


























ESF

SIC


BG 73 27 94 6

CZ 27 73 0 100

EE 16 84 0 100

EL 63 38 74 26

HU 35 65 14 86

IT 37 63 77 23

LT 28 72 47 53

LV 16 84 0 100

MT 50 50 67 33

PL 33 67 42 58

RO 52 48 40 60

SI 35 65 14 86



51

ESF

SIC


SK 63 37 63 38

UK 30 70 25 75

BG Incl PA4 TA



Results




























52


ESF SIC


BG 76 24 87 13

CZ 31 69 56 44

EE 34 66 0 100

EL 78 22 100 0

HU 0 100 0 100

IT 78 22 56 44

LT 27 73 50 50

LV 36 64 29 71

MT 36 64 50 50

PL 47 53 52 48

RO 61 39 78 22

SI 52 48 75 25

SK 86 14 100 0

UK 29 71 86 14

BG Incl PA4 TA



Source SFC








other criteria








provided13




53











































54




over

total W TOTAL ESF

over

total W

Total

participants252126 140810 43434 130340 210547 13878 92410 49538 20264 367776 70249 927 42725 822 1436920 64 98658829 52

Employed 241728 140810 43434 126685 205701 13878 87180 46318 20182 352000 70249 802 42151 822 1392409 969 64 33041257 335 53

of which self-

employed8799 - - - 1009 - 3323 1304 792 3619 - 97 170 - 19134 54 2437321 25 45

Unemployed 4531 - - 3655 1653 - 481 599 22 4004 - 78 46 - 15525 72 30039410 304 53

of which LTU 2062 - - - 482 - 166 330 4 935 - 7 11 - 4201 62 8996113 91 52

Inactive 5867 - - - 3193 - 4749 2621 60 11772 - 47 528 - 28986 64 35578162 361 50

of which in

educationtr

aining

1484 - - - 395 - 3967 2621 38 3898 - 41 76 - 12598 63 25207563 256 50

Young

people (15-

24 years)

13524 1 2512 950 4740 7 8022 4275 1270 16823 3497 98 2188 21 58157 40 61 30063502 305 47

Older people

(55-64

years)

39485 48 6384 15697 11244 995 12806 6508 2248 42046 7266 102 6317 101 151350 105 61 6106942 62 50

Migrants 125 - - 16 214 - 34 12 16 3 - 3 15 12 483 56 5152191 52 50

Minorities 9593 - - 38 1083 - 2150 447 - 40 3317 2 428 27 17309 58 3856947 39 47

Disabled 4737 - - 102 745 - 599 1082 94 948 146 12 357 37 8939 63 5265599 53 46

Others 1968 - - 101 - - 2637 48049 209 - - 6 335 - 53468 71 7017829 71 51

Primary or

lower

secondary

education

6421 - 667 3066 7087 7 3227 1041 3988 3909 - 16 4873 25 34454 24 57 38840296 394 48

Upper

secondary

education

49741 4 6730 31186 17941 780 2716 5347 3657 42521 9289 103 10136 169 180739 126 60 26014203 264 52

Post-

secondary

non tertiary

education

23951 - 5844 2970 5744 134 3720 3278 3460 52931 2214 150 1587 - 106029 74 66 4934362 50 57

Tertiary

education172013 71 30193 93114 38649 1385 82378 32254 9159 268415 58746 658 24057 611 812185 565 66 16297940 165 63



55





Employed 631 633 707 638 600 543 684 721 437 685 606 647 476 564

of which self-

employed 574 - - - 640 - 569 712 188 429 - 237 247 -

Unemployed 591 - - 998 600 - 568 791 500 666 - 808 522 -

of which LTU 559 - - - 676 - 512 758 1000 725 - 857 364 -

Inactive 605 - - - 673 - 576 785 450 650 - 809 511 -

of which in


Young people (15-

24 years) 603 1000 702 783 536 1000 560 581 521 662 614 571 546 524

Older people (55-

64 years) 586 625 699 579 558 432 705 732 280 634 590 235 512 554

Migrants 448 - - 1000 640 - 529 583 688 667 - 333 67 583

Minorities 561 - - 1000 540 - 610 785 - 675 614 - 614 519

Disabled 621 - - 686 558 - 723 742 202 660 507 417 602 541

Others 615 - - 1000 - - 669 724 282 - - 500 254 -

Primary or lower

secondary

education 556 - 643 698 616 - 553 744 316 607 - 125 591 560

Upper secondary

education 581 750 680 656 554 505 419 732 468 626 571 359 464 556

Post-secondary

non tertiary

education 593 - 702 684 579 500 544 741 464 716 573 320 565 -

Tertiary

education 652 634 716 642 496 453 697 738 467 688 612 465 493 566



56

42 Efficiency















Total participants



BG 252126 137491170 545

CZ 140810 94381124 670

EE 43434 21210585 488

EL 130340 381930601 2930

HU 210547 122203794 580

IT 13878 131069031 9444

LT 92410 143977869 1558

LV 49538 20683459 418

MT 20264 7687444 379

PL 367776 315293255 857

RO 70249 159318804 2268

SI 927 89112721 96130

SK 42725 31545122 738

UK 822 13331326 16218

Source SFC database




















57





this purpose (SK)







































Poland)










58


















respect include





























59


















dedicated to women




















interventions

















60


















this level














and process











451 Volume effects











61








employees




















Lithuania16






(Source AIR 2014)

452 Scope effects













62





ESF (SK)

453 Role effects












the Apulia OP


governance such as














454 Process effects










other countries






Labour OPs)





63







in Lithuania17






customer service





























LT)





64





MS ASSESSMENT



















65






regulatory quality

rule of law
























-050

000

050

100

150

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014






66






















000

020

040

060

080

100

120

140

160

180

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Regulatory quality





67


environment






















-050

000

050

100

150

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Rule of law





68

4623 Assessment











in this respect


Overview 4631






























69


























70









irregularities








































71






interventions















clientelism (EL)



72


Key findings































the SFC database
























73









































74



































312)
















implementation





75







priorities


national priorities



implementation









































76


























suggested









time-bound





















77










































expand upon this



78

References





Ecorys (2011)






2010



Thematic Fiche 2012









final




2014







EIPA (2013)






EIPA (2014)






79

Ferry (2013)




Panteia (2013)


October 2013

Knott (2007)





1996-2014 Sept 25 2015






80




PA 6



healthcare services







PA 1

Good governance


Administration


the State

Administration


in Policy-Making



Business


Judicial System


regional

Cooperation


Capacity

PA 2

Human resources

management





23 Strengthening




25 Transnational



Capacity

PA 3



31 Improvement of


development



33 Improvement of




cooperation


PA 4


41 Strengthening of



81


Human Resources

Development

and public services




PA 5









EL OP for Human


PA1 ldquoImproving



EL OP for Human


PA2 ldquoImproving


EL OP for Human


PA3 ldquoImproving




administration



82



Development








equal









range of the



83



HU State Reform OP

PA 1


development





HU State Reform OP

PA 2



replacement


HU State Reform OP

PA 3







monitoring and




systems for the





84









IT Sicily ROP PA

7

Institutional

capacity

Specific




governance

Specific













85




governance

programmes

IT Apulia ROP PA

7

Institutional

capacity

Specific



governance

Specific


programmes



National OP

PA E5
















and integrating the




86


complementarity)



PA 2





PA 4




and strengthening









PA 5





Building of


MT OP II -



PA

4

Strengthening of


Supporting


Lifelong learning


Strengthening


Promoting a more




87



Programme

PA 5

Good governance

51 Strengthening


52 Strengthening






55 Development

of social dialogue



PA 1






responsibility



Programme


PA 2


efficiency of



decentralisation

of services


efficiency of

public services

SI OP Development


PA 5


capacity


administration





PA 4



41 Enhancement of



the services




management in



88


provided by public

administration





PA 4


services





89


2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013








by strengthening

















e-government












90

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013







government


public procurement





administration

e- services


Anticorruption

















91

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013





















92

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013

















Reform Programme





















93

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013
















LV






94

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013





























95

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013









NA

SK - Reduction of

























96

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013


independent body

UK NA NA

NA NA NA



Management
























98























99


Context factors

PAR



Legislation













100




chapter




























now w 2011 2012 2013 2014)








101


















Slovenia) 2012












102


Free publications

bull one copy








Priced publications





doi[102767271126]

[KE-0

2-1

6-9

29-E

N-N

]






1 Primary education




























(RCE)






























Acronyms









EU European Union

HC Human Capital



MS Member State



PA Priority Axis







Table of contents

Executive Summary i

1 Introduction 6

11 Background 6

12 Objectives 6

13 Scope 7












groups 13






316 Tools 27



(EU-27) 33






States 39








42 Efficiency 56






453 Role effects 62















References
































40








participants55






i

Executive Summary

Key findings



























Introduction

















ii














also regional OPs









interventions


















system
















iii
























































iv

























to support







institutions

























v























measured



evaluation



6

1 Introduction

11 Background




































12 Objectives









7




13 Scope




























Authorities (MA)















8










9


Key findings




























Union 2010 p 18)
























10





year4


















evaluations)






















11



equipment












for full employment























Global objectives







12






Specific objectives









Types

of interventions




















13


Key findings


























SIC



















recommendations






14






























x x x x x x

















15








stakeholders






























Country 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012






IT NO NO YES YES




16

Country 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012

LV NA NA NA NA NA

MT YES YES NA NA NA


RO NA YES YES NA NA

SI NA NA YES NA


UK NA NA NA NA NA


















support to SIC










activities




BG Y Y N Y

CZ Y Y N Y

EE Y Y Y Y



17





methods

EL Y Y N Y

HU Y N N Y

IT Y Y N Y

LT Y Y Y Y

LV Y Y Y Y

MT Y Y Y Y

PL Y Y N Y

RO Y N N Y

SI Y Y Y Y

SK Y Y N Y

UK N N N Y




















18






no


Design MampE 8 103

Delivery 28 359

Both 38 487

No information 4 51

Total 78 100


Local 33 423

Regional 42 539

National 56 718

International 3 39


Recipients



NGOs 19 244




















32bi)









19





Recipients








prioritised





Design MampE 1 1 2

Delivery 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

Both 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8


Local 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

Regional 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

National 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12

International 1 1


Public entities 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 13

Social

partners 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8

NGOs 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8





Target groups












20

















17


Tools

E-governance 14



ESF





















21









































22











burdens















results (MT)





level






















23

































environment












24









level


systems


















315 Human resources























25
























participation



















encouragement













26






PAs















development
















partnerships (IT)

















27





















some institutions)














316 Tools

E-governance 3161


















28

















confirmation
























MT RO)














29

































under category 81

Dedicated OP(s)

Dedicated PA(s)AT

BG

HU

IT

NL

FR

EL

ROLT

UK

CZ EE

SI

SK

LV

MT PL

BE CY

DEDK

ES

FI

IRLUPT

SE



30


Country SIC in

programming (OPPA)


SIC


Yes No

Austria X

Belgium X

Bulgaria X X X

Cyprus X

Czech R X X

Germany X

Denmark X

Estonia X X

Spain X

Finland X

France X

Greece X X X

Hungary X X X

Ireland X

Italy X X

Lithuania X X

Luxembourg X

Latvia X X

Malta X X

Netherlands X

Poland X X

Portugal X

Romania X X X

Sweden X

Slovenia X X

Slovakia X X

UK X X

TOTAL 14 4 16 11




31





and 3










and 3























32







33

























































34


making capacity


















































respectively)



35






over total ESF

BG 209654707 151

CZ 186595775 43

EE 24465675 53

EL 418273566 81

HU 166276830 39

IT 252539187 18

LT 181629418 150

LV 24271094 35

MT 17199118 131

PL 455967699 39

RO 234920609 54

SI 114178243 128

SK 67615059 39

UK 55726379 06


HR 9396707 50


TOTAL ESF 115596750390 21



0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16




36









SIC-dedicated PAs





















-

50 000 000

100 000 000

150 000 000

200 000 000

250 000 000

300 000 000

350 000 000

400 000 000

450 000 000




37

















Poland









programming in MS

MS of total

budget

CoE 81

Community

funding (euro)

No of

dedicated

OPs

No of

dedicated

PAs

No of

dedicated

actions

AT 00 -

BE 00 -

BG 122 143988501 2 4 17

CY 39 4615273

CZ 35 127571573 1 1 1

DE 00 -

DK 00 -

EE 51 20126546 1 1 4

ES 01 6564559

FI 00 -

FR 00 2599325

EL 11 47010448 1 9 9

HU 41 147490451 1 3 6

IR 00 -




38

MS of total

budget

CoE 81

Community

funding (euro)

No of

dedicated

OPs

No of

dedicated

PAs

No of

dedicated

actions

IT 25 171426165 7 7 16

LT 68 69552049 1 1 3

LU 00 -

LV 42 24275976 1 1 3

MT 78 8752517 1 1 4

NL 00 -

PL 38 381835672 1 1 5

PT 01 9888970

RO 54 199682518 1 2 5

SE 00 -

SI 21 15861756 1 1 2

SK 13 19308570 1 1 2

UK 05 24585962 1 1 1

EU27 19 1425136831 21 34 78











39



Key findings















































40








interventions







like comparisons











2014)


SIC impl rate ()

total

ESF impl rate ()

BG 137491170 209654707 656 758

CZ 94381124 186595775 506 734

EE 21210585 24465675 867 835

EL 381930601 418273566 913 792

HU 122203794 166276830 735 703

IT 131069031 252539187 519 769




41


SIC impl

rate ()


LT 143977869 181629418 793 827

LV 20683459 24271094 852 973

MT 7687444 17199118 447 674

PL 315293255 455967699 691 844

RO 159318804 234920609 678 441

SI 89112721 114178243 780 838

SK 31545122 67615059 467 649

UK 13331326 55726379 239 770

Total 1669537980 2409313359 693 793


HR not included






















42














43


MS OP - PA

Total

funding

(euro)

Impl rate

()






























44

MS OP - PA

Total

funding

(euro)

Impl rate

()



























of documents










ESF






45












level




























than outputs











46






































47


varied too




as such






























(HU)









48











(LV)






































E-government






49







the training)



































415 Effectiveness





Outputs








50




2014 only


























ESF

SIC


BG 73 27 94 6

CZ 27 73 0 100

EE 16 84 0 100

EL 63 38 74 26

HU 35 65 14 86

IT 37 63 77 23

LT 28 72 47 53

LV 16 84 0 100

MT 50 50 67 33

PL 33 67 42 58

RO 52 48 40 60

SI 35 65 14 86



51

ESF

SIC


SK 63 37 63 38

UK 30 70 25 75

BG Incl PA4 TA



Results




























52


ESF SIC


BG 76 24 87 13

CZ 31 69 56 44

EE 34 66 0 100

EL 78 22 100 0

HU 0 100 0 100

IT 78 22 56 44

LT 27 73 50 50

LV 36 64 29 71

MT 36 64 50 50

PL 47 53 52 48

RO 61 39 78 22

SI 52 48 75 25

SK 86 14 100 0

UK 29 71 86 14

BG Incl PA4 TA



Source SFC








other criteria








provided13




53











































54




over

total W TOTAL ESF

over

total W

Total

participants252126 140810 43434 130340 210547 13878 92410 49538 20264 367776 70249 927 42725 822 1436920 64 98658829 52

Employed 241728 140810 43434 126685 205701 13878 87180 46318 20182 352000 70249 802 42151 822 1392409 969 64 33041257 335 53

of which self-

employed8799 - - - 1009 - 3323 1304 792 3619 - 97 170 - 19134 54 2437321 25 45

Unemployed 4531 - - 3655 1653 - 481 599 22 4004 - 78 46 - 15525 72 30039410 304 53

of which LTU 2062 - - - 482 - 166 330 4 935 - 7 11 - 4201 62 8996113 91 52

Inactive 5867 - - - 3193 - 4749 2621 60 11772 - 47 528 - 28986 64 35578162 361 50

of which in

educationtr

aining

1484 - - - 395 - 3967 2621 38 3898 - 41 76 - 12598 63 25207563 256 50

Young

people (15-

24 years)

13524 1 2512 950 4740 7 8022 4275 1270 16823 3497 98 2188 21 58157 40 61 30063502 305 47

Older people

(55-64

years)

39485 48 6384 15697 11244 995 12806 6508 2248 42046 7266 102 6317 101 151350 105 61 6106942 62 50

Migrants 125 - - 16 214 - 34 12 16 3 - 3 15 12 483 56 5152191 52 50

Minorities 9593 - - 38 1083 - 2150 447 - 40 3317 2 428 27 17309 58 3856947 39 47

Disabled 4737 - - 102 745 - 599 1082 94 948 146 12 357 37 8939 63 5265599 53 46

Others 1968 - - 101 - - 2637 48049 209 - - 6 335 - 53468 71 7017829 71 51

Primary or

lower

secondary

education

6421 - 667 3066 7087 7 3227 1041 3988 3909 - 16 4873 25 34454 24 57 38840296 394 48

Upper

secondary

education

49741 4 6730 31186 17941 780 2716 5347 3657 42521 9289 103 10136 169 180739 126 60 26014203 264 52

Post-

secondary

non tertiary

education

23951 - 5844 2970 5744 134 3720 3278 3460 52931 2214 150 1587 - 106029 74 66 4934362 50 57

Tertiary

education172013 71 30193 93114 38649 1385 82378 32254 9159 268415 58746 658 24057 611 812185 565 66 16297940 165 63



55





Employed 631 633 707 638 600 543 684 721 437 685 606 647 476 564

of which self-

employed 574 - - - 640 - 569 712 188 429 - 237 247 -

Unemployed 591 - - 998 600 - 568 791 500 666 - 808 522 -

of which LTU 559 - - - 676 - 512 758 1000 725 - 857 364 -

Inactive 605 - - - 673 - 576 785 450 650 - 809 511 -

of which in


Young people (15-

24 years) 603 1000 702 783 536 1000 560 581 521 662 614 571 546 524

Older people (55-

64 years) 586 625 699 579 558 432 705 732 280 634 590 235 512 554

Migrants 448 - - 1000 640 - 529 583 688 667 - 333 67 583

Minorities 561 - - 1000 540 - 610 785 - 675 614 - 614 519

Disabled 621 - - 686 558 - 723 742 202 660 507 417 602 541

Others 615 - - 1000 - - 669 724 282 - - 500 254 -

Primary or lower

secondary

education 556 - 643 698 616 - 553 744 316 607 - 125 591 560

Upper secondary

education 581 750 680 656 554 505 419 732 468 626 571 359 464 556

Post-secondary

non tertiary

education 593 - 702 684 579 500 544 741 464 716 573 320 565 -

Tertiary

education 652 634 716 642 496 453 697 738 467 688 612 465 493 566



56

42 Efficiency















Total participants



BG 252126 137491170 545

CZ 140810 94381124 670

EE 43434 21210585 488

EL 130340 381930601 2930

HU 210547 122203794 580

IT 13878 131069031 9444

LT 92410 143977869 1558

LV 49538 20683459 418

MT 20264 7687444 379

PL 367776 315293255 857

RO 70249 159318804 2268

SI 927 89112721 96130

SK 42725 31545122 738

UK 822 13331326 16218

Source SFC database




















57





this purpose (SK)







































Poland)










58


















respect include





























59


















dedicated to women




















interventions

















60


















this level














and process











451 Volume effects











61








employees




















Lithuania16






(Source AIR 2014)

452 Scope effects













62





ESF (SK)

453 Role effects












the Apulia OP


governance such as














454 Process effects










other countries






Labour OPs)





63







in Lithuania17






customer service





























LT)





64





MS ASSESSMENT



















65






regulatory quality

rule of law
























-050

000

050

100

150

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014






66






















000

020

040

060

080

100

120

140

160

180

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Regulatory quality





67


environment






















-050

000

050

100

150

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Rule of law





68

4623 Assessment











in this respect


Overview 4631






























69


























70









irregularities








































71






interventions















clientelism (EL)



72


Key findings































the SFC database
























73









































74



































312)
















implementation





75







priorities


national priorities



implementation









































76


























suggested









time-bound





















77










































expand upon this



78

References





Ecorys (2011)






2010



Thematic Fiche 2012









final




2014







EIPA (2013)






EIPA (2014)






79

Ferry (2013)




Panteia (2013)


October 2013

Knott (2007)





1996-2014 Sept 25 2015






80




PA 6



healthcare services







PA 1

Good governance


Administration


the State

Administration


in Policy-Making



Business


Judicial System


regional

Cooperation


Capacity

PA 2

Human resources

management





23 Strengthening




25 Transnational



Capacity

PA 3



31 Improvement of


development



33 Improvement of




cooperation


PA 4


41 Strengthening of



81


Human Resources

Development

and public services




PA 5









EL OP for Human


PA1 ldquoImproving



EL OP for Human


PA2 ldquoImproving


EL OP for Human


PA3 ldquoImproving




administration



82



Development








equal









range of the



83



HU State Reform OP

PA 1


development





HU State Reform OP

PA 2



replacement


HU State Reform OP

PA 3







monitoring and




systems for the





84









IT Sicily ROP PA

7

Institutional

capacity

Specific




governance

Specific













85




governance

programmes

IT Apulia ROP PA

7

Institutional

capacity

Specific



governance

Specific


programmes



National OP

PA E5
















and integrating the




86


complementarity)



PA 2





PA 4




and strengthening









PA 5





Building of


MT OP II -



PA

4

Strengthening of


Supporting


Lifelong learning


Strengthening


Promoting a more




87



Programme

PA 5

Good governance

51 Strengthening


52 Strengthening






55 Development

of social dialogue



PA 1






responsibility



Programme


PA 2


efficiency of



decentralisation

of services


efficiency of

public services

SI OP Development


PA 5


capacity


administration





PA 4



41 Enhancement of



the services




management in



88


provided by public

administration





PA 4


services





89


2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013








by strengthening

















e-government












90

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013







government


public procurement





administration

e- services


Anticorruption

















91

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013





















92

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013

















Reform Programme





















93

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013
















LV






94

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013





























95

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013









NA

SK - Reduction of

























96

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013


independent body

UK NA NA

NA NA NA



Management
























98























99


Context factors

PAR



Legislation













100




chapter




























now w 2011 2012 2013 2014)








101


















Slovenia) 2012












102


Free publications

bull one copy








Priced publications





doi[102767271126]

[KE-0

2-1

6-9

29-E

N-N

]



























Acronyms









EU European Union

HC Human Capital



MS Member State



PA Priority Axis







Table of contents

Executive Summary i

1 Introduction 6

11 Background 6

12 Objectives 6

13 Scope 7












groups 13






316 Tools 27



(EU-27) 33






States 39








42 Efficiency 56






453 Role effects 62















References
































40








participants55






i

Executive Summary

Key findings



























Introduction

















ii














also regional OPs









interventions


















system
















iii
























































iv

























to support







institutions

























v























measured



evaluation



6

1 Introduction

11 Background




































12 Objectives









7




13 Scope




























Authorities (MA)















8










9


Key findings




























Union 2010 p 18)
























10





year4


















evaluations)






















11



equipment












for full employment























Global objectives







12






Specific objectives









Types

of interventions




















13


Key findings


























SIC



















recommendations






14






























x x x x x x

















15








stakeholders






























Country 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012






IT NO NO YES YES




16

Country 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012

LV NA NA NA NA NA

MT YES YES NA NA NA


RO NA YES YES NA NA

SI NA NA YES NA


UK NA NA NA NA NA


















support to SIC










activities




BG Y Y N Y

CZ Y Y N Y

EE Y Y Y Y



17





methods

EL Y Y N Y

HU Y N N Y

IT Y Y N Y

LT Y Y Y Y

LV Y Y Y Y

MT Y Y Y Y

PL Y Y N Y

RO Y N N Y

SI Y Y Y Y

SK Y Y N Y

UK N N N Y




















18






no


Design MampE 8 103

Delivery 28 359

Both 38 487

No information 4 51

Total 78 100


Local 33 423

Regional 42 539

National 56 718

International 3 39


Recipients



NGOs 19 244




















32bi)









19





Recipients








prioritised





Design MampE 1 1 2

Delivery 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

Both 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8


Local 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

Regional 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9

National 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12

International 1 1


Public entities 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 13

Social

partners 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8

NGOs 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8





Target groups












20

















17


Tools

E-governance 14



ESF





















21









































22











burdens















results (MT)





level






















23

































environment












24









level


systems


















315 Human resources























25
























participation



















encouragement













26






PAs















development
















partnerships (IT)

















27





















some institutions)














316 Tools

E-governance 3161


















28

















confirmation
























MT RO)














29

































under category 81

Dedicated OP(s)

Dedicated PA(s)AT

BG

HU

IT

NL

FR

EL

ROLT

UK

CZ EE

SI

SK

LV

MT PL

BE CY

DEDK

ES

FI

IRLUPT

SE



30


Country SIC in

programming (OPPA)


SIC


Yes No

Austria X

Belgium X

Bulgaria X X X

Cyprus X

Czech R X X

Germany X

Denmark X

Estonia X X

Spain X

Finland X

France X

Greece X X X

Hungary X X X

Ireland X

Italy X X

Lithuania X X

Luxembourg X

Latvia X X

Malta X X

Netherlands X

Poland X X

Portugal X

Romania X X X

Sweden X

Slovenia X X

Slovakia X X

UK X X

TOTAL 14 4 16 11




31





and 3










and 3























32







33

























































34


making capacity


















































respectively)



35






over total ESF

BG 209654707 151

CZ 186595775 43

EE 24465675 53

EL 418273566 81

HU 166276830 39

IT 252539187 18

LT 181629418 150

LV 24271094 35

MT 17199118 131

PL 455967699 39

RO 234920609 54

SI 114178243 128

SK 67615059 39

UK 55726379 06


HR 9396707 50


TOTAL ESF 115596750390 21



0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16




36









SIC-dedicated PAs





















-

50 000 000

100 000 000

150 000 000

200 000 000

250 000 000

300 000 000

350 000 000

400 000 000

450 000 000




37

















Poland









programming in MS

MS of total

budget

CoE 81

Community

funding (euro)

No of

dedicated

OPs

No of

dedicated

PAs

No of

dedicated

actions

AT 00 -

BE 00 -

BG 122 143988501 2 4 17

CY 39 4615273

CZ 35 127571573 1 1 1

DE 00 -

DK 00 -

EE 51 20126546 1 1 4

ES 01 6564559

FI 00 -

FR 00 2599325

EL 11 47010448 1 9 9

HU 41 147490451 1 3 6

IR 00 -




38

MS of total

budget

CoE 81

Community

funding (euro)

No of

dedicated

OPs

No of

dedicated

PAs

No of

dedicated

actions

IT 25 171426165 7 7 16

LT 68 69552049 1 1 3

LU 00 -

LV 42 24275976 1 1 3

MT 78 8752517 1 1 4

NL 00 -

PL 38 381835672 1 1 5

PT 01 9888970

RO 54 199682518 1 2 5

SE 00 -

SI 21 15861756 1 1 2

SK 13 19308570 1 1 2

UK 05 24585962 1 1 1

EU27 19 1425136831 21 34 78











39



Key findings















































40








interventions







like comparisons











2014)


SIC impl rate ()

total

ESF impl rate ()

BG 137491170 209654707 656 758

CZ 94381124 186595775 506 734

EE 21210585 24465675 867 835

EL 381930601 418273566 913 792

HU 122203794 166276830 735 703

IT 131069031 252539187 519 769




41


SIC impl

rate ()


LT 143977869 181629418 793 827

LV 20683459 24271094 852 973

MT 7687444 17199118 447 674

PL 315293255 455967699 691 844

RO 159318804 234920609 678 441

SI 89112721 114178243 780 838

SK 31545122 67615059 467 649

UK 13331326 55726379 239 770

Total 1669537980 2409313359 693 793


HR not included






















42














43


MS OP - PA

Total

funding

(euro)

Impl rate

()






























44

MS OP - PA

Total

funding

(euro)

Impl rate

()



























of documents










ESF






45












level




























than outputs











46






































47


varied too




as such






























(HU)









48











(LV)






































E-government






49







the training)



































415 Effectiveness





Outputs








50




2014 only


























ESF

SIC


BG 73 27 94 6

CZ 27 73 0 100

EE 16 84 0 100

EL 63 38 74 26

HU 35 65 14 86

IT 37 63 77 23

LT 28 72 47 53

LV 16 84 0 100

MT 50 50 67 33

PL 33 67 42 58

RO 52 48 40 60

SI 35 65 14 86



51

ESF

SIC


SK 63 37 63 38

UK 30 70 25 75

BG Incl PA4 TA



Results




























52


ESF SIC


BG 76 24 87 13

CZ 31 69 56 44

EE 34 66 0 100

EL 78 22 100 0

HU 0 100 0 100

IT 78 22 56 44

LT 27 73 50 50

LV 36 64 29 71

MT 36 64 50 50

PL 47 53 52 48

RO 61 39 78 22

SI 52 48 75 25

SK 86 14 100 0

UK 29 71 86 14

BG Incl PA4 TA



Source SFC








other criteria








provided13




53











































54




over

total W TOTAL ESF

over

total W

Total

participants252126 140810 43434 130340 210547 13878 92410 49538 20264 367776 70249 927 42725 822 1436920 64 98658829 52

Employed 241728 140810 43434 126685 205701 13878 87180 46318 20182 352000 70249 802 42151 822 1392409 969 64 33041257 335 53

of which self-

employed8799 - - - 1009 - 3323 1304 792 3619 - 97 170 - 19134 54 2437321 25 45

Unemployed 4531 - - 3655 1653 - 481 599 22 4004 - 78 46 - 15525 72 30039410 304 53

of which LTU 2062 - - - 482 - 166 330 4 935 - 7 11 - 4201 62 8996113 91 52

Inactive 5867 - - - 3193 - 4749 2621 60 11772 - 47 528 - 28986 64 35578162 361 50

of which in

educationtr

aining

1484 - - - 395 - 3967 2621 38 3898 - 41 76 - 12598 63 25207563 256 50

Young

people (15-

24 years)

13524 1 2512 950 4740 7 8022 4275 1270 16823 3497 98 2188 21 58157 40 61 30063502 305 47

Older people

(55-64

years)

39485 48 6384 15697 11244 995 12806 6508 2248 42046 7266 102 6317 101 151350 105 61 6106942 62 50

Migrants 125 - - 16 214 - 34 12 16 3 - 3 15 12 483 56 5152191 52 50

Minorities 9593 - - 38 1083 - 2150 447 - 40 3317 2 428 27 17309 58 3856947 39 47

Disabled 4737 - - 102 745 - 599 1082 94 948 146 12 357 37 8939 63 5265599 53 46

Others 1968 - - 101 - - 2637 48049 209 - - 6 335 - 53468 71 7017829 71 51

Primary or

lower

secondary

education

6421 - 667 3066 7087 7 3227 1041 3988 3909 - 16 4873 25 34454 24 57 38840296 394 48

Upper

secondary

education

49741 4 6730 31186 17941 780 2716 5347 3657 42521 9289 103 10136 169 180739 126 60 26014203 264 52

Post-

secondary

non tertiary

education

23951 - 5844 2970 5744 134 3720 3278 3460 52931 2214 150 1587 - 106029 74 66 4934362 50 57

Tertiary

education172013 71 30193 93114 38649 1385 82378 32254 9159 268415 58746 658 24057 611 812185 565 66 16297940 165 63



55





Employed 631 633 707 638 600 543 684 721 437 685 606 647 476 564

of which self-

employed 574 - - - 640 - 569 712 188 429 - 237 247 -

Unemployed 591 - - 998 600 - 568 791 500 666 - 808 522 -

of which LTU 559 - - - 676 - 512 758 1000 725 - 857 364 -

Inactive 605 - - - 673 - 576 785 450 650 - 809 511 -

of which in


Young people (15-

24 years) 603 1000 702 783 536 1000 560 581 521 662 614 571 546 524

Older people (55-

64 years) 586 625 699 579 558 432 705 732 280 634 590 235 512 554

Migrants 448 - - 1000 640 - 529 583 688 667 - 333 67 583

Minorities 561 - - 1000 540 - 610 785 - 675 614 - 614 519

Disabled 621 - - 686 558 - 723 742 202 660 507 417 602 541

Others 615 - - 1000 - - 669 724 282 - - 500 254 -

Primary or lower

secondary

education 556 - 643 698 616 - 553 744 316 607 - 125 591 560

Upper secondary

education 581 750 680 656 554 505 419 732 468 626 571 359 464 556

Post-secondary

non tertiary

education 593 - 702 684 579 500 544 741 464 716 573 320 565 -

Tertiary

education 652 634 716 642 496 453 697 738 467 688 612 465 493 566



56

42 Efficiency















Total participants



BG 252126 137491170 545

CZ 140810 94381124 670

EE 43434 21210585 488

EL 130340 381930601 2930

HU 210547 122203794 580

IT 13878 131069031 9444

LT 92410 143977869 1558

LV 49538 20683459 418

MT 20264 7687444 379

PL 367776 315293255 857

RO 70249 159318804 2268

SI 927 89112721 96130

SK 42725 31545122 738

UK 822 13331326 16218

Source SFC database




















57





this purpose (SK)







































Poland)










58


















respect include





























59


















dedicated to women




















interventions

















60


















this level














and process











451 Volume effects











61








employees




















Lithuania16






(Source AIR 2014)

452 Scope effects













62





ESF (SK)

453 Role effects












the Apulia OP


governance such as














454 Process effects










other countries






Labour OPs)





63







in Lithuania17






customer service





























LT)





64





MS ASSESSMENT



















65






regulatory quality

rule of law
























-050

000

050

100

150

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014






66






















000

020

040

060

080

100

120

140

160

180

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Regulatory quality





67


environment






















-050

000

050

100

150

200

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Rule of law





68

4623 Assessment











in this respect


Overview 4631






























69


























70









irregularities








































71






interventions















clientelism (EL)



72


Key findings































the SFC database
























73









































74



































312)
















implementation





75







priorities


national priorities



implementation









































76


























suggested









time-bound





















77










































expand upon this



78

References





Ecorys (2011)






2010



Thematic Fiche 2012









final




2014







EIPA (2013)






EIPA (2014)






79

Ferry (2013)




Panteia (2013)


October 2013

Knott (2007)





1996-2014 Sept 25 2015






80




PA 6



healthcare services







PA 1

Good governance


Administration


the State

Administration


in Policy-Making



Business


Judicial System


regional

Cooperation


Capacity

PA 2

Human resources

management





23 Strengthening




25 Transnational



Capacity

PA 3



31 Improvement of


development



33 Improvement of




cooperation


PA 4


41 Strengthening of



81


Human Resources

Development

and public services




PA 5









EL OP for Human


PA1 ldquoImproving



EL OP for Human


PA2 ldquoImproving


EL OP for Human


PA3 ldquoImproving




administration



82



Development








equal









range of the



83



HU State Reform OP

PA 1


development





HU State Reform OP

PA 2



replacement


HU State Reform OP

PA 3







monitoring and




systems for the





84









IT Sicily ROP PA

7

Institutional

capacity

Specific




governance

Specific













85




governance

programmes

IT Apulia ROP PA

7

Institutional

capacity

Specific



governance

Specific


programmes



National OP

PA E5
















and integrating the




86


complementarity)



PA 2





PA 4




and strengthening









PA 5





Building of


MT OP II -



PA

4

Strengthening of


Supporting


Lifelong learning


Strengthening


Promoting a more




87



Programme

PA 5

Good governance

51 Strengthening


52 Strengthening






55 Development

of social dialogue



PA 1






responsibility



Programme


PA 2


efficiency of



decentralisation

of services


efficiency of

public services

SI OP Development


PA 5


capacity


administration





PA 4



41 Enhancement of



the services




management in



88


provided by public

administration





PA 4


services





89


2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013








by strengthening

















e-government












90

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013







government


public procurement





administration

e- services


Anticorruption

















91

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013





















92

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013

















Reform Programme





















93

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013
















LV






94

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013





























95

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013









NA

SK - Reduction of

























96

2007 2008 2009 2011 20122013


independent body

UK NA NA

NA NA NA



Management
























98























99


Context factors

PAR



Legislation













100




chapter




























now w 2011 2012 2013 2014)








101


















Slovenia) 2012












102


Free publications

bull one copy








Priced publications





doi[102767271126]

[KE-0

2-1

6-9

29-E

N-N

]

Documents

ESF 2007-2013 Ex-post Evaluation Synthesis