EaSI ex-post evaluation – including the final evaluation of Progress MICROFINANCE facility

Key points

The EESC:

specifies this evaluation is based on consultations with civil society organisations representing employers, workers and associations of various interests, as well as public authorities in five selected EU countries (Austria, France, Hungary, Italy and Lithuania). It reflects the views of the stakeholders on the coherence, effectiveness and inclusiveness of the EaSI programme, especially compared to other EU and national initiatives/programmes;

reports that the majority of respondents:

• felt that the EaSI programme has strengthened the objectives and coordination of action at national and EU level in the areas of employment, social affairs and inclusion;
• emphasised the importance of working in synergy and ensuring complementarity with other European programmes and funds and in particular with the ESF and the EAFRD;
• stated that there was no regular and structured consultation on the implementation of the EaSI programme;
• highlighted the lack of sound, structured information on programme and the fact that the administrative procedures for accessing resources appear complex and bureaucratic;
• recommended better provision of information on the programme to civil society, simplification of administrative procedures to access funding, that EaSI-funded measures be subject to ex ante and ex post monitoring and evaluation by national and local authorities;
• highlighted the need to encourage national authorities to identify potential synergies between the EaSI programme and other European and national programmes;
• recommended organising the structured consultation of European, national and local-level civil society organisations at every stage of the EaSI programme's implementation, including exchanges of good practices and transnational experiences. Such role should be given to the National Contact Points;
• to improve information and communication on the programme, better use should be done of social media and other instruments, namely ad hoc webinars and fact finding mission by EC representatives