Synthesis report on the call ‘Pilot projects to carry out ESF related counterfactual impact evaluations’

Summary:

In order to measure the causal effect of a policy, a specific approach called ‘counterfactual impact evaluation’ is needed. This report highlights that data access, networking, capacity building and taking evaluation requirements into account during the policy implementation are key for shifting to a culture of causal evaluation of policies. These results derive from eight pilot projects funded by DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion to foster the measurement of causal effects of European Social Fund policies.

From the Commission perspective, the requirement by the European Social Fund regulation of reporting a set of common output and result indicators collected on each individual participant benefiting from an ESF intervention (what we call micro-data) is definitely a step forward. It will allow a more robust monitoring of the ESF as well as a more robust platform to evaluate the impacts of the ESF investments at all levels: EU, national, programme, thematic and investment priorities.