1. Gender Equality Ex post evaluation of the ESF (2000-2006)
Evaluation Partnership meeting Sevilla, 16 March 2010
Efie Meletiou –Unit 03 Evaluation and Impact Assessment, DG EMPL

2. Financial weight of gender equality
Specific actions
ESF: M (11,9% of total expenditure)
EQUAL: 353 M (14,7% of EQUAL total exp.)
Mainstreaming
Estimation not possible because of absence of monitoring systems capturing gender mainstreaming

3. KEY FINDINGS - Results
ESF gender oriented and gender supportive measures improved situation of ♀in labour market
Creation of employment opportunities at local level
Creation of opportunities for reconciling family/work life, hence facilitating ♀access in labour market
Empowerment → strengthened employability → strong LT impact potential
new work skills
ability to better manage work and family responsibilities
higher self confidence and motivation
EQUAL successful in terms of generating relevant and useful innovations and promoting their take up in other contexts
141 out of 924 innovations linked to gender
71 cases of successful mainstreaming

4. KEY FINDINGS – Success Factors
Positive results mainly attributed to political commitment
For EQUAL, success attributed to the programme design
focus on innovation
principles of partnership and empowerment
mainstreaming (and to some extent transnationality)
THE COMBINATION of the principles
THE INTEGRATED APPROACH (not focusing on employment alone)
THE HOLISTIC APPROACH (programming, implementing, validating, mainstreaming….)

5. KEY FINDINGS – Success Factors
Innovative ESF projects show best results
Highest employment outcomes
♀ accessing labour market both as employed or self-employed
Small projects, integrated (“holistic”) approach (as in EQUAL)
Important link with EQUAL evaluation results:
Success attributed to appropriateness of integrated approach
ESF projects with high engagement of civil society and interaction with stakeholders also show more positive results
Partnership and Empowerment important success factors in EQUAL for innovation and impact

6. KEY FINDINGS –Limiting factors
Persistence on conventional approaches (“safe strategy”) and very little experimentation in ESF
Complexity of bureaucratic processes
Lack of expertise: shortage of skills; inexperience with gender mainstreaming
Inability to assess progress in absence of indicators, follow-up systems and integrated data bases
Unexploited potential of good practices/innovation

7. KEY FINDINGS - Impact Overall modest employment impact of ESF
Cautious conclusions, in absence of adequate monitoring systems
Possible long term impact
gender mainstreaming takes time to materialise
empowerment outcomes create strong potential
Mass of conventional activities generating very limited impact
more training activities (positive output), more women trained (positive results) but no higher numbers securing employment (impact)
child care vouchers as isolated activities, not addressing issue of beneficiaries finding work
Innovative projects were the exception, showing high employment impact

8. KEY FINDINGS - Impact Policy impact of ESF and EQUAL
Indirect/spill-over impact of ESF. More direct links, strong impact in case of EQUAL.
Legislation (new initiatives, revisions, accelerated process)
New policy frameworks (e.g. national action plan for gender equality)
Sectoral policy decisions and adaptation of existing policy frameworks/instruments (e.g OPs)
New policy making processes
Issue remains on top of political agenda

9. KEY FINDINGS - Impact Institutional impact of ESF and EQUAL
Indirect/spill-over impact of ESF. More direct links, significant impact in case of EQUAL.
Changes in education and training systems
Changes in labour market intermediation structures
Collective agreements
New institutions
New social partner networks

10. KEY FINDINGS - Impact Organisational impact of ESF and EQUAL
Some evidence for ESF specific actions and EQUAL gender activities
Awareness and capacity building for MAs and other stakeholders
Increased commitment for future efforts
Facilitation of different working methods, e.g. working from home (mainly EQUAL)
Tools to enterprises, e.g. management and monitoring tools for gender mainstreaming (EQUAL)
Changed employers’ attitudes (EQUAL)

11. CONCLUSIONS – Community Added Value
Focused resources (volume and scope effects)
Influenced political and civil society spheres (process effects)
New approach of addressing inequalities in the labour market in case of EQUAL (role effects)

12. Recommendations More resources onto innovative projects
Application of integrated approach and EQUAL principles
Guidance on mainstreaming to feed innovation into policy development
Utilisation of EQUAL results
Incorporation of gender focused skills
Comprehensive tracking of women employment paths
…and specific recommendations to managing authorities on programming, implementation, monitoring and dissemination