Study supporting the 2020 Evaluation of the support to promoting social inclusion, combatting poverty and any discrimination by the ESF (thematic objective 9)

(Extract technical specifications) The study aims at providing the Commission with opinions, evidence and analysis that will allow building up its evaluation of the subject above. The evaluation will assess the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and EU added-value of actions funded by the European Social Fund under the current programming period. In doing so, it will assess whether the ESF is reaching the target groups defined by the regulations and the programming documents, the changes it is bringing about and the visibility of EU support. It will also assess which factors contribute to success and failure or to non-take up of the available support, including the administrative burden of EU support. Particular attention will be given to pilot projects leading to reforms or changes in service delivery. Finally, the suitability of the monitoring framework will be analysed. The results of the study will be integrated into the evaluation report produced by the Commission. The purpose of the evaluation is threefold: ? Taking stock of the results of ESF support achieved so far in the current programming period. ? Supporting the negotiation of the Programmes for the European Social Fund plus13, by providing lessons, notably as regards relevance, effectiveness, outreach and target groups most in need, as well as synergies between relevant EU instruments. ? Paving the way for the ex-post evaluation of the European Social Fund by the Commission due by December 2024. This evaluation will cover all Investment Priorities under Thematic Objective 9 in order to obtain a complete overview. It will also address the complementarity and coherence with other instruments such as ERDF, EaSI and FEAD in this field during the period concerned. The evaluation will build upon the study of the support of ESF to Social innovation.14 The evaluation will cover all 28 EU Member States. [==> Roland Maas (Liser will cover Luxembourg ESF projects)]