News

PPMI HAS BEEN AWARDED A CONTRACT TO PERFORM A PERFORMANCE MONITORING 2011 - 2013 OF THE EU PROGRAMME FOR EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL SOLIDARITY – PROGRESS 2007 - 2013

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

The overall purpose of this assignment will be to monitor and report on the performance of the EU programme for Employment and Social Solidarity – PROGRESS, 2007-2013. The specific contract will cover the last three years of the programme’s implementation (i.e. 2011-2013), and determine the extent to which the PROGRESS programme has delivered the planned outputs, outcomes and achieved its objectives.

The performance monitoring will cover all EU Member States and other participating countries and will encompass all relevant actors and beneficiaries via a large-scale annual survey of the programme’s stakeholders, including the PROGRESS Committee, different policy committees, national authorities and public bodies, key EU civil society organisations, as well as the programme’s contractors and beneficiaries. In addition, the performance monitoring will be structured around the immediate and intermediate outcomes of the programme within the five PROGRESS policy areas (employment, social inclusion and social protection, working conditions, anti-discrimination, and gender equality).

For relevant data collection several separate methods, including an annual survey, desk research via the exploitation of Commission internal/administrative data, supplementary interviews with the relevant Commission officials will be applied. Data obtained from various information sources and research methods will feed into the Annual Performance Report (APR), which will be produced on a yearly basis.

Subsequent to the production of the APR, a report on possible improvements containing an assessment of the main challenges encountered during the previous reporting period together with suggestions for possible improvements will be produced. The report will include revision/elaboration of the PROGRESS performance monitoring methodology and framework to take into lessons from the previous measurement of the Performance measures and to identify further improvements.

For additional details on the project’s implementation please contact Mr Haroldas Brožaitis.

PPMI HAS BEEN AWARDED A CONTRACT TO PERFORM AN INTERIM EVALUATION OF FP7 MARIE CURIE ACTIONS

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200

A first meeting with the European Commission‘s Steering Group has kick-started the implementation of a recently awarded contract to perform an interim evaluation of FP7 Marie Curie Actions (MCA) under the People Programme. The overall purpose of this assignment will be to evaluate the various activities financed by the programme under 4 thematic areas, including Initial Training of Researchers, Life-long Training and Career Development, Industry-academia Partnerships and Pathways, and International dimension. In addition, the assignment will shed some light on the various publicity and public outreach events financed under the Researcher’s Night projects.

The evaluation will provide a description of the implementation of the programme and its first results and impacts, with a specific focus on the organisations participating in the Marie Curie Projects. Overall, the objectives of the evaluation will be threefold:

- To propose and pilot-test a method for assessing the impact of the programme on the organisations participating in MCA

- To conduct a retrospective analysis of the implementation of the MCA during 2007-2011 and compare the results with the previous framework programmes

- To perform a retrospective analysis of the Marie Curie Actions in the light of the forthcoming (eighth) framework programme, to be named Horizon2020.

The evaluation’s objectives will be fulfilled through answering a catalogue of 25 evaluation questions provided in the specific Terms of Reference. The answered questions will feed into the finalised evaluation report, which will contain collected evidence on the programme’s relevance, EU added value and coherence; effectiveness and utility; efficiency and cost-effectiveness; as well as its additionality and sustainability.

For additional details on the project’s implementation please contact Vilius Stanciauskas.

PPMI experience in counterfactual impact evaluation was presented in Warsaw

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0200

On December 12 PPMI research manager Dovilė Žvalionytė presented the counterfactual impact evaluation of social integration services for socially vulnerable groups implemented by the PPMI at the Warsaw conference on counterfactual impact evaluation co-organised by the European Commission (DG Regional Policy) and the Polish presidency (http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/impact/evaluation/conf_en.cfm). High level policy makers and experts discussed four recent counterfactual impact evaluations of cohesion policy, drawn from the fields of enterprise support, innovation, entrepreneurship and social integration. For additional information on PPMI expertise in counterfactual impact evaluation please contact Ms Žvalionytė.

PPMI ANALYST ŽVALIONYTĖ PRESENTED PPMI STUDY AT EXPERT HEARING IN BRUSSELS

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0200

On October 25 Dovilė Žvalionytė (analyst of PPMI) took part in the expert hearing on Member States‘ experiences in applying the methodology of counterfactual impact evaluation (CIE) in ESF evaluations where she presented Lithuanian experience in conducting CIE. So far CIE has been applied only once in Lithuania. The method has been successfully used in 2011 as part of the study on „Evaluation of social integration services for socially vulnerable and socially excluded individuals for the effective use of the EU structural assistance for the period of 2007-2013”. The Study was commissioned by the Ministry of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania and carried out by PPMI.

The European Commission organised the expert hearing to share experiences between ESF Managing Authorities, experts and practitioners on using control groups in ESF evaluations. The hearing was a learning opportunity for MS in terms of making counterfactual impact evaluations both scientifically sound and relevant for policy-making. Based on the discussions and presentations during the hearing, the Commission is planning to produce a practical guidance for ESF Managing Authorities to carry out CIEs (providing practical recommendations on how, when and why to carry out CIEs, and suggesting practical ways to overcome difficulties encountered in the implementation of such evaluations).

For additional information on the study or PPMI expertise in counterfactual impact evaluation please contact Dovilė Žvalionytė.

PPMI ANALYST D.ŽVALIONYTĖ PRESENTED PPMI STUDY AT EXPERT HEARING IN BRUSSELS

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0200

For additional information on the study or PPMI expertise in counterfactual impact evaluation please contact Dovilė Žvalionytė.