Monitoring the EU Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) strand: trackable results for inclusive labour markets

The challenge

The Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) strand of the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) 2021–2027 finances policy testing, social experimentation, and capacity-building across Europe. It focuses on key priorities: expanding labour market participation, supporting social entrepreneurship, encouraging active inclusion, and improving working conditions.

Monitoring a multi-country programme with direct and indirect management creates administrative complexity. The European Commission's Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) required a streamlined system to aggregate qualitative and quantitative data across diverse member states. Standardised reporting ensures funding reaches vulnerable groups, social enterprises, and innovative employment schemes.

What we did

Verian designed and executed a multi-task performance monitoring framework covering the ESF+ EaSI strand and remaining reporting cycles of the 2014–2020 EaSI programme:

• Fine-tuned primary and secondary performance indicators to capture input, output, and outcome data across annual work programmes.
• Updated the qualitative and quantitative framework to assess projects, grants, and procurement contracts.
• Established an online database of projects and participating organisations to store longitudinal performance data.
• Developed a stakeholder database, sampling strategy, and survey tools to gather targeted feedback.
• Conducted desk research, targeted interviews, and annual stakeholder surveys across all participating countries.
• Synthesised annual reporting data into monitoring reports and user-friendly dissemination materials.

Impact

Our monitoring framework provides DG EMPL with a clear, decision-grade evidence base. The interactive database and structured reports show how resources translate into ground-level employment results.

By identifying effective social interventions, the project helps policymakers fine-tune funding allocations, share best practices across Europe, and refine future EU social policy initiatives.