Performance monitoring report of the European Union programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) 2015-2016 : executive summary

The European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) provides financial support to promote a high level of quality and sustainable employment, guarantee adequate and decent social protection, combat social exclusion and poverty and improve working conditions across the EU. It is structured into three axes: - Progress axis focuses on providing support to the policy-making and implementation process through production of policy evidence, organisation of information sharing and mutual learning activities, funding social policy experimentation projects and providing capacity-building support to EU and national organisations; - EURES axis aims to improve geographical labour mobility in the EU through making information on placements more transparent and accessible as well as funding the actual services for jobseekers and employers; - Microfinance and social entrepreneurship axis aims to improve access to finance for vulnerable people, micro- and social enterprises by providing funding for financial intermediaries and capacity building of relevant actors. A very important horizontal aim of the EaSI programme is to foster social policy innovations. This aim is mainstreamed through all of its axes and activities. In addition, a significant amount of EaSI funding is devoted to this objective in particular through the calls for proposals to support social policy innovation and experimentation projects. This executive summary presents the key takeaways from the second EaSI monitoring report covering the years 2015 and 2016. The report incorporates stakeholders' views on the EaSI operations in 2015 and 2016.