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

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. With a view to the regular monitoring of the programme, the EaSI Regulation foresees that 'the Commission shall draw up an initial qualitative and quantitative monitoring report covering consecutive two-year periods.' This is the second EaSI Performance Monitoring Report presenting the results achieved by the programme in 2015-2016. It focuses on the products (outputs) delivered by the programme and the benefits they brought in 2015-2016. In 2015 and 2016, the Commission has committed more than EUR 246 million for the implementation of all the programme's activities. The implementation of EaSI Work Programmes in 2015 and 2016 was well in line with the EaSI Regulation. The following positive developments were noted in 2015-2016: - EaSI-funded policy evidence and events continued to be highly appreciated by the stakeholders. - The assessment of dissemination of EaSI outputs kept improving significantly. - The use of the EURES Job Mobility Portal kept expanding in 2015-2016. According to the latest data, the EURES online platform attracts 1.76 million users each month. This number has increased from 0.85 million monthly users in 2013 and 1.2 million users in 2014. - In 2016, there were 52 282 placements resulting from consultations with jobseekers, i.e. around 6 % of personal contacts resulted in an actual placement (increased twice compared to 2014). - The years 2015-2016 marked a strong start for the Microfinance and Social Entrepreneurship axis. As many as 33 contracts were signed with the microfinance intermediaries for EUR 50.3 million, which resulted in 13 021 microloans worth EUR 152 288 million. - In 2015-2016 EaSI has also released the first funding for social enterprises (first 7 contracts for EUR 9 million). Further awareness raising about the EaSI-supported social policy innovation was indicated as a potential area for improvement. While the EaSI stakeholders were found to be generally aware of the Commission's goal to support social policy innovations (82 % of stakeholders reported this), they were much less aware of the specific social policy innovations supported by the EU (56.5 %).