- The main challenges facing Malta, with regard to its ability to foster a high employment economy that delivers economic, social and territorial cohesion, are generally in line with those faced at European level. These challenges range from demographic and employment challenges, to low success rates in different strands of the education cycle, inequalities within the labour market, and beyond, which hinders a number of individuals' ability to lead a dignified life. - The main challenges in Malta, as identified in the CSR/CPP, relate to labour market participation of women and older workers, early school leaving, the labour market relevance of education, the quality of education, skills mismatches and lifelong learning. - Overall, the partnership agreement addresses all of the challenges mentioned in the CSR and CPP. However, the extent to which these challenges are addressed differs across the board. Overall, there is a large amount of detail and evidence in the partnership agreement, which outlines how Malta is planning to tackle early school leaving and the labour market position of women. There is also a reasonable level detail regarding the issues that relate to enhancing the labour market participation rates of women, as well as improving the quality of education, addressing skill mismatches and enhancing access to lifelong learning. However, in terms of ESF, there is less detail on both active ageing and boosting the labour market relevance of the education system. - External coherence of the ESF related OP is high. All challenges, as identified in the CSR/CPP, are addressed in the OP. The majority of the IPs explicitly addresses one of the needs to address the challenges identified in the CPP/CSR. Two of the IPs address a specific aspect of one of the challenges identified in the CSR/CPP. - The focus of the Maltese ESF OP is primarily on TO 10 (total ESF budget of EUR 37.939.848), followed by TO 9 (total ESF budget of EUR 32.000.000) and TO 8 (total ESF budget of EUR 20.800.000). In contrast, a relatively small amount is attributed to TO 11. - Internal coherence is relatively strong. The OP's specific objectives differ largely in terms of their specificity. On the other hand, the majority of the defined actions are sufficiently appropriate and can contribute to the specific objectives. Nearly half of the result indicators fully represent the specific objective; there are also a number of indicators, which represent the specific objective only to some extent. Output indicators fit the targets well, but often lack sufficient detail. - The selected common output indicators for TO 8 often address marginalised groups in the labour market (persons below age 25 under IP 8ii, persons above the age 54). Out of the IPs selected, IP 10i includes remarkably high aggregated target values. The focus, therefore, lies primarily with the provision of digital technologies to students. Out of the 31 output indicators, six are included in the performance framework (approximately 19%). The information on methodology setting is provided in the Ex-ante evaluation report of the OPII (Chapter 4.2). - With regards to the special themes, IPs 8i, 8ii and 11i are selected. Active labour market policy is addressed through the selection of IPs 8i and 8ii. IP 8i seeks to increase the employment rate, including through entrepreneurship, and increase the participation of women and elderly workers in the labour market, while IP 8ii addresses youth unemployment and NEETs levels. Finally, through the selection of IP 11i, the OP seeks to enhance the efficiency of the public sector and the judiciary, and, through the selection of IP 11ii, the OP seeks to strengthen the capacity of stakeholders involved in the delivery of education (including lifelong learning and training), employment and social policies.
