European Commission - DG EMPL

The objectives of the evaluation are to assess : - whether the Year has met its objectives both at European and national levels;

- the relevance of organising a specific European Year, taking into account the other existing Community initiatives and measures to combat discrimination and promote equal opportunities;

- the relevance of launching a large information and promotional campaign at EU level, including the relevance of the chosen activities and the identified taget audiences;

Under the framework DG BUDGET, DG EMPL launched a study of the relevance and reliability of available information for the ex post evaluation of the ESF 2000-2006 to be undertaken by the end of 2008. The ESF mobilized 11 billion euros per year through 240 programs in 27 member states. The inventory covers evaluations of programmes, monitoring systems and statistical data. Euréval is the leader of a team involving consultants rom Ramboll Management and a dozen of subcontractors in different European countries.

The MEANS programme was implemented by Eureval-C3E. Its general objective was to equip European Commission services with a coherent portfolio of methods to deal efficiently with the evaluation problems that they faced. The MEANS programme drew on existing experience in the form of "state of the art" studies on technical questions and expertise to contribute to the Commission's reflections on strategic questions.