The evaluation report 'Pilot projects to carry out ESF related counterfactual impact evaluations' sheds light on the effectiveness of some European Social Fund (ESF) interventions.

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It reviews a positive impact of active labour market policies on employment and of vocational training on youth.

Eight ESF funded projects were chosen as pilot projects to measure the causal effects of European Social Fund policies and were discussed at a conference held in Brussels on 12 November 2015.

The report shows a counterfactual impact evaluation is feasible and can be done within the ESF.

It also highlights that

• data access,
• networking (especially with data holders),
• capacity building
• considering evaluation requirements at the early stage of policy implementation

are key for shifting to a culture of causal evaluation of policies.

Counterfactual Impact Evaluations

Counterfactual Impact Evaluation (CIE) is a rigorous study method to evaluate the effectiveness of public policies. It is especially important under the current programming period 2014-2020. The Common Provisions Regulation sets that Member States shall be able to evaluate whether the ESF has made the difference and to quantify it.