1. Commission européenne 1 -1- Exchanging Experiences on Sound Programme Planning Vilnius 17/18 November 2005 Exchanging Experiences on Sound Programme Planning Vilnius 17/18 November 2005 Marie C. Donnelly Head of Unit ESF Policy Co-ordination, Employment, Local Development STRATEGIC PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING OF ESF

2. Commission européenne 2 -2- The new strategic approach LISBON STRATEGY (incl. EES) INTEGRATED GUIDELINES NATIONAL REFORM PROGRAMME COMMUNITY STRATEGIC GUIDELINES FOR COHESION NATIONAL STRATEGIC REFERENCE FRAMEWORK OP priorities

3. Commission européenne 3 -3- The new strategic approach LISBON STRATEGY (incl. EES) INTEGRATED GUIDELINES NATIONAL REFORM PROGRAMME COMMUNITY STRATEGIC GUIDELINES FOR COHESION NATIONAL STRATEGIC REFERENCE FRAMEWORK OP priorities Women`s participation in the labour market

4. Commission européenne 4 -4- The new ESF Reinforced links with EES and social inclusion priorities Concentration Mainstreaming of EQUAL principles Strong focus on good governance and partnership Priority for institutional capacity building

5. Commission européenne 5 -5- The new priority ESF Institutional capacity –Supports reforms and modernisation –Supports Convergence Regions and Cohesion Member States –Should not be mistaken with Technical Assistance!!! – Special focus on building capacity to: develop and design policies and programmes deliver and implement policies, programmes and legislation

6. Commission européenne 6 -6- Strategic approach -Coherence of strategic documents; operational programmes; within a programme -Coherence of needs - objectives – results -Coherence of indicators Sound planning

7. Commission européenne 7 -7- Sound planning Involving stakeholders –To achieve common understanding and broad ownership of policies and actions; –To achieve political, technical and preliminary financial commitment of all stakeholders in an early stage of the programming. From the outset, fill in the priority axis = who will be implementing what, when, how...............

8. Commission européenne 8 -8- Sound planning Ensuring delivery –B–Build on existing structures and systems –D–Do not overcomplicate structures… –S–Simulations and forecasts = know the dynamics of the programme –E–Ensure enough high quality projects –P–Prompt response when things go wrong –C–Communication and publicity

9. Commission européenne 9 -9- Sound planning Ensuring delivery Establishment of efficient management and implementation sytems, for instance: –do not confuse commitments with payments!!! –thinking about decommitments at the stage of programming is not too early!

10. Commission européenne 10 -10- Sound planning Monitoring and evaluation –E–Effective on-going monitoring and evaluation –E–Ex-ante as a compass (guiding) –O–On-going as a learning tool Evaluation should be intrinsic to the programme NOT BOLTED ON!

11. Commission européenne 11 -11- Pillars of sound programme planning Learning from others: transnational/regional cooperation Crossing institutional boundaries: partnership Ensuring capability for implementation: capacity building Learning from experience: innovation Strategic orientation and coherence Stakeholder engagement Delivery planning Monitoring and evaluation Good governance