The evaluation of a Complex Social Program: Lessons learned from the experience of the European Social Fund

In 1999, the European Commission and the Italian Ministry of Welfare asked ISFOL's National European Social Fund Evaluation Unit to undertake the evaluation of the Italian European Social Fund Objective 3 Program for the period 2000-2006. This program is financed by European resources in all Member States. In Italy it supports training and labor market policies in 14 Centre-North Regions. The mid-term evaluation, carried out at the end of 2003, faced some important challenges related mainly to: (1) the complexity of the program, implemented through continuing processes of decision and negotiation; (2) an institutional context of multi-level governance, linked to the decentralization process, which has increased the number of actors involved in the management of public policies and in their evaluation. This article describes the Evaluation Unit's approach to the mid-term evaluation within the new multi-level governance context, describing the main methodological choices. The lessons learned will be discussed. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.