There is no difference between “regular” and innovative projects in terms of monitoring. Common indicators have to be reported for all projects under all investment priorities. Where the common indicators are not directly relevant to the objectives of the programme, then programme-specific indicators should be developed. Examples of programme-specific indicators to monitor progress in terms of innovation could be:
- number of projects dedicated at promoting social innovation (output indicator – project related);
- number of innovative enterprises supported (output indicator – entity related);
- number of entities supported to introduce innovative forms of work organisation, including family friendly working time arrangements (output indicator – entity related);
- number of supported entities that have introduced innovative forms of work organisation, including family friendly working time arrangements (result indicator – entity related).
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Data for (common) indicators on participants capture only persons that benefit directly from ESF support. As a rule, it is not required to report on common output indicators for TA operations. However, if a TA project includes specific objectives that involve the provision of personalised support (e.g. training) to specific individuals then these persons may be counted as participants. This includes people involved in the audit, IT system, evaluations etc. provided they are targeted by the specific objective of the TA operation and they benefit directly from support.
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Values for all common output indicators should be reported for all investment priorities chosen, excluding technical assistance priority axes.
Reporting result indicators is generally not required. However, where the Union contribution to the priority axis or axes concerning TA in an Operational Programme exceeds EUR 15 million, result indicators will have to be reported where objectively justified given the content of the actions.
Note that according to Article 96(2)(c)(iv) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013, for each priority axis concerning technical assistance, the Operational Programme shall set out “the output indicators which are expected to contribute to the results”. It is thus a legal obligation to set and report output indicators and corresponding values (either programme-specific output indicators or common output indicators).
Member States can use the common indicators when relevant or define their own (output and result) programme-specific indicators which better reflect the interventions covering TA (see section on Technical assistance in Annex D of the EC Guidance document on Monitoring and Evaluation).
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Values for all common indicators listed in Annex I and Annex II of the ESF Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 1304/2013) have to be reported for all investment priorities chosen, including any focusing on institutional aspects.
The common indicators on participants capture only participants benefitting directly from the ESF support. In case there are no relevant participants zero values should be reported.
Where the common output indicators do not reflect the outputs of the investment priority –as in the case of institutional/administrative reform- programme-specific indicators should be developed. Separate guidance is provided on the types of indicators that might be established: see Guidance Document on Indicators of Public Administration Capacity Building for guidelines in this respect.
Note that it is the responsibility of the Member State to develop programme-specific indicators in all areas of the programme where they see the need for. Indicators can – but do not have to - be very specific in order to highlight certain aspects of the ESF support which are of particular importance for the Member States/regions.
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The managing authority is free to set objectives for rural areas or other regions using the classification that most suits its objectives, provided the reporting requirements laid down in the Regulations are fulfilled. As mentioned in the EC Guidance document on Monitoring and Evaluation, “Recording of participants is not done based on the participants’ place of residence or employment, but based on the location where the operation takes place. The only exception to this provision is the common output indicator “from rural areas”, where the data is always recorded based on the participant’s place of residence”. Like all other common output indicators, the common output indicator “from rural areas” (which is indeed defined as category 3 of the DEGURBA classification) is not linked to specific activities, but has to be reported at the level of the investment priority. As a minimum requirement, data for this indicator have to be reported in the AIR due in 2017 based on a representative sample of participants within each investment priority.
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