DRAFT FINAL REPORT - Hrvatski zavod za zapošljavanje report.pdf · DRAFT FINAL REPORT 18 November...

DRAFTFINAL REPORT

18 November 2008

Project duration: 10 April 2007 - 9 December 2008

Evaluation, design of recommendations, capacity building and grant scheme management in the field of active employment measures in Croatia

Contract No: 2005-0505-040101

The European Union’s PHARE 2005 programme for Croatia

Project funded by

the European Union

Project implemented by

Naslovnica Final report ENG NOVA.indd 1 23.11.2008 13:35:55

Evaluation, design of recommendations, capacity building and grant scheme management in the field of

active employment measures in Croatia

Contract No: 2005-0505-040101

DRAFT FINAL REPORT

18 November 2008

Project duration: 10 April 2007 - 9 December 2008

The European Union’s Phare Programme for Croatia 2005

Final report eng.indd 1 23.11.2008 13:29:11

E v a l u a t i o n , d e s i g n o f r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s , c a p a c i t y b u i l d i n g a n d g r a n t s c h e m e m a n a g e m e n t

3

Table of Contents

Project Outputs on CD-ROM 4

List of Abbreviations 7

Executive Summary 8

1 Implementation Framework 12

1 1 Institutional set-up and overall project organisation 12

1 2 Staff and qualifications 16

1 3 Monitoring and co-ordination arrangements 16

2 Project Performance and Impact 18

2 1 Activities planned and implemented 18

Box: Summary of Evaluation Report 26

Box: Summary of Recommendations 34

2 2 Resources planned and used 51

2 3 Achievements of Results 52

2 4 Problems encountered 52

2 5 Respect of, and contribution to, overarching policy issues 53

2 6 Linkage with other operations, complementarity and sectoral co-ordination between donors 53

3 Sustainability (measures undertaken and prospects for sustainability) 54

3 1 Participation and ownership by beneficiaries 55

3 2 Policy support 55

3 3 Appropriate technology 55

3 4 Socio-cultural aspects 56

3 5 Gender equality 56

3 6 Environmental protection 56

3 7 Institutional and management capacity 56

3 8 Economic and financial viability 56

4 Conclusions and Recommendations 57

4 1 Conclusions on implementation (including critical issues / risks) 57

4 2 Recommendations for future programmes and projects 57

Annexes 59

Annex 1 Updated Logical Framework 59

Annex 2 Updated Implementation Schedule 67

Annex 3 Updated and Final Overall Work Plan 73

Annex 4 Updated Resource Schedule 79

Annex 5 Updated Six-monthly and Final Work Plan 85


T h e E u r o p e a n U n i o n’s P h a r e Pr o g r a m m e fo r C r o a t i a 2 0 0 5

4Project Outputs on CD-ROM

Project Documents

Folder Contractual Documents

1 ToR EuropeAid 123198 Croatia

2 Addendum No 1

3 Addendum No 1 – Synopsis

4 Administrative Order No 21

Folder Working Groups

5 ToR Working Group 1

6 Members of Working Group 1

7 ToR Working Group 2

8 Members of Working Group 2

Component 1 – Evaluation of ALMP Measures

Folder Activity 1 1 – Elaboration of Research Plan

9 Research Plan Evaluation

Folder Activity 1 3 – Implementation of Field Studies

10-21 Questionnaires (12 Files)

Folder Activity 1 5 – Presentation of Research Findings

22 Summary Report on Research Findings

23 German Experience with ALMP (Presentation)

24 Slovenian Experience with ALMP

25 Slovenian Experience with ALMP (Presentation)

Folder Activity 1 9 – Final Draft of the Evaluation Report

26 Evaluation Report ALMPs in Croatia

Component 2 – Drafting of Recommendations

Folder Activity 2 1 – Local Co-operation Concept

27 Concept Note on Local Co-operation

Folder Activity 2 4 – Regional Workshops on First Draft of Recommendations

28 First Draft of Recommendations (Presentation)

29 Concept Note on Local Co-operation (Presentation)

Folder Activity 2 6 – Presentation of Recommendations

30 Presentation of Final Draft

Folder Activity 2 7 – Final Recommendations Report

31 Recommendations (Final Report)



5

Component 3 – Capacity Building

Folder Activity 3 1 – Training Programme

32 TNA – Evaluation of Questionnaires

33 Outline Training Programme ALMP, Counselling

34 GSM Training Plan

Folder Activity 3 3 – Develop training materials

35 ALMP-Training, Module I

36 ALMP-Training, Module II

37-46 GSM-Training (10 Files)

47 Training of Counsellors

Folder Activity 3 7 – Monitoring and Evaluation Systems

48 Monitoring and Evaluation

Component 4 – Grant Scheme Management

Folder Activity 4 2 – Training of Grant Assessors

49 Training of Grant Assessors, Evaluation Strategy

50 Training of Grant Assessors, Financial Plan

Folder Activity 4 4 – Training for Grant Beneficiaries

51 Training of Grant Applicants

Folder Activity 4 10 – Budget Clarification

52 Instructions for Budget Preparation

53 Workshop Budget Clearing

Folder Activity 4 11 – Set Up Monitoring System

54 Draft Guidelines on Setting Up a Monitoring System

55 Indicator System, Grant Project Level

56 Indicator System, Grant Scheme Level

57 Template Result Indicators, GS Level

58 Template Common Minimum

Folder Activity 4 12– Support Implementation of Grant Projects

59 Guidelines to GSM Manual

60 Recommendations to CFCU on GS Manual

61 Manual for On-The-Spot Checks

62 Operational Manual (Working Paper)

Folder Activity 4 13 – Reporting of Grant Beneficiaries

63 Guideline Quarterly Report

64-69 Annexes (6 Files)

Folder Activity 4 14 – Reporting on Grant Scheme Progress

70 Guideline on Final Reports



671 Recommendations Final Phase, Beneficiaries

Folder Activity 4 15 – Workshops for Grant Beneficiaries

72 GS Kick-Off Meeting

73 Vademecum Grant Projects

74 Workshop Reporting

Folder Activity 4 16 – Final Wrap-Up Event

75 Final Wrap-Up

76 Conclusion – Lesson Learnt

Folder Activity 4 17 – Grant Scheme Compendium

77 Compendium of Grant Projects



7

List of AbbreviationsALMP Active Labour Market Policy

BA German Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit)

CES Croatian Employment Service

CFCA Central Finance & Contracting Agency

CFCU Central Finance & Contracting Unit

CROSTAT Republic of Croatia – Central Bureau of Statistics

EC European Commission

ECD Delegation of the European Commission

EES European Employment Strategy

ESF European Social Fund

ESS Employment Service of Slovenia

GS Grant Scheme

GSM Grant Scheme Management

GVG Gesellschaft für Versicherungswissenschaft und -gestaltung (Lead Company)

IPA Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance

KE Key Expert

MoELE Ministry of the Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship

MoSES Ministry of Science, Education and Sports

NAPE National Action Plan on Employment

NGO Non-Governmental Organization

PCM Project Cycle Management

PIU Project Implementation Unit

PRAG The Practical Guide to contract procedures financed from the General Budget of the European Communities in the context of external actions

SC Steering Committee

SPO Senior Programme Officer

STE Short-term expert

TA Technical Assistance

TNA Training Needs Assessment

ToR Terms of Reference

VET Vocational education and training

WD Working day(s)

WG 1 Working Group 1 (Evaluation)

WG 2 Working Group 2 (Recommendations)



8

Executive SummaryThis Final Report covers the entire project period from 10 April 2007 to 09 December 2008 At the moment of drafting the present final report, all activities except two final events are completed

1 Implementation FrameworkThere were no significant changes regarding the overall implementation framework as described in the Inception Report

• Minor adjustments had to be made in the description of activities of the Grant Scheme.

• An Addendum stating changes in the Terms of Reference regarding activities and the corresponding use of incidental expenditures has been signed on 5 February 2008

• An Administrative Order regarding the reallocation of working days has been signed on 10 July 2008.

4 meetings of the Steering Committee were held during the course of the project

2 Project Performance and Impact

Component 1: Evaluation of ALMP measures

The evaluation covered the measures implemented in 2006 and the first six months of 2007 It was carried out in four regions: Zagreb, Čakovec, Šibenik and Osijek A Working Group (WG 1) with representatives from CES and stakeholders was set up and a research plan was agreed and communicated

The applied methods were: desk research, field studies in the four regions through interviews and questionnaires sent to employees and employers participating in the measures, focus groups at regional and central level The overall return rate of the questionnaire was 27 2 %

The main results of the research finding were presented and discussed on workshops in the four regions Participants were CES staff from the central and all regional offices and stakeholders

Based on these activities the Evaluation Report was drafted, presented and discussed with labour market experts, the Steering Committee and key CES staff The final draft of the evaluation report was completed and published

The Evaluation Report emphasizes the positive general result that the current measures are regarded as useful and necessary by all stakeholders involved As potential fields for improvement it mentions issues of further decentralisation and subsidiarity in programming and planning, the selection of participants by CES, more transparency, and a more detailed monitoring of the measures for qualitative analysis Last but not least the problems resulting form the dependency on the date of the annual adoption of the budget have been highlighted

Component 2: Design of Recommendations

The same regions as under Component 1 were included and a second Working Group 2 (WG 2) was set up WG 2 was co-ordinated by the CES and had the leading role in the elaboration of recommendations on improved current and new ALMP measures To complement the recommendations a Concept Note on local co-operation was elaborated promoting the establishment of partnership structures within the OP HRD under the IPA programme It suggests that CES takes a leading role in this process offering a support structure at regional level and providing guidelines for the compilation and tasks of regional partnerships



9As under Component 1 the first draft of recommendations was discussed on workshops in the four regions with participants from CES and stakeholders Ensuingly the final draft was elaborated

The Recommendations cover a wide range of issues to be addressed in order to improve the design and implementation of ALMPs in Croatia They propose to set up an Action Plan defining responsibilities and to develop the absorption capacity for existing and new measures New measures, in particular preventive measures, should be developed The profiling system of CES should be further improved in order to ensure a targeted selection of participants for ALMPs The communication policy has to be further developed in view of the EU guidelines for transparency A modern planning and programming approach should be introduced and the role of local partnerships be further developed

Component 3: Capacity building

A training needs assessment (TNA) was carried out and a training programme was agreed with CES

Training materials were elaborated for training workshops on

• planning and design (Module I), monitoring and evaluation (Module II) of ALMP measures

• Grant Scheme management

• counselling for risk groups

Target group for all training measures were appropriate CES staff from the central and all regional offices

Three 2-day workshops were held on each Module of the ALMP training Altogether, 69 staff participated in Module I, 61 staff in Module II Two 5-day workshops on GS management were held with a total number of 58 staff participating Finally, two 4-day workshops for counsellors dealing with risk groups were implemented with a total number of 42 participants

Component 4: Grant scheme management

The implementation of this Component was taken up immediately upon the start of the project due to the fact that the tender for the 2005 Phare Grant Scheme (GS) had already been launched in March 2007 There was no time for mounting an awareness campaign and the training of potential grant beneficiaries had to be carried out at reduced scale

The project provided technical support and advice for the evaluation procedure and eventually 11 project contracts were concluded in November 2007 out of initially 35 applications

To support the implementation of the projects two workshops were held in the early phase of implementation explaining how to start up and monitor the progress made Additional support was given through visits and drafting of guidelines on implementation, monitoring and reporting requirements

The project also supported the grant managers at CES with advice on the quarterly project reports throughout the implementation period and organized a final wrap-up meeting for the exchange of experience and lessons learnt

A final wrap-up event was organised for the grant beneficiaries to discuss results and lessons learned

Resources planned and used

Project resources were used as planned at beginning with a minor reallocation in the distribution of working days confirmed through an Administrative Order Incidental expenditures were kept within the foreseen budget of EUR 234,500



10Achievement of results

• Result 1: A comprehensive evaluation report on the current ALMP measures was delivered

• Result 2: Recommendations on the further development of ALMP measures are at hand

• Result 3: CES staff from the Central Office and all Regional Offices participated in the training workshops

• Result 4: 11 Grant Scheme projects were successfully implemented

Problems encountered

The major problem was a bottleneck in the availability of short-term expertise:

• Components 1: The development of the database, the processing of the data and the evaluation of the questionnaires consumed more short-term days than originally estimated

• Component 3: More training could have been delivered in view of sufficient funds from incidentals

• Component 4: The lack of synchronization of starting dates of this project and the Grant Scheme restricted possible support for potential beneficiaries during the application period

3 Sustainability (measures undertaken and prospects for sustainability)

The project aimed at involving the maximum number possible of CES staff from both central and regional level as well as the relevant stakeholders in all activities to ensure transfer of know-how and a close connection with actual needs

• Components 1 and 2: A crucial role was played by the Working Groups, in particular WG 2 The CES expressed the intention to refer to the recommendations proposed in the further development and planning of ALMPs

• Component 3: Appropriate participants from the central and all regional offices were selected for the training workshops with the purpose of creating multiplier effects

• Component 4: The materials, guidelines, instructions etc for the implementation of the grant projects can be used generally within the upcoming IPA grant schemes

4 Conclusions and RecommendationsThe continuous support through CES made sure that the project could be implemented successfully Further, a sufficient number of well designed projects were implemented successfully under the Grant Scheme

To achieve sustainability it is of utmost importance that CES and other relevant stakeholders take the recommendations for improvement of ALMPs on board and integrate them into future Annual Employment Programmes Future programmes and projects should be better co-ordinated There is a need for a closer cooperation between the Ministry of the Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship, the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports and the Ministry of Finance

Moreover it is recommended to

• further develop local co-operation as suggested in the Concept Note on Local Co-operation

• develop the capacity building activities towards a systematic and comprehensive training programme



11• bring design, structure and indicators of ALMP measures in line with the EU methodology

• develop a more systematic approach to involve the stakeholders and the regional level in designing, implementing and monitoring of ALMPs

• further develop the monitoring system of active labour market measures taking into consideration the recommendations provided by the project team

• establish contacts to research institutes in Croatia able to carry out independent evaluations of labour market programmes

• develop a communication approach to make results of projects, data and relevant documents available to stakeholders



12

1 Implementation FrameworkThe project ’Evaluation, design of recommendations, capacity building and grant scheme management in the field of active employment measures in Croatia’ was implemented under the Phare 2005 Programme in Croatia, area of co-operation: Human Resources Development. Social Cohesion Contracting Authority of the project was the Central Finance and Contracting Unit (CFCU), now Central Finance and Contracting Agency (CFCA), at the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Croatia

This Final Report covers the entire period from 10 April 2007 to 09 December 2008 The reporting date is 18 November 2008 All activities of the project are concluded by this date except two final events:

• Wrap-up event for the Phare 2005 Grant Scheme projects (Activity 4.16)

• Final project conference

Overviews of activities implemented and resources used are contained in the Technical Annexes to this report:

Annex 1 – Updated Logical Framework

Annex 2 – Updated Implementation Schedule

Annex 3 – Updated and Final Overall Work Plan

Annex 4 – Updated Resource Schedule

Annex 5 – Updated 6-monthly and Final Work Plan

1.1 Institutional set-up and overall project organizationThe following paragraphs summarize the institutional and organizational arrangements as laid down in the project’s Terms of Reference (ToR) The ToR are contained in the accompanying Project Output CD: Folder Contractual Documents

Contracting Authority

Contracting Authority of the project was the Central Finance and Contracting Agency (CFCA) at the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Croatia

The project manager from the staff of the Tendering and Contract Implementation Division decided on the issues related to the technical elements of the project, as identified in Article 8 of the Special Conditions for Service Contracts in consultation with the PIU at the beneficiary institution Project managers were Ms Ana Kurpes (CFCU) and, from February 2008, Ms Petra Komadina (CFCA), succeeded in November 2008 by Mr Josip Malogorski

Project partner (Beneficiary)

The project partner institution was the Croatian Employment Service (CES), where the project office and the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) were located The PIU was headed by Ms Nada Kerovec, day-to-day activities were co-ordinated with Ms Sanja Mesarov until July 2007, from then on with Ms Tatjana Tihomirović and, in the field of Grant Scheme (GS) management, with Ms Ana Ugrina

The Senior Programme Officer (SPO) was Ms Vera Babić, State Secretary of the Ministry of the Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship (MoELE). Deputy SPO was Ms Ankica Paun Jarallah, Director General of the CES. The SPO was responsible for the technical management and authorisations associated with the project, follow-up



13contract implementation and monitoring, approval of contract outputs and confirmation to the CFCA that no technical constraints (as opposed to procedural or budgetary constraints) existed in relation to the CFCA’s processing contractual payments

In accordance with the ToR, the project partner

• chaired the Steering Committee; facilitated the nomination of its members and coordinated with the Consultant the above mentioned tasks

• appointed a member of its staff to liaise with the Consultant, and ensured that the staff at the appropriate level was made available to work alongside the staff of the Consultant The staff of the Project Partner was not paid from project funds

• provided that the PIU gave the necessary support in the implementation of the project, and facilitated the work with the Contracting Authority

• provided to the project experts copies of legislation, regulations, studies, reports and other relevant documents necessary for the implementation of the project

• provided logistical support for the various interviews and training activities, including assistance in the selection of interviewees from different groups of unemployed persons

• provided logistical support for the preparation and implementation of the workshops and project presentations for stakeholders and the public during the inception phase

Steering Committee

A Steering Committee (SC) composed of senior officials and other relevant partners supervised the project The following persons were members of the SC:

• Ms Ankica Paun Jarallah, Director General CES, Chairperson

• Ms Nada Kerovec, Head of PIU

• Ms Rima Joujou-Deljkić, EC Delegation

• Ms Ana Kurpes, succeeded by Ms Petra Komadina, Ministry of Finance, CFCA

• Mr Ante Vučić, succeeded by Ms Ana Puh, Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship

• Ms Mihaela Dubravac Šigir, Ministry of Education

• Ms Mirjana Radovan, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare

• Ms Suzana Kovačević, Central Office for Development Strategy and Co-ordination of EU Funds

• Mr Zorislav Bobus, Government Office for Organisations

• Ms Marijana Filipić, Croatian Employers Association

• Marina Kasunić Periš, Trade Unions

• Mr Heinrich Duffner, Team Leader

The SC met four times on the following dates:

• 09 July 2007

• 23 November 2007

• 10 June 2008

• 04 November 2008

Its main functions were to

• assess project progress



14• assess the performance of the Consultant

• jointly discuss any critical points or bottlenecks for further project implementation

• propose and discuss remedy actions to be taken in order to tackle problems

• jointly take decisions affecting timing, cost or project contents

• comment and/or discuss the Consultant’s Interim Reports.

Consortium of Consultants

The consortium partners were

• GVG - Gesellschaft für Versicherungswissenschaft und -gestaltung (Lead Company)

• BA - German Federal Employment Agency

• ESS – Employment Service of Slovenia

GVG as the lead company was responsible for the overall co-ordination of the project and the management and supervision of the project office, handled the contractual and financial issues and was the main contact partner for CFCA, PIU and the EC Delegation GVG brought in long- and short-term expertise in all project components Project Director was Ms Birgit Garbe-Emden at the GVG headquarters in Cologne, Germany

BA, the German Federal Employment Agency, contributed information on German experience and expertise through short-term experts (STEs) BA experts participated in the evaluation of ALMP measures and in the elaboration of recommendations on improved and new measures They also elaborated recommendations on how to set up a system of monitoring and evaluation of ALMPs Further, they contributed as trainers on the designing, monitoring and evaluation of ALMP measures as well as on issues of counselling for risk groups

ESS, the Employment Service of Slovenia, was likewise engaged in the project on a short-term basis, contributing experience on best practice in the implementation and evaluation of ALMP measures EES was also involved in the elaboration of recommendations on improved and new ALMP measures

Deviations from the Terms of Reference

The planning of Component 4 required some deviations from the procedure as described in the ToR The tender for the Grant Scheme had already been launched before the start of the project in March 2007 with the deadline set at 5 June 2007. Therefore the implementation of Component 4 had to be taken up immediately upon the start of the project and a number of activities had to be concluded already during the Inception Phase For reasons of clarity the description of Activities 4 6 – 4 9 had to be redrafted without changes regarding the content of the ToR however

A detailed description of the adjustments required is given under Section 2, Component 4, below

Addendum

There were no changes in the overall implementation framework as described in detail in chapter 1 of the Inception Report However, an Addendum was required on

• the precise description of some activities and

• the use of corresponding incidental expenditures

The Addendum was signed on 5 February 2008 (see Project Output CD, Folder: Contractual Documents)



15Incidental Budget

The provision for incidental expenditure for the project is EUR 234,500 On the basis of the Addendum they were available and used for the following purposes:

• Travel costs and subsistence allowances for missions to be undertaken as part of this Contract from the base of operations in the beneficiary country;

• Costs of the project presentation for a wider community during the inception phase and of the final wrap-up event (activity 4.16) (rent of premises, interpretation, materials and reception costs);

• Costs of meetings of the working group and of the presentations of research findings (activities 1.5 and 1 6) and presentation of the final draft of the recommendations under activities 1 7, 1 8, 2 4 and 2 6 (rent of premises, interpretation, materials, catering and travel expenses)

• Costs of meetings of the steering group under activities 2.2 and 2.3 (rent of premises, interpretation, materials, catering and travel expenses);

• Cost of training needs assessment for the design of the training programme under activity 3.1 (design, dissemination and processing of questionnaires; interpretation, catering, travel expenses for interviews);

• Costs of training workshops for capacity building of the CES staff under activities 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6 (rent of premises, catering, travel expenses, interpretation, training materials and accommodation with full board for the participants of the training);

• Costs of training sessions for grant assessors and grant trainers under activity 4.2 (rent of premises, interpretation, accommodation with full board and travel expenses);

• Costs of trainings of potential grant beneficiaries for EC grant scheme requirements under activity 4.4 (rent of premises, interpretation, accommodation with full board and travel expenses);

• Costs of two workshops for all grant beneficiaries under activity 4.15 (rent of premises, interpretation, materials, catering and travel expenses);

• Costs of the project’s final wrap-up event (rent of premises, materials, interpretation and reception costs);

• Costs of publications: visibility brochures on the project at the inception phase (at least 1,000 copies), questionnaires for the evaluation tasks, the evaluation report, the recommendations, materials for meetings, the consolidated training materials and the compendium of projects funded (design and printing)

Administrative Order No 21

An Administrative Order regarding the reallocation of the experts’ working days has been signed on 10 July 2008 It specifies

• an increase in Key Experts’ WDs from 450 to 459

• a decrease in Senior STE WDs from 300 to 282

• an increase in Junior STE WDs from 200 to 209

(See Project Output CD, Folder: Contractual Documents)



161.2 Staff and qualificationsThe project team consist of three long-term Key Experts (KE) and two permanent office staff, as well as international and local short-term experts

Key Experts

• KE 1: Mr Heinrich Duffner worked as full-time international team leader and capacity building expert with an input of 320 working days (WD)

• KE 2: Ms Liliana Anghel contributed to the project as ALMP expert and was mainly responsible for the implementation of Components 1 and 2 Together with the team leader and key expert 3 she was also involved in Component 3 Her input was 262 WD

• KE 3: Dr Heidelore Rathgen contributed to the project as advisor on grant management. She was responsible for the implementation of Component 4 and the GS Management (GSM) training with an input of 197 WD

Short-term experts

As already mentioned, international short-term experts came from GVG, BA, and ESS Local short-term experts contributed as ALMP experts, interviewers, grant trainers and grant assessors The total input of short-term expertise was 491 WD

Office staff

To support the work of the technical assistance (TA) two persons were engaged on a full-time basis:

• Ms Santa Domian-Zviedre, followed in April 2008 by Ms Melani Marković, as Project Assistant and Office Manager

• Ms Mirjana Travar as interpreter and translator

1.3 Monitoring and co-ordination arrangementsGVG as the lead company of the Consortium continuously monitored the project according to standard procedures Project monitoring and evaluation was based on a periodic assessment of progress on delivery of specified project results and towards achievement of project objectives To ensure close coordination with the partner institution the project team and the PIU held regular meetings

The Contracting Authority monitored the overall implementation of the project assisted by the European Training Foundation

Indicators

The indicators of achievement of the project’s overall and specific objectives as defined in the ToR are somewhat elusive Following the discussion at 1st Steering Committee they were slightly modified as presented in the Logical Framework (see Annex 1 - Updated Logical Framework)

Overall objective

• Employment rate of the groups threatened by social exclusion

• Percentage of the groups threatened by social exclusion in total unemployment Percentage of the groups threatened by social exclusion in total unemployment



17As indicators of the overall objective they are fairly general and can only be assessed in the long-run, e g after conclusion of the Grant Scheme projects through an evaluation on how the results achieved influenced the employability of the target groups The level of employment mainly depends on the general economic development and other factors which are far beyond the reach of influence of any single project A successful project can certainly contribute to the achievement of these indicators, but for obvious reasons it is impossible to quantify this contribution (e g there is no control group) - in particular not within the time frame of a project

Specific objectives

• Level of labour market agents’ skills and knowledge on ALMP achieved

• Level of final beneficiaries’ skills and knowledge relevant for their employability

It would be difficult make precise comparisons of skills and knowledge since they are not measurable on a numerical scale and the current level is unknown As mentioned, an ex-post evaluation could contribute to the assessment of the degree of achievement of these indicators Such an evaluation could focus on the persons trained and the topics of training to find out about the improvement of skills and knowledge

Results

The following indicators of achievement were set in the ToR and the Logical Framework regarding the project’s results:

Component 1:

• The Evaluation report finished

Component 2:

• The number of current effective ALMP measures recommended for continuation

• The number of new recommended ALMP measures

• The concept of new measures and improved ALMP drafted and agreed with the CES and relevant stakeholders

Regarding the indicators for Component 2 it should be taken into account that the number of measures recommended alone is meaningless without reference to their quality Therefore, the recommendations elaborated focused on the general proposal for the design, implementation and monitoring of the ALMPs

Component 3:

• Number of the CES staff trained for management and implementation of ALMP measures and Grant Scheme

• The number of trainings organized for the CES staff

Equally, the number of persons trained in itself is a weak indicator without reference to the quality Therefore, the emphasis was on training the relevant topics and targeting potential multipliers

Component 4:

• The number of applications that entered the assessment procedure

• The number of applicants that signed the Grant contract

• The number of successfully implemented projects within the Grand Scheme

• Number of final beneficiaries included in the Grant Scheme projects

Some of the criteria under component 4 could hardly be influenced by the project due to the early launch of the tender and, correspondingly, the early deadline for applications Therefore, it was neither possible to mount an awareness campaign nor to carry out extensive training for potential applicants Due to the pressure of time it was agreed at the kick-off meeting on 13 April 2007 to reduce the training for potential applicants from the initially planned three to two days The nevertheless considerable achievements in this Component resulting in 11 successfully implemented grant projects should be measured against these restrictions



18

2 Project Performance and ImpactThe following description of the project’s performance and impact covers the entire project period from 10 April 2007 until 9 December 2008

The project had to cover a systematic evaluation of the experiences with Active Labour Market Policy (ALMP) implemented by the Croatian Employment Service (CES), the design of a comprehensive system of ALMP measures, the training of a management team within the CES and to provide assistance with the implementation of the Phare 2005 Grant Scheme ‘Active Employment Measures for Groups Threatened by Social Exclusion’ Accordingly, it was subdivided into four components

Component 1: Evaluation of the ALMP measures in Croatia

Component 2: Design of recommendations and new ALMP Measures

Component 3: Capacity building

Component 4: Grant Scheme management

The situation as it was found by the experts at their arrival in Croatia in April 2007 was somewhat different from the situation as indicated by the ToR since the tender of the Grant Scheme had already been launched This was due to the fact that the disbursement period for the grants originally ended in late 2008 Therefore, the tender procedure had already been opened in March 2007, and the time for applications ended on 5 June 2007. In the meantime the implementation period of the whole Phare 2005 programme was extended to November 2009

As the management of the Grant Scheme was one major obligation of the project the implementation of Component 4 had to be taken up immediately in April 2007 The project team allocated a considerable amount of time to carry out the necessary activities – hire grant trainers and assessors, organise training for trainers, assessors and applicants, establish a help desk, etc To compensate for the time needed CFCU agreed to extend the inception phase by 2 weeks until 19 June 2007.

2.1 Activities planned and implementedThe activities were implemented in accordance with the planning as described in the Inception Report and the adjustments agreed upon in the Addendum There were only minor deviations regarding the timing of some activities or events without influence on the expected results

Activities during Inception Phase

The Key Experts held meetings with various stakeholders to make them aware of the project and to ensure their participation and commitment They also drew on the experience of the projects working with the beneficiary:

• CARDS 2003 Decentralisation and Reorganisation of the CES

• CARDS 2004 Local Partnerships for Employment

To complement their overview the Key Experts established contact with projects working in related fields, in particular

• CARDS 2003 Upgrading of VET Schools – Establishing Centres of Excellence

Supported by the Regional Offices in Rijeka, Split, Zagreb and Osijek the Team Leader and the ALMP expert held one-day workshops to present the project to stakeholders in the corresponding regions Altogether 83 persons participated in these meetings from 4 – 11 June 2007, 22 in Rijeka, 13 in Split, 31 in Zagreb and 15 in Osijek.

In addition, due to the a m circumstances under Component 4, the GSM key expert 3 Heidelore Rathgen already started and completed the aforementioned activities 4 1 to 4 5 within the inception period These



19activities included the recruitment of grant trainers and grant assessors, training of grant assessors, the training of potential grant beneficiaries and the establishment of help desks A detailed description is given under the respective activities

Component 1: Evaluation of the ALMP measures in Croatia

The evaluation of the Active Labour Market Policy (ALMP) measures as implemented by the Croatian Employment Service during the year 2006 and the first six months of 2007 was the starting point of the project The findings of this evaluation served as a basis for the design of recommendations on improved and new ALMP measures (Component 2) They also contributed to the capacity building activities for CES (Component 3) Moreover, the activities carried out under this component were implemented with the purpose of transferring know-how on the evaluation of ALMP measures to the stakeholders within and outside the CES Ms Liliana Anghel was the Key Expert in charge of implementing this component

Regions included in the evaluation

To put this task into practice four regions had been selected for field studies In addition to Zagreb City, as postulated by the ToR, the Regional Offices Osijek, Šibenik and Čakovec were selected according to the following criteria:

• Number of beneficiaries (unemployed and employers) of ALMP measures

• Coverage of all ALMP measures including those addressing the Roma population

• Representativeness regarding the different regional labour market and economic characteristics

• Quality of data and information at regional level

• Willingness and availability of the Regional Offices to take on additional tasks

To enhance the co-operation with the CES offices in the four selected regions and to inform them on the state of the project the contact person at the PIU (Tatjana Tihomirovic), the Team Leader (Heinrich Duffner) and the Office Manager (Santa Domijan-Zviedre) visited the corresponding offices in Zagreb, Osijek, Šibenik and Čakovec between 7 and 13 September 2007

Working Group 1

To allow for a tight co-ordination of the activities under this Component with the CES a Working Group (WG 1) was set up in June 2007. On its constituent meeting on 28 June 2007 the initial members of the WG (with representatives of the CES at central level) decided on the aforementioned regions to be included in the evaluation and the field studies. From its second meeting on 19 July the Working Group comprised 12 members:

• the ALMP expert Ms Liliana Anghel (Key Expert 2)

• 3 representatives of the CES at central level

• 4 representatives of the CES at regional level

• 1 representative of the Statistical Office (CROSTAT)

• 1 representative of the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship

• 1 representative of the Union of Autonomous Trade Unions

• 1 representative of the Employers’ Association

All activities within Component 1 were implemented through the permanent involvement of this Working Group This approach is regarded as a capacity building measure to ensure a smooth transfer of knowledge and expertise The short-term experts involved in the evaluation participated in the meetings of the Working Group (For details see Project Output CD, Folder: Working Groups)

The work on Component 1 was completed in June 2008.



20

Activity 1 1: Elaboration of Research Plan

The Key Expert Liliana Anghel (Key Expert 2) and Working Group 1 developed a research plan to guide the evaluation The plan was agreed with the PIU and CES at central level (see Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 1 1 – Elaboration of Research Plan)

The research plan outlines the methodology of the evaluation At its core was a set of combined quantitative and qualitative instruments comprising mainly:

1 Desk research: review of available materials, documents, legislation, statistics etc and analysis of relevant statistics and documents

2 Field studies in the four target regions, based on

• Structured group interviews with Regional CES staff and Employers from these regions,

• Focus Group meetings in each target region, covering additionally representatives form trade unions, employers’ associations, local governments, and civil-society representatives from NGOs

• Launch of 5 questionnaires, addressed to individual participants (for each kind of measure), and to employers

3 One Focus Group meeting at national level with CES and main stakeholders

Apart from these more specifically designed instruments, numerous formal and informal meetings to gather and to clarify issues of documents and statistics provided by the beneficiary, complemented the set of tools applied The research plan contains a detailed description of these instruments and their implementation as well as the criteria for the selection of the four regions to be included In particular, it covers the following topics:

• Establishment of connections with key stakeholders, institutions and authorities, NGOs etc. at national level

• Criteria for selecting the regions for the field studies (Activity 1.3) and the administration of the questionnaires

• Criteria for selection of the target population of the field studies (beneficiaries of ALMP measures, CES staff and other institutions, local authorities to be included in the field studies and administration of the questionnaires)

• Selection of the specific target population (ALMPs beneficiaries and other institutions, local authorities, social partners, staff of regional and local CES) to be interviewed or to participate in focus groups meetings and the administration of the questionnaires

• Development of a proposal for different types of personalized instruments (interviews, focus groups, questionnaires, etc ) to be used in the field studies, including suitable methods to apply them (for example interviews by visits, by phone, questionnaires to be sent etc )

• Development of specific questions of each personalized instrument regarding the aspects to be evaluated, including the personalized research instruments to be applied

• Proposals for data processing, reporting process and format

• The general draft schedule (time frame) of implementation of the field studies (interviews / questionnaires, focus groups etc ), proposals for the cooperation between interviewers and staff within the four regions, different tasks and responsibilities

• Development of training materials for interviewers - specific instructions and other relevant materials



21The elaboration of questionnaires, topics of the structured interviews and focus groups for the field studies were completed in close co-operation with WG 1 during the first reporting period This includes the administration plan for interviews, focus groups and distribution of questionnaires regarding areas of research and target population (CES central and local level / institutions / beneficiaries of ALMP measures / other relevant stakeholders) as well as instructions and training materials for the interviewers

Activity 1 1 was completed in September 2007

Activity 1 2: Communication of the research plan at regional level

The research plan was communicated to the four selected regions through the members of Working Group 1 The visits to the Regional Offices in Zagreb City, Osijek, Šibenik and Čakovec mentioned above also served this purpose

Activity 1 2 was completed in September 2007

Activity 1 3: Implementation of field studies in Zagreb and selected regions

Field studies in the four regions were carried out in October 2007 through personalized instruments consisting of interviews in the four regions, focus groups at regional and national level and through questionnaires

The instruments applied covered procedural aspects of ALMP measures (the system for designing, programming, implementation, monitoring and evaluation) as well as some aspects related to their effects, results and impact Topics related to CES co-operation with local stakeholders and training needs were also included Data and information collected through the field studies were processed by the project team and summarized by the Key Expert

Field visits: interviews and focus groups

A team of 8 interviewers was trained for the field visits through a workshop held by the Key Expert on 12 October 2007 The interviewers received instructions and guidelines for the interviews and focus groups and a tool kit for implementing their tasks The materials were complemented by background information on ALMP measures in Croatia and additional information on general topics such as Employment and Labour Market Policies, European Employment Strategy and the New Integrated Approach, and Instrument for Pre-Accession

The group interviews took place during the week from 15 - 19 October 2007 Four groups of two interviewers each visited the regions Zagreb, Osijek, Šibenik and Čakovec where they interviewed selected employers and CES staff They also organized discussions with focus groups (FG) of the local stakeholders Altogether 136 people, representatives of employers, of CES central and regional level and of other relevant stakeholders, were included in the interviews and FG meetings The experts received strong support by the Regional Offices in carrying out these tasks The field visits were successful regarding participation and delivered useful insights

The focus group meeting with the national stakeholders on 30 October 2007 suffered from low participation Only 5 of the 12 institutions invited attended the meeting Relevant stakeholders such as Ministry of Education, Trade Unions, Employers’ Association were not present and the representative of the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship could participate only during the first half of the meeting

On the basis of the summary report of four regions and findings/feed-back in the National Focus Group a comprehensive Summary Report comprising aspects related to programming, implementing, monitoring and evaluation as well as CES cooperation with employers and local stakeholders was developed



22Questionnaires

Questionnaires were distributed to all participants, employers and individuals, who participated in ALMP measures in the four regions This was necessary to ensure that a representative number of potential respondents could be reached (The questionnaires sent out are contained in the Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 1 3 – Implementation of Field Studies)

Information necessary for the handling of the questionnaires was only partially available at CES central level Therefore, the 4 selected Regional Offices were requested to provide the e-mail addresses of the companies participating in the measures during the year 2006 and until 30 June 2007. In view of the fact that around 40 % of the firms (beneficiaries of ALMP measures) have no e-mail address registered by CES central or regional level it was decided that all beneficiaries will receive the questionnaire by regular mail

The overall production and distribution of the questionnaires was handled by the project team However, as the personal data of participating employees are confidential the CES labelled the envelopes of the corresponding questionnaires Employers participating in Measure 5 1 (Training for Known Employers) were requested to distribute the questionnaire to the corresponding employees since their current addresses are not registered by the CES

The official deadline for returning the questionnaires was set at 29 October 2007 The following table gives an overview of the number of questionnaires sent out and returned

Questionnaires distributed and returned

Employers Employees Total

Questionnaires sent out 1,286 2,857 4,143

Questionnaires returned 373 753 1,126

Return rate (%) 29 0 26 2 27 2

The total return rate of 27 2 % was considerably higher than expected (and also higher than usual for comparable surveys) The result can be regarded as statistically significant and representative

As a by-product, the criteria applied for the selection of the regions implied that the returned questionnaires covered a considerable subset of all companies and employees countrywide participating in ALMP measures during the period analyzed by the evaluation

Beneficiaries of ALMP countrywide

Beneficiaries 2006 2007 (1st Half)

Employers 2,572 962

Employees + participants in training 5,267 2,811

Source: CES Database of ALMP Statistics

In combination with the fact that ALMP measures are designed at the national level the result achieved can be regarded as largely representative for the entire country

Activity 1 3 was completed in November 2007



23Activity 1 4: Assessment of the success of ALMP measures and the efficiency of the system for management

and implementation

The assessment of the ALMP measures covered desk research as well as the evaluation of the results obtained through the field visits and questionnaires

Data research

• Relevant documents and materials related to employment and labour market policies were reviewed. The main socio-economic indicators, in particular data and statistics on labour market and registered unemployment, were collected and analysed

• A database was constructed for the information to be collected from the research instruments. To achieve this, the database of participants in ALMP measures as received from CES was edited and processed for the purposes of the evaluation and the development of specific statistics More specifically, it was processed and analyzed at the level of the entire country and of each region regarding the number of participants, structure by age-groups, gender, level of education, duration of unemployment, work experience, etc On this basis the final detailed statistical data on ALMP measures were calculated

• The data received were also used for the distribution of the questionnaires. In particular, it was necessary to complete the contact data of all employers and to eliminate rejected applicants from the list of employers participating in ALMP measures

• An inventory of registered unemployment statistics was set up and more specific statistics were obtained from the CES and other publications for the purpose of a detailed comparison with the ALMP statistics

Field research

To evaluate the main findings from the field studies a qualitative analysis of the reports on the visits in the 4 regions was carried out The analysis covered the findings from interviews and focus group meetings at regional level complemented by the results from the focus group meeting at central level It addressed the following topics

• programming and implementation of ALMP measures

• monitoring, evaluation and reporting

• proposals for improvements

• co-operation between local stakeholders

To evaluate the returned questionnaires a comprehensive database was developed by the TA into which the data from the 1,126 returned questionnaires were entered and processed In addition a sample of 10% of the input in the database was checked in terms of data correctness – only 2 mistakes detected (0,01% of the total input)

Summary Report on Main Research Findings

After processing the information collected via interviews, focus groups meetings and questionnaires a first Summary Report on the main research findings was drafted For this purpose the findings of the different instruments were cross-checked and the statistical data available were analysed

On the basis of the results of field studies and desk research the report covered aspects related to the process (the system for designing, programming, implementation, monitoring and evaluation) and some aspects related



24to effects, results and impact of ALMP measures, CES cooperation with other local stakeholders as well as CES training needs

Activity 1.4 was completed in January 2007.

Activity 1 5: Presentation of the research findings in four regions

The findings of the field studies and the assessment of the ALMP measures were presented to and discussed with the stakeholders of the four regions Four one day workshops were organized in

• Šibenik 28 January 2008

• Zagreb 29 January 2008

• Čakovec 30 January 2008

• Osijek 31 January 2008

In addition to representatives of PIU and Central Office and members of Working Group 1 for each workshop 3 persons from the respective Regional Office and 2 stakeholders from the region plus CES representatives and their stakeholders from neighbouring regions (5 each region) were invited Altogether 117 persons were invited, 104 participated

At the workshops a concise version of the ‘Summary Report on the Main Research Findings’ was distributed (see Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 1 5 – Presentation of Research Findings), presented to the participants from the regions and it was discussed

• whether the findings reported are in line with their experience,

• what other aspects related to programming, implementation, monitoring/evaluation of ALMPs have been raised in their regions, and

• what are their proposals for improvement of the current measures or the design of new ones.

The presentation was complemented by presentations of experts from the Employment Service of Slovenia (ESS) and the German Employment Agency (BA) who informed on the experience in their countries regarding ALMP measures (see Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 1 5 – Presentation of Research Findings)

Activity 1.5 was completed in January 2008.

Activity 1 6: Elaboration of the first comprehensive draft of the evaluation report

The first draft of the evaluation report summarizes the results of data research, field studies, interviews and the four workshops held at regional level in January 2008 into a comprehensive evaluation document reporting on the process of designing, implementing and monitoring as well as aspects related to effects and extensiveness of the current ALMP measures in Croatia It also contains a detailed description of the methodology, the research plan, the implementation process of the evaluation, as well as the outcomes of the evaluation

Activity 1 6 was completed in May 2008

Activity 1 7: Discussion of research findings with labour market experts not represented in the Steering Committee (SC)

The research findings were discussed with labour market experts on 2 June 2008 to include their views in the evaluation report to be presented afterwards to CES key staff and the SC To ensure the involvement of other



25expertise in the field of labour market and to achieve a common understanding of the evaluation results the project invited representatives of 15 institutions (among them the Economic Institute, Institute of Social Sciences, University Faculties of Economics and Law, Agency for Adult Education, VET Agency, Agency for Science and Higher Education, two private job placement agencies etc ) for a one-day workshop in order to

• present the research findings,

• get feedback on the presented results,

• incorporate the comments and proposals into a comprehensive draft report.

11 persons from the invited institutions participated in the discussion

Activity 1.7 was completed in June 2008.

Activity 1 8: Present first comprehensive draft to CES key staff and SC

The draft evaluation report and research findings were presented and discussed with key staff of CES and members of the Steering Committee on 10 June 2008 in the frame of a one-day workshop.


Activity 1 9: Compilation of the final draft of the evaluation report

The KE Ms Liliana Anghel elaborated the final draft of the evaluation report and submitted it to the CES integrating the results of the workshops with CES, Steering Committee, labour market experts and the discussions with other relevant labour market stakeholders

The final evaluation report was posted on the project website (see Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 1 9 – Final Draft of the Evaluation Report)




26Overview of the Evaluation ReportThe main findings of the evaluation are presented in Chapter 4 of the Evaluation Report (see Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 1 9 – Final Draft of the Evaluation Report) For a quick overview they are also summarized, commented and discussed in the Executive Summary The findings address the aspects mentioned by the ToR, but re-grouped in order to have a logical structure in our presentation The presentation also reflects the structure of investigated topics in the personalised research instruments, as follows:

1 ALMPs implemented by CES

2 Programming the ALMPs

3 Implementation of ALMPs

4 Monitoring, evaluation, reporting of the results of ALMPs measures

5 Cooperation between local stakeholders/social partners, local partnerships for employment, CES cooperation with employers, local stakeholders and social partners

In the box below we present some of the main findings of the evaluation focusing more on weaker aspects or problems, aspects taken into consideration in the elaboration of the Recommendations Report It should be noticed, however, that regarding some of the weak aspects there were already discussions within CES on possible solutions for improvement In view of this, we emphasize that the entire Evaluation Report should be read in order to get a real picture of the ALMPs system in Croatia

Summary of main findings of the evaluation

Positive general result

By the major part of respondents, ALMPs are regarded as good, useful and necessary They would recommend the measures to friends, colleagues etc and will continue to use ALMPs measures in future

This overall judgement we found at all types of stakeholders (employers, individual participants in training and employment/work schemes, CES staff, representatives of trade unions and employers associations, local government representatives, and NGOs as representatives of civil-society)

As the design and implementation of Labour Market Policies in general need the commitment and work of a multitude of stakeholders, this positive general result is a good starting point for any further development and future reform of active labour market policies for Croatia

Programming of the measures

• Some strategic documents developed but a comprehensive Employment Policy not yet in place (stakeholders central level)

• A system of accompanying measures to ensure full access of people to the measures is not in place as it is in other EU member states

• Major part of employers-respondents have no HRD strategy developed/small size companies in need for some support in developing such strategies

• ALMPs programmed on the basis of NAPE and EU employment guidelines; the specific characteristics of Croatian labour market should be more considered (stakeholders)

• Better programmed than the previous cycle, better coordinated in the frame of NAPE



27• Involvement of stakeholders/social partners at the central level is in place but,

• At the regional/local level no or very little involvement of stakeholders/ social partners, process of programming ALMPs perceived as a “top-down” approach

• Coordination, cooperation on employment issues - quite weak in general, especially as regards inter-ministerial cooperation, lack of staff

• Target groups– in general well defined and matching the ones in need for support, with some exceptions (i e disabled, Roma)

• Level of incentives- in general satisfactory; need for increase of employment promotion, especially disabled persons, Roma population as well as for public works

• In general measures in line with target groups’ needs, especially unemployed, but not in line with regions’ specific needs and characteristics/ differences

• Budget allocation - centralised, no budget allocation per regions

• Publicity was organised, but of lower quality in comparison to the previous cycle; no strategic plan for all CES offices; information is perceived as being „too boring“

Implementation of ALMPs

• Procedures have been improved and are more transparent in current ALMPs cycle but administrative practice is too bureaucratic

• Eligibility/conditionality criteria are more complicated and restrictive but on the other side prevent the misuse of funds

• Experience with target groups (unemployed) - no major difficulties in the initial phase; the selection was done directly by companies but difficulties in finding replacements

• Major part of individuals-respondents, learned about the measures directly from employers and only a small part from CES, but in general the counselling services are well appreciated

• Services provided to the target groups (unemployed) - the most common “the introductory training at working place by guidance from colleagues”

• Most of employers appreciated the unemployed integrated well to the working places

• Money flow/payments – significantly improved

• Continuity of measures- not possible due to state budget procedures

Difficulties in implementation:

• Eligibility criteria for unemployed/registration period – especially difficult to find replacements

• Eligibility and conditionality for employers - increase of average number of employees or capital investment, especially for companies with seasonal activities (tourism, construction, agriculture)

• No possibility of „probation period“

• Number of possible employment subsidies limited for newly registered crafts and trades

• NGOs not eligible

• No possibility to combine incentives measures with the training measures

• Measure 4 (Co-financing employment of special groups of unemployed persons) - information on all special groups under specific measures are not known for all employers



28• Measures addressing Roma people - Roma people do not declare their ethnic status (according to

legislation in place)

• Measure 2 (co-financing employment for long-term unemployed) - long-term unemployed needed additional support

• In one region problems with differences in wages established by the measures and the ones in place for the same category of employees occurred

• Lack of experience of newly established companies led to the termination of a number of contracts and difficulties in recovering incentives

• No obligation of extension of the working contracts

• In some cases low motivation to work

• CES had difficulties in making a good pre-selection – dissatisfaction of employers, especially at small size companies

• No standard procedures on informing subsidised individuals on their participation in ALMPs

Some difficulties mentioned by individuals:

• “Short term-employment and no guarantees for maintaining jobs at the end of measures”

• “Un-professional behaviour of employers”

• Measures are considered inadequate for disabled, older, women with children

• The information on ALMPs is considered to be insufficient

• “Insufficient practical training” etc.

Extensiveness, outputs and coverage rates:

• Total number of participants - 8078 persons (2006 and 2007 by 30 June):

- only 10,1% of total number of participants in the previous ALMPs cycle 2002-2005 (3 years)

- only 1,6% of registered unemployed at the end of 2006, and in 2007 (by 30 06) only 0,9% respectively

• The biggest participation - in Measure 5.2, Co-financing education for unknown employer, followed by the measure 2, Co-financing employment for long-term unemployed

• Except measures for Roma people (in general very low number of participants), the smallest measure was Measure 5 1 a, Co-financing education for known employer- newly-employed, and Measure 4, Co-financing employment of special groups of unemployed persons

• Regions are differently covered compared with their needs as identified by statistics (registered unemployed/ unemployment rates)

• Coverage rates for specific groups of participants underrepresented in the ALMP measures

- Age-groups above 30 years

- People without any education, uncompleted basic school, or basic school

- Female participants

- Participants with 0-6 months,3- 8 years, 8 years and more of duration of unemployment



29Some financial aspects:

• Total amount of funds (year 2006 and 2007, by 30 June) - around 139 M HRK or around 20 M Euro; more than 72% of expenditure covering 3 measures; the rest for other 7 measures; a roughly 60% absorption of planned funds

Effects at individual level:

Individual participants rated measures in general as having a good impact/effect on:

• Job stability/ job satisfaction/ plans for future/ mobility

• Work, such as: up-to-date with the profession, job as an incentive to learn, self confidence related to job chances

• Financial situation/social life/ individual stabilization/self confidence/optimism about the future

Monitoring/evaluation/reporting

• “Standardised” system, for administrative purposes and less for strategic decision-making

• Not enough/ suitable for detailed/more qualitative analysis

• No definition of “success” of measures; usual criteria for monitoring success: number of participants and money spent

• Effects of the measures (after the end of measures) are not analysed

• Data and statistics not harmonised at national level and not harmonised with EU methodology/standards

Cooperation between local stakeholders/local partnerships for employment, CES cooperation with employers/social partners

• Some partnerships exists in some regions but no institutionalised system in place:

“lack of coordination, tolerance, trust”

“too centralised system”

• NGOs and unemployed associations felt they are left out of partnerships

• Major part of employers – respondents consider CES services useful, but to different extent ; still the ad-hoc contact is predominant, and only for a small percentage the contact is regular and established by both sides



30Component 2: Design of recommendations and new ALMP measures

To implement this Component the same regions as under Component 1 were included, namely Zagreb, Osijek, Šibenik, Čakovec Equally, a Working Group (WG 2) had been established in March 2008 Whilst Working Group 1 was more technically oriented regarding the analysis of data and assessment of information collected through various studies, WG 2 focused on the aspects of employment policies, aiming at the development of new ALMP measures or improving the existing ones for the different target groups Ms Liliana Anghel was the Key Expert in charge of implementing this component

The reason for setting up a Working Group for this Component and entrust it with the task of further developing the Croatian ALMP measures were the following:

• The Croatian stakeholders are familiar with the local needs as well as with the economic and social environment for the implementation of ALMP measures

• Their active participation serves as a capacity building measure. This reflects on the project’s Specific Objective to develop the capacity of the labour market agents to carry out ALMP measures and to increase the employability of the groups threatened by social exclusion, by using the pathways approach to labour market integration The stakeholders should be guided by the Technical Assistance Team on how to translate the results of the evaluation into concrete recommendations for improvement of ALMP Active participation and co-operation among the stakeholders should enable them to implement such a process on their own in the future This approach was supposed to contribute to the capacity building of the stakeholders and as such contribute to the sustainability of the project results

Working Group 2 emphasized the aspects of employment policies in a more “integrative approach” to combine different policies such as ALMPs, economic development, infrastructure development, education policies, staff recruitment/development, settlement of new enterprises etc In the light with this “integrative approach” members of the WG were representatives of the CES Central Office and the four Regional Offices It also included representatives of relevant Ministries as well as the main stakeholders and social partners dealing with employment policy. Some members had already participated in Working Group 1. Ms Marina Nekić, Head of the CES ALMP Department, was appointed as co-ordinator of WG 2 (see Project Output CD, Folder: Working Groups)

In addition, 4 regional working subgroups (in the 4 regions selected for piloting the evaluation) were formed, in order to ensure the involvement of stakeholders not only at the central level, but also at the regional level, in developing recommendations These 4 regional working groups were composed mainly by representatives of Chamber of Trades and Crafts, Trade Unions, Employers’ Association, Local Authorities, different NGOs etc

WG 2 worked on the basis of Terms of Reference (ToR) which had been agreed with CES (see Project Output CD, Folder Working Groups) The ToR emphasize that this group was expected to play an active role in the development of recommendations whilst the project experts would mainly coach this process The ToR stipulate that recommendations should be drafted in line with the European Employment Strategy (EES) and the European Employment Guidelines to address the main problems of the Croatian labour market The proposals of WG 2 were orientated towards the corresponding Croatian strategy documents This relates in particular to the HRD Operational Programme of the IPA Component 4 as adopted by the Government in 2007, the Joint Inclusion Memorandum (JIM) as well as to the current Annual Employment Incentive Plans 2007 and 2008.

The work on Component 2 (except Activity 2.7) was completed in July 2008.



31

Activity 2 1: Establishment of a co-operation concept with the relevant local stakeholders

The involvement of the local dimension is a basic principle underlying the EES The European Employment Guidelines explicitly request the Member States to mobilize all actors at the national, regional and local levels, including the social partners and other non-governmental organisations for formulating and implementing employment measures

For this purpose the project submitted a Concept Note on co-operation between CES and stakeholders at local level which is supposed to serve as a basis for further developing the regional approach in planning and implementing active employment measures

Guided by the findings of the evaluation achieved so far under Component 1 a short-term expert reviewed the lessons learnt from the CARDS 2002 and 2004 projects aiming at the development of local partnerships for employment and collected information on existing co-operations with local stakeholders on the basis of reports and local employment plans elaborated in the frame of previous projects He also conducted several interviews with CES staff at central level in order to assess strengths and weaknesses in co-operation and to identify best practices Further, the expert carried out field visits to the Regional Offices Karlovac (22 November 2007) and Split (26 November 2007) to discuss with representatives from the CES and local stakeholders the situation of the regional partnership

On 18 February 2008 a workshop was held with participants from CES central office and the representatives of the Regional Office Zagreb The STE gave an overview of development aspects of regional participation in ALMP referring to the experience in Germany The STE discussed the issue with the Director General and other staff of the CES Central Office involved in these issues

Concept Note

The expert worked out a ‘Concept Note on Co-operation with Local Stakeholders’ (see see Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 2 1 - Local Co-operation Concept) The document provides general background information on different approaches to regional co-operation in employment policies and on the experience of some EU Member States (Germany, France, Austria) With reference to the results of the CARDS 2004 project ’Local Partnerships for Employment – Phase 2’ it submits proposals and recommendations on the further process of developing the partnership approach in Croatia

In particular, the expert recommends to establish partnership structures in the frame of the OP HRD under the IPA programme The partnership boards at regional level should be given a mandate for information and consultation on projects to be implemented in their respective region The votes of the regional partnership boards should support the Managing Authority in their decision and approval process The expert underlines the necessity of CES taking over a leading role in this process in order to offer a support structure with their CES regional branches and to issue guidelines on the tasks and the constitution of the partnership boards

Activity 2 1 was completed in February 2008

Activity 2 2: Assist a working group which includes main stakeholders within the employment policy field to discuss outcome of the evaluation and development of adequate measures for the target groups

The project experts assisted the second Working Group (WG 2) which discussed the outcome of the evaluation for the purpose of improving ALMP measures The main responsibility for the drafting of recommendations for



32improved or new ALMP measures was with the WG The project experts gave support by providing a general framework, and by monitoring and coaching the process

The WG held four plenary meetings (with all members of the WG 2), and an additional one with a restricted number of members:

• On its first meeting dated 28 March 2008 the WG planned its tasks and discussed a presentation by the Key Expert on the main research findings of the evaluation of ALMPs in Croatia as well as issues related to the employment and labour market policy, definition of ALMPs in accordance with the new Eurostat methodology, European Employment Strategy and the new “integrated guidelines”

• On 4 April 2008 a work plan was agreed regarding the approach to the development of recommendations, deadlines, tasks and responsibilities Moreover two presentations were held, one by Ms Anja Block from the Federal Employment Agency (Germany) and one by Mavricija Batič from the Employment Service of Slovenia Further, “Guiding material for development of the recommendations”, prepared by the TA experts was discussed with the WG 2

• The third meeting of the Working Group took place on 9 May 2008. On this meeting the Group discussed a draft of recommendations based on proposals developed by the regional subgroups as well as other institutions/organisations, central level, represented in the WG2

• On 6 June 2008 the draft of recommendations proposed by the Working Group was discussed together with the corresponding comments of the TA experts

• Mid June- an additional meeting of the WG 2, restricted group, and the key expert was organised in order to discuss in details the TA feed-back on the first draft of recommendations


Activity 2 3: Develop first draft of recommendations

On the basis of the outcomes of the evaluation the Working Group 2 supported by the project experts elaborated a first draft of recommendations aimed at improving the existing system of ALMP measures and the institutional and administrative arrangements for their implementation Experts from the consortium members, GVG, the Federal Employment Agency (BA) and the Employment Service of Slovenia (ESS) were involved to ensure the transfer of best European practice An improved version of the first draft of recommendations, taking into consideration feedback received from TA, was developed by the WG 2 and prepared for presentations in 4 regional workshops

Activity 2.3 was completed in July 2008.

Activity 2 4: Conduct workshops for presentation and discussion of the first draft of recommendations in four regions

In order to involve the stakeholders at regional level and to take into consideration their experiences in implementing ALMP measures, the project team and members of the Working Group 2 conducted one-day workshops in the four regions which were already included as target regions for the field studies The purpose of the workshops was to present and get feedback on the first Draft of Recommendations and on the Concept Note on Co-operation with Local Stakeholders elaborated in the previous reporting period

The Draft Recommendations were presented by the Working Group’s co-ordinator Ms Marina Nekić, Head of the CES ALMP Department, (see Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 2 4 - Workshops on Recommendations) The Key Expert on ALMP, Ms Liliana Anghel, presented the ‘Concept Note on Co-operation with Local Stakeholders’ (see Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 2 4 - Workshops on Recommendations)



33The workshops were conducted in

• Šibenik 1 July 2008

• Zagreb 2 July 2008

• Osijek 3 July 2008

• Varaždin 4 July 2008

In addition to representatives of PIU, the Central Office and members of Working Group 2 for each workshop representatives from the respective Regional Office and stakeholders from the region were invited, as well as CES representatives and stakeholders from neighbouring regions Altogether up to 140 persons were invited, 120 participated

Activity 2.4 was completed in July 2008

Activity 2 5: Design final draft of recommendations

The results of the presentation workshops were discussed with the members of Working Group 2 and integrated into the final draft. The TA compiled the final draft of recommendations in July 2008.

The recommendations cover a wide range of issues to be addressed in order to improve the design and implementation of ALMP measures in Croatia They are linked to the most important challenges of the Croatian labour market and address regional disparities, target groups, local partnerships, modernisation of CES and their services, but also the portfolio of instruments of active labour market policy Some of the recommendations can be directly implemented by CES, others require strategic decisions to be taken in co-operation with other stakeholders In order to ensure implementation, an action plan stipulating responsibilities and timeframes for the implementation of the specific decisions and / or actions should be set up soon


Activity 2 6: Present final draft of recommendations in the frame of a one-day workshop

The final draft of recommendations was presented and discussed on a workshop on 28 July 2008. Participants were relevant staff of the CES

Both Recommendations and Concept Note were posted on the project’s website They are ready for publishing and will be incorporated into final report (See Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 2 6 - Presentation of Recommendations)


Activity 2 7: Integrate recommendations into final report of the project

The recommendations are available in printed form The report also forms an annex to this final project report (see Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 2 7 – Final Recommendations Report)




34Overview of the Recommendations ReportThe report contains detailed recommendations as well as possible solutions/approaches or strategies in order to improve the current ALMPs system in Croatia The recommendations should be further discussed involving decision-makers, and decisions should be taken in line with the current situation and general development plans in Croatia The following box provides an overview of the main suggestions on how to improve the ALMPs system:

Summary of recommendations

Set-up priorities

• An Action Plan (who will do what, when and how)

Concentrate on the absorption capacity, develop new ALMPs

• An activity plan/strategic plan

• Improve the “clients services” - strategic approach

• Permanent staff training - staff development strategy; if possible, establishment of a staff training centre

• New set of ALMPs and improve the existing ones

Bring in a new philosophy in the Croatian Labour Market policy

• Implementation of the “pathway to work” concept

• Strengthen, develop preventive / proactive measures

• Avoid creaming effect – develop/improve the profiling and assessment system and selection procedures for ALMPs

• Improve the counselling capacity of CES in relation to the target groups

• Develop adequate training measures - training system based on modules

• Develop a systematic approach for the implementing organizations of ALMP - do not exclude NGOs

• Develop a clear terminology of Croatian ALMP (Instruments, Measures, Programmes, Projects)

• Development of accompanying measures

• Simplifications of measures / instruments

Be flexible and regionally oriented in using and implementing ALMPs

• Regional disparities – commitment to reduce disparities in unemployment

• Design of a planning and budgeting system of ALMPs should consider the context of regional disparities: adequate ALMP Measures/Programmes related to local needs, programming and allocation of budget related to local indicators

• Improve the organisation capacity of CES in relation to the local problems

• More flexibility in the use of ALMPs instruments and measures/programmes



35

Be transparent and communicate with clients

• Transparency

• The information and communication work has to be well developed for all clients – especially unemployed and employers

• Publicity - strategic approach needed and support the strategy with funds for planned activities

Set-up a modern planning/programming system - strategic decisions

• How to organise the process - from national to local level, from local to national or both

• Approach of implementing ALMP - management by objectives or programme oriented

• Set-up clear and specific tasks / responsibilities of each stakeholder involved in the process

• Decentralisation – discuss and decide how to implement decentralisation, take into consideration preparatory steps etc – mixed strategies are recommended for the beginning

Take appropriate decisions and develop local partnerships

• Advisory boards or decision taking boards or councils

• Strategic boards or project implementing network

• Linked to CES advisory boards, if appropriate

Set-up a monitoring and evaluation system and use the findings in improving the ALMPs system

• A clear, not too complex set of indicators related to output and result of ALMPs measures

• Profile and involvement data are also necessary for check of services delivered

• Develop the capacity for monitoring and evaluation



36Component 3: Capacity Building

Capacity building constituted a core task of the project as a crucial instrument to contribute to support the sustainability of the project results To achieve a maximum result the training workshops were organized to create multiplier effects that allow for a cascade of training which can be carried out by the CES independently of the project To achieve this goal, participants from the central level and from all regional offices were included in all training courses The training plans were elaborated in close consultation with the Beneficiary

The project team was dedicated to deliver an attractive training programme which encourages the trainees’ participation through the application of up-to-date interactive learning methods The experts followed an approach based upon trainee-centred teaching principles, such as

• Short lecture-style presentations to introduce core topics

• Visualisation of contents making use of presentations, flip charts and prepared handouts to clarify and re-enforce key messages

• An emphasis on ‘learning by doing’, ideally through the use of case studies identified by the participants themselves, and the use of simulation games and role plays

• Group work to encourage the sharing of ideas and skills between participants and to emphasize the importance of team work

• Question and answer sessions to allow participants to raise issues for further explanation

• Allowing adequate time for groups to provide feedback to the rest of the workshop on completion of set exercises

• On-hand trainer support to groups working on exercises to ensure that progress is maintained equally

All training courses were evaluated by the participants at the end of the workshop The evaluation aimed at measuring to what extent the envisaged quality standards had been met by the training The questionnaires referred to the content of the training, the teaching techniques, the organisation of the training, the performance of the trainers etc The overall result of the evaluation showed that high standards of teaching had been met by the capacity building measures

Activity 3 1: Design training programme for relevant CES staff

As the first step in the elaboration of the training programme a training needs assessment (TNA) was carried out The assessment was to ensure that the activities implemented und this Component meet the requirements and actual needs of the CES

The results of the TNA previously organized by the CARDS 2003 project ‘Decentralisation and Reorganisation of CES’ were reviewed However, the TNA under the CARDS 2003 project which included 28 CES managers aimed primarily at general managerial skills whilst the TNA carried out under this project was designed towards more specific fields

The main tool of the TNA related to the field of ALMPs (Activity 3 4) and the training of counsellors (Activity 3 6) was a set of questionnaires To complement the assessment the results of the evaluation carried out under Component 1, in particular the training needs as expressed by the participants in the field studies, were taken into consideration as well Likewise, the experience gained through the activities carried out under Component 4 contributed to the content of the training programme under Activities 3 4 and 3 6, but the elaboration of a specific training programme for Grant Scheme Managers under Activity 3 5 was derived immediately from the requirements of implementing and managing EU-financed grant schemes



37To launch the TNA preparatory discussions took place with Ms Kristina Alerić, Head of the CES Placement and ALMP Department, and Ms Marina Nekić, Head of CES ALMP Section. Based on these discussions three types of questionnaires were distributed at central and regional level They were sent out by PIU on 17 December 2007 to the CES Central Office and the 22 Regional Offices with the request to distribute them to the relevant addressees

1 Questionnaire Active Labour Market Policies (Activity 3 4)

2 Questionnaire for Counsellors (Activity 3 6)

3 Questionnaire for Trainers (all training activities)

The purpose of the questionnaires was to get background information on the current situation of training and on the training needs as seen by CES staff and to provide background information to trainers and experts in charge of developing training materials Therefore, the questionnaires covered a range of issues wider than the immediate training topics under Activities 3 4 and 3 6

The exact number of questionnaires distributed within each Regional Office is not known to the project However, a total of 104 questionnaires were returned to the PIU and the project office by 7 January 2008. With 22 Regional Offices to be covered by the assessment the response can fairly be regarded as representative The respondents were

• 57 persons dealing with ALMP measures, among them 14 Analysts / Statisticians

• 41 Counsellors

• 6 Trainers

Of the 57 persons who filled in the questionnaire for staff dealing with ALMP measures 43 work in the Employment Placement and Preparation Departments, 14 in the Analysis and Statistics Departments

The comprehensive evaluation of the questionnaires is contained in the report ‘Training Needs Assessment – Evaluation of the Questionnaires’ (see Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 3 1 – Training Programme)

Training Plan

Based on the results of the TNA and feedback with CES the outline of a training programme for ALMP and training of counsellors (Activities 3 4 and 3 6) has been worked out and agreed with the PIU (see Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 3 1 – Training Programme) The proposed plan took into consideration that a training programme for counsellors already exists and extensive training has taken place The currently available four modules for counsellors cover essential tasks in their field of activities To complement these modules specific training was to be provided for working with clients from various risk groups

For the Grant Scheme Management workshops under Activity 3 5 a detailed 5-day training plan was drafted by the Key Expert 3, Ms Heidelore Rathgen The plan was agreed with the PIU (see Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 3 1 – Training Programme)

Activity 3 1 was completed in February 2008

Activity 3 2: Disseminate training plan to relevant CES staff

The agreed training plan for Activities 3 4 and 3 6 was communicated to CES staff at central and regional level To create multiplier effects allowing for additional internal training carried out by the CES independently form the project such persons were identified for participation who

• need the training for their practice now or in the near future and

• are in a position to transfer their knowledge to the maximum number of others.



38To concentrate the training on persons who need the corresponding knowledge and skills in the near future was also a question of efficiency and achieving sustainable results Therefore, in all training courses key staff at managerial level from the Central and all Regional Offices were included

Activity 3 2 was completed in March 2008

Activity 3 3: Develop appropriate materials for training workshops

To ensure that the training materials meet the requirements of the CES the training were plans agreed with responsible CES staff on meetings prior to elaboration All training materials consist of presentations, supplemented by exercises, additional articles and handouts All training materials are contained in the Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 3 3 – Training Materials

ALMP Training

Training materials for training on implementation, monitoring and evaluation of ALMP (Activity 3 4) were elaborated by four short-term experts The materials are subdivided into two modules

• Module I - Project Cycle Management, Design and Planning of ALMP Projects

• Module II - Monitoring and Evaluation of ALMP Projects

Module I covers the following topics:

• Active Labour Market Measures (EU Classification)

• The Project Cycle

• Needs Analysis, Target Groups, Stakeholders

• Design and Planning of Employment Measures

• Logical Framework Approach

• Design and Impact of Employment Measures

• Quality Standards

Module II covers the following topics:

• Monitoring and Evaluation in a Broader Context

• Stages of ALMP Monitoring / Monitoring Plan

• Monitoring in Practice

• Problems and Limits of ALMP Monitoring

• Evaluation: Types of Evaluation

• Selection of Research Design

• Why Monitoring and Evaluation is Important

• Benchmarking in the Public Sector

Grant Scheme Management Training

Training materials for a 5-day training workshop on Grant Scheme Management (Activity 3 5) were elaborated and agreed with the PIU by Key Expert 3, Dr Heidelore Rathgen

The training materials cover the entire project cycle starting from the objectives as defined in the Operational Programme for Human Resource Development and other strategic documents, through the tendering and



39implementation of contracted projects to technical and financial monitoring and evaluation The training materials are supplemented by relevant documents from the current EC Procurement guidelines The complete set of training materials is contained in a CD-ROM ‘Grant Scheme Management Training’ which was distributed to the participants

Training for Counsellors of Risk Groups

Training materials for a 4-day training workshop on counselling (Activity 3 6) were elaborated by a short-term expert As in the case of Activity 3 4 the contents of the training for counsellors was based on the TNA and consultations with the CES

The proposed plan took in to consideration that a training programme for counsellors already exists and extensive training has taken place The currently available four modules for counsellors cover essential tasks in their field of activities To complement these modules specific training was to be provided for working with clients from various risk groups

The materials focus on the work with risk groups They cover the concept of case management and the steps to be carried out within this method They explain how to perform the assessment, profiling and setting up a case plan, issues of monitoring, documentation and controlling To complement this, the training materials explain topics of sustainable capacity building for the counsellors:

• Working with risk groups

• Introduction of case management

• The significance of counselling

• Case management

• Confederation and counselling

• Assessment

• Case plan - integration planning; Goals and tasks

• Monitoring

• Result storage and Controlling

• Sustainable capacity building

Activity 3 3 was completed in October 2008

Activity 3 4: Prepare and implement training workshops on implementation, monitoring and evaluation of ALMP measures

In accordance with the result of the TNA and the consultations with representatives of the CES the modules in this field focused on the topics

• Project Cycle Management, design and planning of ALMP projects

• Monitoring and Evaluation of ALMP projects

The target groups of this training were CES staff from the central and the regional offices, including the full-time trainers

The main purpose of the workshops was to promote a change in perception and help the trainees to get a broader view of their tasks beyond the application of procedural rules They should in particular

• focus on examples of best practice in design and implementation of different ALMP measures in EU Member States (targeting of different ALMP measures, co-operation with relevant stakeholders etc )



40• contribute to the improved design of measures adapted to the local level

• explain the principles of Result Oriented Monitoring (ROM), SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and trackable) indicators, their purpose to assess aspects like success and sustainability

• clarify the differences between monitoring and evaluation

• emphasize the role of evaluation in the project cycle for improving the quality of project design

• increase the capability of handling data and in line with EU indicators and statistics.

The workshops covered four days of training for each of the three groups For technical reasons they were subdivided in two modules, each of them covering two days:

• Module I - Project Cycle Management, Design and planning of ALMP projects was held for two groups on 17 - 18 and 19 – 20 June 2008 in Zagreb and for one group on 23 – 24 June 2008 in Osijek. Altogether 69 persons participated

• Module II - Monitoring and Evaluation of ALMP projects was held for two groups on 15 - 16 and 17 – 18 September 2008 in Zagreb and for one group on 15 – 16 October 2008 in Osijek Altogether 61 persons participated


Activity 3 5: Prepare and implement training workshops on the design and management of grant schemes

The target group of this training were CES staff from the Central Office and all Regional Offices who are already in charge of managing grant schemes or will be in charge in the near future The workshops are primarily addressed to the CES staff dealing with EU projects on the regional level

The purpose of the workshop was to increase CES’ capacity in implementing and managing EU-financed grant schemes, in particular

• to inform the participants about the process of Grant Scheme management, the responsibilities on different levels and the link between the levels and the related tasks to be performed by the persons in charge

• to familiarize the participants with setting-up basic procedures

• to provide practical training (basics) and input of EU experience based on the recently developed guidelines, manuals, templates and check-lists

• to prepare the participants for the application of procedures under IPA

Two 5-day training courses were conducted in April and May 2008 by the Key Expert 3, Dr Heidelore Rathgen and the Grant Assessor, Ms Branka Novosel, on issues of design and management of grant schemes One course was held in Selce on 7 and 8 April, continued on 19 to 21 May, the other one in Zagreb from 14 to 16 April and on 28 and 29 April The group trained in Zagreb had 32 participants from the CES central office (PIU and IPA Department) and from 8 regional offices The group in Selce had 25 participants from regional offices

The workshop was held in the form of a role play and covered the following topics

• Day 1: Preparation of a “Guideline for Applicants”

• Day 2: Elaboration of an “Grant Project” based on the “published” Guidelines (output of Day 1)

• Day 3: Budget calculation and budget clearing for the project (based on output Day 2)

• Day 4: Risk assessment (four “projects”; four groups)



41• Day 5: Definition of the “indicator set” on Grant Scheme level and on project level (using the outputs

of Day 1 and Day 2)

Activity 3 5 was completed in May 2008

Activity 3 6: Prepare and implement training workshops for counsellors dealing with risk groups

The target group of the training were selected counsellors form the central and regional level

The purpose of the workshops was to enhance the counsellors’ skills regarding their work with clients from risk groups The training emphasized the concepts of Profiling and Case Management as methods to identify individual needs These methods encompass a comprehensive assessment of the personal features of a job-seeker that influence their chances of finding a job The training also covered the development of individual employment plans and other more intensive forms of support

To complement the application of the standard methods as already contained in the current programme to specific groups the training focused on the understanding of methods particularly useful for working with people threatened by social exclusion Moreover, the need to transfer the knowledge and skills acquired to other counsellors within CES was emphasized

The training workshops were scheduled for four days The first workshop was held in Zagreb from 23 to 26 September 2008, the second one in Vodice from 29 September to 2 October 2008, with 21 participants each


Activity 3 7: Support in the establishment of monitoring and evaluation systems

In co-ordination with Activity 3 4, Module II, two short-term experts discussed with CES staff in charge with handling and analyzing the data on ALMP They emphasized the role of appropriate indicators as a precondition for setting up a comprehensive monitoring system The availability of such a system is also a precondition for effective evaluation

The experts elaborated detailed recommendations for the introduction of a monitoring and evaluation system in the CES The recommendations provide an overview of the steps to be taken in setting up a monitoring plan and discuss problems and limits of ALMP monitoring Regarding evaluation the recommendation present the different types of evaluation and the steps to be performed in programme evaluation They highlight the differences between monitoring and evaluation and make propsals for the implementation in Croatia

The recommendations are contained in the Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 3 7 – Monitoring and Evaluation Systems




42Component 4: Grant Scheme management

The project assisted the CES / PIU with the implementation of the Phare 2005 Grant Scheme ‘Active Employment Measures for Groups Threatened by Social Exclusion’ The Key Expert responsible for this component was Dr Heidelore Rathgen (Key Expert 3)

The Grant Scheme was designed to provide financial support to a maximum of 20 grant beneficiaries whose projects aim at integrating socially disadvantaged persons into the labour market The maximum duration of a project was 12 months The overall budget of the Grant Scheme was EUR 1,000,000 The minimum individual grant size was EUR 50,000, the maximum EUR 150,000 Applicants were requested to participate with at least 10 percent of co-financing from sources other than the European Community budget or the European Development Fund

In view of the limited funds available in comparison with the needs, the Grant Scheme was also seen as a pilot case for future similar initiatives The pilot projects within the Grant Scheme should serve various purposes They were supposed to

• encourage civil society agents to cope with the challenges of implementing ALMP measures and make them acquainted with the principles, mechanisms, regulations and procedures concerning the future use of IPA and ESF

• test the possibilities of increasing the employability of the socially disadvantaged unemployed

• deliver information on the capacity of the potential contractors and

• provide supplementary insight into the Croatian labour market.

The project’s assistance to the management of the Grant Scheme projects aimed at the further development of the complete Grant Scheme procedure - from launching calls, provision of guidelines on the application and implementation procedure to the financial management of the Grant Scheme itself and the individual projects Special attention is paid to the dissemination of the results of these pilot projects

The target groups of Component 4 are the grant beneficiaries as well as grant administrators in the CES The purposes can be summarised as follows:

• Support the development of quality projects addressing the needs of final beneficiaries

• Serve as examples of good practice for future initiatives

• Build up capacities of grant beneficiaries and grant managers or administrators to properly design, manage, implement, monitor and evaluate grant projects

In total, 35 applications were submitted After the administrative check of the proposals and the evaluation of the concept note, 18 proposals were rejected and the remaining 17 proposals underwent the remaining evaluation steps After the evaluations of the full application forms and the eligibility checks, 12 proposals were evaluated as eligible out of which 11 project proposals were selected and contracted

Deviations from the Terms of ReferenceThe planning of Component 4 required some major deviations from the procedure as described in the ToR due to

• the early start of the Grant Scheme

• adjustment of activities to the evaluation procedure

• necessary organizational adjustments for the contracted projects



43Early start

The tender for the Grant Scheme had already been launched before the start of the project in March 2007, with the deadline set at 5 June 2007. Therefore the implementation of Component 4 had to be taken up immediately upon the start of the project With the exception of some training for the grant assessors (Activity 4 2), Activities 4 1 to 4 5 were completed during the inception phase

Under the given conditions there was no time for conducting a thorough awareness campaign as suggested in Activity 4 3 of the ToR, and the training of potential grant beneficiaries for EC grant-scheme requirements (Activity 4 4) had to be reduced from a minimum of four 3-day training events, as requested by the ToR, to four 2-day events The number of grant trainers to assist the potential grant beneficiaries in meeting the requirements of the EC grant procedure was adjusted to the actual need Instead of 10 only 3 trainers were required to conduct the training

Procedural adjustments

The ToR prescribe the following activities for the evaluation of applications:

4 6 Assistance in the assessment of administrative and eligibility compliance for the grant scheme published under this Phare 2005 allocation

4 7 Completion of the assessment process of applications in conformity with the Grant Guidelines and PRAG

4 8 Submission of the results of the assessment procedure along with the recommendations of projects for funding to the Contracting Authority

4 9 Participation in the meetings of the evaluation committee and presentation of assessment results

Whilst all of these activities are required, they could not be carried out in this sequence Therefore, following the ‘Guidelines for Applicants’, the evaluation of the project proposals was restructured into 4 logically and timely consecutive steps, each of them encompassing requirements as laid down in Activities 4 6 – 4 9 of the ToR For reasons of clarity the description of activities for this component has been modified as follows:

No Steps Activities

4 6Step 1 – Assist with the set-up of the evaluation process, prepare and agree the basic documents; administrative check

Opening of evaluation procedure1st meeting of Evaluation CommitteeAdministrative check of proposalsApproval by EC Delegation

4 7 Step 2 – Assist with the evaluation of the Concept Note

Evaluation of Concept Notes2nd meeting of Evaluation CommitteePresentation of assessment resultsApproval by EC Delegation

4 8Step 3 – Assist with the evaluation of the Full Application Form

Evaluation of Full Application Form3rd meeting of Evaluation CommitteePresentation of assessment resultsApproval by EC Delegation

4 9 Step 4 – Assist with the Eligibility Check

Request of supporting documents from applicantsCheck of eligibility of applicants and partners (using supporting documents)4th meeting of Evaluation CommitteeCross-check of supporting documentsPresentation of assessment resultsApproval by EC Delegation



44Organizational adjustments - Addendum

In addition to the minor changes required for the evaluation process, a number of organizational adjustments were necessary which required an Addendum (see Project Output CD, Folder: Contractual Documents)

• In the process of final checking the improved budget carried out by the CFCU the pre-payments are included in the contract prepared by the CFCU Therefore the task to submit a list of obligated pre-payments to the Contracting Authority was deleted from Activity 4 10

• Visits already during the first 6 weeks would be too early to assess the initial progress and give advice. Based on experience of other Grant Schemes implementing processes it was agreed that instead the grant manager visits each project during the first half of the projects’ duration The description of Activity 4 12 was modified accordingly

• Because of the GS projects’ duration of only 12 months no interim payments were to be requested by the Grant Beneficiaries Accordingly, no detailed financial reports had to be submitted and the quarterly reports focused on the technical progress The corresponding tasks were eliminated from Activities 4 13 and 4 14 Instead, support had to be provided to PIU with the preparation of the aggregated report on the Grant Scheme progress based on the submitted quarterly reports Activities 4 13 and 4 14 were adjusted accordingly

• In view of the experience with other Grant Scheme Projects a 6 week period for a training workshop on reporting obligations was regarded as too tight It was agreed to enlarge Activity 4 15 and hold two workshops during the first half of the implementation period:

• A kick-off meeting, immediately after the signing of the grant contracts, to inform and train the beneficiaries regarding their responsibilities for project implementation supplemented by

• a later workshop focusing on reporting obligations, discussion of implementation progress as well as gathering and exchanging experience and lessons learnt for the future

Activity 4 1: Recruitment of grant assessors and grant trainers

Prior to the arrival of the Key Experts in Croatia on 10 April 2007, GVG, the lead company of the Consortium, had already

• drafted the terms and selection criteria for the recruitment of grant assessors and grant trainers

• tendered advertisements in order to collect candidates for both positions and carried out a pre-selection of candidates

This was necessary in view of the fact that the tender for the Phare 2005 Grant Scheme had already been launched and the deadline for applications was less than two months ahead The project experts

• reviewed the applications of candidates and conducted interviews

• submitted the list of selected candidates for approval

In May and June 2007 three grant trainers and five grant assessors were recruited.




45

Activity 4 2: Prepare and implement training of grant assessors and grant trainers

Training of grant trainers

A preparatory training for the grant trainers was held from 2 to 4 May 2007 It referred to the training programme for potential beneficiaries worked out by Dr Heidelore Rathgen (Key Expert 3) The purpose of this training of trainers was to

• ensure a common level of knowledge and understanding of the EC procedures for application and assessment of grant schemes

• achieve a common understanding of the task and

• agree on structure and contents of the training courses for applicants to the Grant Scheme.

The training covered background information on the relevant procedures of the PRAG, the Grant Guidelines, best practice on development and implementation of grant schemes in EU Member States as well as a training methodology

Training of grant assessors

The training of the grant assessors was subdivided into 3 sessions

1 The first instruction of the grant assessors was carried out by the key expert in cooperation with CFCU on 5 June 2007. The content was:

• General evaluation procedure

• Methodology and quality standards

2. The second training session took place on 13 June 2007. The content was:

• Updated evaluation plan, working principles

• Evaluation of the Concept Note (Step 2 of the evaluation procedure as described above)

• Evaluation of the Full Application Form (Step 3 of the evaluation procedure)

3 The third training was held on 10 September 2007 by the Key Expert together with CFCU and PIU to prepare the assessors for the budget clearing process (Activity 4 10) It covered the following topics:

• Time schedule and activities to be done up to the deadline of signing the contracts with Grant Beneficiaries (30 November 2007)

• General comments on budget clearing (based on documents provided by CFCU)

• Training on how to deal with comments (using two examples of commented budgets)

• Updating the draft of ‘Instructions on Budget Preparation at Project Level”

Activity 4 2 was concluded in September 2007

Activity 4 3: Raise awareness among potential grant beneficiaries

As already mentioned, under the given conditions there was no time for conducting a thorough awareness campaign To inform potential applicants the schedule and locations of training for potential grant beneficiaries was announced from April 2007 on the website of CFCU



46

Activity 4 4: Prepare and implement training on grant scheme requirements to potential grant beneficiaries

Four 2-day training courses were organized for potential grant beneficiaries They were arranged in four regions from 8 – 17 May 2007 Altogether 101 persons registered to participate: 26 in Osijek, 36 in Zagreb, 15 in Rijeka and 24 in Split The courses covered the following topics:

Day 1:

• Introduction; expectation of the participants

• Invitation to take part in creation and implementation of active employment measures based on the needs of the target group; (objective of the call; priorities based on NAPE)

• From the idea to a well developed project proposal

• Application procedure in general; steps and methods

• Concept note

• Logframe exercise

Day 2:

• Full application form; requirements and steps in elaboration the complete proposal Objectives, justification, activities, methodology, action plan, expected results (impact on target groups, outputs, multiplier effects, sustainability)

• Budget and expected sources of funding

• Outlook on the contracting and implementation procedure

The training was held by the grant trainers and supervised by the key expert Each course was evaluated by the participants

For further information on the courses see Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 4 2 - Training for Grant Beneficiaries

Activity 4 4 was concluded in May 2007

Activity 4 5: Establish help desks

To support the applicants with the elaboration of project proposals a help desk was organised in May 2007 One grant trainer replied clarification questions by e-mail. In view of the deadline on 5 June 2007 the help desk had to be closed on 15 May 2007 The clarifications of questions of general interest were published on the website of CFCU on 25 May 2007

Activity 4 5 was concluded in May 2007

Activity 4.6: Step 1 – Set up the evaluation process; perform the Administrative Check of the proposals

The basic documents for the evaluation process were elaborated by the Key Expert and agreed with the CFCU (evaluation strategy, time table, detailed evaluation grid for Step 2 and Step 3) The evaluation procedure was



47opened on 6 June 2007 with the Opening Session of the Evaluation Committee; the selected Grant Assessors have been officially approved

First Evaluation Committee Meeting

Purpose: Carry out the Administrative Check of the project proposals submitted

As the assistance of the Grant Assessors was not requested for the Administrative Check the project’s contribution to Activity 4.6 was concluded in June 2007.

Activity 4 7: Step 2 - Assist with the Evaluation of the Concept Note

Parallel to the approval procedure of the results of Step1 by the EC Delegation, copies of the Concept Notes were distributed among grant assessors in accordance with the agreed Evaluation Plan Each project proposal was evaluated by two grant assessors The packages were prepared by the Secretary of the Evaluation Committee

Altogether 35 project applications had been submitted The Concept Notes were evaluated by the assessors and forwarded to CFCU

The evaluation of the Concept Note was prepared by the grant assessors individually within 10 working days They submitted the results in electronic form to the Secretary of the Evaluation Committee The result comprised the evaluation grid and substantial comments regarding their assessment of strengths and weaknesses of the Concepts Notes

Second Evaluation Committee Meeting (11 July 2007)

• The Grant Assessors presented results of the evaluation process.

• The ECD approved the report on the results on 25 July 2007.

Step 2 was co-ordinated by the Key Expert during June and July 2007.

Activity 4.7 was concluded in July 2007.

Activity 4 8: Step 3 - Assist with the Evaluation of the Full Application Form

As in the previous step the evaluation of the Full Application Form was prepared by the grant assessors individually in home work The results comprised the evaluation grid and comments paragraph by paragraph They were submitted in electronic form to the Secretary of the Evaluation Committee

17 Full Applications were evaluated by the assessors

Third Evaluation Committee Meeting (16 August 2007)


• The ECD approved the report on the results on 17 September 2007.

This step was co-ordinated by the Key Expert in August and September 2007

Activity 4 8 was concluded in September 2007



48

Activity 4 9: Step 4 - Assist with the Eligibility Check

After approval of the report on the evaluation of the Full Application Form (Step 3 of the evaluation procedure) by the ECD on 17 September 2007 the applicants were requested to submit supporting documents to the CFCU

Fourth Evaluation Committee Meeting (October 2007)

Step 4 of the selection procedure, the check of the eligibility of a beneficiary and partners (using the supporting documents) was completed in October 2007

• The Grant Assessors provided assistance with cross-checking the supporting documents at the premises of CFCU


With the approval the evaluation report the selection process was completed

Activity 4 9 was concluded in October 2007

Activity 4 10: Prepare grant contracts for signature

After the conclusion of Step 4 of the selection procedure and the completion of the budget clarification of the approved project proposals the Grant Assessors provided intense support to the applicants on an individual basis with improving the budgets of their project proposals

On 20 November 2007 an internal workshop on budget clearing was held with three Grant Project Managers from CES and the staff newly engaged in the CES IPA-Department) Altogether 12 persons participated in this training (See Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 4 10 – Budget Clarification)

The budgets of eligible proposals were cleared in November 2007 Out of 12 eligible proposals 11 were selected The grants will use EUR 999,961 95 of the 1 million allocated for the Scheme

To wrap up this activity the project provided assistance with the preparation of the grant contracts By the end of November 2007 all 11 contracts had been signed

Activity 4 10 was concluded in November 2007

Activity 4 11: Set up a grant monitoring system for all grant projects funded under Phare 2005

The Key Expert supported CES with the design of a system for monitoring the financial and physical progress of the grants For this purpose the expert

• reviewed the current data structure of grant projects and data base at PIU,

• developed a concept for a monitoring system including methods, periods, data records, set of indicators (physical and financial) and standardised narrative and financial implementation reports

• made recommendations for improving and adjusting the monitoring system and for procedure of data collection



49• made recommendations for reporting procedure concerning structure of data to be collected for

monitoring issues

All materials provided by the KE 3 were agreed with the Project Managers at CFCU and CES On 5 December 2007 an internal workshop with CES on setting up an indicator system was held with participants from the PIU and IPA Department at CES

For more details see Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 4 11 – Set up Monitoring System

Activity 4 11 was concluded in February 2008

Activity 4 12: Support implementation of grant projects

The Key Expert provided ongoing support to the implementation during the start-up phase of the grant projects In this day-by-day work the KE advised the Project Managers at CFCU and PIU with the implementation of the grant scheme, reports on the on-the-spot visits and ex-ante approval for secondary procurement

• The Key Expert drafted a Manual for preparation of on-the-spot visits and new checklist for monitoring visits, adapted to the Grant Scheme projects’ needs, agreed with Project Managers at CES and CFCU

• During February 2008 the Key Expert carried out on-the-spot visits of all projects together with the Project Managers at CES and CFCA

• To support the CES / PIU with monitoring issues the KE drafted an “Operational Manual” The draft was submitted as working material and handed over at the meeting of the Steering Committee on 10 June 2008

• In addition to the requirements as defined in the ToR the Key Expert drafted guidelines for dealing with the ‘Manual of Grant Management Procedures’ and discussed them with the PIU-staff Comments on the Manual were also delivered to CFCU

For more details see Project Output CD, Folder Activity 4 12 – Support Implementation of Grant Projects

Activity 4.12 was concluded in June 2008.

Activity 4 13: Review narrative and financial reports of grant beneficiaries

The Key Expert supported the PIU in dealing with Quarterly Reports of the grant projects and elaborated recommendations on the structure and content of the reports Moreover, the expert coordinated the activities of the two Grant Assessors regarding the assessment of the first Quarterly Report submitted by Grant Beneficiaries by the end March 2008

The second and third Quarterly Reports were handed in by the end of May and August 2008, respectively In April, July and September 2008 the Grant Assessors assisted and advised the Project Managers of CES with the assessment of the projects’ Quarterly Reports to ensure their compatibility with the reporting requirements on the basis of the criteria as described in the Guideline (see the documents developed for this purpose by the KE 3 on the Project Output CD, Folder 4 13 – Reporting of Grant Beneficiaries)

Activity 4 13 was concluded in August 2008



50

Activity 4 14: Support PIU with preparation and submission of reports on grant scheme progress

The project provided support to PIU with the preparation of the aggregated Quarterly Reports on the Grant Scheme progress The Grant Project Managers at CES were instructed in drafting the summary reports to enable them to fulfil their monthly and quarterly reporting obligations on Grant Scheme progress to CFCA Their reports are based on the Quarterly Reports submitted by the beneficiaries (see Activity 4 13 above)

Key Expert prepared a “package for the final phase” directed to the PIU which includes guidelines on how to deal with the final reports and the corresponding recommendations for the Grant Beneficiaries (In addition, the KE elaborated an overview of quantitative output indicators on Grant Scheme level)

In addition to the requirements as defined in the ToR the KE 3 developed a Guideline on how to deal with the reports submitted by the beneficiaries to support the responsible Grant Managers at CES

For more details see Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 4 14 – Reporting on GS Progress

Activity 4 14 was concluded in August 2008

Activity 4 15: Implement two one-day workshop for grant beneficiaries

Two one-day workshops were held with the beneficiaries They focused on issues of implementation, understanding the contractual obligations and organisational aspects of project management regarding the technical and financial implementation as well as the reporting requirements

Kick-off meeting

On 11 December 2007 a kick-off meeting was conducted with all beneficiaries of the grant scheme Purpose of the meeting was to support the beneficiaries with the start up of their projects and to provide them with clear instructions on responsibilities, the entire workflow, in particular on the role of the CES Project Managers

The event provided extensive explanations on all steps of the implementation, guidelines, check list, and templates A comprehensive implementation package containing this information was distributed to them

Workshop on monitoring and reporting obligations

On 7 February 2008 a workshop on monitoring and reporting obligations was held for all grant beneficiaries together with the Project Managers at CFCA and PM CES The materials for this workshop were agreed with PM CFCA and PM CES

The purpose of this workshop was to achieve a clear understanding of monitoring and reporting issue Special attention was given to the concept of measurable indicators of project progress

For more details see Project Output CD, Folder: Activity Act 4 15 – Workshops for Grant Beneficiaries

Activity 4 15 was concluded in February 2008

Activity 4 16: Implement wrap-up event for grant beneficiaries and partner institutions

The final wrap-up event for the GS projects is scheduled for 27 November 2008 It is envisaged to provide the grant beneficiaries and partner institutions the possibility to discuss detailed and consolidated results and lessons learned It will also serve to enhance visibility of EU projects and activities in Croatia



51The Grant Beneficiaries will present their projects and exchange experience among each other and distribute information materials In addition an exhibition will be organized at the conference

Up to 100 participants will be invited from the following institutions / fields:

• 11 Phare 2005 GS beneficiaries and partner institutions (5 participants each)

• 10 CARDS 2004 GS beneficiaries (2 participants each)

• Representatives of CES (Central office and Regional Offices)

• PIU

• Stakeholders (Chambers, Unions etc.)

• Steering Committee (including representatives of institutions on the SC)

For details see Project Output CD, Folder: Activity 4 16 – Final Wrap-Up Event


Activity 4 17: Publication and dissemination of a compendium on grant projects

To promote the experience made with the Phare 2005 Grant Scheme a Compendium on grant projects was elaborated It contains the presentations of all projects by the beneficiaries, shows detailed and consolidated results, best practice examples, and lessons learned and gives an overview of activities and general conclusions on Active Employment Measures aiming at increasing the employability of groups at risk of social exclusion

The compendium is to be disseminated among actual and potential project providers, their partners, government bodies and other relevant institutions

For details see Project CD, Folder: Activity 4 17 – Grant Scheme Compendium


Closing Phase of the Project

The final two months of the project were dedicated to a proper and organised phasing out of activities Project outputs were documented in to make information and knowledge accessible after the project ends A final conference was held on 28 November 2008 as the official end of the project

2.2 Resources planned and usedProject resources were used as planned from the beginning and laid down in the Inception Report There was a minor reallocation in the distribution of working days as confirmed by CFCA through Administrative Order No 21 Incidental expenditures were kept within the foreseen budget of EUR 234,500



522.3 Achievements of ResultsThe activities carried out under the four project components were expected to deliver the following results and outputs:

Result 1

The effectiveness of the current ALMP measures in Croatia and the system for their implementation and management are thoroughly evaluated

A comprehensive evaluation report on the current ALMP measures was delivered.

Result 2

Recommendations concerning the improvement of the existing ALMP and the conception of new measures are designed and coordinated with all relevant stakeholders

Working Group 2 in co-operation with the project experts elaborated recommendations on the further development of ALMP measures.

Result 3

Capacity of the CES staff concerning the management and implementation of ALMP measures is improved

CES staff from the Central Office and all Regional Offices participated in the training workshops carried out by the project.

Result 4

Measures to increase the employability of the groups at risk of social exclusion are well underway through the implementation of the Grant Scheme and are duly monitored by CES staff

11 Grant Scheme projects were successfully implemented with support from the project.

2.4 Problems encounteredThe major problem encountered by the project was a serious bottleneck in the availability of short-term expertise The number of 500 WD was insufficient for the following reasons:

Components 1 and 2

The need for editing the statistical data available from the CES for the specific purposes of the evaluation required a wider scope of activities and, therefore, more STE input than anticipated The same applied to the development of the database for the research instruments and for processing the data

The problem was solved through a reallocation of local STE inputs from Component 2 to Component 1 within the overall amount of working days foreseen by the ToR The missing inputs were compensated through an increased workload by the Key Expert 2

Component 3

The short-term expertise available for the elaboration of training materials and the training itself made it necessary to limit the number of training courses despite the availability of incidental budget

Component 4

The lack of synchronization between the time frame of this project and the GS projects did not allow for a thorough support of potential beneficiaries during the application period of the GS



532.5 Respect of, and contribution to, overarching policy issuesThe project stands in the context of policies related to Human Resource Development and Social Cohesion In the field of employment policy the CES is further developing the system of ALMPs in line with the European Employment Strategy (EES) and new developments in the EU

In recent years the Croatian Government has adopted and implemented a series of strategic documents and measures The key document is the ‘National Action Plan for Employment 2005-2008’, which was adopted in December 2004 and outlines objectives, indicators and benchmarks Based on its provisions the Government adopts the yearly Annual Employment Incentive Plans

Employment Policy Planning in Croatia provides also for measures adopted under the Education System Development Plan 2005-2010 (especially regarding adult education and lifelong learning), under the Government’s action plan for the ‘Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015’ as well as of the ‘National Strategy for the Disabled’

Increasing the employment rate has become a key objective of the social and labour market policy in Croatia The main focus is to fight long-term unemployment, i e reduce the amount of people who are unemployed for more than 12 months and to reduce the flow from unemployment into long-term unemployment The main target groups are young people, older workers, women, minorities and other vulnerable groups In addition, the strong regional disparities seek for a more decentralized regional approach

2.6 Linkage with other operations, complementarity and sectoral co-ordination between donors

In view of the mismatch between supply and demand of qualifications in the Croatian labour market, the project intended to contribute to an improved co-ordination of economic policies and employment policies through the inclusion of stakeholders both at central and regional level

As mentioned above, at the time of the start of the project two EU-funded projects were working with the CES, the CARDS 2003 Decentralisation and Reorganisation project and the CARDS 2004 Local Partnerships for Employment project The experts were in close contact with them for the purposed of exchanging experience Contact was also established with the CARDS 2003 Upgrading of VET Schools projects These projects were concluded during the lifetime of this project

Whilst there are currently no ongoing projects suitable for close co-operation in these fields, the project will ensure through its dissemination policy that the results achieved will be available for future projects in the field of employment policy



54

3 Sustainability (measures undertaken and prospects for sustainability)

The objective of achieving sustainable results was a guiding principle of implementing the project The activities of the different Components were oriented towards this goal

The TA involved CES staff from central and local level, in particular from the four regions selected to participate in the evaluation, and all relevant stakeholders in the Working Groups and other activities, to ensure a close connection with the actual needs and requirements in the field of ALMPs in Croatia and transfer of know-how

At the same time all activities took the links with the European Employment Guidelines, the National Action Plan for Employment (NAPE) and the current Annual Plan for Employment into consideration

Components 1 and 2

The active participation of CES staff and stakeholders intended to facilitate the transfer know-how on the evaluation of ALMP measures and on the development of new measures The TA particularly emphasized the active involvement of regional CES staff, not only from the four regions selected within Components 1 and 2, but also from the other regions of Croatia The inclusion of other stakeholders at central and regional level served the same purpose of transferring know-how on ALMPs

A crucial role for delivering sustainable results played the active involvement of Working Group 2 in the drafting of recommendations on the further development of ALMPs WG 2 was co-ordinated by the CES with participation and co-operation among the stakeholders with the purpose of capacity building enabling the involved institutions to implement this type of process on their own

The CES expressed the intention to refer to the recommendations elaborated by WG 2 in the further development and planning of ALMPs

Component 3

Capacity building measures are aimed immediately at sustainability To achieve a maximum result of the training measures the selected participants of the training workshops were key staff from all Regional Offices The purpose of this approach is to trigger multiplier effects and to allow for a cascade of training which can be carried out by the CES independently form the project

Therefore persons were chosen and trained who need the training for their practice in the near future and are in a position to transfer their knowledge to the maximum number of others Equally, to prepare them for their imminent tasks the CES Implementing Agency for the IPA programme which is in charge of Component 4 was included in the training activities under this component

Component 4

The materials, guidelines, instructions etc for the implementation of the grant projects were drafted in such a way that they can be used generally within other Phare or IPA grant schemes The recommendations and materials provided by the Key Expert 3 on all issues of Grant Scheme Management are suitable for countrywide use



553.1 Participation and ownership by beneficiariesThe CES participated already in a number of EU and bilateral projects This project built upon the results of former projects and intended to further develop their achievements The CES displayed a strong sense of ownership of this project which is a basic pre-condition for achieving sustainable results Working Groups 1 and 2 played a crucial role in this respect It will be important to continue actively involving the stakeholders which participated in the activities

It is to be mentioned that a closer inter-ministerial cooperation is necessary Employment issues are not only a responsibility of CES or the Ministry of Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship From the project’s experience the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports as well as the Ministry of Finance should be more active in the field of employment programmes or projects

The TA particularly emphasizes the further active involvement of local CES staff, not only from the four regions selected within Components 1 and 2, bur also from the other regions of Croatia

3.2 Policy supportThe Croatian Government adopted and implemented a series of strategic documents and measures in the field of Employment Policy The TA paid attention to make sure that all activities and results will be in accordance with these overarching policy issues and connect them with the requirements of the EES Training materials were drafted in view of these aspects and, in the field of grant management, orient towards the requirements of the IPA and ESF

3.3 Appropriate technologyActive labour market policy measures have been implemented since 1992 through a sequence of programmes The current structure with 6 types of measures was introduced in the programme cycle 2002 – 2005 which adapted the ALMPs to the amended labour legislation In 2006 a new programme was launched which puts more emphasis on the aspect of qualification taking the mismatch between the supply and demand of skills and qualification in the labour market

The project recommended to relate the current measures to the 6 categories for the classification of ALMP according to the EU methodology

No EU classification No ALMP measures in Croatia

2 Training

5 1a 5 1b5 2O/N

Co-financing of education for known employer – newly employed known employer – retaining work place unknown employer

3Job rotation and job sharing

4 Employment incentives

1234Z

Co-financing of employment for young persons without working experience long-term unemployed women above 45 and men above 50 special groups of the unemployed Roma population during 24 months

5Supported employment and rehabilitation

6, J

Public worksPublic works, Roma

6 Direct job creation7 Start-up incentives



563.4 Socio-cultural aspectsA strong emphasis was laid on the involvement of and the co-operation with and between the different stakeholders and social partners It is expected that this approach contributes to the social dialogue in the field of employment This applies in particular to the regional and local level As mentioned above, the proposals submitted in the Concept Note on co-operation with the local stakeholders suggest to strengthen and further develop existing structures at the regional level, and the CES should take a leading role in this process (see Project CD, Folder: Activity 2 1 – Local Co-operation Concept)

3.5 Gender equalityUnemployment among women in Croatia is particularly high Therefore, the project considered this aspect in the context of evaluating the AMLP measures as well as in the drafting of recommendations The need for better including women in the labour market was also emphasized in the trainings, workshops and seminars carried out under all components of the project

3.6 Environmental protectionThe project had no specific aspects regarding issues of environmental protection

3.7 Institutional and management capacityAs mentioned, capacity building constituted a core task of the project as it is the main instrument to contribute to the sustainability of the project results This purpose was pursued through the active role of WG 1 and 2, different workshops and meetings organised for developing the research plan, drafting of recommendations and the different training measures, in particular the GS Management training under Activity 3 5

3.8 Economic and financial viabilityALMPs are financed through the central state budget To make the necessary measures financially viable, therefore, is directly linked to the political commitment of the Croatian government to further develop the current employment policy it pursues

A serious obstacle results from the fact that measures for a given year can only be implemented after the state budget has been adopted



57

4 Conclusions and Recommendations4 1 Overall conclusions on implementation (including critical

issues / risks)The project was implemented successfully and it can reasonably be expected that the results delivered will prove useful in future

The CES supported the project during the entire implementation phase and provided all operational and managerial resources needed The co-operation between the project team and the CES / PIU went smoothly To ensure this, regular meetings were held on all issues (about monthly) and a close day-to-day contact was held with the PIU staff Moreover, an appropriate number of staff of CES at national and regional level was available for participating in the project activities and attending the working groups and seminars

At a wider level, the inclusion and active participation of major stakeholders at central and regional level contributed significantly to the evaluation and design of recommendations As already emphasized Working Group 2 played an active role in this regard for the achievement of the results in Components 1 and 2

As explained above (section 2 4) a limiting factor in this project was the overall number of working days for short-term experts Only insufficient short-term expertise was available for Components 1 and 2, and more training could have been provided given the incidental budget of EUR 234,500, but due to the bottleneck on the complementary side of experts input this was not possible

A sufficient number of well designed projects which hit key issues of groups threatened by social exclusion were implemented successfully under the Grant Scheme despite the mismatch in synchronization with this project

4.2 Recommendations for future programmes and projectsTo achieve sustainability of the project’s results it is suggested that the CES applies and further develops the recommendations on ALMPs as proposed by the project and refers to them in future Annual Employment Programmes

For future activities the following points should be taken into consideration:

• It is recommended to further develop local co-operation as suggested in the Concept Note on Local Co-operation To this end, CES headquarters should take over a leading role by offering a support structure at regional level and by providing guidelines on the tasks and compilation of regional partnerships

• The capacity building activities should be developed towards a systematic and comprehensive training programme, following the example of training for the counsellors

• The design, structure and indicators of ALMP measures should be brought in line with the EU methodology

• A more systematic approach to involve the stakeholders and the regional level in designing, implementing and monitoring of ALMPs should be developed

• The further development of a monitoring system of active labour market measures should be closely followed up according to recommendations provided by the project team



58• As the evaluation of ALMPs carried out under this project was only a starting point, it would prove

useful to establish contacts to research institutes in Croatia who might undertake independent evaluations of labour market programmes in the future

• A communication approach could be developed to make results of this and former projects to stakeholders and future projects available, as well as data, statistics and other relevant documents

• Future programmes and projects should be better co-ordinated; information on different programmes and projects implemented by different ministries or other institutions should be better circulated in order to avoid overlap and ensure continuity, complementarity and full involvement of all relevant stakeholders; in particular there is a need for a closer cooperation between the Ministry of the Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship, the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports and the Ministry of Finance

• Raise awareness of employment issues – employment policy in general needs the commitment and work of a multitude of stakeholders

In view of the difficulties mentioned in implementing this project, in the future planning of projects it should be taken into consideration that

• performance of surveys, analysis and editing of statistical data requires a high amount of experts’ working time;

• training courses have to be planned with two trainers in view, and sufficient time has to be made available for the elaboration of training materials;

• good synchronization of complementary projects will raise their overall efficiency.


59

Annex 1 Updated Logical Framework



60Lo

gica

l Fra

mew

ork

(17

Nove

mbe

r 200

8)In

terv

entio

n lo

gic

Obje

ctiv

ely v

erifi

able

indi

cato

rsSo

urce

s of v

erifi

catio

nAs

sum

ptio

ns

Over

all

obje

ctiv

e

Prom

ote e

cono

mic

and s

ocial

cohe

sion f

or ac

hievin

g be

tter p

rofes

siona

l integ

ration

of th

e mos

t vuln

erable

gr

oups

in th

e Croa

tian l

abou

r mark

et

• Em

ploym

ent r

ate of

the g

roups

threa

tened

by so

cial e

xclus

ion

• Perc

entag

e of t

he gr

oups

threa

tened

by so

cial e

xclus

ion in

to

tal un

emplo

ymen

t

Statis

tical

data

prov

ided b

y the

Cro

atian

Emplo

ymen

t Ser

vice

Statis

tical

data

prov

ided b

y the

Na

tiona

l Bur

eau o

f Stat

istics

Spec

ific

Obje

ctiv

es

(Pro

ject

pu

rpos

es)

Deve

lop th

e cap

acity

of th

e lab

our m

arket

agen

ts to

carry

ou

t ALM

P mea

sures

Increa

se th

e em

ploya

bility

of th

e grou

ps th

reaten

ed by

so

cial e

xclus

ion, b

y usin

g the

path

ways

appr

oach

to

labou

r mark

et int

egrat

ion

• Lev

el of

labou

r mark

et ag

ents’

skills

and k

nowl

edge

on A

LMP

achie

ved

• Lev

el of

final

bene

ficiar

ies’ sk

ills an

d kno

wled

ge re

levan

t for

th

eir em

ploya

bility

Final

proje

ct rep

ort

Projec

t Stee

ring C

omm

ittee

minu

tes

• Willi

ngne

ss of

the u

nem

ploye

d pers

ons t

o par

ticipa

te in

the p

rojec

t

• Stat

istica

l data

avail

able

for al

l targ

et gr

oups

Resu

lts

1. Th

e effe

ctive

ness

of th

e cur

rent A

LMP m

easu

res in

Cro

atia a

nd th

e sys

tem fo

r the

ir im

plem

entat

ion an

d m

anag

emen

t are

thoro

ughly

evalu

ated.

2. Re

com

men

datio

ns co

ncern

ing th

e im

prov

emen

t of t

he

exist

ing A

LMP a

nd th

e con

cept

ion of

new

mea

sures

are

desig

ned a

nd co

ordina

ted w

ith al

l relev

ant s

takeh

olders

.

3. Ca

pacit

y of t

he CE

S staff

conc

erning

the m

anag

emen

t an

d im

plem

entat

ion of

ALM

P mea

sures

is im

prov

ed.

4. M

easu

res to

incre

ase t

he em

ploya

bility

of th

e grou

ps

at ris

k of s

ocial

exclu

sion a

re we

ll und

erwa

y thr

ough

the

imple

men

tation

of th

e Gran

t Sch

eme p

rojec

ts an

d are

duly

mon

itored

by CE

S staff

.

• The

Evalu

ation

repo

rt fin

ished

• Num

ber o

f cur

rent A

LMP m

easu

res re

com

men

ded f

or

cont

inuati

on

• Num

ber o

f new

reco

mm

ende

d ALM

P mea

sures

• The

conc

ept o

f new

mea

sures

and i

mpr

oved

ALM

P draf

ted

and a

gree

d with

the C

ES an

d rele

vant

stak

ehold

ers

• Num

ber o

f trai

nings

orga

nized

for t

he CE

S staff

• Num

ber o

f the

CES s

taff tr

ained

for m

anag

emen

t and

im

plem

entat

ion of

ALM

P mea

sures

and g

rant s

chem

e

• Num

ber o

f trai

nings

orga

nized

for t

he CE

S staff

• The

num

ber o

f pot

entia

l gran

t ben

eficia

ries t

raine

d in p

rojec

t de

velop

men

t and

appli

catio

n proc

edur

e

• The

num

ber o

f app

licati

ons t

hat e

ntere

d the

asse

ssmen

t pr

oced

ure

• The

num

ber o

f app

lican

ts th

at sig

ned t

he G

rant c

ontra

ct

• Num

ber o

f fina

l ben

eficia

ries i

nclud

ed in

the G

rant S

chem

e pr

ojects

• Num

ber o

f suc

cessf

ully i

mple

men

ted pr

ojects

with

in th

e Gran

t Sc

hem

e

• Elab

orati

on of

a m

anua

l on ‘

Gran

t Sch

eme M

anag

emen

t’ and

on

‘Imple

men

tation

of G

rant P

rojec

ts’ ela

borat

ed, b

ased

on th

e ad

justed

Guid

eline

s for

Gran

ts.

Interi

m an

d mon

thly

repor

tsEv

aluati

on re

port

Reco

mm

enda

tions

Mee

ting m

inutes

Traini

ng re

ports

/ ev

aluati

ons

Traini

ng ha

ndou

tsGr

ant c

ontra

ctsRe

ports

of th

e proj

ects

with

in th

e Gr

ant S

chem

e

• Par

ticipa

tion o

f soc

ial pa

rtners

and o

ther

stake

holde

rs in

the f

orm

ulatio

n of n

ew an

d im

prov

ed A

LMP m

easu

res

• Rea

dines

s of t

he ci

vil so

ciety

in Cro

atia t

o ent

er th

e field

of

labou

r mark

et an

d to i

nvolv

e in t

he im

plem

entat

ion of

the

ALM

P mea

sures

• Suffi

cient

num

ber o

f well

desig

ned p

rojec

ts wh

ich hi

t key

iss

ues o

f grou

ps th

reaten

ed by

socia

l exc

lusion

• An a

pprop

riate

num

ber o

f staff

of CE

S at n

ation

al an

d reg

ional

level

will b

e mad

e ava

ilable

for p

artic

ipatin

g in

the p

rojec

t acti

vities

and a

ttend

ing th

e wor

king g

roups

an

d sem

inars

• The

activ

ities o

f the

Tech

nical

Assis

tance

Proje

ct an

d the

Gr

ant S

chem

es ar

e ade

quate

ly ad

justed

each

othe

r and

pe

rform

ed w

ithou

t dela

y


A n n e x 1 U p d a t e d Lo g i c a l Fr a m e w o r k

61Lo

gica

l Fra

mew

ork

(17

Nove

mbe

r 200

8)Ac

tiviti

esSp

ecifi

catio

n of

M

eans

Spec

ifica

tion

of Co

sts

Assu

mpt

ions

Activ

ities

rela

ted

to th

e In

cept

ion

Phas

e

IN.1

Estab

lishm

ent o

f the

main

proje

ct offi

ce, p

rojec

t m

anag

emen

t stru

ctures

and t

he St

eerin

g Com

mitt

eeTL

, Proj

ect D

irecto

r, su

ppor

t staff

Adm

inistr

ative

, sec

retari

al an

d int

erpret

ation

costs

Office

spac

e in Z

agreb

avail

able

in du

e tim

e, pr

oject

partn

ers re

ady t

o pa

rticip

ate in

the S

C

IN.2

Revie

w ba

ckgr

ound

mate

rial in

Croa

tia as

well

as ou

tcom

e of

relev

ant f

orm

er pr

ojects

TL, K

E 2, K

E 3Tra

nslat

ion co

stsRe

levan

t doc

umen

ts are

mad

e ava

ilable

to co

nsult

ant t

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IN.3

Ensu

re aw

arene

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Regio

nal Tr

ansp

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retati

onRe

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erenc

e ven

ues

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catio

n and

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ing co

stsCa

tering

Projec

t par

tners

and o

ther

relev

ant s

takeh

olders

at ce

ntral

and r

egion

al lev

el are

inter

ested

in co

-ope

ration

IN.4

Elabo

rate I

ncep

tion R

epor

tTL

, KE 2

, KE 3

Supp

ort b

y all r

eleva

ntsta

keho

lders

Activ

ities

rela

ted

to re

sult

1:

Com

pone

nt 1

: Eva

luat

ion

of th

e AL

MP

mea

sure

s in

Croa

tia

1.1Ela

borat

ion of

a res

earch

plan

TL, K

E 2, S

TECE

S and

MoE

LE st

aff is

willi

ng to

activ

ely pa

rticip

ate

1.2Co

mm

unica

tion o

f the

rese

arch p

lan on

regio

nal le

vel

TL, K

E 2, S

TETra

nslat

ion co

sts w

here

nece

ssary

Regio

nal tr

ansp

ort

Supp

ort b

y all r

eleva

nt st

akeh

olders

1.3Im

plem

entat

ion of

field

studie

s in Z

agreb

and s

electe

d co

untie

sTL

, KE 2

, STE

Trans

lation

costs

whe

rene

cessa

ryRe

giona

l tran

spor

tPro

ducti

on an

d dist

ribut

ion of

ques

tionn

aires

Inter

view

costs

(rec

orders

, cate

ring)

Supp

ort a

nd ac

tive p

artic

ipatio

n by a

ll rele

vant

stak

ehold

ers

1.4As

sessm

ent o

f suc

cess

of AL

MP m

easu

res an

d the

efficie

ncy

of th

e sys

tem fo

r the

ir man

agem

ent a

nd im

plem

entat

ionTL

, KE 2

, STE

Trans

lation

costs

whe

rene

cessa

ryRe

levan

t doc

umen

ts are

mad

e ava

ilable

1.5Co

-ord

inatio

n and

disc

ussio

n of fi

eld re

searc

h with

a W

orkin

g Grou

p, pr

esen

tation

of re

searc

h find

ings i

n fou

r reg

ions

TL, K

E 2, S

TE

Mee

tings

of W

orkin

g Grou

pM

ateria

lsRe

giona

l tran

spor

tInt

erpret

ation

costs

whe

reNe

cessa

ry

Supp

ort b

y all r

eleva

nt st

akeh

olders



62Lo

gica

l Fra

mew

ork

(17

Nove

mbe

r 200

8)Ac

tiviti

esSp

ecifi

catio

n of

M

eans

Spec

ifica

tion

of Co

sts

Assu

mpt

ions

1.6De

velop

men

t of t

he fir

st co

mpr

ehen

sive d

raft o

f the

ev

aluati

on re

port

TL, K

E 2, S

TETra

nslat

ion co

sts w

here

nece

ssary

1.7Di

scus

sion o

f rese

arch fi

nding

s with

labo

ur m

arket

expe

rts

not r

epres

ented

in SC

TL, K

E 2, S

TE

Interp

retati

onRe

nt of

conf

erenc

e ven

ues

Publi

catio

n and

print

ing co

stsCa

tering

Trave

l cos

ts

Activ

e par

ticipa

tion o

f all r

eleva

nt st

akeh

olders

1.8Pre

sent

first

com

preh

ensiv

e draf

t to C

ES ke

y staff

and S

CTL

, KE 2

, STE

Interp

retati

onRe

nt of

conf

erenc

e ven

ues

Publi

catio

n and

print

ing co

stsCa

tering

Trave

l cos

ts

Activ

e par

ticipa

tion o

f all r

eleva

nt st

akeh

olders

1.9Co

mpil

ation

of a

final

draft

of th

e eva

luatio

n rep

ort

TL, K

E 2, S

TETra

nslat

ion co

sts w

here

nece

ssary

Final

draft

is ac

cept

ed in

time

Activ

ities

rela

ted

to re

sult

2:

Com

pone

nt 2

: Des

ign

of re

com

men

datio

ns a

nd n

ew A

LMP

mea

sure

s

2.1Es

tablis

hmen

t of a

coop

eratio

n con

cept

with

the r

eleva

nt

stake

holde

rsTL

, KE 2

, STE

Regio

nal tr

ansp

ort

Trans

lation

costs

whe

re ne

cessa

rySu

ppor

t and

activ

e par

ticipa

tion b

y all r

eleva

nt st

akeh

olders

2.2

Assis

t Wor

king G

roup w

hich i

nclud

es th

e main

stak

ehold

ers

with

in th

e em

ploym

ent p

olicy

field

to di

scus

s the

outco

me

of th

e eva

luatio

n, an

d the

deve

lopm

ent o

f ade

quate

m

easu

res fo

r the

targ

et gr

oups

TL, K

E 2, S

TE

Interp

retati

onRe

nt of

conf

erenc

e ven

ues

Publi

catio

n and

print

ing co

stsCa

tering

Trave

l cos

ts

Supp

ort a

nd ac

tive p

artic

ipatio

n by S

teerin

g Grou

p mem

bers

2.3De

velop

first

draft

of re

com

men

datio

nsTL

, KE 2

, STE

Trans

lation

costs

whe

re ne

cessa

ry

2.4Im

plem

ent w

orks

hops

for t

he pr

esen

tation

and d

iscus

sion o

f th

e first

draft

of th

e rec

omm

enda

tions

in fo

ur re

gions

TL, K

E 2, S

TE

Interp

retati

onRe

nt of

conf

erenc

e ven

ues

Publi

catio

n and

print

ing co

stsAc

com

mod

ation

, Cate

ring

Trave

l cos

ts

Activ

e par

ticipa

tion b

y all r

eleva

nt st

akeh

olders



63Lo

gica

l Fra

mew

ork

(17

Nove

mbe

r 200

8)Ac

tiviti

esSp

ecifi

catio

n of

M

eans

Spec

ifica

tion

of Co

sts

Assu

mpt

ions

2.5De

sign fi

nal d

raft o

f reco

mm

enda

tions

TL, K

E 2, S

TETra

nslat

ion co

sts w

here

nece

ssary

Final

draft

is ac

cept

ed in

time

2.6Pre

sent

final

draft

of re

com

men

datio

ns in

the f

rame o

f a

one-

day w

orks

hop

TL, K

E 2, S

TE

Interp

retati

onRe

nt of

conf

erenc

e ven

ues

Publi

catio

n and

print

ing co

stsCa

tering

Trave

l cos

ts

Activ

e par

ticipa

tion b

y all r

eleva

nt st

akeh

olders

2.7Int

egrat

e rec

omm

enda

tions

into

the fi

nal re

port

of th

e pr

oject

TL, K

E 2, S

TE

Activ

ities

rela

ted

to re

sult

3:

Com

pone

nt 3

: Cap

acity

bui

ldin

g

3.1De

sign t

rainin

g prog

ramm

e for

relev

ant C

ES st

affTL

, KE 2

, KE 3

, STE

Costs

of tr

aining

need

s asse

ssmen

t (qu

estio

nnair

es, in

tervie

ws)

Trans

lation

costs

whe

re ne

cessa

ry

Relev

ant d

ocum

ents

and t

rainin

g mate

rials

of pr

eviou

s proj

ects

are m

ade

avail

able

in tim

eAc

tive p

artic

ipatio

n of C

ES st

aff in

TNA

3.2Di

ssem

inate

plan t

o rele

vant

CES s

taffTL

, KE 2

, KE 3

, STE

Activ

e par

ticipa

tion o

f CES

staff

Traini

ng pl

an is

acce

pted

in tim

e

3.3De

velop

appr

opria

te m

ateria

ls for

the t

rainin

g wor

ksho

psTL

, KE 2

, KE 3

, STE

Trans

lation

costs

3.4Pre

pare

and i

mple

men

t trai

ning w

orks

hops

on

imple

men

tation

, mon

itorin

g and

evalu

ation

of A

LMP

mea

sures

TL, K

E 2, S

TE

Interp

retati

onRe

nt of

conf

erenc

e ven

ues

Publi

catio

n and

print

ing co

stsAc

com

mod

ation

, Cate

ring

Trave

l cos

ts

Activ

e par

ticipa

tion o

f CES

staff

3.5Pre

pare

and i

mple

men

t trai

ning w

orks

hops

on th

e des

ign

and m

anag

emen

t of g

rant s

chem

esTL

, KE 3

, STE

Interp

retati

onRe

nt of

conf

erenc

e ven

ues

Publi

catio

n and

print

ing co

stsAc

com

mod

ation

, Cate

ring

Trave

l cos

ts

Activ

e par

ticipa

tion o

f CES

staff



64Lo

gica

l Fra

mew

ork

(17

Nove

mbe

r 200

8)Ac

tiviti

esSp

ecifi

catio

n of

M

eans

Spec

ifica

tion

of Co

sts

Assu

mpt

ions

3.6Pre

pare

and i

mple

men

t trai

ning w

orks

hops

for c

ouns

ellor

s de

aling

with

the r

isk gr

oups

TL, S

TE

Interp

retati

onRe

nt of

conf

erenc

e ven

ues

Publi

catio

n and

print

ing co

stsAc

com

mod

ation

, Cate

ring

Trave

l cos

ts

Activ

e par

ticipa

tion o

f CES

staff

3.7Su

ppor

t in th

e esta

blish

men

t of m

onito

ring a

nd ev

aluati

on

syste

ms

TL, K

E 2, S

TERe

levan

t data

mad

e ava

ilable

in tim

eAc

tive p

artic

ipatio

n of C

ES st

aff

Activ

ities

rela

ted

to re

sult

4:

Com

pone

nt 4

: Gra

nt Sc

hem

e M

anag

emen

t

4.1Re

cruit g

rant a

ssesso

rs an

d trai

ners

TL, K

E 3, S

TETe

nderi

ng co

stsQu

alifie

d can

didate

s hav

e bee

n ide

ntifie

d and

acce

pted

4.2Pre

pare

and i

mple

men

t trai

ning o

f gran

t asse

ssors

and

traine

rsTL

, KE 3

, STE

Rent

of co

nfere

nce v

enue

sPu

blica

tion a

nd pr

inting

costs

Cater

ingGr

ant a

ssesso

rs an

d trai

ners

will a

ttend

the t

rainin

g sem

inars

4.3Ra

ise aw

arene

ss am

ong p

oten

tial g

rant b

enefi

ciarie

sTL

, KE 3

, STE

Relev

ant s

takeh

olders

are i

ntere

sted a

nd pa

rticip

ate ac

tively

4.4Pre

pare

and i

mple

men

t trai

ning o

n gran

t sch

eme

requir

emen

ts to

poten

tial g

rant b

enefi

ciarie

sTL

, KE 3

, STE

4.5Es

tablis

h help

desk

sTL

, KE 3

, STE

Activ

e par

ticipa

tion o

f eva

luatio

n com

mitt

ee m

embe

rsA

suffi

cient

num

ber o

f qua

lified

appli

catio

ns ha

s bee

n sub

mitt

ed

4.6Ev

aluati

on –

Step

1TL

, KE 3

, STE

Activ

e par

ticipa

tion o

f eva

luatio

n com

mitt

ee m

embe

rs

4.7Ev

aluati

on –

Step

2TL

, KE 3

, STE

Activ

e par

ticipa

tion o

f eva

luatio

n com

mitt

ee m

embe

rs

4.8Ev

aluati

on –

Step

3TL

, KE 3

, STE

Activ

e par

ticipa

tion o

f eva

luatio

n com

mitt

ee m

embe

rs

4.9Ev

aluati

on –

Step

4TL

, KE 3

, STE

Activ

e par

ticipa

tion o

f eva

luatio

n com

mitt

ee m

embe

rs

4.10

Prepa

re gr

ant c

ontra

cts fo

r sign

ature

TL, K

E 3, S

TEGr

ant c

ontra

cts ar

e elab

orate

d and

appr

oved

in tim

e

4.11

Set-u

p a gr

ant m

onito

ring s

ystem

for a

ll gran

t proj

ects

fund

ed un

der P

HARE

2005

TL, K

E 3, S

TEAc

tive p

artic

ipatio

n of C

ES st

affAl

l nec

essa

ry m

onito

ring d

ata av

ailab

le in

time

Conc

ept is

appr

oved

and i

mple

men

ted in

time



65Lo

gica

l Fra

mew

ork

(17

Nove

mbe

r 200

8)Ac

tiviti

esSp

ecifi

catio

n of

M

eans

Spec

ifica

tion

of Co

sts

Assu

mpt

ions

4.12

Supp

ort im

plem

entat

ion of

gran

t proj

ects

TL, K

E 3, S

TE

Regio

nal tr

ansp

ort

Interp

retati

on/Tr

ansla

tion

Conf

erenc

e ven

ueAc

com

mod

ation

and C

aterin

g for

parti

cipan

tsPr

inting

costs

Activ

e par

ticipa

tion o

f gran

t ben

eficia

ries

4.13

Supp

ort C

ES pr

oject

man

ager

with

asse

ssmen

t of q

uarte

rly

repor

ts of

gran

t ben

eficia

ries

TL, K

E 3, S

TEInt

erpret

ation

/Tran

slatio

n whe

re ne

cessa

ryAc

tive p

artic

ipatio

n of g

rant b

enefi

ciarie

s

4.14

Supp

ort P

IU w

ith pr

epara

tion a

nd su

bmiss

ion of

repo

rts on

Gr

ant S

chem

e prog

ress

TL, K

E 3, S

TEInt

erpret

ation

/Tran

slatio

n whe

re ne

cessa

ryAc

tive p

artic

ipatio

n of g

rant b

enefi

ciarie

s

4.15

Imple

men

t two

one-

day w

orks

hop f

or gr

ant b

enefi

ciarie

sTL

, KE 3

, STE

Wor

ksho

p ven

ueAc

com

mod

ation

and C

aterin

g for

parti

cipan

tsTra

vel c

osts

Print

ing co

stsInt

erpret

ation

/Tran

slatio

n

Supp

ort a

nd ac

tive p

artic

ipatio

n of g

rant b

enefi

ciarie

s

4.16

Imple

men

t wrap

up ev

ent f

or gr

ant b

enefi

ciarie

s and

partn

er ins

titut

ions

TL, K

E 3, S

TE

Conf

erenc

e ven

ueAc

com

mod

ation

and C

aterin

g for

parti

cipan

tsTra

vel c

osts

Print

ing co

stsInt

erpret

ation

/Tran

slatio

n

Activ

e par

ticipa

tion o

f all r

eleva

nt st

akeh

olders

4.17

Publi

catio

n and

disse

mina

tion o

f a co

mpe

ndium

of gr

ant

proje

ctsTL

, KE 3

, STE

Print

ing co

stsInt

erpret

ation

/Tran

slatio

nGr

ant p

rojec

ts ha

ve be

en su

cces

sfully

imple

men

ted

Clos

ing

Phas

e

CL.1

Sum

mar

y of p

rojec

t res

ults

TL, K

E 2, K

E 3, S

TEAl

l proj

ect r

esult

s hav

e bee

n ach

ieved

in tim

e and

are a

pprov

ed

CL.2

Disse

mina

tion o

f proj

ect r

esult

sTL

, KE 2

, KE 3

, STE

Print

ing co

stsInt

erpret

ation

/Tran

slatio

nFin

al rep

ort e

labor

ated a

nd ap

prov

ed in

time

CL.3

Final

wrap

-up e

vent

TL, K

E 2, K

E 3

Conf

erenc

e ven

ueAc

com

mod

ation

and C

aterin

g for

parti

cipan

tsM

ateria

lsInt

erpret

ation

/Tran

slatio

n

All p

rojec

t res

ults h

ave b

een a

chiev

ed in

time a

nd ar

e app

roved

Final

repor

t elab

orate

d and

appr

oved

in tim

e


67

Annex 2 Updated Implementation Schedule



68Up

date

d Im

plem

enta

tion

Sch

edul

e (1

7 No

vem

ber 2

008)

Mon

th:

12

34

56

78

910

1112

1314

1516

1718

1920

04

.0705

.0706

.0707

.0708

.0709

.0710

.0711

.0712

.0701

.0802

.0803

.0804

.0805

.0806

.0807

.0808

.0809

.0810

.0811

.08

Ince

ptio

n Ph

ase

IN.1

Estab

lishm

ent o

f the

main

proje

ct offi

ce, p

rojec

t m

anag

emen

t stru

ctures

and t

he St

eerin

g Com

mitt

ee

IN.2

Revie

w ba

ckgr

ound

mate

rial a

nd ou

tcom

es of

rel

ated p

rojec

ts

IN.3

Ensu

re aw

arene

ss of

the p

rojec

t

IN.4

Elabo

rate I

ncep

tion R

epor

t

Com

pone

nt 1

: Eva

luat

ion

of th

e AL

MP

mea

sure

s in

Croa

tia

1.1Ela

borat

ion of

a res

earch

plan

1.2Co

mm

unica

tion o

f the

rese

arch p

lan on

regio

nal

level

1.3Im

plem

entat

ion of

field

studie

s in Z

agreb

and

selec

ted co

untie

s

1.4As

sessm

ent o

f suc

cess

of AL

MP m

easu

res an

d the

effi

cienc

y of m

anag

emen

t and

imple

men

tation

1.5Pre

sent

ation

of re

searc

h find

ings i

n fou

r cou

nties

1.6De

velop

men

t of t

he fir

st co

mpr

ehen

sive d

raft o

f the

ev

aluati

on re

port

1.7Di

scus

sion o

f rese

arch fi

nding

s with

labo

ur m

arket

expe

rts no

t rep

resen

ted in

SC

1.8Pre

sent

first

com

preh

ensiv

e draf

t to C

ES ke

y staff

an

d SC

1.9Co

mpil

ation

of a

final

draft

of th

e eva

luatio

n rep

ort


A n n e x 2 U p d a t e d I m p l e m e n t a t i o n S c h e d u l e

69Up

date

d Im

plem

enta

tion

Sch

edul

e (1

7 No

vem

ber 2

008)

Mon

th:

12

34

56

78

910

1112

1314

1516

1718

1920

04

.0705

.0706

.0707

.0708

.0709

.0710

.0711

.0712

.0701

.0802

.0803

.0804

.0805

.0806

.0807

.0808

.0809

.0810

.0811

.08

Com

pone

nt 2

: Des

ign

of re

com

men

datio

ns a

nd

new

ALM

P m

easu

res

2.1Es

tablis

hmen

t of a

coop

eratio

n con

cept

with

the

relev

ant lo

cal s

takeh

olders

2.2As

sistin

g WG

2

2.3De

velop

men

t of t

he fir

st dr

aft re

com

men

datio

n rep

ort

2.4W

orks

hops

for t

he pr

esen

tation

and d

iscus

sion o

f the

fir

st dr

aft of

the r

ecom

men

datio

ns in

four

coun

ties

2.5De

sign fi

nal d

raft o

f reco

mm

enda

tions

2.6Pre

sent

final

draft

of th

e rec

omm

enda

tions

in th

e fra

me o

f a on

e-da

y wor

ksho

p

2.7Int

egrat

e rec

omm

enda

tions

into

the fi

nal re

port

of th

e proj

ect

Com

pone

nt 3

: Cap

acity

Bui

ldin

g

3.1De

sign t

rainin

g prog

ramm

e for

relev

ant C

ES st

aff

3.2Di

ssem

inate

plan t

o rele

vant

CES s

taff

3.3De

velop

appr

opria

te m

ateria

ls for

the t

rainin

g wo

rksho

ps

3.4Tra

ining

wor

ksho

ps on

imple

men

tation

, mon

itorin

g an

d eva

luatio

n of A

LMP m

easu

res

3.5Pre

pare

and i

mple

men

t trai

ning w

orks

hops

on th

e de

sign a

nd m

anag

emen

t of g

rant s

chem

es



70Up

date

d Im

plem

enta

tion

Sch

edul

e (1

7 No

vem

ber 2

008)

Mon

th:

12

34

56

78

910

1112

1314

1516

1718

1920

04

.0705

.0706

.0707

.0708

.0709

.0710

.0711

.0712

.0701

.0802

.0803

.0804

.0805

.0806

.0807

.0808

.0809

.0810

.0811

.08

3.6Pre

pare

and i

mple

men

t trai

ning w

orks

hops

for

coun

sello

rs de

aling

with

the r

isk gr

oups

3.7Su

ppor

t in th

e esta

blish

men

t of m

onito

ring a

nd

evalu

ation

syste

ms

Com

pone

nt 4

: Gra

nt Sc

hem

e M

anag

emen

t

4.1Re

cruit g

rant a

ssesso

rs an

d trai

ners

4.2Tra

ining

of as

sesso

rs an

d trai

ners

4.3Ra

ise aw

arene

ss am

ong p

oten

tial g

rant b

enefi

ciarie

s

4.4Pre

pare

and i

mple

men

t trai

ning o

n gran

t sch

eme

requir

emen

ts to

poten

tial g

rant b

enefi

ciarie

s

4.5Es

tablis

h help

desk

s

4.6Ev

aluati

on St

ep 1

4.7Ev

aluati

on St

ep 2

4.8Ev

aluati

on St

ep 3

4.9Ev

aluati

on St

ep 4


A n n e x 2 U p d a t e d I m p l e m e n t a t i o n S c h e d u l e

71Up

date

d Im

plem

enta

tion

Sch

edul

e (1

7 No

vem

ber 2

008)

Mon

th:

12

34

56

78

910

1112

1314

1516

1718

1920

04

.0705

.0706

.0707

.0708

.0709

.0710

.0711

.0712

.0701

.0802

.0803

.0804

.0805

.0806

.0807

.0808

.0809

.0810

.0811

.08

4.10

Prepa

re gr

ant c

ontra

cts fo

r sign

ature

4.11

Set-u

p mon

itorin

g sys

tem

4.12

Supp

ort im

plem

entat

ion of

gran

t proj

ects

4.13

Revie

w na

rrativ

e and

finan

cial re

ports

of gr

ant

bene

ficiar

ies

4.14

Supp

ort P

IU w

ith re

porti

ng on

gran

t sch

eme

prog

ress

4.15

Imple

men

t 2 on

e-da

y wor

ksho

ps fo

r gran

t be

nefic

iaries

4.16

Imple

men

t wrap

-up e

vent

for g

rant b

enefi

ciarie

s an

d par

tner

instit

ution

s

4.17

Publi

catio

n and

disse

mina

tion o

f a co

mpe

ndium

of

gran

t proj

ects

Clos

ing

Phas

e

CL.1

Sum

mar

y of p

rojec

t res

ults

CL.2

Disse

mina

tion o

f proj

ect r

esult

s


73

Annex 3 Updated and Final Overall Work Plan



74Up

date

d an

d Fi

nal O

vera

ll W

ork

Plan

Com

pone

nt 1

: Eva

luat

ion

of A

LMP

mea

sure

s in

Croa

tia

Activ

ityTi

me

sche

dule

Desc

riptio

nSo

urce

sEx

pect

ed O

utpu

ts

1.1

Jun –

Jul 2

007

Elabo

ration

of re

searc

h plan

KE 2,

STE

Meth

odolo

gy fo

r eva

luatio

n

1.2

Sep 2

007

Com

mun

icate

resea

rch pl

anKE

2Sta

keho

lders

mad

e acq

uaint

ed w

ith re

searc

h plan

Stake

holde

rs for

inter

views

and f

ocus

grou

ps id

entifi

ed

1.3

Oct –

Nov

2007

Imple

men

tation

of fie

ld stu

dies i

n fou

r reg

ions

KE 2,

STE,

Inter

viewe

rsInt

ervie

ws an

d foc

us gr

oups

(cen

tral /

loca

l leve

l)

Field

studie

s

1.4

Jul 2

007 –

Jan 2

008

Asse

ssmen

t of t

he su

cces

s of A

LMP m

easu

res an

d the

efficie

ncy o

f the

syste

m fo

r m

anag

emen

t and

imple

men

tation

KE 2,

STE

First

resea

rch fin

dings

Revie

w m

anag

emen

t cap

acity

1.5

Feb 2

008

Prese

ntati

on of

the r

esea

rch fin

dings

in th

e fou

r reg

ions

KE 2,

STE

Sum

mar

y of re

searc

h find

ings

4 wor

ksho

ps

1.6

Feb –

May

2008

Elabo

ration

of th

e first

com

preh

ensiv

e draf

t of t

he ev

aluati

on re

port

KE 2,

STE

First

draft

of ev

aluati

on re

port

1.7

May

2008

Disc

ussio

n of re

searc

h find

ings w

ith la

bour

mark

et ex

perts

KE 2,

STE

Feed

back

on in

itial fi

nding

s

1.8

Jun 2

008

Prese

nt fir

st co

mpr

ehen

sive d

raft t

o CES

key s

taff an

d SC

KE 2,

STE

Wor

ksho

p with

CES a

nd SC

Feed

back

on re

sults

1.9

Jun -

Aug

2008

Com

pilati

on of

the fi

nal d

raft o

f the

evalu

ation

repo

rtKE

2, ST

EFin

al dr

aft of

evalu

ation

repo

rt


A n n e x 3 U p d a t e d a n d Fi n a l O v e r a l l Wo r k P l a n

75

Com

pone

nt 2

: Des

ign

of re

com

men

datio

n an

d ne

w A

LMP

mea

sure

s

Activ

ityTi

me

sche

dule

Desc

riptio

nSo

urce

sEx

pect

ed O

utpu

ts

2.1

Oct –

Feb 2

008

Estab

lishm

ent o

f a co

-ope

ration

conc

ept w

ith th

e rele

vant

loca

l stak

ehold

ersKE

2, LE

, STE

4 wor

ksho

psAg

reed c

o-op

eratio

n con

cept

2.2

Mar

– Ju

n 200

8Di

scus

s out

com

e of t

he ev

aluati

on an

d dev

elopm

ent o

f ade

quate

mea

sures

with

W

orkin

g Grou

p 2KE

2, LE

, STE

Wor

ksho

pRe

com

men

datio

ns el

abor

ated b

y WG

2

2.3

May

– Ju

n 200

8De

velop

first

draft

of re

com

men

datio

nsKE

2, LE

, STE

Draft

of re

com

men

datio

nsRe

com

men

datio

ns el

abor

ated b

y WG

2

2.4

Jul 2

008

Cond

uct w

orks

hops

for p

resen

tation

and d

iscus

sion o

f first

draft

of

recom

men

datio

ns in

four

regio

nsKE

2, LE

, STE

4 wor

ksho

psDr

aft re

com

men

datio

ns an

d con

cept

note

discu

ssed a

t 4 re

giona

l wo

rksho

ps

2.5

Jul 2

008

Desig

n fina

l draf

t of re

com

men

datio

nsKE

2, LE

, STE

Final

draft

of re

com

men

datio

ns

2.6

Jul 2

008

Prese

nt fin

al dr

aft of

reco

mm

enda

tions

in th

e fram

e of a

one-

day w

orks

hop

KE 2,

LE, S

TEFin

al dr

aft pr

esen

ted by

co-o

rdina

tor o

f WG

2 and

Key E

xper

t at

one-

day w

orks

hop

2.7

Oct –

Nov

2008

Integ

rate r

ecom

men

datio

ns in

to fin

al rep

ort o

f the

proje

ctKE

2Co

ntrib

ution

to Fi

nal R

epor

t



76Co

mpo

nent

3: C

apac

ity b

uild

ing

Activ

ityTi

me

sche

dule

Desc

riptio

nSo

urce

sEx

pect

ed O

utpu

ts

3.1

Sep –

Mar

2007

Desig

n trai

ning p

rogram

me f

or re

levan

t CES

staff

TL, K

E 2Tra

ining

prog

ramm

e agr

eed w

ith CE

S

3.2

Mar

2007

Disse

mina

te tra

ining

plan

to re

levan

t CES

staff

TLCE

S at c

entra

l and

loca

l leve

l fam

iliar w

ith tr

aining

prog

ramm

e

3.3

Mar

- May

2008

Deve

lop ap

prop

riate

mate

rials

for tr

aining

wor

ksho

psTL

, STE

Prese

ntati

ons a

nd su

pplem

entar

y trai

ning m

ateria

ls for

ALM

P trai

ning

(Acti

vity 3

.4), G

rant S

chem

e Man

agem

ent t

rainin

g (Ac

tivity

3.5)

and

Coun

sello

rs’ tra

ining

(Acti

vity 3

.6) co

mple

ted

3.4

Jun,

Sep,

Oct 2

008

Prepa

re an

d im

plem

ent t

rainin

g wor

ksho

ps on

imple

men

tation

, mon

itorin

g and

ev

aluati

on of

ALM

P mea

sures

TL, S

TESix

2-da

y wor

ksho

ps fo

r 70 p

artic

ipant

s alto

geth

er fro

m CE

S cen

tral a

nd

region

al lev

el

3.5

Apr –

May

2008

Prepa

re an

d im

plem

ent t

rainin

g wor

ksho

ps on

the d

esign

and m

anag

emen

t of

gran

t sch

emes

TL, K

E 3, S

TE2 t

rainin

g wor

ksho

ps fo

r 30 p

erson

s per

works

hop,

5 day

s per

works

hop

3.6

Sep -

Oct

2008

Prepa

re an

d im

plem

ent t

rainin

g wor

ksho

ps fo

r cou

nsell

ors d

ealin

g with

risk

grou

psTL

, KE 2

, STE

Two 4

-day

Train

ing w

orks

hops

for 2

2 pers

ons e

ach f

rom CE

S cen

tral a

nd

region

al lev

el

3.7

Jul -

Oct

2008

Supp

ort in

the e

stabli

shm

ent o

f mon

itorin

g and

evalu

ation

syste

ms

TL, K

E 2, S

TERe

com

men

datio

ns fo

r mon

itorin

g and

evalu

ation

syste

ms o

utlin

ed


A n n e x 3 U p d a t e d a n d Fi n a l O v e r a l l Wo r k P l a n

77

Com

pone

nt 4

: Gra

nt Sc

hem

e M

anag

emen

t

Activ

ityTi

me

sche

dule

Desc

riptio

nSo

urce

sRe

sults

/ ex

pect

ed re

sults

Pre-

gran

t act

iviti

es

4.1

Apr –

May

2007

Recru

it gran

t asse

ssors

and t

raine

rsKE

3 3 G

rant T

raine

rs (G

T) an

d 5 G

rant A

ssesso

rs (G

A) ap

prov

ed by

CFCU

4.2

May

– Se

p 200

7Tra

ining

of as

sesso

rs an

d trai

ners

KE3,

GT, G

ATh

ree-d

ay tr

aining

cour

se fo

r GT a

nd G

ATh

ree on

e-da

y-tra

ining

sessi

ons f

or G

A

4.3

Aug -

Oct

2007

Raise

aware

ness

amon

g pot

entia

l gran

t ben

eficia

ries

KE3

Revie

w an

d rec

omm

enda

tions

base

d on t

he pu

blish

ed gu

idelin

es an

d for

ms i

n the

cour

se

of th

e eva

luatio

n and

budg

et cla

rifica

tion p

roces

s

4.4

May

– Ju

n 200

7Pre

pare

and i

mple

men

t trai

ning o

n gran

t sch

eme

requir

emen

ts to

poten

tial g

rant b

enefi

ciarie

sKE

3, GT

Four

two-

day t

rainin

g cou

rses

4.5

May

– Ju

n 200

7Es

tablis

h help

desk

sGT

, KE3

FAQ

deliv

ered f

or pu

blish

ing at

CFCU

-Web

site

Sum

mari

zed e

valua

tion r

epor

t in de

aling

with

Help

Des

k elab

orate

d and

disc

usse

d with

CE

S / CF

CU)

4.6

/ 4.7

4.8

/ 4.9

Jun –

Oct

2007

Evalu

ation

proc

ess

KE3,

GA

Key e

xper

t 3 (K

E3)

- elab

orate

the d

ocum

ents

need

ed fo

r the

evalu

ation

proc

ess

- co-

ordina

te an

d sup

ervis

e the

wor

k of t

he G

rant A

ssesso

rs in

coop

eratio

n with

the

Bene

ficiar

y- r

ecom

men

d / ad

just t

he ev

aluati

on pr

oces

sGr

ant A

ssesso

rs - e

valua

te th

e app

licati

ons a

long t

he ap

prov

ed ev

aluati

on st

rateg

y usin

g the

evalu

ation

gr

ids

- deli

ver s

ubsta

ntial

com

men

ts for

furth

er ev

aluati

on an

d the

decis

ion pr

oces

s- e

labor

ate re

ports

on th

e res

ults o

f eac

h eva

luatio

n step

and p

resen

t the

asse

ssmen

t res

ults

- prov

ide as

sistan

ce in

budg

et cla

rifica

tion p

roces

s

4.10

Oc

t 200

7Pre

pare

gran

t con

tracts

for s

ignatu

reKE

3, GA

Supp

ort t

o app

lican

ts wi

th im

prov

ing th

e bud

gets

of th

e proj

ect p

ropos

als



78Ac

tivity

Tim

e sc

hedu

leDe

scrip

tion

Sour

ces

Resu

lts /

expe

cted

resu

lts

On-g

oing

gra

nt a

ctiv

ities

4.11

Nov 2

007 –

Feb

2008

Set-u

p a gr

ant m

onito

ring s

ystem

KE3,

STE

Mon

itorin

g sys

tem de

velop

edStr

uctu

re of

data

to be

colle

cted a

gree

d.Gr

ant M

anag

ers tr

ained

in us

ing m

onito

ring s

ystem

Data

base

on G

rant P

rojec

ts co

ntinu

ously

upda

ted an

d use

d for

prep

aratio

n of q

uarte

rly

repor

ts on

prog

ress o

f the

Gran

t Sch

eme

4.12

Nov 2

007 –

Feb

2008

Supp

ort im

plem

entat

ion of

gran

t proj

ects

KE3,

GA

Opera

tiona

l Man

ual o

n mon

itorin

g the

prog

ress o

f Gran

t proj

ects

Staff

traine

d, fir

st vis

its su

ppor

ted,

Mon

itorin

g rep

orts

prep

ared a

nd su

bmitt

edDa

ta ba

se w

ithin

the m

onito

ring s

ystem

upda

ted

4.13

Ap

r – Se

p 200

8Re

view

narra

tive a

nd fin

ancia

l repo

rts of

gran

t ben

eficia

ries

KE3,

GA

Quar

terly

repor

ts as

sesse

d, co

mm

ents,

reco

mm

enda

tions

on ac

cept

ance

, am

endm

ents

or

audit

s Da

ta on

proje

ct pr

ogres

s ent

ered i

n mon

itorin

g sys

tem; fo

llow-

up ac

tivitie

s und

er co

ntrol

Reco

mm

enda

tions

on ho

w to

orga

nize t

he fin

al ph

ase o

f gran

t sch

eme p

rojec

tsSu

ppor

t with

prep

aratio

n and

subm

ission

of fin

al rep

orts

4.14

May

– Se

p 200

8Su

ppor

t PIU

with

repo

rts on

gran

t sch

eme p

rogres

sKE

3, ST

EPa

ckag

e for

the fi

nal p

hase

inclu

ding g

uideli

nes f

or th

e fina

l repo

rts

4.15

Dec 2

007,

Feb

2008

Imple

men

t 2 on

e-da

y wor

ksho

ps fo

r gran

t ben

eficia

ries

KE3,

GTKic

k-off

mee

ting a

nd ad

dition

al on

e-da

y-wo

rksho

pGr

antee

s trai

ned i

n im

plem

entat

ion re

quire

men

tsGr

antee

s trai

ned i

n narr

ative

and fi

nanc

ial re

porti

ng

Post

-gra

nt a

ctiv

ities

4.16

Dec 2

008

Imple

men

t wrap

-up e

vent

for g

rant b

enefi

ciarie

s and

pa

rtner

instit

ution

sKE

3, GA

Gran

tees p

repare

d for

the c

onclu

sion o

f the

ir proj

ects

Docu

men

tation

of th

e gran

t proj

ects

4.17

Nov –

Dec

2008

Publi

catio

n and

disse

mina

tion o

f a co

mpe

ndium

of gr

ant

proje

ctsKE

3, GA

Com

pend

ium of

all G

rant P

rojec

ts pr

oduc

ed an

d diss

emina

ted(C

D an

d prin

t med

ium)


79

Annex 4 Updated Resource Schedule



80Re

sour

ce S

ched

ule

(17

Nove

mbe

r 200

8) -

STE

Wor

king

Day

s M

onth

:1

23

45

67

89

1011

1213

1415

1617

1819

20

Star

t dat

e:04

.0705

.0706

.0707

.0708

.0709

.0710

.0711

.0712

.0701

.0802

.0803

.0804

.0805

.0806

.0807

.0808

.0809

.0810

.0811

.08W

D

Com

pone

nt 1

: Eva

luat

ion

of th

e AL

MP

mea

sure

s in

Croa

tia

203,5

1.1Ela

borat

ion of

a res

earch

plan

23

512

40

1.2Co

mm

unica

tion o

f the

rese

arch p

lan

on re

giona

l leve

l

1

1

1.3Im

plem

entat

ion of

field

studie

s in

Zagr

eb an

d sele

cted c

ount

ies

71

71

1.4As

sessm

ent o

f suc

cess

of AL

MP

mea

sures

and t

he effi

cienc

y of

man

agem

ent a

nd im

plem

entat

ion

1413

,517

159

2

71

1.5Pre

sent

ation

of re

searc

h find

ings i

n fou

r cou

nties

10

1

11

1.6De

velop

men

t of t

he fir

st co

mpr

ehen

sive d

raft o

f the

evalu

ation

rep

ort

10

10

1.7Di

scus

sion o

f rese

arch fi

nding

s wi

th la

bour

mark

et ex

perts

not

repres

ented

in SC

0

1.8Pre

sent

first

com

preh

ensiv

e draf

t to

CES k

ey st

aff an

d SC

0

1.9Co

mpil

ation

of a

final

draft

of th

e ev

aluati

on re

port

0


A n n e x 4 U p d a t e d R e s o u r c e S c h e d u l e

81Re

sour

ce S

ched

ule

(17

Nove

mbe

r 200

8) -

STE

Wor

king

Day

s M

onth

:1

23

45

67

89

1011

1213

1415

1617

1819

20

Star

t dat

e:04

.0705

.0706

.0707

.0708

.0709

.0710

.0711

.0712

.0701

.0802

.0803

.0804

.0805

.0806

.0807

.0808

.0809

.0810

.0811

.08W

D

Com

pone

nt 2

: Des

ign

of

reco

mm

enda

tions

and

new

ALM

P m

easu

res

50,5

2.1Es

tablis

hmen

t of a

coop

eratio

n co

ncep

t with

the r

eleva

nt lo

cal

stake

holde

rs

8

7

15

2.2As

sistin

g WG

2

28

10

2.3De

velop

men

t of t

he fir

st dr

aft

recom

men

datio

n rep

ort

86

14

2.4W

orks

hops

for t

he pr

esen

tation

and

discu

ssion

of th

e first

draft

of th

e rec

omm

enda

tions

in fo

ur co

untie

s

0

2.5De

sign fi

nal d

raft o

f rec

omm

enda

tions

65,5

11,5

2.6Pre

sent

final

draft

of th

e rec

omm

enda

tions

in th

e fram

e of a

on

e-da

y wor

ksho

p

0

2.7Int

egrat

e rec

omm

enda

tions

into

the

final

repor

t of t

he pr

oject

0

Com

pone

nt 3

: Cap

acity

Bui

ldin

g

85

3.1De

sign t

rainin

g prog

ramm

e for

rel

evan

t CES

staff

0

3.2Di

ssem

inate

plan t

o rele

vant

CES s

taff

0

3.3De

velop

appr

opria

te m

ateria

ls for

the

traini

ng w

orks

hops

10

5

15



82Re

sour

ce S

ched

ule

(17

Nove

mbe

r 200

8) -

STE

Wor

king

Day

s M

onth

:1

23

45

67

89

1011

1213

1415

1617

1819

20

Star

t dat

e:04

.0705

.0706

.0707

.0708

.0709

.0710

.0711

.0712

.0701

.0802

.0803

.0804

.0805

.0806

.0807

.0808

.0809

.0810

.0811

.08W

D

3.4Tra

ining

wor

ksho

ps on

im

plem

entat

ion, m

onito

ring a

nd

evalu

ation

of A

LMP m

easu

res

12

84

24

3.5Pre

pare

and i

mple

men

t trai

ning

works

hops

on th

e des

ign an

d m

anag

emen

t of g

rant s

chem

es

10

10

3.6Pre

pare

and i

mple

men

t trai

ning

works

hops

for c

ouns

ellor

s dea

ling

with

the r

isk gr

oups

12

4

16

3.7Su

ppor

t in th

e esta

blish

men

t of

mon

itorin

g and

evalu

ation

syste

ms

5

7

62

20

Com

pone

nt 4

: Gra

nt Sc

hem

e M

anag

emen

t

15

2

4.1Re

cruit g

rant a

ssesso

rs an

d trai

ners

0

4.2Tra

ining

of as

sesso

rs an

d trai

ners

18

5

23

4.3Ra

ise aw

arene

ss am

ong p

oten

tial

gran

t ben

eficia

ries

0

4.4Pre

pare

and i

mple

men

t trai

ning

on gr

ant s

chem

e req

uirem

ents

to

poten

tial g

rant b

enefi

ciarie

s

19

19

4.5Es

tablis

h help

desk

s

2

2

4.6Ev

aluati

on St

ep 1

0


A n n e x 4 U p d a t e d R e s o u r c e S c h e d u l e

83Re

sour

ce S

ched

ule

(17

Nove

mbe

r 200

8) -

STE

Wor

king

Day

s M

onth

:1

23

45

67

89

1011

1213

1415

1617

1819

20

Star

t dat

e:04

.0705

.0706

.0707

.0708

.0709

.0710

.0711

.0712

.0701

.0802

.0803

.0804

.0805

.0806

.0807

.0808

.0809

.0810

.0811

.08W

D

4.7Ev

aluati

on St

ep 2

23,5

23

,5

4.8Ev

aluati

on St

ep 3

23

,5

23

,5

4.9Ev

aluati

on St

ep 4

3

3

4.10

Prepa

re gr

ant c

ontra

cts fo

r sign

ature

30,5

30

,5

4.11

Set-u

p mon

itorin

g sys

tem

3

0

3

4.12

Supp

ort im

plem

entat

ion of

gran

t pr

ojects

0

4.13

Revie

w na

rrativ

e and

finan

cial re

ports

of

gran

t ben

eficia

ries

3,5

2

2

7,5

4.14

Supp

ort P

IU w

ith re

porti

ng on

gran

t sc

hem

e prog

ress

5

5

4.15

Imple

men

t one

-day

wor

ksho

p for

gr

ant b

enefi

ciarie

s

2

2

4.16

Imple

men

t wrap

-up e

vent

for g

rant

bene

ficiar

ies an

d par

tner

instit

ution

s

55

4.17

Publi

catio

n and

disse

mina

tion o

f a

com

pend

ium of

gran

t proj

ects

4

1

5

To

tal S

TE W

D

49

1


85

Annex 5

Updated Six-Monthly and Final Workplan 1 April – 30 November 2008


86

Work Plan for Remaining Implementation and Final PhaseComponent 1: Evaluation of ALMP measures in Croatia (completed)

Component 2: Design of recommendation and new ALMP measures (completed)

Component 3: Capacity building (completed)

Component 4: Grant Scheme Management

Component 4: Grant Scheme Management

ActivityTime

scheduleDescription Sources Expected results

4.16 Nov 2008Implement wrap-up event for grant beneficiaries and partner institutions

KE3:GA

Grantees prepared for the conclusion of their projectsExchange of experience among grantees

4.17Nov - Dec 2008

Publication and dissemination of a compendium of grant projects

KE3Documentation of the grant projects Compendium of all Grant Projects produced and disseminated (CD and print medium)


This report has been produced with the assistance of the European Union.The content of this report is the sole responsibility of the consortium GVG-BA-ESS and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.

Naslovnica Final report ENG NOVA.indd 2 23.11.2008 13:35:55

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