The Tavistock Institute is evaluating the effects and learning from the Communities of Practices (COP) on partnerships in the European Social Fund (ESF).

The COP on partnership in the ESF is a community of practice for nine EU Member States meeting physically and online to discuss good practices and exploring learning opportunities on partnerships in the ESF. The evaluation has both formative and summative elements. It is using a theoretical evaluation approach to analyse the effect of the instruments the COP (meetings, key lessons reports from various countries, a Partnership Learning Manual, an online discussion forum). The evaluation also looks at whether and how these instruments and the learning environment supports learning across EU Member States.

Data collection methods include observation at meetings, a document review of the COP documents and literature on organisational learning as well as two rounds of interviews with core members of the COP.

The evaluation is carried out on behalf of the lead partner, the Austrian Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection in cooperation with the project management, Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI).The COP on partnership in the ESF is one of several transnational EU supported networks on learning in the ESF. The other networks work with transversal issues such as results-based management and transnationality as well as specific ESF target groups, such as ex-offenders, asylum seekers and unemployed youth.

For a full list of ESF learning networks see here.

For more information about the European Social Fund and the purpose of transnational learning see: http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/esf/fields/transnational_en.htm

The partnership website can be accessed at: http://partnership.esflive.eu/

For further information please contact Kerstin Junge