Best Practices in Controlling, Monitoring, and Evaluating EU Funds 2021-2027: A Focus on Performance Management

You’ll develop an understanding of the linkages between objectives and indicators at programma and project level, and graps the EC’s expectations concerning monitoring and evaluation in order to ensure EU funded operations are effective and efficient.
  • 1-2 October 2025
  • Paris, France

Overview

The responsibility of Authorities (e.g. Managing Authorities, Intermediate Bodies,…) that manage European funds is not only to set up high quality project appraisal systems in order to select the most promising interventions in terms of policy relevant results. Once selected, these Authorities need to play a role in ensuring that these interventions deliver the intended results. That includes helping the continuously improve while also finding out to what extent and/or how these interventions actually (can) make a difference. Hence the need for effective monitoring and evaluation systems. The seminar will therefore provide in depth perspectives on why, what and how to measure, with ample attention for the specific role of impact evaluation.

What will you learn

  • What is a result: the key difference between outputs and outcomes
  • How to meet EC requirements for monitoring and evaluation
  • The difference between monitoring, evaluation and audit from a control perspective
  • The various uses of performance information
  • How to create programme specific indicators
  • The pitfalls of management by targets
  • The impact of “VUCA” (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) on performance management approaches
  • The (mis)use of results based financing
  • The limitations of traditional monitoring for continuous improvement
  • The role of different types of evaluation
  • The various methodologies to assess impact of interventions: counterfactuals versus theory based
  • Data requirements for the various evaluation methods
The seminar will take place at the Best Western Hôtel Ronceray-Opéra – 10 Boulevard Montmartre, 75009 Paris, France.

Day 1:

9:00-9:45

  • Welcome and introduction

9:30-11:00 WHY do we measure? Control!

  • Three uses of performance information
  • Internal control
  • Strategic control systems: diagnostic, boundary, interactive, belief
  • The difference between monitoring, evaluation and audit and their relation to control

11:00-11:15 Break

11:15-12:00 Group work on control systems

12:00-13:00 WHAT to measure?

  • Common indicators
  • Programme specific indicators

13.00-14.00 Lunch

14:00-14:30 Group work on reviewing programme specific indicators

14:30-15:00 WHAT to measure?  ctd

  • From intervention logic to theory of change

15:00-15:30  HOW to measure?

  • SMART as a tool

15.30-15.45 Break

15:45-16:30  HOW to measure? ctd

  • Soft outcomes
    • different kinds of measures for different purposes: facts, behaviors, attitudes
    • typology of soft measures: Likert scale, Guttman scale, Thurstone Scale, Semantic Differential,…
    • self-anchored measures
  • Dis/advantages of different soft measures
  • Using existing measurement instruments

Day 2

9:30-10:00 Group work on programme specific indicators

10:00:-11:00 How to collect the data?

  • Using registry data
  • Sampling – informed estimates

11.00-11.15 Break

11.15-12:00   Performance management (?)

  • Approaches to target setting for the different parts of the intervention logic

12:00-12:30 Group work on adjusting targets

12:30-13.30 Lunch

13:30-14:30   Performance management (?) ctd

  • Back to the three uses of performance information
  • Pitfalls of managing with targets
  • Results based finance

14:30-15:00   Group work

  • Assessing the ‘”VUCA” level of your operations

15:15-16:30   Performance management (?) ctd

  • Sophisticated performance management in more complex operations
  • LEAN and continuous improvement

Expert

Benedict Wauters is currently the director responsible for European Programmes in the Ministry of Labour in Flanders (Belgium). He has worked for more than twenty years as a civil servant, consultant (Deloitte Consulting in Belgium, Policy Research Corporation in the Netherlands) and independent expert, in/for multilateral public institutions (e.g. United Nations, OECD, European Commission), regional and national government departments (e.g. Dutch ministry of foreign affairs, Dutch ministry of transport, Polish ministry of regional development, the French Region of Nord-Pas-De-Calais and the Belgian Regional Governments of Flanders, Brussels and Wallonie), local government (e.g. City of Antwerp) as well as NGOs and public corporations . He has written several books focused on EU fundings and public sector governance

Benedict Wauters

Director responsible for European Programmes in the Ministry of Labour in Flanders (Belgium)

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Paris, France

This course will take place in the enchanting city of Paris, offering a perfect blend of education and inspiration against the backdrop of its iconic charm.

Best Western Hôtel Ronceray-Opéra – 10 Boulevard Montmartre, 75009 Paris, France

Next to the training materials the training fee is covering:

a) the catering during the training (3 coffee breaks and a lunch every day);
b) the walking tour in a good company in Paris (the evening of the first day of the training);
c) delicious diner;
d) family photo and some souvenirs for active participants.

Your contact person

ENROLL

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Total: € (excl. VAT)
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