Financial instruments can be co-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) to support the investment priorities outlined in the ESF Operational Programmes (OP) of the Member States. Provided that they address an identified market gap, they can contribute to the achievement of the thematic objectives of the ESF. Implementation of ESF financial instruments for the 2014-2020 programming period is underway. Both, Thematic Objective 8 (TO8) ‘Promoting sustainable and quality employment and supporting labour mobility’ and TO9 ‘Promoting social inclusion, combating poverty and any discrimination’, are offering strong potential for financial instruments and meaningful case studies.

Experiences from already active financial instruments can be a source of inspiration and basis of discussion for practitioners who are interested in advancing with similar financial instruments. A selection of case studies presenting practical insights into the implementation process of TO8 and TO9 financial instruments from a variety of EU Member States will be presented during the workshop.

The detailed programme of the workshop in Rome can be found here.