Title
Contents
Acknowledgements 7
The Authors 8
Abbreviations and acronyms 9
Summary 10
1. Introduction 16
1.1 European Social Fund Objective 3 Global Grants 16
1.2 Evaluation of Global Grants 16
1.3 Research aims and objectives 18
1.4 Research methodology 18
1.4.1 Quantitative and qualitative methods 18
1.4.2 Two phased approach 19
1.5 Report structure 20
2. Characteristics and constraints of Global Grants beneficiaries 22
2.1 Beneficiary background 22
2.2 Personal characteristics 23
2.3 Beneficiary work status before Global Grants 24
2.4 Employment background 26
2.5 Perceived constraints to working 27
2.6 Summary 29
3. Types of projects and activities funded by Global Grants 30
3.1 A diversity of funded activities 30
3.2 Projects and individuals funded 32
3.3 Summary 35
4. Reaching the disadvantaged 36
4.1 Engaging beneficiaries 36
4.2 Key programme design features 36
4.2.1 Focusing on 'progression towards the labour market' 36
4.2.2 Accessibility of groups receiving funding 38
4.3 How beneficiaries found out about/were referred to Global Grants projects/funding 39
4.3.1 Project participant referral routes 40
4.3.2 Grant recipient referral routes 42
4.4 Summary 42
5. Beneficiaries' assessments of Global Grants 44
5.1 Views and attitudes towards projects and funding 44
5.2 Reasons given for positive assessments 45
5.2.1 Project participants' views 45
5.2.2 Grant recipients' views 47
5.3 Types of help and support found most useful 48
5.4 Summary 49
6. Beneficiary outcomes 50
6.1 Main outcomes of Global Grant beneficiaries 50
6.2 Employment outcomes 51
6.3 Qualification and training outcomes 51
6.4 Outcomes achieved by different beneficiary types 53
6.4.1 Project participants and grant recipients 53
6.4.2 Gender 54
6.4.3 Dependent children 54
6.4.4 Illness/disability 54
6.4.5 Basic skills 55
6.4.6 Participants whose first language was not English 55
6.5 Outcomes by project type 56
6.6 Longer term outcomes and progression 57
6.7 Summary 60
7. Key findings and conclusions 62
7.1 Increasing the employability of the most disadvantaged 62
7.1.1 Improved employability 62
7.1.2 Increased employment and labour market progression 62
7.2 Successfully engaging the 'harder to help' 63
7.3 Key success factors 63
7.4 Future programme developments and recommendations 65
Appendix A. Global Grants telephone questionnaire 66
Appendix B. Topic guide with Global Grant beneficiary organisation staff 91
Appendix C. Topic guide with Intermediary Body staff 99
Appendix D. Topic guide with individual project participants 105
Appendix E. Topic guide with individual grant recipients 115
Table 2.1 Work status before Global Grants 25
Table 2.2 Length of time since participants/recipients last in paid work 26
Table 2.3 Labour market constraints 28
Table 3.1 Project types 33
Table 3.2 How grant recipients used Global Grants funding 34
Table 4.1 How beneficiaries found out/were referred to Global Grants projects/funding 40
Table 5.1 Perceived helpfulness of project/funding 44
Table 5.2 Why participation/funding was found to be helpful 45
Table 6.1 Main outcomes achieved by Global Grant beneficiaries 51
Table 6.2 Employment status prior to taking part in a Global Grants project and at the time of the survey 60
Figure 2.1 Personal characteristics of beneficiaries 23
Figure 5.1 Helpfulness of support/activities offered through Global Grants (percentage of all beneficiaries rating their overall experience as being 'very helpful') 49
Figure 6.1 Employment status prior to Global Grants involvement and at time of survey 58