Who we are?
European Social Fund Agency (hereinafter the Agency) is a public non-profit seeking legal person of limited civil liability. If was established in August 2002 by the Ministry of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania.
While implementing its mission, i.e. administering the projects of the programmes delegated to it, the Agency aims to ensure appropriate use of the funds provided by the European Union and the Republic of Lithuania, efficient project management – project preparation, selection, supervision and control of project implementation.
Administering the delegated programs, the Agency performs the following functions:
- launches calls for proposals,
- informs and consults applicants,
- performs evaluation of applications,
- prepares grant contracts,
- supervises implementation of the projects: verifies reports submitted by project promoters, verifies and approves eligibility of expenditures reported in payment requests, carries out on-the-spot checks, verifies submitted public procurement documents.
Since the establishment of the Agency, the number of the programmes delegated for administering, the number of supervised projects and the amount of administered funds have been growing continually.
From 2002 to 2006 the Agency administered PHARE ESS 2001 and Phare ESS 2002 programmes, which allocated LTL 18 390 738 support for 74 projects.
In 2004, the agency was delegated administration of the projects carried out in accordance with five measures of Priority 2 „Human Resource Development“ of the Single Programming Document of Lithuania 2004–2006:
- Measure 2.1. Development of Employability;
- Measure 2.2. Development of Labour Force Competencies and the Ability to Adapt to Changes;
- Measure 2.3. Prevention of Social Exclusion and Social Integration;
- Measure 2.4. Development of Conditions for Lifelong Learning;
- Measure 2.5. Improvement of Human Resources Quality in Scientific Research and Innovations.
Under these measures, the support of LTL 749,442,950.00 was allocated for implementation of 643 projects.
In 2004, the Agency started administering projects o the European Community initiative EQUAL. LTL 49,193,167 support was allocated for implementation of 29 projects, one of which took part in the firs implementation stage only.
In 2005, the European Refugee Fund Programme joined the programmes administered by the Agency.
In 2006–2008, the Agency administered 18 projects, for their implementation the support of LTL 29,182,035.69 was granted.
The scope of activities of the Agency will grow in the future – the Agency has been delegated administering of the Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013, LTL 3.158 billion of the European Social Fund support will be allocated for its implementation. During the 2007-2013 programming period the Agency will carry out works under these priorities:
- 1. “Qualitative employment and social inclusion” (LTL 1,514.49 million of support funds to be allocated);
- 2. “Lifelong learning” (LTL 1,034.40 million of support funds to be allocated);
- 3. “Strengthening of researchers capacities” (LTL 479.45 million of support funds to be allocated);
- 4. “Strengthening of administrative capacities and improvement of public administration efficiency” (LTL 688.07 million of support funds to be allocated).
Also, further administering of projects of the European Refugee Fund Programme and the Programme under the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund will be carried out.
