More than 500 programmes of the 2021-2027 programming period are now being implemented by Member States and regions in the EU.

The context of implementation of these EU-funded programmes has become increasingly complex and dynamic for all types of EU funding ( the European Social Fund +, the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the Recovery and Resilience Facility, and the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund).

This is more broadly referred to as a VUCA context, which refers to:

• volatility: the speed and magnitude of change that is not in a predictable pattern;
• uncertainty: the difficulty in using past issues and events as predictors of future outcomes;
• complexity: numerous and difficult-to-understand causes and mitigating factors are involved in a problem;
• ambiguity: lack of clarity about the meaning of an

The business world has understood that the response to this lies in becoming more agile.

Yet EU funding is seen by many as rigid, as it is dominated by strict regulations and long programming cycles.

Are managing authorities stimulating project implementers enough to learn and innovate during implementation? Does EU funding really need to be at odds with agility? How can you reconcile novel approaches to programming, monitoring and evaluation together with EU regulations ? This course is rooted in the latest research that focuses on the need to ensure rapid learning and improvement at project level.

What you will learn

This face-to-face course in Rome, over two days, will cover the following:

• We discover what VUCA really means in practice and how is it linked to the need for social
• We will review a range of options to ensure agility at programme level as well as at project
• The course will also highlight potential issues when using financing for results in a VUCA
• The role of monitoring and evaluation when striving for agility will be