During this webinar, we will find out how the ESF+ will work, which role the EU Member States can play, and how the resources can help to boost the social economy across the European Union.
On 30th April, EVPA hosted a free webinar on the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), which will support investments in the social future of Europe from 2021 to 2027.
Lack of access to finance for social economy actors is presented as a significant obstacle to business creation in the ESF+ regulation. Therefore, social investors are acknowledged to play a key role in achieving several ESF+ objectives by offering capital and innovative approaches to several social issues.
During this webinar, we found out how the ESF+ will work, which role the EU Member States can play, and how the resources can help to boost the social economy across the European Union. Moreover, we heard how the ESF+ will differentiate from its long-standing predecessor ESF, and what were the lessons learnt from the past in order to face the challenges lying ahead.
Agenda:
- 15:00-15:05 Introduction - by Bianca Polidoro, EVPA
- 15:05-15:20 Explanation of The European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) - By Andrea Leruste, DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion at the European Commission
- 15:20-15:35 Perspectives of ESF Managing Authority - by Aleksandra Dmitruk, Polish Ministry of Investment and Economic Development
- 15:35-15:50 The Portuguese success story - by Jo√£o Machado, Portugal Social Innovation
- 15:50-16:20 Q&A with speakers
- 16:20-16:30 Conclusion - by Tessa Van Autreve, EVPA
Webinar Recording and slides
Download our Policy Brief on ESF+
Download the slides here
Joao Machado
João Machado joined the Government Initiative 'Portugal Social Innovation' (Portugal Inovação Social) in the beginning of 2017 and he was tasked with the implementation of the Social Innovation Fund. As one of the four finance streams of this initiative, the Social Innovation Fund was launched in 2019 as the first public impact investment fund in Portugal with a budget of more than 80M€.
Before that, he has been working in different consultancy firms with responsibilities ranging from helping start-ups becoming investment ready to assessing sustainability metrics in multinational corporations. He holds a MSc in Business Administration from ISCTE Business School (Lisbon/Macao).
Aleksandra Dmitruk
Aleksandra Dmitruk is a deputy director in the European Social Fund Department in the Ministry of Investments and Economic Development in Poland. She is responsible for financial management of ESF co-financed programmes.
Within her competence falls designing of new financial instruments for social economy sector. She has also been involved in developing first social impact investment fund in Poland with the use of ESF.
Andrea Leruste
Andrea Leruste works for the European Commission's Directorate-General (DG) for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, where she is deputy head of Unit for ESF & FEAD policy and legislation.
Until 2017, she was responsible for microfinance and social entreprise support and previously for gender equality in the same DG. She started her career in 2005 as teaching assistant at the College of Europe, Bruges, before joining the German Foreign Office in Berlin. Andrea holds a degree in Cultural & Business Studies from the University of Passau, Germany, a degree in International Relations from the University March Bloch in Strasbourg and a Master of European Political and Administrative Studies from the College of Europe.
Bianca Polidoro
Tessa Van Autreve
Tessa Van Autreve joined the policy department at EVPA in May 2019. She holds a MSc in Sustainable Finance from Maastricht University and a BSc in Business Administration from KU Leuven.
After her bachelor, Tessa wanted to specialise in a field that enables her to make the world a better place. In this respect, the master in Sustainable Finance taught her to look beyond monetary profits only by applying financial concepts to impact creation. Tessa is from Belgium and apart from Dutch, she speaks English, Spanish and some French.