Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ESCF (European Social Catalyst Fund)
Reporting period: 2020-01-01 to 2021-12-31
The European Social Catalyst Fund (ESCF) has been established and co-funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme and a Consortium involving the Genio Trust, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the King Baudouin Foundation. The ESCF was developed to help address the problem that many innovations have already been developed, tried and tested that could contribute to tackling priority social challenges across Europe, but they are not being scaled. Given the investment in the development of and testing of social innovations it is critical if we are to exploit the potential benefits of successful innovations that we find ways to scale those that represent solutions to societal problems being faced across our countries.
The purpose of the ESCF grants is to support (with grant funding and capacity building support) the development of detailed scaling plans aimed at reducing, or overcoming, priority social challenges. Priority was determined based on the Sustainable Development Goals and the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights.
Successful innovations do not scale by virtue of their potential to overcome or solve problems. Detailed planning is needed which requires support. The experience of the Consortium has been that financial support in the form of planning grants is very useful, particularly when combined with non-financial support. Investing in planning helps to identify what is realistically scalable and what is not and can serve to test the required stakeholder buy-in and identify potential funding opportunities. Most importantly, planning can allow for consultation with end-beneficiaries who have most to gain or lose from scaling an innovation.
Innovations were identified through a pan-European call and all eligible applications were evaluated against published criteria (https://www.euscf.eu/applications). Preference was given to innovations that had the most robust evidence of success and that aimed to reach the most significant scale. Each selected application received a planning grant of up to €100,000 along with capacity building support.
These plans developed as a result are offered as examples to illustrate the kinds of issues that need to be thought through if planning for scaling is to be realistic and robust. Investing in planning is a helpful way to identify what is scalable and where conditions exist that can support scaling. Planning enables sufficient information to be gathered to facilitate appropriate tailoring to specific locations. It can be challenging to manage potential trade-offs between adapting innovations to fit local circumstances, whilst retaining the essential ingredients of the innovation to ensure some predictability regarding outcomes.
The objectives of the ESCF are:
1. To provide financial support, guidance and information to proven social service innovations selected through a pan-European competition to develop implementation plans to upscale.
2. To stimulate a broader range of public sector, philanthropic and social investment collaborations that foster the scaling of social service innovations to meet social challenges across EU Member States aligned with the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights.
3. To produce exemplar plans across a range of priority social challenge areas that can be implemented to a substantial level of scale within two years.
4. Plans also must be relevant to the social and implementation challenges in at least five EU Member States, two of which will be Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs).
5. To develop and disseminate knowledge and skills on how to successfully plan the scaling of social service innovations.
6. To design a further phase of the European Social Catalyst Fund based on learning obtained in the process of achieving these objectives.
The purpose of the ESCF grants is to support (with grant funding and capacity building support) the development of detailed scaling plans aimed at reducing, or overcoming, priority social challenges. Priority was determined based on the Sustainable Development Goals and the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights.
Successful innovations do not scale by virtue of their potential to overcome or solve problems. Detailed planning is needed which requires support. The experience of the Consortium has been that financial support in the form of planning grants is very useful, particularly when combined with non-financial support. Investing in planning helps to identify what is realistically scalable and what is not and can serve to test the required stakeholder buy-in and identify potential funding opportunities. Most importantly, planning can allow for consultation with end-beneficiaries who have most to gain or lose from scaling an innovation.
Innovations were identified through a pan-European call and all eligible applications were evaluated against published criteria (https://www.euscf.eu/applications). Preference was given to innovations that had the most robust evidence of success and that aimed to reach the most significant scale. Each selected application received a planning grant of up to €100,000 along with capacity building support.
These plans developed as a result are offered as examples to illustrate the kinds of issues that need to be thought through if planning for scaling is to be realistic and robust. Investing in planning is a helpful way to identify what is scalable and where conditions exist that can support scaling. Planning enables sufficient information to be gathered to facilitate appropriate tailoring to specific locations. It can be challenging to manage potential trade-offs between adapting innovations to fit local circumstances, whilst retaining the essential ingredients of the innovation to ensure some predictability regarding outcomes.
The objectives of the ESCF are:
1. To provide financial support, guidance and information to proven social service innovations selected through a pan-European competition to develop implementation plans to upscale.
2. To stimulate a broader range of public sector, philanthropic and social investment collaborations that foster the scaling of social service innovations to meet social challenges across EU Member States aligned with the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights.
3. To produce exemplar plans across a range of priority social challenge areas that can be implemented to a substantial level of scale within two years.
4. Plans also must be relevant to the social and implementation challenges in at least five EU Member States, two of which will be Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs).
5. To develop and disseminate knowledge and skills on how to successfully plan the scaling of social service innovations.
6. To design a further phase of the European Social Catalyst Fund based on learning obtained in the process of achieving these objectives.
The ESCF began with a pan-European call in January 2020. 120 applications were received from 22 Member States describing innovations relevant to all 16 social challenge areas identified in the call. Applications were evaluated against published criteria (https://www.euscf.eu/applications) which included existing evidence of success, cost-effectiveness, capacity to develop robust detailed scaling plans, and to engage with relevant stakeholders to increase the likelihood of successful scaling.
Following evaluation of applications, seven organisations/consortia were selected to be supported with grants of up to €100,000 to develop plans to scale proven innovations across a range of challenge areas including employment, ageing, homelessness, mental health, migrants, digital inclusion, and ecological and social transition.
The Genio Trust led the provision of capacity building support from February to September 2021. A group programme was developed focusing on topics that more than one consortium/ organization wanted to learn more about and also included some topics suggested by Genio that would be helpful for the development of their plans.
Most of the organisations/consortia developed plans to scale to more than one country which resulted in plans being developed for scaling in 15 countries. Seven of these countries are in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Given the level of detail and support for scaling the innovations in the various locations, this represents very good value for money for a modest ESCF fund of €600,000. The scaling plans are available to view on https://www.euscf.eu/scaling-plans.
Following evaluation of applications, seven organisations/consortia were selected to be supported with grants of up to €100,000 to develop plans to scale proven innovations across a range of challenge areas including employment, ageing, homelessness, mental health, migrants, digital inclusion, and ecological and social transition.
The Genio Trust led the provision of capacity building support from February to September 2021. A group programme was developed focusing on topics that more than one consortium/ organization wanted to learn more about and also included some topics suggested by Genio that would be helpful for the development of their plans.
Most of the organisations/consortia developed plans to scale to more than one country which resulted in plans being developed for scaling in 15 countries. Seven of these countries are in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Given the level of detail and support for scaling the innovations in the various locations, this represents very good value for money for a modest ESCF fund of €600,000. The scaling plans are available to view on https://www.euscf.eu/scaling-plans.
The most important impact of the ESCF, besides the learning and the examples of support secured for implementing the plans developed during this project, is the announcement by the Commission of its successor - the European Social Innovation Catalyst Fund (ESICF) under Horizon Europe published by the Commission. This decision was published in the Social Economy Action Plan (2021) which is available here - https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&newsId=10117&furtherNews=yes#navItem-1
Critical learning has taken place about responses to the challenges relevant to these innovations that are already in place and commanding resources that might otherwise be devoted to more cost-effective innovations. Participants were asked to develop plans for what could be achieved within a two-year timeframe. Many of the teams have developed plans for periods beyond the initial two years. The numbers that can be reached are important, but so also are the support structures that could be put in place to ensure ongoing and evaluated spread of these innovations.
A particular emphasis of the ESCF is on including the perspective of the end beneficiary. Most of these selected innovations have an inherent focus on involving end beneficiaries in the design and/or application of the model. For others, engaging more directly with end beneficiaries at the planning stage was found to be valuable.
Some of the selected applicants have already secured commitments of funding and support, and for others, there are ongoing negotiations taking place beyond the deadline for submission of plans which will hopefully bear further fruit. Already it can be seen that the ESCF has had a multiplier effect in terms of catalysing funding to support scaling.
The lessons learned from the ESCF were captured in the final report on this initiative which can be found at https://www.euscf.eu/escf-report.
Critical learning has taken place about responses to the challenges relevant to these innovations that are already in place and commanding resources that might otherwise be devoted to more cost-effective innovations. Participants were asked to develop plans for what could be achieved within a two-year timeframe. Many of the teams have developed plans for periods beyond the initial two years. The numbers that can be reached are important, but so also are the support structures that could be put in place to ensure ongoing and evaluated spread of these innovations.
A particular emphasis of the ESCF is on including the perspective of the end beneficiary. Most of these selected innovations have an inherent focus on involving end beneficiaries in the design and/or application of the model. For others, engaging more directly with end beneficiaries at the planning stage was found to be valuable.
Some of the selected applicants have already secured commitments of funding and support, and for others, there are ongoing negotiations taking place beyond the deadline for submission of plans which will hopefully bear further fruit. Already it can be seen that the ESCF has had a multiplier effect in terms of catalysing funding to support scaling.
The lessons learned from the ESCF were captured in the final report on this initiative which can be found at https://www.euscf.eu/escf-report.