The Annual Performance Monitoring Report about the achievements made within Progress Programme in the year 2008 has been delivered by the Commission's Employment DG. This Report analyses the different aspects of the programme, highlights its achievements to date and outlines the steps that still need to be taken.

The Annual Performance Report presents the results of the performance of the Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity – Progress (2007-2013) against the commitments made in the Progress Strategic Framework and detailed in the Annual Work Plan 2007 and the Annual Work Plan 2008. Progress was established to  provide financial support for the implementation of the European Union’s objectives in the employment and social affairs area, as set out in the Social Agenda, and thereby contribute to the achievement of the Lisbon Strategy goals in these fields.

The Progress’s strategy and performance depicted in it bears witness to a major shift in focus: results anticipated are defined and the spotlight is turned on achieving them, performance is measured regularly and objectively and the information gleaned is used for learning purposes, adjustments are made and the programme’s effectiveness is enhanced.

The Report analyses the results and achievements during year 2008, structured in three sections:

Section I, Introduction to Progress and measuring its performance: containing summaries of the Progress vision, its mandate and anticipated strategic outcomes, and the benefits accruing to European citizens from its activities to date, as well as a presentation of the strategic and monitoring framework that the programme adheres to in delivering its results.

Section II, Performance, provides a detailed presentation of performance by the five immediate outcomes defined for Progress:

• Effective information sharing and learning in the Commission and across the Member States.
• Evidence-based EU policies and legislation.
• High-quality and participatory policy debate.
• Greater capacity of national and EU networks
• Integration of cross-cutting issues and consistency.

Section III, Supplementary Information, contains financial tables and other information which applies to the performance of Progress during the reporting period.

In drawing up Progress's Annual Performance Monitoring Report for 2008, the Commission has applied a new results-focused approach, based on the outcomes of public expenditures so as to make clear the benefits of every Euro spent. Following this approach, monitoring and evaluation take centre stage to ensure that management and budgeting is linked to results.