ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes six European Social Fund (ESF) projects implemented in the 2007–2013 funding period. It examines outlier cases that deviated from the population of projects in terms of the outputs. This method is used to demonstrate that policy success is contingent on the presence and performance of the three factors. The examined projects include: PROMOCIONA, Granada Employment, and Transition to Employment in Spain, and National Project Field Social Work, From Benefits to Paid Work, and Integrated Education in Slovakia. However, at the project level, the success appeared more ambiguous, with numerous initiatives resulting in a blunt failure to construct sustainable access to employment and improve the overall treatment of minorities and impoverished neighbourhoods. The Transition to Employment Project was one of the first initiatives financed through the ESF that directly targeted one of the most deprived and marginalized neighbourhoods in the City of Seville, the South Industrial Park.
