PROGRESS is the EU's employment and social solidarity programme. It was established to support financially the implementation of the objectives of the European Union in employment, social affairs and equal opportunities, as set out in the Social Agenda. It also contributes to the achievement of the EU 'Lisbon' Growth and Jobs Strategy.

Working alongside the European Social Fund (ESF), PROGRESS started in 2007 and will run until 2013. This programme replaces the four previous ones that ended in 2006 covering actions against discrimination, equality between men and women, employment measures and the fight against social exclusion. The EU opted for a single programme to rationalise and streamline EU funding and concentrate its activities to improve the impact.

PROGRESS will ensure that EU social policy remains on course to face the key policy challenges and concentrate on actions that need a combined European effort. It will work to support Member States to ensure they deliver on their commitments to create more and better jobs, to guarantee equal opportunities for all and to implement EU laws uniformly.

PROGRESS has a global budget of € 743,25 million for seven years (2007-2013). The EU will use this budget to act as a catalyst for change and modernisation in five areas:

• Employment
• Social inclusion and protection
• Working conditions
• Non-discrimination
• Gender equality

A thorough review of the EU's programmes for employment and social affairs concluded that the Commission should be more effective in its operations, undertake more strategic planning and be more focused in its activities. In response to this evaluation, the Commission has developed a strategic framework in order to apply a more strategic and participatory approach to implementing PROGRESS.

The Strategic Framework is an important internal management and accountability tool with two important functions: setting out PROGRESS's strategy and assessing PROGRESS's contribution to achieving the Social Agenda goals. It is also a living document that will continue to evolve as new opportunities arise and others are exhausted or take lower priority.

The Strategic Framework sets goals that PROGRESS must attain - "outcomes" - both in the near future and longer term, the contribution that it can make and how we will work with our partners to undertake these objectives. It follows a logical chain where the ultimate outcome  determines what intermediate and then immediate outcomes we will seek to reach during the programme's lifecycle of 2007-13. The immediate outcomes must be achieved for the intermediate outcomes to be attained, and so on.

Performance measurement is crucial to making the EU and Member States accountable for the policies and actions they take. The Framework thus also gives a set of performance indicators that we will use to assess whether PROGRESS has reached its targets and supplied its products.