Survey results point the way
The feedback from the fi-compass survey highlights that the platform continues to meet the needs of practitioners designing and implementing financial instruments.
This article is part of the Spring 2021 Edition of the fi-compass newsletter. To access more articles like this, subscribe to our newsletter!
Combination with grant, investing resources from successive programmes and monitoring, audit and control are some of the topics of most interest for the development and implementation of financial instruments in the future.
A total of 341 respondents from all 27 Member States took part in the fi-compass survey, which ran from 9 February 2021 to 8 March 2021.
The online questionnaire invited feedback on both the performance of the advisory platform and future needs of financial instrument practitioners. A full report setting out the survey results will be published in the summer and the feedback will be used to help develop the programme of support to be provided through fi-compass in the 2021-2027 period.
The survey indicated that the use of financial instruments to support Cohesion policy should continue to grow in the 2021-2027 programming period. A high percentage of respondents indicated that they expect to increase or significantly increase the use of financial instruments.
A wide range of sectors are expected to utilise financial instrument support including SME/Research Development and Innovation, climate action and the COVID19 response in Member States, together with rapidly developing sectors such as microfinance, rural infrastructure, blue economy and crowdfunding.
fi-compass is viewed as a trusted resource for financial instrument practitioners and is well placed to continue to develop and improve to support the delivery of the 2021-2027 Cohesion and Agriculture programmes.
Over 90% of respondents indicated that fi-compass resources have met the needs of ESIF financial instrument practitioners and have helped build the knowledge base, technical and practical skills of its target group.
A high proportion of respondents reported that the events and resources produced by fi-compass are accessible and useful, with over 80% of respondents ranking them as being very helpful or helpful. The webinars introduced last year as a response to the COVID19 restrictions also ranked highly.
The feedback also highlighted areas for future development to respond to the needs of stakeholders. The importance of the timely publication of resources, including materials anticipating new regulatory developments and ensuring the turnaround of resources after events. The feedback also indicated that there is growing demand for more in-depth material for expert practitioners.
The importance of communication activities was also emphasised, including a continued focus on awareness raising, targeting new managing authorities/sectors with innovative tools such as podcasts and short videos as well as promotion of events/resources.