The Assessment of an Indicator : - Case Studies about The Skåne-Blekinge Programme and The Simplifying the Pathways to Jobs and Competence Programme

Sammanfattning: In Sweden, Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are supported by government programme at the EU and national levels to decrease unemployment. The Skåne-Blekinge programme is an EU programme to increase job opportunities in Region Skåne and Blekinge. While the Simplifying the pathways to jobs and competence programme is a national programme to decrease unemployment rate among new arrival and long-term unemployment. This study aims to assess the nature and function of indicators utilized in the process of implementation of policy programmes using two case studies from Sweden. The understanding of indicator’s functions and characteristics are important to help the actors designing indicators which can measure the goal achievement. This study employed document analysis and interview for data collection, and for analysis, this study used a narrative analysis to describe the programme’s characteristics, indicator’s functions and indicator’s characteristics at programme and projects levels. In summary, the Skåne-Blekinge programme has guidelines which are tools to govern the programme. On the contrary, the Simplifying the pathways to jobs and competence programme utilizes dialogue to create and learn about the projects. Generally, the results-based management is not yet performed. Instead, it starts to be implemented by utilising an indicator that aims to measure the programme’s impact. In term of indicator’s understanding, there is a difficulty to understand it because some people do not notice that an indicator is a measurement tool. At the programme level, indicators are not fully functioned as it should be. In the Skåne-Blekinge programme, indicators should be more reliable, credible, realistic, and accepted. In the Simplifying the pathways to jobs and competence programme, indicators should be more credible, measurable, realistic, reliable, and accepted. At the project level, indicators are more useful for project leaders under the Simplifying the pathways to jobs and competence programme than for project leaders under the Skåne-Blekinge programme. In detail, the characteristics that make indicators are useful for the project leaders are appropriate, relevant, and accepted. These findings contribute to increasing knowledge about indicator’s influence at the programme and project levels both in the Skåne-Blekinge programme and the Simplifying the pathways to jobs and competence programme in practice.