Ukraine has joined the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) as a participating country. This will allow organisations from Ukraine to take part in projects funded under the ESF+ Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) strand.

The European Social Fund Plus is implemented under two strands:

• The shared management strand, where the budget is spent in partnership with Member States.
• The Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) strand, where the European Commission manages the budget either directly (direct management) or by entrusting implementation to partners (indirect management).

Funding opportunities under the EaSI strand

Calls for proposals and procurement procedures under direct management are published on the funding and tenders portal.

Under indirect management, the Lithuanian European Social Fund Agency (ESFA) manages the Social Innovation+ Initiative on behalf of the European Commission. This includes transnational calls for proposals to promote social innovation, mutual learning activities and a European Social Innovation Competence Centre. 

Funding opportunities are published on the ESFA website.

Activities open to third countries

Activities funded under the ESF+ EaSI strand are open third countries, based on an agreement with the European Union. This generally includes participation in any activity implemented under ESF+ direct and indirect management.

Participating and interested third countries

• Iceland (2021) and Norway (2021) joined the ESF+ EaSI strand following the revision of the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement.
• Serbia (2022), Montenegro (2023), Moldova (2024), Bosnia and Herzegovina (2025) and Ukraine (2026) joined the ESF+ EaSI strand with the signature and entry into force of their respective agreement.
• Kosovo* (2024) has its agreement currently under ratification.
• North Macedonia has confirmed its interest in becoming a participating country.