Abstract

By the second half of the Nineties, on the wave of a broader reflection on welfare reforms, social assistance has experienced significant changes aimed at overcoming the traditional unbalances of this policy field. Innovations have concerned both policy contents and governance instruments. With reference to instruments, this article deals with the launch of monitoring initiatives at both the national and regional levels; they are intended to confront the new challenges arisen mainly from the processes of regionalization, on the one side, and of supranational coordination, on the other. After a brief overview of the dynamics which make monitoring and evaluation practices increasingly relevant for the governance of this policy, the article runs through the developments occurred at the national level, and looks at how regions are differently coping with these issues.