EQUAL oportunities for all - Delivering the Lisbon Strategy through social inovation and transnational cooperation

N.º/Ref.: 12

N.º Páginas: 56

Suporte: Revista

Ano: 2008

Autor: DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities

Editora: Comissão Europeia

Local: Luxemburgo

Notas

Just as companies in the business world invest five per cent of their budgets in research and innovation to maintain their competitive edge, the European Social Fund (ESF) has been allocating five per cent of its budget to trying out new policy approaches and improving delivery systems. And the laboratory where many of these ideas are tested and validated is EQUAL.
Over the last seven years the ESFs strategic investment in the EQUAL initiative has paid off handsomely: it has mobilised stakeholders and encouraged them in their efforts to tackle the economic and social challenges of the Lisbon Strategy. It has given them a pioneering role in experimenting with new ways of combating discrimination and fighting inequality. It has generated the interest and commitment needed to get the various organisations and authorities to work together, and it has made sure the Lisbon Strategy goals were taken on board by all players, in particular at regional and local level.
The principles and approach developed through the EQUAL initiative are now mainstreamed within the ESF and in national and regional operational programmes, where work on innovation and transnational exchanges will continue on a wider scale.
Drawing on experience gathered in over 3 000 strategic partnerships for change across the European Union, this brochure outlines the strategic lessons of the ESFs investment in EQUAL. It includes experience in non-member countries too, where the initiative has been involved in sharing experience, practice, tools and products and has worked together to find common solutions. EQUAL has also pointed the way to overcoming barriers of language and culture and differences in procedures and rules.
EQUAL has successfully contributed to social inclusion policies and to developing the skills, expertise and capacity needed to manage change on the labour market. It has turned the ESF into a more effective, efficient and relevant instrument for labour market expansion and social inclusion. That is why it is so important to make the best of EQUALs experience by turning its results to account. The ESF (2007-13) programming period offers scope to continue this innovative approach, taking heed of the lessons learned in terms of policy and practice.
I am confident that the strategic lessons and examples of good practice set out in this brochure will inspire project promoters and stakeholders, giving them direction in their efforts to combat labour market exclusion and to develop pathways for the integration of disadvantaged groups. The Commission will follow these efforts with the greatest interest. More than ever before perhaps, they will stand us in good stead in the future.