Promoting employment

Transnational and innovative actions under the 2007-2013 European Social Fund

(February 2009) AEIDL has been chosen by the European Commission's Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities DG to provide "services related to monitoring transnational and innovative action under the 2007-2013 European Social Fund and to synthesizing and disseminating relevant results".  For this framework contract, AEIDL will be in charge of Lot 1 ("Increasing adaptability of workers, enterprises and entrepreneurs and enhancing human capital"), Lot  2 ("Enhancing access to employment and the sustainable inclusion in the labour market"), Lot 3 ("Reinforcing the social inclusion of disadvantaged people with a view to their sustainable integration in employment") and Lot  4 ("Good governance and capacity building").

Client: European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities
Expected termination: 2013/12

Contact: Florence Gérard

Study on "The interaction between local employment development and corporate social responsibility"

(January 2008) AEIDL, in partnership with a network of researchers led by KMU Forschung Austria, an Austrian Institute for SME research, has been chosen by the European Commission's Employment DG to carry out a study on the links between local development and corporate social responsibility. The success of local employment initiatives largely depends on the level of involvement of businesses in their local community. The study covers the 27 EU Member States as well as Australia and Canada.

Client: European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities
Partners: AEIDL and other stakeholders
Expected termination: 2008/12

Employment: "Linking Local Actors"

December 2005

In partnership with the firm European Dynamics, AEIDL won (in December 2005) an important contract with the DG Employment and Social Affairs of the European Commission. The contract is called “"Linking Local Actors". The work involves setting up a European database which will enable 1) cooperation among local actors for employment (in 27 countries) and 2) between the local actors and the European Commission. The website will provide useful information about events, sources of funding, partners searches, best practices etc. The methodology proposed by the AEIDL/ European Dynamics Team revolved around three main ideas:
- cooperation with a panel of experts selected on the basis of their expertise in various thematic areas;
- a flexible approach based on matching the demand and supply of information;
- creating synergies between thematic experts and journalists.
Today, local development is recognized as one of the European priorities as regards employment. This contract is at the heart of AEIDL’s mission to offer a range of services to local development actors. Furthermore, it strengthens the cooperation with DG Employment and Social Affairs of the European Commission, in an area in which AEIDL has been very active in the past, i.e. local employment initiatives. Previous contracts such as ELISE involved the management of a European information network on local employment initiatives.

EQUAL

Since December 2001, AEIDL has assisted the European Commission in the organisation of European networks promoting the exchange of experiences and the diffusion of innovative practices in terms of enterprise spirit.
This objective, which falls within the EQUAL Initiative, is aimed more specifically at:
- opening up the process for business creation to everyone, by providing the necessary tools to start up a business;
- identifying and making use of new job creation possibilities, in both urban and rural areas;
- promoting the social economy (the third sector), particularly services of public interest, by focusing on the improvement of the quality of employment.
By bringing together stakeholders in the field, project holders, experts and political decision makers, the thematic networks concerned should identify new methods to combat all kinds of discrimination and inequalities in relation to the job market, circulate best practices and contribute to the development of the European Employment Strategy (EES).
This framework contract runs for a period of eight years (2001-2008). The technical assistance provided to the EQUAL Unit of the Employment Directorate General of the European Commission (DG EMPL) takes the form of reports, drafting articles, coordinating workshops, collecting and analysing data on projects and taking part in meetings, etc.

Ex-post evaluation of ESF activities for the 1994-1999 period

In January 2003, the Employment Directorate General of the European Commission assigned a consortium led by GHK to undertake an ex-post evaluation of ESF activities for the 1994-1999 period covering Objectives 1, 3 and 4, as well as for the ADAPT and EMPLOYMENT community initiatives. AEIDL conducted the evaluation for Belgium.

Evaluation of the PACTE project

AEIDL evaluated the PACTE project (programme for economic support and transfer) which was conducted in the context of experimental actions under article 6 of the ESF. PACTE brings together three partners - Lourdes Développement (F), the project leader, ADIVA (Allariz, ES) and Coop Consult (Kokkola, F) – whose employment areas are mainly made up of SMEs and industrial SMEs. The objective of the AEIDL’s evaluation work was to provide an external vision throughout the project and to measure the gaps between the objectives envisaged at the outset and the achievements on the ground. Taking into account the criteria defined by the EC (innovation, partnership, transnationality and dissemination), AEIDL has taken part in the identification of best practices and innovative actions and has formulated observations which were presented to the PACTE partners and the EC. For further information, visit the Lourdes Développement website:
http://www.lourdes-developpement.com/default.htm

Territorial Employment Pacts

The territorial employment pacts were launched by the European Commission in 1996. AEIDL was responsible for preparing a methodology to analyse best practices, analysing best practices and creating the territorial employment pacts website which it managed between 1996 and 1999.