--------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1998 08:24:59 +0100 GMT
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: ESF: 1% for global grants for NGOs
ESF: 1% for global grants for NGOs
At the Social Council on 7th April, ministers heard David Blunkett and
Padraig Flynn report on the joint Education/Social Council of London and
explain what exactly the reform of the European Social Fund, proposed by
the European Commission, involved.
The ESF's main mission will now be to shore up the reform of labour
market policies and practices by aligning them on a European strategy for
employment and on annual guidelines on employment intended for
Member States.
Thus, as Commissioner Flynn explained, the ESF will be reformed from
head to foot, or reinvented, so as to update it and to make of it a financial
instrument shoring up national action plans for employment. Closely
linked to the European strategy for employment, it will intervene in five
areas:
i) the setting up of active labour market policies to fight unemployment;
ii) promoting social inclusion and equal opportunities for all;
iii) developing a system of lifelong education and training to promote
employability;
iv) developing adaptability, innovation, entrepreneurship and job-creation;
v) improving women's participation in the labour market.
More specifically, the ESF will contribute to local development, including
local initiatives for employment and territorial pacts for employment, and
take account of the social and economic dimension of the information
society. In order to guarantee the system maximum effectiveness, the
Commission deems it necessary that the ESF should focus on a limited
number of subjects within each of the aforementioned fields of
intervention. However, at least 15% of all interventions have to be
attributed to measures relating to equal opportunities and another 15% to
the question of adaptability.
Another radically new element concerns the introduction of the concept of
"social risk capital" in the activities of the ESF, i.e., that at least 1% of the
ESF funding in each programme shall be made available in the form of a
global grant to intermediary bodies for the disbursement in the form of
small grants to non-governmental organizations with local knowledge and
expertise, avoiding the bureaucratic hurdles that often discourage local
groups which are often beyond the reach of conventional mainstream
programmes.
Source: (c) Agence Europe, 09/04/98
