EQUAL Community Initiative
Encyclopedia
EQUAL was the ‘Community Initiative’ within the European Social Fund
of the European Union
. It concerned “transnational co-operation to promote new means of combating all forms of discrimination and inequalities in connection with the labour market”. It ran from 2001 till 2007 with a budget of some €3 billion of EU resources, matched by a similar sum from national resources.
EQUAL was part of the European Union's strategy for "more and better jobs" and for ensuring that no-one is denied access to them. It tested new ways of tackling discrimination and inequality experienced by those in work and those looking for a job. From 2008 it has been discontinued as such, but its principles have been incorporated, at least in theory, into the mainstream Structural Funds. In practice, transnational work in the ESF is virtually limited to the Learning Networks or Communities of practice that are being established under the Learning for Change programme. These involve the 117 ESF Managing Authorities (mostly national ministries and regions) and their key external patners, but have a much more limited budget and reach than EQUAL did.
EQUAL co-financed activities in all 27 EU Member States - the 12 new countries actually joined in January 2004, 4 months before their official accession. The EU contribution to EQUAL of €3.274 billion was matched by national funding. EQUAL differed from the European Social Fund mainstream programmes in its function as a laboratory (principle of innovation) and in its emphasis on active co-operation between Member States. Two calls for proposals for EQUAL projects in the Member States took place, the first in 2001 and the second in 2004. Responsibility for the implementation of the Community Initiative programmes in the Member States lies with the national authorities.
, and more precisely into nine themes:
1. Employability
a) Facilitating access and return to the labour market for those who have difficulty in being integrated or re-integrated into a labour market which must be open to all
b) Combating racism
and xenophobia
in relation to the labour market
2. Entrepreneurship
c) Opening up the business creation process to all by providing the tools required for setting up in business and for the identification and exploitation of new possibilities for creating employment in urban and rural areas
d) Strengthening the social economy
(the third sector), in particular the services of interest to the community, with a focus on improving the quality of jobs
3. Adaptability
e) Promoting lifelong learning
and inclusive
work practices which encourage the recruitment
and retention of those suffering discrimination and inequality in connection with the labour market
f) Supporting the adaptability of firms and employees to structural economic change and the use of information technology
and other new technologies
4. Equal Opportunities
for women and men
g) Reconciling family and professional life, as well as the reintegration of men and women who have left the labour market, by developing more flexible and effective forms of work organisation and support services
h) Reducing gender gaps and supporting job desegregation.
5. (i) Asylum seekers
s but to some 3,500 ‘development partnerships’ (DPs) which brought different types of institution together. Typically they included for instance local authorities, businesses, colleges and trade unions. One of the effects of obliging different types of organisation to work together in order to gain financial support has been to build up the relationship and habits necessary for continued partnership working.
Secondly, DPs were obliged to attempt to ‘mainstream’ their results, that is to go beyond simply ‘disseminating’ them to other potential practitioners, but also to make serious attempts to influence policy-makers.
Thirdly, EQUAL was a uniquely self-conscious programme, that studied numerous process issues such as the way innovation is created, the way people can best work together and the way policies are changed.
It followed these principles:
European Social Fund
The European Social Fund is the European Union’s main financial instrument for supporting employment in the Member States as well as promoting economic and social cohesion. ESF spending amounts to around 10% of the EU’s total budget....
of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. It concerned “transnational co-operation to promote new means of combating all forms of discrimination and inequalities in connection with the labour market”. It ran from 2001 till 2007 with a budget of some €3 billion of EU resources, matched by a similar sum from national resources.
EQUAL was part of the European Union's strategy for "more and better jobs" and for ensuring that no-one is denied access to them. It tested new ways of tackling discrimination and inequality experienced by those in work and those looking for a job. From 2008 it has been discontinued as such, but its principles have been incorporated, at least in theory, into the mainstream Structural Funds. In practice, transnational work in the ESF is virtually limited to the Learning Networks or Communities of practice that are being established under the Learning for Change programme. These involve the 117 ESF Managing Authorities (mostly national ministries and regions) and their key external patners, but have a much more limited budget and reach than EQUAL did.
EQUAL co-financed activities in all 27 EU Member States - the 12 new countries actually joined in January 2004, 4 months before their official accession. The EU contribution to EQUAL of €3.274 billion was matched by national funding. EQUAL differed from the European Social Fund mainstream programmes in its function as a laboratory (principle of innovation) and in its emphasis on active co-operation between Member States. Two calls for proposals for EQUAL projects in the Member States took place, the first in 2001 and the second in 2004. Responsibility for the implementation of the Community Initiative programmes in the Member States lies with the national authorities.
Themes
EQUAL projects were classified into the four pillars of the European Employment StrategyEuropean employment strategy
The Treaty of Amsterdam introduced the concept of a European Employment Strategy , following on from the integrated strategy for employment launched at the Essen European Council in December 1994....
, and more precisely into nine themes:
1. Employability
Employability
Employability refers to a person's capability of gaining initial employment, maintaining employment, and obtaining new employment if required . In simple terms, employability is about being capable of getting and keeping fulfilling work...
a) Facilitating access and return to the labour market for those who have difficulty in being integrated or re-integrated into a labour market which must be open to all
b) Combating racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
in relation to the labour market
2. Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur, which can be defined as "one who undertakes innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods". This may result in new organizations or may be part of revitalizing mature organizations in response...
c) Opening up the business creation process to all by providing the tools required for setting up in business and for the identification and exploitation of new possibilities for creating employment in urban and rural areas
d) Strengthening the social economy
Social economy
Social economy refers to a third sector in economies between the private sector and business or, the public sector and government. It includes organisations such as cooperatives, non-governmental organisations and charities....
(the third sector), in particular the services of interest to the community, with a focus on improving the quality of jobs
3. Adaptability
Adaptability
Adaptability is a feature of a system or of a process. This word has been put to use as a specialised term in different disciplines and in business operations. Word definitions of adaptability as a specialised term differ little from dictionary definitions...
e) Promoting lifelong learning
Lifelong learning
Lifelong learning is the continuous building of skills and knowledge throughout the life of an individual. It occurs through experiences encountered in the course of a lifetime...
and inclusive
Inclusion
Inclusion may refer to:- Metallurgy :*Inclusion , a type of metal casting defect*Inclusions in Aluminium Alloys, solid particles in liquid aluminium alloy- Social inclusion of persons :...
work practices which encourage the recruitment
Recruitment
Recruitment refers to the process of attracting, screening, and selecting qualified people for a job. For some components of the recruitment process, mid- and large-size organizations often retain professional recruiters or outsource some of the process to recruitment agencies.The recruitment...
and retention of those suffering discrimination and inequality in connection with the labour market
f) Supporting the adaptability of firms and employees to structural economic change and the use of information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
and other new technologies
4. Equal Opportunities
Equal opportunity
Equal opportunity, or equality of opportunity, is a controversial political concept; and an important informal decision-making standard without a precise definition involving fair choices within the public sphere...
for women and men
g) Reconciling family and professional life, as well as the reintegration of men and women who have left the labour market, by developing more flexible and effective forms of work organisation and support services
h) Reducing gender gaps and supporting job desegregation.
5. (i) Asylum seekers
The building blocks of EQUAL
EQUAL adopted an innovative way of working designed to ensure that its lessons were long-lasting. Support was given not to time-limited projectProject
A project in business and science is typically defined as a collaborative enterprise, frequently involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim. Projects can be further defined as temporary rather than permanent social systems that are constituted by teams...
s but to some 3,500 ‘development partnerships’ (DPs) which brought different types of institution together. Typically they included for instance local authorities, businesses, colleges and trade unions. One of the effects of obliging different types of organisation to work together in order to gain financial support has been to build up the relationship and habits necessary for continued partnership working.
Secondly, DPs were obliged to attempt to ‘mainstream’ their results, that is to go beyond simply ‘disseminating’ them to other potential practitioners, but also to make serious attempts to influence policy-makers.
Thirdly, EQUAL was a uniquely self-conscious programme, that studied numerous process issues such as the way innovation is created, the way people can best work together and the way policies are changed.
It followed these principles:
- PartnershipPartnershipA partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.Since humans are social beings, partnerships between individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments, and varied combinations thereof, have always been and remain commonplace...
: to bring together key actors (local and regional authorities, training bodies, public employment services, NGOs, enterprises, social partners) in Development Partnerships (DPs) on a geographical or sectoral level to tackle discrimination and inequality. - Thematic approach: to concentrate actions on thematic fields in keeping with the European Employment Strategy.
- InnovationInnovationInnovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...
: to explore and test innovative approaches in formulating, delivering and implementing employment and training policies. - EmpowermentEmpowermentEmpowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social, racial, educational, gender or economic strength of individuals and communities...
: to strengthen capacity building by making all relevant actors, including beneficiaries, work together on an equal footing. - TransnationalityTransnationalityTransnationality is a principle of carrying out an action across national borders, so as to have effects at a more general level. It is commonly referred to with reference to the actions of the European Union , in distinction to 'international' or 'supranational' Transnationality is a principle of...
: to render it possible for individual DPs and national authorities to learn from each other and co-operate productively across borders. - MainstreamingMainstreamingPilot or policy Mainstreaming is the act of broadening the application of a change or innovation from a small-scale pilot to the whole of a programme or policy domain. It involves recognising that the results of an experiment are positive and the learning deserves to be applied more widely...
: to develop and test new ways of integrating best practices into employment and social inclusion policies.
Links to development partnerships
- CAP MarketsCAP MarketsCAP Märkte are medium-sized neighbourhood supermarkets in Germany employing disabled people. Each unit is typically run by a local disablement association, but the brand is owned by a co-operative of sheltered workshops. As well as good working conditions, they provide a cherished community service...
- INSPIRE projectINSPIRE projectThe INSPIRE project is a "development partnership" active within the European Union's EQUAL Community Initiative against inequality and discrimination in the labour market...
- RepaNetRepaNetRepaNet is an environmental and employment creation project based in Graz, Austria. It was part of a development partnership within the EQUAL Community Initiative, part of the European Union's Structural Funds....
- ValnalónValnalónVALNALON was created by the Department for Industry and Labour of the Government of the Principality of Asturias, Spain in 1987. The goal is to design and implement a plan to regenerate, promote and dynamise a former industrial area in Nalon River Valley...