EUROPEAN PROFILES S.A

TITLE OF PROJECT

ORESTIDA-RWM: Local employment strategies and innovation

Country:

Greece

Project Period:

11/2002-10/2004

Project Value:

€ 3.200.000

No of Staff Provided:

5

Origin of Funding:

EC, Innovative measures financed under Article 6 of the European Social Fund Regulation

Budget Heading B2-1630

Name of Client/ Beneficiary:

Regional Authority of Western Macedonia

Description of Project:

The project ORESTIDA - RWM is implemented in the framework of the Commission's strategy to encourage local employment strategies development. The main objective of the project is the elaboration of an integrated local employment strategy (LES) for the Region of Western Macedonia within the framework of the National Action Plan on Employment (NAP), that will both complement and provide input to NAP, maximising its impact at regional and local level.

The elaboration of the LES was based on the analysis of the local socio-economic data and the local labour markets, while it will address the creation of a favourable environment for promotion of the employability and of successful entrepreneurship in the Region, adaptability to the labour market skill needs via adult training and re-training possibilities taking into consideration all aspects of gender equality and vulnerable groups social inclusion.

The project addresses all regional and local actors related to employment and entrepreneurship support and promotion. Not only the key beneficiary organisations are partners in the project in the form of Social Partnership Fora, but to a greater extend the project beneficiaries became all unemployed people, employees and employers of the region with specific reference to women and vulnerable groups. It is expected, that the project will lead to the employment and local level, strengthening their capacity and co-ordinating their efforts, as well as through facilitating access to information both locally and regionally, creating new forms of permanent co-operation of local actors and promoting learning and upgrading of skills through adopting and disseminating the results of best practices in the Region.

Activities undertaken:

• Elaboration of Local Employment Strategy (LEAs) including and action plan and suggestion of Active Labour Market Measures (ALMM)

• Establishment of four (4) Entrepreneurship Promotion Centres equipped with ICT information dissemination facility

• Identification of the regional socio-economic situation

• Establishment of regional training initiatives

• Vocational Educational and Training - curricula for new and revised occupational profiles for training institutions

• Accreditation systems for professional skills

• Training of staff of the beneficiary institutions

• ICT system

• Awareness raising and promotion of project activities

• Monitoring, benchmarking and evaluation of project impact

• Project Management

Services Provided:

• Diagnostic Analysis of the socio-economic environment & the dynamics of the Local Labour Market: SWOT and establishment of a permanent regional monitoring system to identify labour market demands and related skills needs - LES drafting including an action plan and pilot ALMM in line with ESF type intervantions

• Promotion of Adaptability: Combination of Life Long Learning and Flexible Work practices within enterprises to increase employability, supported by appropriate training and re-training facilities for adults within enterprises and in VET institutions including establishment of suitable training programmes for women and other vulnerable social groups

• Entrepreneurship Promotion: Establishment of four (4) Entrepreneurship Promotion Centres (EPCs) including design of an ICT platform for data input, exchange and dissemination modules

• Benchmarking, Assessment & Evaluation (ex-ante) of suggested interventions in line with experience of other ESF - type interventions in Greece and abroad (i.e. inputs from the EULEAP project)

• Networking promotion at all levels especially focusing on sustainable Social Partnership schemes (i.e. enterprises and employers' associations with adult training and VET institutions, municipalities, chambers and labour offices) &

• Awareness raising and promotion of project activities

• Dissemination of Project's Results

Name of Partners:

• Regional Authority of Western Macedonia-GR

• 01 PLIROFORIKI-GR