Active Inclusion

DOCUMENTS

Ageing and Employment:Old and New Challenges in a Global Crisis Scenario  Read more
Synthesis of Baseline Studies of the URBACT projects focusing on 'Active Inclusion'  Read more

Active Inclusion



The active inclusion theme focuses on ways that specific groups in society can be included both in the labour market and in wider society. 

Certain groups in the city are particularly prone to social exclusion in all its forms.  There are particular problems for people at the start of their working lives to make the bridge from education into work.  European cities have increasing concentrations of young people who have dropped out and are not in education, employment or training. This topic is being tackled by MY GENERATION which takes a particular interest in engaging young people in the development of new solutions and challenging traditional top-down governance structures. 

As people near retirement age their level of economic activity starts to fall.  This is an increasing problem in the demographic transformation as more and more elderly people are being supported by fewer and fewer working age population.   The onus is on societies to enable people over 50 to remain active for longer so that they continue to earn income into old age. This is a major focus of the ACTIVE AGE project which also explores other areas of municipal life including labour markets, housing markets, social security systems, infrastructure, urban/spatial planning, education, budgets and finances.  Remaining active for longer has become more and more important because National pension systems and people’s own savings and pension arrangements are often unable to provide adequate incomes for retired people. This pension crisis has been exacerbated by the financial crisis which is seeing the end of many private sector final salary pension schemes and the erosion of pension values by stock market fluctuations.  Activity for all groups including young and older people is important for promoting wellbeing, a sense of worth and a connection to social life.

This work involves partnership, empowerment, coordination of departments, agencies and sectors and communities. It includes efforts made to build better bridges for young people between education and the world of work. 

Migrants represent a third major challenge in the labour market.  Although most migrants are active in the early years of their migration the overall proportion working tends to fall over time as issues arise and as dependants are brought over to reunite families. MILE which stands for ‘managing migration at the local level’ has explored the role of measures to stimulate and support labour market activation through employment.  The project also worked on enterprise and to assist migrants with employment as part of its work on managing migration at the local level. 

MY GENERATION is exploring effective strategies in promoting the positive potential of the young generation. The objective is to develop strategies and sustainable local action in promoting positive potential and active transitions in the life of the young generation in terms of employment and human capital.

Common themes that emerge in URBACT projects focusing on specific groups include the need to integrate national, regional and local services (vertical and horizontal integration), the need to provide wrap around support such as childcare and guidance.  A particular issue for local authorities in cities is the problems of integrating budgets so that those who invest in parts of the activation chain (e.g. childcare) are rewarded for their contribution by those that achieve savings (often the national social protection ministry). As part of specific approaches to inclusion for groups in the labour market many projects have a strong emphasis on empowerment and participation.

Three new projects have joined the sub theme on active inclusion (along with Active Age and My Generation, and completed Pilot Fast Track project MILE).  The new projects are:

  • OP-ACT led by the city of Leoben, Austria which focuses on options of actions for the strategic positioning of small and medium sized cities
  • INTEGROW led by Red Local region of Madrid and works to tackle the difficulties that certain young people are suffering, especially since the beginning of the present economic crisis. The InteGROW project aims at developing integrated strategies for the inclusion of young people at risk of exclusion, through activation and employment.
  • ROMA-NET led by Budapest focuses on the integration of Roma populations.  They have three priority activities: access to key services, active inclusion in the labour market though education and training, and the development of self help initiatives
  • CoNET also has a strong youth focus and has made contributions in this theme.

 


1.The priority for 2010
2. URBACT articles on active inclusion
3. URBACT practice related to Active Inclusion
4. Useful links for cities working on Active Inclusion
5. URBACT events
6. Upcoming project meetings related to Active Inclusion
7. Other events relevant for cities concerned with Active Inclusion


1. The priority for 2010

This group of projects is working on how organisations at local level can deliver a joined up approach to the co-production of services with target groups.  Their approach involves empowering the users of services to be equal partners in the creation of a new generation of services.  To describe this approach the partners have talked about a ecosystem of products such as case studies, videos and articles that taken together make up a landscape.  Active-age are developing this approach with older people while My Generation are developing it with youth.  The My Generation Landscape in the diagram below illustrates such an approach to thematic production. he landscape. 

This approach was originally designed with young people in mind where the transition from education to employment for young people.  This is a complex policy sphere involving many actors from all sectors.  This policy landscape is perceived differently by policy makers and by the users of the policy – the youth themselves.  It is an interface between public, private and third sector and also includes the household in which many innovations take place. 

                              


2. URBACT articles on active inclusion

The paper aims at answering the questions: Are older people discriminated against in the labour market? And if so, why? And what can national and local policies do to promote inclusion and favour active ageing?  

Synthesis of the first three URBACT projects focusing on 'Active Inclusion' (Active Age, My Generation and MILE).  The synthesis document explains active inclusion policy and looks at the different ways that projects from the First Call working in this thematic area understand the problematic that their target groups face.

This document, prepared for the My Generation partners, reviews what is happening in the project's partner cities in relation to young people in such a transition. Although it was written to stimulate a workshop discussion it is of wider relevance.

It raises many issues about the education to work transition and situates the cities and the youth in the debate. 

This is a review of the project's work so far, outlining innovative approaches to outreach being used in partner cities.


3. URBACT practice related to Active Inclusion

The three projects from the First Call have produced large numbers of practice material including case studies of good practice that illustrate the work going on in relation to this theme. 

For instance, MILE produced case studies in its three sub thematic areas of migrant entrepreneurship, migrant employment and intercultural dialogue.  They can be found on the MILE minisite:

  • MILE (2008) First action plan Synthesis Report on Enterprise Development.

This document contains a review of the work done by the MILE network on its first theme which covered migrant enterprise development.  The work references the twenty five case studies of non partner cities that were completed for the network including adapted cases from a study carried out by DG enterprise. 

  • MILE (2009) Second action plan Synthesis Report on Active Inclusion.

This document contains a review of the work done by the MILE network on its second thematic report on employment and active inclusion approaches for migrants

  • MILE (2009) Third action plan Synthesis Report on intercultural dialogue.

This document covers the third MILE sub theme and reviews the work of the project. 

The MILE Handbook is a 27 page document that summarises the action planning experience of the nine partner cities. It has been translated into the nine languages of the partnership.  

Andrea Barron (1999) 'Demographic change, older workers and the economy  Active Age.  This case study of the UK produced for Active Age includes an analysis of the situation of the over 50s in the UK, review of recent policy and the example of Workwise in St Helens.

Active Age: Short case studies presented at the meeting in June 2009 in Wolverhampton covering a range of projects including  sustainable self-employment and entrepreneurship; the creation of services to offer assistance to small sized businesses; the training of volunteers for elderly self help groups; voluntary business consulting to guide entrepreneurs who want to start their own business. Examples were from Dobrich ( Bulgaria), Wolverhampton (UK), Edinburgh (UK), Maribor (Slovenia), Sevilla (Spain), Starogard (Poland), Thessaloniki (Greece), Rome (Italy) Active Age case studies.

My Generation has chosen to publish individual case studies on their website.  These are detailed three to four page accounts of a particular practice.  More can be seen on their website but a selection is presented here:

See also MyGenerationTV on which the project has put over 20 short videos made by young people involved in the project

Mikael Stigandal (2009) 'CONET Peer Review in Malmo' CONET used a peer review approach when they visited the youth project in Malmo called the Little Greenhouse.  This is a youth led project that developed on a migrant dominated housing estate in Malmo that lacked youth facilities and had a growing story of youth on hanging out on the streets.   The document consists of a preparatory paper prior to the visit by CONET partners and a second paper with feedback on the project from the reviewers.


4. Useful links for cities working on Active Inclusion

  • European Parliament resolution of 6 July 2010 on promoting youth access to the labour market, strengthening trainee, internship and apprenticeship status
  • ESF Age management unit (2008) 'ESF age management network the way forward'  (72 pages) This paper outlines the potential benefits of an ESF age management network.  The document contains a useful discussion of employment policies for the over 50s and many useful references. 
  • The Silver Workers' Institute created in 2007 is an interesting organisation promoting good policies for the over 50s.  It is an independent, apolitical research and advisory centre based in Geneva with an international focus on labour/work issues for seniors engaged in any productive activity, from both a company and public policy perspective.
  • EU poverty and social inclusion page  
  • European Anti Poverty Network (EAPN) is the leading organisation campaigning at EU level for better policies and funding to combat social exclusion. 
  • Social Innovation Exchange is based at the Young Foundation in London.  They are working on a range of inclusive approaches for young and old 

5. URBACT events

On May 26th 2009 URBACT held the second in its series of Open events on the subject of Cities managing integration.  The synthesis report of this meeting by Peter Ramsden is available together with links to the presentations made by speakers. 

6. Upcoming project meetings related to Active Inclusion

  • My Generation meetings in 2010
    - 21–22 Jan 2010, Riga. Strategic midterm meeting on sustainable coordination.    
    - 2nd May 2010, Gdansk. Workshop on outreach.    
    - September 2010, Valencia. Second workshop on education and employment.
  • Active age meetings in 2010  
    - Feb 2010. Maribor. Meeting on Age and care.
    - June 2010, Poulenpoliou. Age and care.
    - June 2010, Wolverhampton UK. Age and economy. Involvement of Local Support Groups of cities and Managing Authority from Italy and Bulgaria 
    - July 2010, Meeting in the region of Lazio, Italy (Managing Authority for the city of Rome). URBACT, regional governance and LSGs.
    - October 2010, Starograd. Age and inclusion meeting.  

7. Other events relevant for cities concerned with Active Inclusion

2010 is the 'Year against poverty and social exclusion'.  Hundreds of events taking place against poverty and social exclusion, listed on their webpage.