Active Inclusion

DOCUMENTS

URBACT Results Brochure  Read more
URBACT Tribune 2011 dedicated to Local Support Groups  Read more
Final Publication - URBACT Cities facing the Crisis - Impact and Responses  Read more
The URBACT Tribune 2010  Read more
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 can be included both in the labour market and in wider society. 


The URBACT networks under this theme are focussed on supporting some of the most marginalised groups in our communities – the Roma, migrants, older people and disadvantaged young people amongst them. Across Europe, the economic crisis has disproportionately affected these groups. Youth unemployment rates are at record levels in many member states, with civil unrest a recurring challenge in urban areas. At the same time, economic hardship fuels intolerance, with Roma communities and migrant workers identified as convenient scapegoats for the lack of jobs.

Consequently, promoting social cohesion, creating jobs and supporting pathways into work are amongst cities’ highest priorities. The URBACT Active Inclusion projects share this focus. A particularly important thread amongst them is the emphasis on working alongside disadvantaged groupsto generate new solutions. Active Age, My Generation and Roma-Net all provide interesting models of how cities can promote platforms for co-production which go beyond traditional ‘target group’ thinking.

The projects that have been working on the Active Inclusion theme are:
• OP-ACT (November 2009 - January 2013) led by the city of Leoben, Austria, focuses on options of actions for the strategic positioning of small and medium sized cities.
• ROMA-NET (November 2009 - January 2013) 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.
• MY GENERATION (2008-2011) explored effective strategies in promoting the positive potential of the young generation. The objective was 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.
• ACTIVE AGE (2008-2011) was a project which also explored the need to develop a more integrated approach to promote active ageing, along with inclusive and mixed inter-generational communities.
• CoNet (2008-2011) which explored current approaches to strengthen social cohesion indisadvantaged neighbourhoods and also had a strong youth focus.
• MILE (closed fast track project) which stands for 'managing migration at the local level' explored the role of measures to stimulate and support labour market activation through employment. The project also worked on enterprise and assistance to migrants with employment as part of its work on managing migration at the local level.
• INTEGROW (closed after the development phase) led by Red Local region of Madrid and worked to tackle the difficulties that certain young people are suffering, especially since the beginning of the present economic crisis.

The URBACT method offers an extremely useful platform for collaboration amongst the key actors in our cities. Through their programme involvement, every participating city assembles a Local Support Group (LSG) which brings together a wide community of stakeholders. Public sector organisations – particularly local authorities, have an important role to play in the LSGs but data shows that there is much wider community involvement – including from NGOs, private businesses, education establishments and private citizens. Under the guidance of the Lead Partner, and with input from the Lead Expert, each city produces a Local Action Plan (LAP) with a practical focus on the theme in question. Within the Active Inclusion projects we have seen particularly innovative approaches to stakeholder engagement, with particular attention paid to promoting co-production with disadvantaged groups.


Completed projects have created a suite of products which are fresh and relevant, as well as generating LAPs for each participating city. For example, the My Generation network has developed a range of tools that takes account of the network’s varied audience – young people, practitioners and policy makers. Their work has included an illustrated representation of the journey undertaken by many young people, as shown in the image below and in the network’s graphic narratives.

                  


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


1. URBACT articles on active inclusion
2. URBACT practice related to Active Inclusion
3. Useful links for cities working on Active Inclusion
4. URBACT events
5. Upcoming project meetings related to Active Inclusion


1. URBACT articles on active inclusion

Toolkit produced by My Generation project, grouping ideas for managers and decision makers on transforming youth policy in cities, explaining the efforts made within the project’s activities and project's starting point, resulting in a need for a change in youth policies across the board. The lessons that the project partners were able to learn was that the young should be given the role of genuine co-creators in all aspects, and that the ecology of engagement and action should be changed. During the project activities, Youth Policy Cityscape was introduced as a tool for developing city policies and sustainability, providing some promising results.

Case study from the ROMA-Net project on the inclusive housing policies and area based regeneration programmes. Segregation of a deprived Roma neighbourhood is manifested along several dimensions: location, extension, concentration of social and physical deprivation. Regarding the location, a settlement can be found at an isolated, peripheral or integrated location, while the segregation is usually stronger as the physical distance grows from the core of the city. The study also explains how the size of deprived neighbourhoods varies, while it also gives an overview of the consequences of segregation in terms of access to public services, and problems related to housing quality, before turning attention to strategies to integrate the segregated and deprived neighbourhoods. In the final part of the study, integrative housing policies are thoroughly analysed.

Final report of the Active Age project, introducing the project and its partnership, followed by an in depth overview of the Local Action Plans produced by the partner cities in the previously defined fields of age and economy, age and inclusion, or age and care. For each of the LAPs, the context, existing policies at local level, problem analysis, objectives, activities and resources, monitoring and assessment indicators, resources and fund raising, the timetable and the budget are clearly presented / described.

Rapid population ageing has dramatically increased the social and economic cost of elderly care. In their search for financial sustainability, all the EU countries have introduced reforms that have shifted an increasingly heavy burden onto the family, thus calling for greater public support for families in their daily care duties and in the reconciliation of work and care. Municipalities are the main providers of care for older people, either in kind or, increasingly, in cash. Experience in the cities involved in the Active Age project described in this paper helps identify some crucial points upon which health and social care policies for elderly people should focus.
 

This article outlines a new approach to tackling the problems of Roma communities. Instead of a 'quick fix' solution it advocates sustained actions capitalising on existing expertise with long-term commitment.This approach that is being tested in URBACT Local Support Groups of ROMA-NeT partners brings together vital service providers, the local stakeholders and crucially members of the Roma community to start the dialogue and create the basis for joint action planning. It is a new culture based on working with Roma: from inception throughout delivery. The article also includes useful case studies on the use of community mediators and of integrated housing.

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.


2. 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.

OP-ACT Baseline Study sheds light on the phenomenon of shrinking cities is widespread in Europe. The OP-ACT partners - nine small and medium sized towns - have therefore come together to find new integrated and sustainable planning approaches to replace existing development and growth models. The Baseline study presents an overview of the main challenges and problems each partner has to cope with; it analyzes the potential of the cities, their advantages, existing experiences and good practices. It further provides an elaboration of a baseline questionnaire, overview of joint workshops, and defining of the main project topic. Due to demographic changes, economic regression and infrastructural as well as social struggles (ageing population, migration, labour market trends) one of the most challenging tasks for small and medium sized cities is to create more attractive and worth living urban areas. The study also presents existing European projects dealing with shrinkage in population, demographic change and activities against decline. This baseline study also gives an overview of different European cities' history and causes of shrinkage, as well as the measures they are undertaking against shrinkage. Partners' responses to the questionnaire regarding expected outputs from OP-ACT are summarized in the following points: structures and local policies, cooperation and citizens' participation, concrete strategies for integrated urban development. The annex of the paper offers an overview of partners' proposals for Local Action Plans.

ROMA-Net Baseline study introduces the problems that Roma people face and potential solutions. Roma experience greater social exclusion than the majority community, especially in accessing employment, education, health and social services. Throughout Europe Roma discrimination is frequent. The EU has an advanced legal framework which provides for protection against discrimination. The thematic focus of the ROMA-Net project closely echoes the recent trends in social inclusion policy for Roma, which recognise the important role of cities and municipalities in the development and implementation of social inclusion policies. The trans-national context of ROMA-Net recognises that Roma exclusion is a multi-national issue which spans beyond the boundaries of single nations. A key factor of ROMA-Net is the innovation and a drive to find alternative approaches that can stimulate interest and motivate community participation and stakeholder action to drive the project forward. Apart from the aforementioned, the Baseline Study by the network's Lead Expert, Ann Morton Hyde, presents an in-depth overview of the existing policy context for Roma inclusion within EU, as well as the National Action Plans on Social Inclusion from countries relevant for the partnership. The trends, opportunities and potential solutions are brought to the forefront when good practice examples from different cities have been listed and described. The baseline study explains the methodology used for local mapping, as well as the resulting City profiles.

3. 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 

4. 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.