European Social Fund in England

Achievements - All things being Equal

The Equal OWEN team join forces with the OWEN Yorkshire

Forward team based in Beverley, East Yorkshire.

As the Equal Programme draws to an end we look at two examples of how Development Partnerships (DPs) are engaging with strategic regional organisations to strengthen their mainstreaming potential.

The Equal programme has supported more than 170 Development Partnerships (DPs) to develop and test new ways of tackling disadvantage and discrimination in the labour market.

As the Equal Programme draws to an end, DPs are now mainstreaming and disseminating their outcomes. This article provides case studies of how two DPs are engaging with strategic regional organisations to strengthen their mainstreaming potential.

Older Workers

OWEN (Older Workers’ Employment Network) provides employment support to people aged over 45 who are unemployed within the East Riding of Yorkshire.

With Equal funding, OWEN has so far supported 235 beneficiaries of whom almost 40 per cent have successfully gained new employment as a result of one-to-one support and in-house workshops on CV writing, interview skills and application forms.

OWEN’s Equal funded activity will finish in early 2008, but it has been successful in securing funding through Yorkshire Forward to continue the project until 2009. The funding will also allow OWEN to expand to include Hull, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The continuing activities are part of Yorkshire Forward’s MORE (Making Opportunities Realistic for Everyone) Programme.

By working in partnership with Yorkshire Forward, OWEN has been able to raise its profile, and disseminate its achievements.

It has also worked in partnership with the University of Hull at Scarborough to develop a sustainable programme of accredited higher education modules that have been designed specifically for people aged over 45. These modules are being used by MORE for confidence building, job seeking and assertiveness activities. They are available to the public and can contribute toward a postgraduate qualification.

Want to know more? For further information on the OWEN Project contact Angel Lawry, Partnership Development Officer on 01482 887670 or email: angel.lawry@eastriding.gov.uk Or visit the OWEN website: www.owenproject.co.uk

OWEN held a recruitment and training event

for job seekers and local employers at

Leisure World in Bridlington in March 2007.

Social Enterprise in South East England

The desire to find alternative ways to deliver services and to support local communities in the South East led to the development of the South East Social Enterprise Strategy with the support of the Equal programme.

The strategy was written by Social Enterprise in South East England in 2005 and brought together a wide range of partners from across the region. The primary aim was to foster an environment that would enable social enterprises to develop and evolve quickly and sustainably.

South East England Development Agency’s Equal DP – Cultural Shift South East – works intensively with policy makers and entrepreneurs across six service areas to develop new social enterprises to deliver public services in the region. It aims to help the public sector understand what an enterprise model for public service delivery looks like and how its actions can either help or hinder creation and success of social enterprises.

The first strand is focused on setting quality standards in social enterprise advice throughout the region. Managed by Social Enterprise London the project is currently training the first tranche of 40 social enterprise advisors to work in the third sector. This strand is also developing the first Intermediate Labour Market accredited social enterprise business support qualification, with the aim that it will become the national standard for business advisors.

The second strand focuses on capacity-building social enterprises thereby enabling them to bid for public procurement contracts. This project is led by Business Link and also aims to address understanding of the business model within the regional Business Link network.

The final strand aims to develop a regional and national standard of social enterprise impact measurement. Social Enterprise London was commissioned to build on the national Quality and Impact study developed through the Social Enterprise Partnership GB. The aim is to establish this model as the standard for Government using evidence from a sample of 40 organisations to promote the standard to the Cabinet Office.

The DP’s activity has also been supported by a parallel programme of ESF Co-financing projects. This programme focuses on addressing issues of quality and impact measurement within the social enterprise sector itself.

Want to know more? For more information on the Cultural Shift South East DP contact Kate Annison, Project Director and Head of Development, Economic Inclusion and Social Economy, SEEDA – email: kateannison@seeda.co.uk or tel: 01483 500797.