Projects and organisations funded by the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI). Report VIII, Period covered 2014-2017.
Date: 2018-04-23
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
Subjects: EU employment policy, EU financing, distribution of EU funding, entrepreneurship, geographical mobility, innovation, labour mobility, microfinance, private sector, public sector, report, social security, working conditions

ISSN: 2467-4168

Projects and organisations 
funded by the European Union 
Programme for  
Employment and Social 
Innovation (EaSI)

Report VIII  

Period covered 2014-2017

Written by Kristina Malūkaitė, Karolina Lipnickienė, 
Laima Užpelkienė and Mantas Pupinis, PPMI Group
Vilnius

February 2018

Social Europe

 
European Commission
Directorate-General for Employement, Social Affairs and Inclusion
Unit F3 - Programming and Planning
1049 Brussels
BELGIUM

Manuscript completed in  2018

Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use 
that might be made of the following information.

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2018

© European Union, 2018
Reuse is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. 
The reuse policy of European Commission documents is regulated by Decision 2011/833/EU (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, 
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PDF 

ISBN 978-92-79-80431-1 

ISSN 2467-4168 

doi:10.2767/204901 

  KE-BP-18-001-EN-N

PROJECTS AND ORGANISATIONS 
FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION 
PROGRAMME FOR
EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL 
INNOVATION (EASI)

Report VIII
Period covered 2014-2017

Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion

This report has received financial support from the Programme for  Employment and Social Innovation 
(EaSI) 2014-2020

Foreword

“Employment has reached record highs in Europe with more than 236 million Europeans at work. 
Yet,  large  disparities  remain  between  countries  or  age  groups.  At  the  same  time,  employers 
report difficulties in finding people with the right skills. So there is still work to do. 

The  Programme  for  Employment  and  Social  Innovation  (EaSI)  is  a  clear  expression  of  the 
Commission’s firm commitment to create jobs and growth and improve social conditions across 
Europe. 

This report showcases 7 successful and inspiring projects supported by EaSI in 2014-2017. They 
highlight for example how young unemployed people have been targeted to help them find jobs. 
They also present how mobility is improved via the posting of workers. In addition, the report features 10 EU –level 
NGOs that actively promote social inclusion, poverty reduction and access to finance. 

I hope that it will inspire many public, private and civil society actors at large to apply for EU funding and build their 
own projects in the area of employment and social innovation.”

Marianne Thyssen
Commissioner for Employment, 
Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility

Abstract .............................................................................................................................................................................................8

Résumé ..............................................................................................................................................................................................9

Kurzfassung..................................................................................................................................................................................10

1. 

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................11

1.1.  Key facts about the presented project ..............................................................................................................................11

1.2.  Key facts about the presented organisations ................................................................................................................12

1.3.  How to read this report ............................................................................................................................................................13

2.  Methodology .....................................................................................................................................................................14

3. 

EaSI-funded projects ....................................................................................................................................................16

3.1.  Social protection ..........................................................................................................................................................................16

3.1.1.  SHARE 6th Wave Data Collection in Spain ................................................................................................................................. 16

3.1.2.  Policies for an Aged Workforce in the EU – PAWEU .............................................................................................................. 18

3.2.  Working conditions......................................................................................................................................................................20

3.2.1.  ECMIN 2.0 - Workers’ Information and Portal Website on Applicable Working Conditions ............................ 21

3.2.2.  Posting Fraud and Social Dumping – Trade Unions to Overcome Issues Related to Posting of Workers in 

the Metal Sector ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 23

3.2.3.  Posted Workers in the EU: Joining Forces for Action on Solidarity and Cooperation Mechanisms to Ensure 

Fair and Competitive Future for European Economy and Society ............................................................................... 25

3.2.4.  Equal Rights for Posted Workers – Raising Awareness About Directive 96/71/EC ............................................. 27

3.3.  Employment ...................................................................................................................................................................................29

3.3.1.  New Communication and Cooperation Model for Better Information About the Youth Guarantee ........... 30

4. 

EaSI-funded organisations .........................................................................................................................................32 

4.1. 

4.1.1.  EAPN ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 33

4.1.2.  FEANTSA........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 35

4.1.3.  The European Social Network ........................................................................................................................................................... 37

4.1.4.  EUROCITIES.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 39

4.1.5.  EuroHealthNet ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 41

4.1.6.  ENSIE .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 43

4.1.7.  European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD).............................................. 45

4.1.8.  Eurodiaconia ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 47

4.1.9.  Caritas Europa ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 49

4.1.10.  European Microfinance Network ................................................................................................................................................... 51

5. 

Afterword............................................................................................................................................................................53

Annex I – List of projects and organisations included in this report .................................................................54

Abstract

The European Commission co-finances actions of public, private and civil society actors enabling them to deliver new services, 
assess existing policies or develop new ones, and exchange good practices in the fields of employment, social protection, working 
conditions, geographical labour mobility, microfinance and social entrepreneurship. To facilitate the dissemination of the achieved 
results, this report presents examples of 7 projects and 10 organisations supported by the Programme for Employment and 
Social Innovation (EaSI) in 2014-2017.

The  aims  of  the  presented  projects  ranged  from  supporting  reforms  of  national  social  protection  systems  and  enhancing 
administrative cooperation on posting of workers to raising awareness on how young people can benefit from the Youth Guarantee.

Another main part of the report presents EaSI-supported activities implemented in 2016 by 10 major EU-level NGOs active in 
the promotion of social inclusion, poverty reduction and access to finance. The presented organisations aimed to support the 
Commission’s social investment approach at national and local levels and the implementation of the Social Investment Package, 
the Social Business Initiative and the Europe 2020 Strategy.

The report also includes a description of the methodology that was applied to collect information on the presented actions and 
to analyse their results. Among other things, the report seeks to emphasise the European added value of the described actions 
and to single out potential good practices.

We believe that this report will be beneficial in two major ways. First, it will serve as guidance for public, private and civil society 
actors wishing to apply for EU funding. Second, it will provide policy-makers with innovative ideas to design and implement new 
policy interventions to boost employment and ensure adequate social protection across the EU.

 8

Résumé

La  Commission  européenne  cofinance  des  actions  des  acteurs  publics,  privés  et  de  la  société  civile,  pour  que  ces  derniers 
puissent  proposer  de  nouveaux  services,  évaluer  des  politiques  existantes  ou  en  développer  de  nouvelles,  et  échanger  des 
bonnes pratiques dans les domaines de l’emploi, de la protection sociale, des conditions de travail, de la mobilité géographique 
de la main-d’œuvre, de la microfinance et de l’entrepreneuriat social. Dans le but de faciliter la diffusion des résultats obtenus, 
le présent rapport présente des exemples tirés de 7 projets et 10 organisations financés par le programme pour l’emploi et 
l’innovation sociale (EaSI) sur la période 2014-2017.

Les objectifs des projets présentés couvraient différents domaines, comme le soutien aux réformes des systèmes nationaux de 
protection sociale ou l’amélioration de la coopération administrative en matière de détachement des travailleurs, ou bien encore 
le renforcement de la sensibilisation sur les façons dont les jeunes peuvent profiter de la garantie pour la jeunesse.

Une autre partie importante du rapport présente les activités financées par l’EaSI et mises en œuvre en 2016 par 10 grandes 
ONG européennes actives dans le domaine de la promotion de l’inclusion sociale, de la réduction de la pauvreté et de l’accès aux 
financements. Les organisations présentées avaient notamment pour objectifs de soutenir l’approche d’investissement social de 
la Commission au niveau national et local, et de soutenir la mise en œuvre du paquet d’investissements sociaux, de l’initiative 
entreprise sociale et de la stratégie Europe 2020.

Le rapport inclut également une description de la méthodologie utilisée pour collecter des informations sur les actions présentées, 
et pour analyser leurs résultats. Entre autres, le rapport cherche à apporter un éclairage sur la valeur ajoutée européenne des 
actions décrites, et à isoler les bonnes pratiques potentielles.

Nous pensons que ce rapport aura deux grandes retombées positives. Tout d’abord, il pourra être un guide pour les acteurs publics, 
privés et de la société civile qui souhaitent faire une demande de financement européen. Ensuite, il apportera aux décisionnaires 
politiques  des  idées  innovantes  pour  concevoir  et  mettre  en  œuvre  de  nouvelles  interventions  politiques  qui  permettront  de 
dynamiser l’emploi et de garantir une protection sociale adaptée dans l’ensemble de l’Union européenne.

 9

Kurzfassung

Die  Europäische  Kommission  stellt  eine  Kofinanzierung  für  Maßnahmen  staatlicher,  privater  und  zivilgesellschaftlicher 
Akteure  bereit,  mit  denen  diese  in  den  Politikfeldern  Beschäftigung,  Sozialschutz,  Arbeitsbedingungen,  räumliche  Mobilität 
von  Arbeitnehmern,  Mikrofinanzierung  und  soziales  Unternehmertum  neue  Dienstleistungen  erbringen,  politische  Strategien 
auswerten oder neue politische Ideen entwickeln sowie bewährte Verfahren austauschen. Um die Verbreitung der dabei erzielten 
Ergebnisse  zu  verbessern,  stellt  dieser  Bericht  beispielhaft  7  Projekte  und  10  Organisationen  vor,  die  von  2014  bis  2017  im 
Rahmen des Programms für Beschäftigung und soziale Innovation (EaSI) gefördert wurden.

Die  vorgestellten  Projekte  haben  unterschiedlichste  Zielsetzungen:  sie  unterstützen  Reformen  der  Sozialsysteme  in  den 
Mitgliedstaaten, sie verbessern die Kooperation nationaler Arbeitsverwaltungen bei der Vermittlung von Arbeitnehmern und sie 
informieren darüber, wie junge Menschen die Jugendgarantie in Anspruch nehmen können.

In einem weiteren Abschnitt des Berichts werden die Maßnahmen von zehn wichtigen europaweit tätigen NGOs vorgestellt, die im 
Jahr 2016 im Rahmen von EaSI gefördert wurden und sich für soziale Eingliederung, den Kampf gegen Armut und einen besseren 
Zugang zu Finanzdienstleistungen einsetzen. Die präsentierten Organisationen hatten insbesondere das Ziel, die Strategie der 
Kommission für mehr Sozialinvestitionen auf nationaler und lokaler Ebene sowie die Umsetzung des Sozialinvestitionspakets, der 
Initiative für soziales Unternehmertum und der Strategie Europa 2020 zu unterstützen.

Ferner enthält der Bericht eine Beschreibung der Methoden, die angewendet wurden, um Daten über die vorgestellten Maßnahmen 
zu erfassen und deren Ergebnisse zu analysieren. Unter anderem möchte der Bericht den europäischen Mehrwert der untersuchten 
Maßnahmen betonen und bewährten Verfahren vorstellen.

Wir  glauben,  dass  dieser  Bericht  äußerst  nützlich  sein  kann.  Erstens  kann  er  öffentlichen,  privaten  und  zivilgesellschaftlichen 
Akteure, die Fördermittel der EU beantragen möchten, als Leitfaden dienen. Und zweitens bietet er politischen Entscheidungsträgern 
innovative  Ideen  zur  Entwicklung  und  Umsetzung  neuer  politischer  Maßnahmen,  mit  denen  Arbeitsplätze  geschaffen  und 
europaweit ein angemessener Sozialschutz gewährleistet werden können.

 10

1. 

Introduction

Analysing  and  disseminating  information  about  the  results  of  the  supported  projects  and  organisations  are  part  of  the 
performance  monitoring  of  the  EU  Programme  for  Employment  and  Social  Innovation  (EaSI)  2014-2020.  The  programme’s 
monitoring approach foresees biannual reports presenting examples of projects and organisations supported by EaSI.

This is the eighth such report, which follows the first seven published in 2014-2017. The report presents the results of EaSI-
funded projects and organisations – major EU-level NGOs promoting social inclusion, poverty reduction and access to finance for 
vulnerable groups of society and social entrepreneurs.

The report consists mainly of fiches, which describe in concise and uniform format the results and the European added value of 
a given successful project or organisation as well as potential good practices among the implemented actions. In addition, the 
project/organisation fiches were developed with an aim to make them easily accessible as stand-alone documents and useful to 
all informed stakeholders (decision-makers, social partners, NGOs, academia, media and civil society at large).

The purpose of this report is to improve learning among the national authorities, civil society organisations and 
private actors working in the field of employment & social affairs, to support future policy developments. First, it may serve as 
guidance for public, private and civil society actors wishing to apply for EU funding in the future. Second, it will provide policy-
makers with ideas that can inform the design and implementation of new policy interventions.

Along with this introduction, the report has three other parts. Chapter 2 features a description of the methodology that was 
applied to collect information on the actions and organisations presented and to analyse their results. Chapter 3 presents projects 
funded by EaSI and implemented in 2014-2017. In Chapter 4, the reader will find an overview of the EaSI-funded activities 
implemented in 2016 by major EU-level NGOs. The report concludes with a short afterword inter alia explaining the next steps in 
monitoring EaSI-supported projects and organisations as well as the overall programme.

1.1.  Key facts about the presented projects

This  report  presents  7  recently  finished  projects  funded  by  the  EaSI  programme.  Since  EaSI-funded  projects  usually  last 
2-3  years,  below  the  reader  will  find  the  description  of  the  projects  implemented  in  2014-2017.  This  report  covers  projects 
implemented in the areas of social protection, working conditions and employment.

In the policy area of social protection, the report presents two projects that aimed to support the Member States in reviewing 
some selected aspects of their social protection systems and identifying potential for improving cost-effectiveness, including by 
strengthening the social investment orientation of the systems.

Table 1. Calls for proposals in the policy area of social protection and social inclusion (EaSI- PROGRESS)

Reference number

Title

Number of projects 
included in the report

VP/2014/006

EaSI-PROGRESS: Support for social protection reforms

2

In the policy area of working conditions, the report presents four EaSI-funded projects that aimed to enhance administrative 
cooperation and access to information on posting of workers (see Table 2).

Table 2. Calls for proposals in the policy area of working conditions (EaSI-PROGRESS)

Reference number

Title

Number of projects 
included in the report

VP/2014/007

VP/2015/007

EaSI-PROGRESS: Posting of workers: enhancing administrative cooperation 
and access to information

EaSI-PROGRESS: Posting of workers: enhancing administrative cooperation 
and access to information

1

3

In the policy area of employment, the report analyses one project aimed at raising awareness among young people on how they 
can benefit from the Youth Guarantee scheme.

 11

Table 3. Calls for proposals in the policy area of employment (EaSI-PROGRESS)

Reference number

Title

Number of projects 
included in the report

VP/2015/005

Information sharing and outreach activities to young people about Youth 
Guarantee offers

1

Please note that the projects within different policy areas as well as projects within the same policy area that are funded through 
different calls should not be directly compared with each other. They are different in scope, aims, activities, budget and duration. 
Each project should rather be seen as a distinct action.

1.2.  Key facts about the presented organisations

The report also presents results delivered in 2016 by 10 EaSI-funded EU-level organisations working in the fields of social 
inclusion, poverty reduction and promotion of access to finance for vulnerable persons and social entrepreneurs1.  Out of 19 such 
organisations, this report covers those that are marked in grey in Table 4. Results achieved by the remaining 9 organisations were 
already presented in the previous report.

Table 4. A list of presented EaSI-supported organisations

Title of an organisation

Policy area

Caritas Europa

Fighting poverty and social exclusion

European Social Network (ESN)

Local public social services

EUROCITIES

Eurochild

EuroHealthNet

FEANTSA  –  The  European  Federation  of  National 
Organisations Working with the Homeless

SOLIDAR

European  Association  of  Service  Providers  for  Persons 
with Disabilities (EASPD)

Reinforcing the role of local and municipal governments

Improving  the  quality  of  life  of  children  and  young 
people

Health and health equity

Tackling homelessness and its effects

Social  policy, 
migration

international  cooperation,  education, 

Promoting equal opportunities for people with disabilities

European Network of Social Integration (ENSIE)

Social integration economy

European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN)

Fighting against poverty and social exclusion

COFACE – Confederation of Family Organisations in the 
European Union

Family

Eurodiaconia – European Federation for Diaconia

Poverty  and  social  exclusion,  social  and  health  care 
services and the future of social Europe

European Microfinance Network (EMN)

Microfinance

(1) 
Funded as a result of the Call for Proposals for operating grants open to EU-level NGOs networks that had signed a Framework 
Partnership Agreement for 2014-2017 and that are active in the promotion of social inclusion and poverty reduction or active in the promotion 
of microfinance and social enterprise finance (VP/2015/010).

 12

Eurocarers

ERGO – Roma inclusion NGO

European Platform for Rehabilitation (EPR)

Informal care

Roma inclusion

Providing 
disabilities and other disadvantaged groups

rehabilitation  services 

to  people  with 

Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented 
Migrants (PICUM)

Promoting respect for the human rights of undocumented 
migrants within Europe

European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA)

Social investment and venture philanthropy

Microfinance Centre (MFC)

Microfinance

1.3.  How to read this report

This report consists mainly of project fiches that were prepared as stand-alone documents. Therefore, we advise the readers to 
jump immediately to the fiches that they find the most interesting and relevant to their area of work or personal interests (as 
opposed to reading the report from beginning to end). To understand how these fiches were developed, please also take time to 
read the introduction and the methodological chapter.

 13

2.  Methodology

The key components of this report are fiches that present the results of projects and organisations funded by EaSI programme. 
These  project  fiches  are  structured  according  to  policy  areas  as  well  as  themes  of  respective  calls  for  proposals.  The  report 
presents  all  projects  and  organisations  that  were  supported  by  these  instruments  and  successfully  completed  in  the  second 
semester of 2017.

In addition to an overview of activities carried out by the selected projects and organisations, the report aims to identify and 
describe potential good practices. To single out such practices, we followed a broad definition of the term ‘practice’ encompassing 
both policy development and implementation. In our view, a ‘good practice’ is a process or methodology that has been proven to 
work well and produce good results and is therefore recommended for others as a model or useful example. What constitutes 
a ‘good practice’ can thus include initiatives as diverse as legislation (at the national, sub-national and local levels), regulation, 
policies, strategies, institutional frameworks, planning and coordination procedures, various interventions (programmes, projects, 
campaigns, subsidies, financing mechanisms, tariff structures and similar), among many others. When analysing EaSI-funded 
projects and organisations, the report team aimed to include all information instrumental to distinguishing the most successful 
activities, so that only effective calls are continued in the future.

To ensure that the collected information is as comprehensive as possible, we relied on three data collection strategies:

1.  The main sources of information were the final technical implementation reports completed by grant beneficiaries.
2.  The  report  team  also  used  all  available  additional  information  about  the  presented  projects  provided  to  them  by  the 
European Commission. Such information included various reports and briefings, agendas of organised events, participant 
lists, financial information, detailed description of deliverables and external/internal evaluations.

3.  Finally, data collection was carried out in openly accessible sources, such as project/organisation websites.

The report team then analysed the content of the collected material according to a pre-developed toolkit to produce fiches for 
each project and organisation. The toolkit included a project fiche template (covering pre-defined criteria for analysis), a list of 
criteria for classifying analysed projects, and a reference grid for indicating potential good practices.

The resulting 17 fiches consist of two parts. The first part (a table) presents the general administrative data on a given project 
or organisation as well as policy areas and sub-areas as per the pre-established classification. In the second part, we outline the 
actions, their aims and results, effectiveness, transferability/up-scalability, sustainability, innovativeness, impact and EU added 
value. These criteria were also used to assess which of the project activities could be regarded as potential good practices. As 
the reports on EaSI-funded projects and organisations will be inter alia used by the project auditors, the aspect of effectiveness 
(i.e. the extent to which projects/organisations achieved their results) was given particular attention.

Box 1 provides a complete list of criteria applied to analyse projects and organisations.

Box 1. List of criteria for analysing projects and organisations

•  Socioeconomic context. This part describes why the action was implemented and the policy-related motives behind it. 
It also describes how the analysed project/organisation fits into the local/national/EU policy, social and economic context.

•  Aims of the project/organisation. This heading summarises what the action aimed to achieve.
•  Results, measured impacts, achievements, lessons learned. This part discusses the results, medium-to-long-term 

impacts of the action (both current and expected), achievements and lessons learned.

•  Identification of potential good practices. This section identifies processes/methodologies employed by the project/

organisation that could be suggested as good practice examples to other similar projects/organisations.

•  Transferability element(s) of the project/activities (if any). This section discusses the potential for the action or its 

individual parts to be applied in other contexts/at other levels (these do not necessarily have to be good practices).

•  Innovativeness of the project/activities (if any). This section presents project/organisation activities that could be 
considered novel, in terms of standing out in the context of similar actions and settings and elaborates how exactly they 
are innovative.

•  Policy evidence generated by the project/organisation (if any). This heading provides an overview of the studies, 
reports, databases or other evidence produced by the project/organisation to inform policy developments in a respective 
field.

 14

•  Transnational dimension (if any). This section focuses on activities that were implemented in more than one country, 
at the EU or international level. In the fiches featuring transnational networks or projects that by design are transnational, 
this  section  was  often  not  singled  out  and  instead  the  transnational  element  was  emphasised  as  a  horizontal  theme 
throughout the project/organisation description under other criteria.

•  New partnerships created (if any). This heading elaborates on actions that led to participating organisations finding 

new partners because of their involvement in a given project/network.

•  Dissemination strategy (if any). This section provides an overview on how the project/organisation communicated the 
results of their action to their internal networks, stakeholders and the general public, including relevant intermediary and 
ultimate target groups.

•  European added value. In this section, the report comments on whether the action:

 ° could have been implemented or reached similar results without EU funding (where exactly did EU funding mostly 

contribute to?);

led to economies of scale, ensuring more efficient use of money and better services for citizens;

 ° contributed to the implementation of EU legislation or ensuring that EU legislation is correctly applied;
 °
 ° promoted best practice examples learned from the previous EU/national actions;
 ° promoted  benchmarking  for  decision-making  (e.g.  through  peer  reviews,  mutual  learning,  producing  evidence  for 

policy-makers, etc.);

 ° due to its transnational character, allowed cross-border risks to be reduced and their consequences mitigated;
 ° contributed to the free movement of persons;
 ° contributed to networking activities (especially between organisations from different countries).

•  Sustainability measures. This part explains what measures were taken in order to ensure that the results and impacts 

of the action are sustainable. Is there any evidence that activities will continue in the absence of EU funding?

The reader should note that even though projects presented in this report were funded under the same programme and many 
of them had similar aims, each implemented a unique set of actions. Therefore, in overviewing them the research team focused 
on the most relevant information for each, instead of including a uniform list of criteria in every fiche. This is to say that project 
fiches feature different combinations of headings, and more emphasis in specific fiches is given to some of the criteria over 
others, with respect to the nature of the actions themselves.

 15

3.  EaSI-funded projects
3.1.  Social protection

Support for social protection reforms

This section presents two projects funded in the area of social protection as a result of the call for proposals  aimed at helping 
Member States review some specific aspects of their social protection systems in order to identify potentials for improved cost-
effectiveness, including strengthening the orientation of their systems’ social investment.

The following types of activities were funded:

•  country reviews by international organisations;
•  secondments of policy advisers from another country;
•  study visits from and to countries with relevant experience;
•  provision of empirical evidence needed for international comparisons and mutual learning.

The projects were expected to generate knowledge and evidence that could help steer national reforms, either by facilitating the 
access to expertise from other Member States and international organisations, or by obtaining empirical evidence needed for 
international comparisons and mutual learning. In addition, it was expected that the projects would focus on major challenges 
that have been, or might become, the subject of country-specific recommendations, as well as reforms that could strengthen the 
social investment dimension of social protection schemes.

3.1.1.  SHARE 6th Wave Data Collection in Spain

‘The combination of two research dimensions – cross-national and temporal 

– allowed researchers to get in-depth understanding of various health policy 
strategies and draw conclusions about policy efficacy and human behaviour.’

Call identification number: VP/2014/006/0061
Grant identification number: VS/2015/0195

Participating country: Spain

Project duration: 1 June 2015 - 31 March 2017

Policy area: Fight against poverty and social exclusion

EU contribution in euros: 381 827.28

Policy sub-area: Demographic change

Implementing country: Spain

Target groups: Higher education institutions and 
research institutes

Socioeconomic context

The  amount  of  research  on  demographic  changes  and  the 
challenges they create has increased over the last couple of 
years. However, many relevant questions remain to be analysed. 
Many  Member  States  have  launched  pension  reforms,  which 
have  increased  the  retirement  age  and  decreased  pension 
benefits. There is little data on how these reforms are translated 
into  individual  behavioural  and  societal  outcomes  –  whether 
people accumulate more savings for retirement, receive more 
support within the family, or experience more old-age poverty. 
Also,  whether  later  retirement  means  continued  productivity 
or  more  disability  insurance  applications  and  higher  old-age 
unemployment.

Population  health  varies  across  Europe,  and  there  is  little 
knowledge  regarding  how  much  of  this  is  due  to  differences 
in health care, social and educational policies or genetic and 

(2) 

Call for proposals VP/2014/006: Support for social protection reforms.

 16

Activities implemented

•  Planning  and  supervision  of  the  fieldwork  process 
(assessment  of  how  adequate  the  changes  in 
the  questionnaire  were  to  the  Spanish  case, 
documentation of the Spanish-specific deviations);

•  Cleaning and processing the data;
•  Analysis of data to start after the project completion 

report;

•  Dissemination of the study results.

Coordinator
Fundacion Centro de Estudios Monetarios y Financieros

Partners 
SHARE ERIC

Project/organisation website 
http://www.share-project.org/

The  data  collected  through  project  activities  was  released 
six months after the fieldwork, and one year later the project 
coordinator  released  it  again,  cleaned  and  documented.  The 
Spanish data was deposited in two public data archives that 
are  accessible  without  user  charges  through  the  internet: 
the  German  Central  Data  Archive,  a  public  data  archive  run 
by  GESIS  in  Cologne  (Germany)  and  the  CentERdata  Archive, 
located at Tilburg University (the Netherlands). After the data 
is  analysed,  further dissemination  will be  conducted through 
participation in several conferences and the publication of an 
article.

To  make  the  data  visible  for  Spanish  users,  the  project 
coordinator updated the Spanish SHARE website (http://www.
share.cemfi.es/) and made it user-friendly. The website offers 
a detailed explanation of the methodology followed, provides 
examples  of  the  data  use,  summarises  the  key  publications 
that have used the collected data, and lists Spanish newspaper 
articles about the conclusions the data analysis has led to.

Sustainability measures

Since  the  project  results  will  feed  into  multinational  and 
longitudinal  datasets,  they  will  be  relevant  even  after  the 
project activities are finished.

cultural differences. Furthermore, there is no final answer on 
the causes for the especially large differences in life expectancy 
between  more  and  less  wealthy  Europeans.  Questions  like 
these  point  to  the  need  for  more  research  and  comparable 
data.

The  aim  of  this  project  was  to  collect  data  on  health, 
socioeconomic  status  and  social  and  family  networks  of 
individuals aged 50 or older in Spain. The data collected during 
the  project  will  contribute  to  a  multidisciplinary  and  cross-
national  panel  database  of  micro  data  called  the  ‘Survey 
of  Health,  Ageing  and  Retirement  in  Europe  (SHARE),’  which 
has been successful in providing support for evidence-based 
policy-making, both at the Union and the Member State level.

More  specifically,  project  implementation  included  planning 
and  supervision  of  the  fieldwork  process,  the  cleaning  and 
processing  of  the  data,  the  assessment  of  the  adequacy 
of  the  changes  in  the  questionnaire  to  the  Spanish  case, 
the  documentation  of  the  Spanish-specific  deviations,  the 
evaluation  of  the  entire  process,  and  the  production  and 
dissemination  of  preliminary  scientific  analysis  and  results 
among the scientific community in Spain.

Project results, measured impacts, achievements, 
lessons learned

The  outcome  of  this  project  is  a  dataset  of  the  6th  SHARE 
survey in Spain, which will supplement a cross-national SHARE 
database.  Spain  joined  the  project  from  the  very  beginning 
with  the  aim  that  SHARE  would  become  a  stable  and  long-
lasting infrastructure which provides longitudinal data of the 
same individuals every two years.

Policy evidence generated by the project

The  SHARE  survey  has  informed  policy-makers  both  at  the 
Union and the Member State level. Though the policy evidence 
has  not  been  generated  yet  with  Spanish  data,  the  project 
coordinator  hopes  the  availability  of  this  data  will  allow 
researchers to produce scientific results and policy-makers to 
design fact-based social policies and reforms.

Transnational  dimension  and  European  added 
value

The project’s results – data collected in Spain – will complement 
the  overall  SHARE  dataset.  The  SHARE  multidisciplinary 
micro  data  helps  to  understand  health  and  ageing  in  20 
European  countries  over  time.  The  combination  of  two 
research  dimensions  –  cross-national  and  temporal  –  allows 
researchers  to  observe  different  health  policy  strategies  and 
draw conclusions about policy efficacy and human behaviour. 
Policy-makers across the EU can use the generated research 
insights  to  inform  decision-making,  while  improving  health 
care and social systems.

Dissemination strategy

The  project  coordinator  disseminated  the  project  results  to 
both the wider international academic community and Spanish 
stakeholders.

 17

3.1.2.  Policies for an Aged Workforce in the EU – PAWEU

‘The project results are expected to have an impact on national policies 

regarding pension systems and labour market policies geared toward an ageing 
workforce.’

Call identification number: VP/2014/006/0073

Participating countries: Italy, Belgium and Romania

Grant identification number: VS/2015/0246

Grant duration: 1 September 2015 – 31 May 2017 

Policy area: Employment

EU contribution in euros: 183 463.68

Policy sub-area: Promotion of a high level of quality and 
sustainable employment

Target groups: National, regional, local authorities; 
Individuals aged 50–69

Implementing country: Italy

Project results and policy evidence generated by 
the project

The  final  report,  which  contains  a  review  of  the  national 
policies  targeting  ageing  workers,  a  detailed  assessment  of 
the Italian and Romanian cases, and an empirical analysis of 
older individuals’ workability, is the main result of the project. 
It is expected to have an impact on national policies regarding 
pension systems and labour market policies geared toward an 
ageing workforce.

The  research  report  concluded  that  gender,  marital  status, 
education  and  perceived  health  have  a  different  impact  in 
different European country clusters to one’s likelihood of being 
active at an older age or continuing to work after retirement. 
Therefore,  the  project  partners  claimed  that  multiple  policy 
strategies  and  employer  initiatives  should  be  considered  in 
order to improve economic efficiency, working conditions and 
the wellbeing of aged workers.

Some of the measures to be considered should include pension 
policies,  passive  and  active  labour  market  policies  devoted 
to  older  workers,  as  well  as  age-management  strategies 
implemented  by  employers.  Measures  related  to  pension 
policies might include flexibility of retirement ages, introducing 
actuarial penalties for early retirement, considering individual 
health  when  defining  requirements  for  early  retirement,  and 
establishing  partial  pension  schemes,  which  could  combine 
reduced  working  hours  with  the  provision  of  a  share  of  the 
pension.  Passive  and  active  labour  market  policy  measures 
might feature retraining programmes and public jobs for older 
workers who are unable to continue performing their previous 
job tasks. Good age-management practices might touch upon 
areas such as health care, flexibility, training and redeployment.

Transnational  dimension  and  new  partnerships 
created

The  action  grant  resulted  in  mobilising  human  resources 
and  creating  a  consortium  of  four  different  organisations 
in  Belgium,  Italy  and  Romania  to  collaborate  and  generate 
knowledge. The project also provided networking activities to 
both national organisations – in the form of a workshop in Italy 
– and European organisations. The new partnerships created 
throughout project activities have the potential to be further 
developed.

Socioeconomic context

The  economic  recession  in  the  EU  and  austerity  measures 
that  followed  have  put  older  workers  at  a  higher  risk  of 
unemployment  and  social  exclusion.  These  factors,  together 
with the ageing EU population and the need to control public 
spending,  make  the  employment  of  older  individuals  a  hot 
topic in all EU countries.

The project partners decided to implement a project, confident 
that  the  results  would  inform  the  national  policy  debate, 
provide useful policy suggestions and identify some practices 
that could be implemented in all EU countries.

The overall objective of the PAWEU project was to assess the 
challenges faced by EU countries with ageing workforces and 
the policies that could help them cope with these challenges. 
Focusing on individuals aged 50–69, the project aimed to:

•  review  the  features  of  national  policies  and  welfare 
systems that could affect older workers’ employability 
and their wellbeing;

•  identify  the  main  factors  limiting  or  favouring  older 

workers’ employability.

 18

Activities implemented

•  Setting up the Steering Committee;
•  Kick-off and interim meetings;
•  EU  policies  and  strategies  assessment  (review  of 
national policies, detailed assessment of the Italian 
and  Romanian  cases,  assessment  of  national 
strategies);

•  Empirical analysis of older individuals’ workability;
•  2 public conferences/workshops.

Coordinator
National Institute of Social Security (Italy)

Partners 
Fondazione  Giacomo  Brodolini  (Italy),  European  Social 
Observatory  (Belgium),  Romanian  Ministry  of  Labour 
(Romania)

Project/organisation website 
https://www.inps.it/nuovoportaleinps/default.aspx 

Dissemination strategy

The  Italian  National  Institute  of  Social  Security  along  with 
its three partners disseminated project results through three 
channels: access to the final report, 2 public conferences and 
e-communication tools.

The  main  deliverable  of  the  project,  the  Final  Report,  has 
been  drafted  in  3  languages:  English,  Italian  and  Romanian. 
To improve the dissemination of the Final Report, more than 1 
000 flyers have been printed with a QR code providing the right 
to download the report to electronic devices. The Final Report 
is also available in all three languages on the web pages of 
the Consortium. In addition, during the project workshops were 
organised in Brussels and Rome to support the dissemination 
of results, and to improve networking and cooperation among 
partners and with relevant stakeholders. Moreover, information 
about meetings and conferences throughout the lifespan of the 
project  has  been  communicated  through  partners’  websites, 
social media and newsletters.

European added value

The  contribution  of  EU  funding  was  essential  for  the 
development  of  the  project,  as  it  allowed  the  partners  to 
mobilise  human  resources  from  different  organisations  to 
work together for more than a year. The mutual learning and 
networking opportunities have featured as an EU added value 
in  this  project.  The  project  has  provided  empirical  evidence 
relevant  for  international  comparisons  and  allowed  the 
stakeholders to exchange good practices and lessons learned 
from past reform experiences. Furthermore, the 2 conferences 
provided  networking  opportunities  to  both  national  and 
European organisations.

 19

3.2.  Working conditions

Posting of workers: enhancing administrative cooperation and access to information

With the view to enhancing the implementation, application and enforcement of Directive 96/71/EC on the posting of workers, 2 
recurring calls for proposals were launched in 2014 and 2015 aimed at financing specific transnational cooperation projects each 
involving at least 3 Member States3.

The projects were expected to promote the exchange of information, best practices and training among the officials of competent 
public authorities and relevant social partners, as well as to increase the accessibility and transparency of relevant information.

Below the report presents four projects funded in the area of working conditions addressing the following issues:

•  increasing the accessibility and transparency of relevant information to support posted workers in need;
•  improving knowledge and building capacity of employees, employers and trade unions, on issues related to posting of 

workers and the legal frameworks, European directives;

•  contributing to the development of posted workers directives (96/71/EC and 2014/67/EU) and their correct application;
•  strengthening transnational administrative cooperation between national competent bodies and social partners.

(3) 

Calls for proposals VP/2014/007 and VP/2015/007: Posting of workers: enhancing administrative cooperation and access to information.

 20

3.2.1.  ECMIN 2.0 - Workers’ Information and Portal Website on Applicable Working 
Conditions

‘The creation of ECMIN and improvements introduced with ECMIN 2.0 was an 
important step in encouraging free movement and combating the exploitation of 
posted workers in the EU market.’

Call identification number: VP/2014/007
Grant identification number: VS/2015/0017

Project duration: April 2015–April 2017

EU contribution in euros: 175 347.31

Policy area: Working conditions

Policy sub-area: Posting of workers 

Implementing/participating countries: All EU Member 
States

Target  groups:  National,  regional  and  local  authorities; 
Social partners; Posted workers; Migrant workers; National 
workers in the construction sector.

exploitation  of  posted  workers,  improving  the  mobility  of 
workers and a fair and more transparent EU labour market.

Project results, measured impacts, achievements, 
lessons learned

The key outcome of the project was making the conditions and 
terms of employment of construction workers in EU Member 
States  more  transparent  and  easily  accessible  through  the 
new website and mobile app. This will contribute on a regular, 
long-term  basis  to  the  implementation  and  enforcement  of 
Directive 96/71/EC.

The project team created a country fiche to collect standardised 
information on each of the 28 EU countries with the help of 
EFBWW-affiliated organisations and national labour inspectors. 
All the information is available in the 24 official EU languages 
to ensure that all construction workers around Europe who are 
interested in working in another EU country can easily access 
it.  The  www.constructionworkers.eu  website  was  developed, 
and both, public and administrator, interfaces were designed 
and implemented.

The project team organised an evaluation meeting (to gather 
feedback  on  the  website  and  suggestions  on  its  use  and 
dissemination) and a training seminar to train those in charge 
at national level on how to best use and update the information 
on the website. Strategies on how to better use the network of 
organisations to support workers and how to disseminate the 
website were also introduced.

Due  to  the  transnational  scope  of  the  project,  there  were 
some  challenges  in  finalising  the  structure  of  the  website 
due  to  delays  in  collecting  and  translating  country  specific 
information.  Therefore,  constant  coordination  and  liaison 
between the project team and the affiliated organisations was 
necessary to achieve the results.

Identification of potential good practices

Since more industries (oil and gas, metal, etc.) within the EU 
rely today on posted workers, it is crucial to ensure effective 
implementation  of  Directive  96/71/EC  to  prevent  social 
dumping  and  fraud.  The  website  and  app  launched  as  part 
of  the  ECMIN  2.0  project  are  an  example  of  how  to  provide 
important information on posted workers’ working terms and 
conditions in an organised, transparent and easily accessible 

Socioeconomic context

The  lack  of  easily  accessible  and  transparent  information 
on the applicable working conditions in other countries is an 
important reason why many workers still hesitate to work in 
another EU Member State. It also creates a possibility for social 
dumping. This issue is particularly relevant in the construction 
sector where temporary migration and posting of workers are 
of vital importance. Traditionally, construction workers are an 
exceedingly vulnerable group in the highly competitive battle 
between  building  firms,  that  create  strong  pressure  to  drive 
down prices. Hence, the high demand for skilled and unskilled 
workers requires a highly mobile workforce.

EFBWW  launched  ECMIN  (European  Construction  Mobility 
Information  Net)  in  2009  to  provide  free-of-charge,  easily 
accessible, precise and concise information on the applicable 
working conditions in the construction industry in EU Member 
States.  However,  some  weaknesses  of  the  project  were 
identified;  therefore,  ECMIN  2.0  was  launched  in  2017.  The 
project  aimed  to  develop  and  launch  a  new  website  and 
application for mobile devices that would provide information 
on salary, working time, premiums, holidays, wage deductions, 
sickness and injuries, highlight specific and issues/exceptions 
to general rules relevant for posted workers in all official EU 
languages,  as  well  as  share  contacts  of  trade  union  officials 
speaking different languages and available to support workers 
in  need.  This  is  an  important  step  toward  combating  the 

 21

Activities implemented

•  4 steering group meetings organised;
•  A country fiche to collect standardised information 
on  working  conditions  for  construction  workers  in 
each of the 28 countries was created, amended and 
approved.  The  information  in  the  EU-28  collected 
and translated;

•  www.constructionworkers.eu  website  developed 

and launched Europe wide on 10 April 2017;

•  2 test phases (to assess the proper functioning of 
the website and the correctness of the information 
provided) and evaluation meeting organised;

•  A training seminar on how to update the information 

on the platform organised (50 participants);

•  The ECMIN app created and registered.

Coordinator
EFBWW – The European Federation of Building and 
Woodworkers (Belgium)

Partners 
-

Project/organisation website 
https://www.constructionworkers.eu/en, http://www.efbww.org

Sustainability measures

In order not to lose the good results achieved, the project team 
has  developed  new  plans  for  a  follow-up  project  with  and 
without EU funding. The actions planned are:

•  to start ECMIN 3.0, with the main objective of making 
the ECMIN 2.0 tools even more useful and user-friendly. 
This  will  be  done  through  further  fine  tuning  of  the 
website and the App;

•  to ensure further dissemination of the website and App 

among workers, authorities and other stakeholders;

•  to introduce additional countries and languages in order 
to  cover  most  of  the  construction  workers  working  in 
the EU.

Gender equality measures

Gender  equality  was  not  an  issue  directly  addressed  by  the 
project.  The  total  number  of  participants  in  the  events  and 
activities of the project included 26 women and 44 men.

way. The choice to provide information in a consumer-friendly 
way (24 different languages, support contacts, easy to navigate 
interface),  could  be  seen  as  innovative,  in  a  sense  that  the 
focus is shifted from organisations and companies dealing with 
posted workers to the most vulnerable group in this setting, the 
posted workers themselves. Having access to all the necessary 
information  on  working  conditions  within  the  EU  allows  the 
posted worker to take charge of their working environment and 
make sure their rights are not violated. Such practices could be 
easily transferable to any other sector that deals with posted 
workers and should strive to provide accurate information in an 
easily accessible and understandable way.

Policy evidence generated by the project

To ensure that information provided on the website is accurate 
and  comparable  among  different  countries,  the  project  team 
created  a  country  fiche.  By  having  such  a  tool,  EFBWW-
affiliated organisations and national labour inspectors provided 
information  that  could  be  easily  standardised.  In  addition,  it 
will make it easier to update the information in the future.

Transnational dimension

The project relied on the EFBWW-affiliated organisation network 
that  spans  33  countries  in  Europe.  Although  the  website 
includes  information  only  about  the  MS,  having  affiliated 
organisations in non-Member States allows the area covered 
to be expanded and issues related to the posted workers to be 
addressed Europe wide in the future.

Dissemination strategy

The project coordinator prepared a common press release on 
the launch of ECMIN 2.0. The press release was then sent out 
to all the national affiliated members and ECMIN partners who 
adapted  and  translated  it  into  their  national  languages  and 
released it on their national websites, social media and national 
press. Additionally, a link to the ECMIN 2.0 website has been 
added on national portals of the ECMIN partners. The variety of 
information channels used helped reach the targeted audience 
and ensured wider dissemination and impact of ECMIN 2.0.

In  May  2017  ECMIN  2.0  was  presented  during  the  seminar 
‘Tools  and  approaches  to  deal  with  undeclared  work  in  the 
construction  sector’  organised  by  the  European  Platform  on 
undeclared work, to the Employment Committee of the European 
Parliament as well as during the conference ‘Protecting Mobility 
through Improving Labour Rights enforcement in Europe’ which 
launched the project.

European added value

The  creation  of  ECMIN  and  improvements  introduced  with 
ECMIN  2.0  was  an  important  step  in  encouraging  the  free 
movement  of  and  combating  the  exploitation  of  posted 
workers  in  the  EU  market.  The  project  has  also  created  a 
network among the national organisations and social partners, 
which gave them more ownership at a national level and led to 
better implementation and enforcement of Directive 96/71/EC.

 22

3.2.2.  Posting Fraud and Social Dumping – Trade Unions to Overcome Issues Related to 
Posting of Workers in the Metal Sector

‘The biggest value of the project was its focus on capacity building of metal 
sector posted workers when trying to secure their rights while working abroad.’

Call identification number: VP/2015/007
Grant identification number: VS/2016/0025

Policy area: Working conditions

Policy sub-area: Posting of workers 

Implementing/participating countries: Bulgaria, 
Lithuania, Poland and Spain

Project duration: March 2015 – June 2017

EU contribution in euros: 146 081.15

Target groups: Social partners

•  defining the role of trade unions in dealing with posting 

fraud and social dumping of posted workers;

•  identifying  the  shortcomings  in  administrative  and 

informational cooperation;

•  developing  an  activity  plan  among  trade  unions  to 

combat posting fraud and social dumping.

Project results, measured impacts, achievements, 
lessons learned

As  there  is  quite  a  lot  of  knowledge  about  the  provisions 
of  Directive  96/71/EC  at  a  higher  level  of  management  in 
workplaces, the key focus of the project team was to ensure 
that project events would be attended by people directly from 
workplaces.  Meetings  were  organised  to  develop  practical 
knowledge  of  the  provisions  of  the  Directive  for  people  who 
encounter  this  problem  directly  and  to  build  trade  union 
capacity to help posted workers.

The project team organised a steering group meeting during 
which the main objectives and expectations of the project were 
discussed. This also helped in strengthening relations between 
representatives  of  metal  workers  from  Bulgaria,  Lithuania, 
Poland and Spain. National seminars were organised with the 
focus  on  improving  trade  unionists’  knowledge  about  their 
rights when being posted abroad and to raise their awareness 
on the main issues posted workers face. Last, two international 
events  were  devoted  to  discussing  the  results  of  country 
research  and  disseminating  project  results  among  project’s 
participants.  This  allowed  ideas,  know-how,  experiences  and 
best  practices  to  be  exchanged  between  partners  on  the 
best actions for trade unions to take in order to target issues 
related  to  posting  of  workers  in  the  metal  sector.  Finally,  a 
practical action plan for metal sector trade unions concerning 
better  implementation  of  Directive  96/74/EC  was  developed 
and published.

Socioeconomic context

High workforce mobility and flexibility is becoming more and 
more  important  for  companies  in  the  metal  sector  as  most 
of  them  have  plants  throughout  Europe  and  the  rest  of  the 
world. This results in a high volume of posted workers within 
the sector who need to expand their knowledge about practical 
aspects of how to deal with issues regarding posting of workers 
– social dumping, deductions for housing and transport costs, 
unpaid wages, lack of social protection, the hazardous nature 
of  the  work  undertaken,  unsatisfactory  lodgings,  etc.  Many 
instruments  to  monitor  the  posting  of  workers  have  been 
developed  in  the  past.  However,  not  many  of  them  function 
as  well  as  they  were  intended  to.  Furthermore,  trade  unions 
representing steelworkers are not satisfied with their level of 
influence on the situation of workers, especially during times 
of economic change.

Aims of the project

The main goal of the project was to improve the knowledge of 
employees, employers and trade unions from the metal sector, 
about  posting  of  workers  and  the  related  legal  frameworks 
and European directives. This was done through:

•  assessing the current situation regarding posting fraud 
and  social  dumping  in  the  metal  sector  in  Bulgaria, 
Lithuania, Poland and Spain;

Identification of potential good practices

The biggest value of the project was the fact that it focused 
on  capacity  building  of  posted  workers  in  the  metal  sector 
when trying to secure their rights while working abroad. During 
national seminars, some practical knowledge of the provisions 
of the Directive for people who encounter this problem directly 
was provided: basic rights of posted workers were discussed; 

 23

applying for an A1 and S1 forms was shown; country-specific 
case  studies  were  discussed.  As  this  element  of  the  project 
received very good feedback from participants, such practices 
could  be  transferred  to  other  sectors  with  posted  workers, 
too.  It  would  be  essential  to  ensure  that  seminars  match 
participant needs, and information presented could be applied 
in practice.

Policy evidence generated by the project

the final publication consists of consolidated preparatory studies 
on  posted  worker  situation  in  the  metal  sector  in  Bulgaria, 
Lithuania, Poland and Spain. The publication can be used as a 
tool by employees to evaluate potential risks, by trade unions 
to  prepare  and  better  assist  posted  workers,  employers  and 
national authorities to ensure proper regulations are developed 
and put in place to mitigate the biggest risks. Additionally, the 
publication includes proposals from the international seminar.

Transnational dimension

Activities implemented

•  3  international  meetings:  steering  group  meeting 
(10 

(10  participants), 
participants), final conference (50 participants);

international  seminar 

•  900  copies  of  a  final  publication  that  consists 
of  consolidated  preparatory  studies 
together 
with  proposals  from  the  international  seminar, 
translated into every partner language and English, 
edited,  designed,  published  and  distributed  in 
Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland and Spain;

•  4  national  events  (15  participants  in  each,  16 

participants in Lithuania).

Coordinator
ArcelorMittal Inter-company Workers’ Union Dąbrowa 
Górnicza (Poland)

Partners 
NSZZ  -  ArcelorMittal  Poland  Independent  Employees 
Self-Employed Trade Union (Poland)

the  project  created  an  opportunity  for  trade  unions  from 
Bulgaria,  Lithuania,  Poland  and  Spain  to  participate  in  the 
projects and share experiences and good practices from their 
countries.

Project/organisation website 
http://www.mzzpamdg.pl/

Dissemination strategy

Sustainability measures

Feedback  from  the  project  participants  was  highly  positive, 
and  most  of  them  expressed  willingness  to  continue  and 
strengthen cooperation after the termination of the project. The 
beneficiaries and the partners plan to create an international 
network  for  exchange  of  experiences  and  to  develop  other 
projects related to the problems of posted workers in the metal 
sector in all EU Member States. The participants also confirmed 
that the results of the project will be used during negotiations 
with employers, cooperation with other trade unions and bodies 
representing workers.

Gender equality measures

Gender  equality  was  not  an  issue  directly  addressed  by  the 
project.  The  total  number  of  participants  in  the  events  and 
activities of the project included 31 women and 100 men.

The main message of the project – appreciation for workers’ 
initiatives toward economic and social matters, and the need 
to develop cooperation between trade unions in the older and 
newer  EU  Member  States.  To  increase  the  visibility  of  the 
project and its messages, the project team chose to distribute 
promotional  materials  (brochures,  posters  and  website)  at 
various  public  institutions  and  offices,  workers  unions  and 
during  events  related  to  the  project.  Special  attention  was 
given  to  online  dissemination  channels  and  tools  as  it  was 
believed  that  the  project  message  and  results  (publication) 
would reach wide local and international audiences and foster 
communication  between  communities  via  social  media,  thus 
ensuring better visibility and reach.

European added value

As  the  project  promoted  employee  inclusion  and  equality, 
cooperation between trade unions within the EU it contributed 
to European value added in a couple of different ways:

•  by  defining  trade  unions’  role  in  dealing  with  posted 
worker issues it increased the effectiveness of measures 
taken  by  trade  unions  aimed  at  improving  labour 
conditions in the metal sector;

•  it  also  created  a  platform  to  share  experience, 
information and to raise awareness on good industrial 
relations and practices within the EU;

•  as  organisations  from  the  new  and  old  EU  Members 
participated  in  the  project,  it  positively  influenced 
European integration.

 24

3.2.3.  Posted Workers in the EU: Joining Forces for Action on Solidarity and Cooperation 
Mechanisms to Ensure Fair and Competitive Future for European Economy and Society

‘The published handbook provides information about the main problematic 
issues related to the posting of workers in Europe and proposes guidance for 
decent social protection of posted workers in EU Member States.’

Call identification number: VP/2015/007 
Grant identification number: VS/2016/0059

Policy area: Working conditions

Policy sub-area: Posting of workers 

Implementing/participating countries: Lithuania, 
Poland, Romania and Spain

Project duration: 15 December 2015 – 15 July 2017

EU contribution in euros: 124 615.24

Target  groups:  Social  partners;  Posted  workers;  Trade 
unions; International labour organisations; Sectors related 
to the posting of workers issues.

evaluating their experiences and recommendations related to 
the posting of workers. The handbook is devoted to enhancing 
knowledge  about  posted  workers’  issues  and  guidance  for 
the  decent  social  protection  of  posted  workers.  The  strategy 
presented  in  the  handbook  ensures  that  each  organisation 
could apply it to contribute to the development of the posted 
workers Directives (96/71/EC and 2014/67/EU) and its correct 
application in their countries.

To ensure active social partner involvement and applicability of 
the strategy developed, the following activities were carried out:

•  discussions on raising awareness and sharing experience 
on irregularities in employment among posted workers 
were organised;

•  provision and access to information on the rights and 
obligations of posted workers and their employers in four 
Member  States  was  improved  through  representative 
training and project and national websites;

•  use of the Internal Market Information System (IMI) in 

the EU and partner countries was assessed;

•  IMI as the primary channel of communication between 
the  Member  States  about  the  posting  of  workers 
was  promoted  as  a  tool  to  strengthen  administrative 
cooperation;

•  training  activities  to  promote  the  Directives  and  their 
correct implementation in practice were developed and 
facilitated (a total of 121 persons trained).

Lessons learned

During the project, it became clear that social partners are more 
aware of posted workers’ rights and obligations than of using 
IMI. The importance of using IMI was only relatively explained 
and the awareness of stakeholders was raised. However, the 
system needs further maintenance and promotion.

Identification of potential good practices

As  the  project  had  international  and  national  events,  it  was 
important to ensure effective knowledge transfer and capacity 
building on both levels. For this purpose, the project team used 
a couple of different tools.

Socioeconomic context

There is a general belief that the development of the single 
market  has  made  it  possible  for  companies  to  freely  post 
workers,  which  unfortunately  has  led  to  unfair  competition, 
social dumping and abuse of social rights to the detriment of 
the workers. Therefore, the purpose of Directive 96/71/EC was 
to  ensure  a  minimum  level  of  protection  for  posted  workers 
and  to  provide  a  basic  set  of  clearly  defined  employment 
conditions.  However,  poor  cooperation  between  national 
administrations, lack of and difficulty in accessing information 
on the rights of posted workers impede proper implementation 
of the directive.

For this reason, social partners from Lithuania, Poland, Romania 
and Spain took a joint action to support proper implementation 
of Directive 96/71/EC and enforcement of Directive 2014/67/
EU in their countries with the goal to enhance the accessibility 
of information on the rights of posted worker. Therefore, the 
aim of the action was to strengthen mutual learning, exchange 
best practices, encourage cross-border cooperation and raise 
awareness  about  working  conditions  and  issues  that  posted 
workers face.

Project results, measured impacts, achievements

The key outcome of this action was a printed handbook which 
was  put  together  after  assessing  participants’  needs  and 

 25

First,  international  event  attendees  were  selected  based  on 
their  knowledge  and  ability  to  disseminate  the  main  project 
achievements and international experience at a national level 
to  the  other  members  of  the  trade  unions,  as  well  as  to  the 
local level stakeholders and administrative bodies (“multiplier” 
characteristics).  Second,  participants  of  national  workshops 
developed strategies/recommendations for the better provision 
of  information  on  the  terms  and  conditions  of  employment 
and  on  collective  agreements  applicable  to  posted  workers 
available on the official national website.

Using  such  an  approach  for  selecting  core  participants  for 
international  events  allows  funding  to  be  used  in  the  most 
effective way as well as ensuring knowledge transfer long after 
the end of the project.

Transferability element of the project

The  main  idea  of  the  project  was  about  exchanging  best 
practices and innovative approaches to problem solving when 
dealing  with  posted  workers  in  partner  countries.  A  similar 
approach of sharing successful approaches in one country and 
adjusting them to the circumstances of other countries could 
be applied when involving more representatives from different 
sectors or opening dialogue and cooperation between different 
stakeholders within the country and the EU.

Innovativeness of the project

It  was  beneficial  and  useful  to  involve  multiple  stakeholders 
(representatives  of  external  experts,  social  partners,  trade 
unions, potential posted workers and ex-posted workers) in the 
international training and international and national workshops. 
This  allowed  for  a  better  understanding  and  evaluation  of 
the  different  issues  related  to  the  posting  of  workers  and 
helped  develop  well-rounded  recommendations  for  further 
implementation of the solutions that address the issues.

Policy evidence generated by the project

The published handbook provides information about the main 
problematic issues related to the posting of workers in Europe; 
contributes  to  enhancing  knowledge  about  posted  workers’ 
rights;  and  provides  guidance  for  decent  social  protection  of 
posted workers in the EU Member States.

Transnational dimension

The  project  had  both  transnational  and  cross-sectoral 
dimensions. During international events, common conclusions 
which might improve the correct application of the European 
regulations were elaborated and then they were adopted into 
the  national  framework.  Additionally,  involving  experts  and 
representatives  from  multiple  sectors  allowed  analysing  the 
whole specifics related to the posting of workers.

Dissemination strategy

To  properly  disseminate  the  project  process  and  results, 
the  project  leader  developed  and  implemented  the  work 
plan  using  a  website,  posters,  roll-ups,  mailing,  face-to-
face  conversations  and  contacts.  The  project  website  was 
regularly  updated  containing  all  the  relevant  information  in 

Activities implemented

•  1  transnational  workshop  in  Warsaw,  Poland  (24 

participants);

•  1  transnational  Meeting  in  Madrid,  Spain  (24 

participants);

•  5 national workshops (held in each of the partner 
countries,  30  participants  in  each.  2  workshops 
were held in Poland);

•  4  national  press  conferences  (held  in  each  of  the 

partner countries);

•  published 1 750 copies of handbook in 5 languages 
(English, Lithuanian, Spanish, Romanian and Polish);

•  project website created.

Coordinator
LPSK – Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation 
(Lithuania)

Partners 
OPZZ – The All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (Poland),
ZPDS  –  Lower  Silesian  Employers  Association  (Poland); 
ASITECO – Asociación Industrial, Técnica y de Comercio 
(Spain); Coalición Sindical Independiente de Trabajadores 
de  Madrid  –  CSIT  Unión  Profesional  (Spain);  National 
Trade Union Confederation Cartel Alfa (Romania)

Project/organisation website 
http://postedworkers.eu/en/main 

the languages of all the partner organisations. To attract more 
visitors to the website, it was advertised during each national 
and  international  meeting  as  well  as  at  inter-organisation 
meetings and discussions.

The  main  research  findings  were  disseminated  during  the 
international and national workshops. In addition, closing press 
conferences of national workshops were held in every partner 
country.  If  there  was  a  low  turnout  at  the  press  conference, 
social media were used to disseminate project achievements.

Lastly, 1 750 copies of the handbook in 5 languages (English, 
Lithuanian,  Polish,  Romanian  and  Spanish)  were  published 
and distributed. The handbooks were published online, on the 
project  website  as  well  as  delivered  to  partner  organisations 
which  shared  them  among  their  members,  local  and  other 
national stakeholders and networking organisations.

European added value

The  main  value  added  of  the  project  is  sharing  experiences 
when dealing with problems that arise from posting of workers 
among  different  stakeholders.  EU  funding  contributed  to 
creating  new,  and  strengthening  existing,  networks  between 
international  partners  who  work  with  posted  workers. 
Additionally, it provided them with an opportunity to participate 
in  international  and  national  workshops  and  the  conference 
and thus ensure that Directives 96/71/EC and 2014/67/EU are 
correctly and effectively applied in the partner countries.

Sustainability measures

To  ensure  that  the  results  and  impacts  of  the  project  are 

 26

 
sustainable the handbook was published in the languages of 
all partner organisations, as well as in English so it is accessible 
to many target groups and stakeholders. Additionally, selecting 
for 
participants  possessing 
international  events  helped  ensure  knowledge  transfer  long 
after the end of the project.

characteristics 

“multiplier” 

Gender equality measures

The project was implemented with a special focus on gender-
related  issues  in  respect  of  equality  and  anti-discrimination 

policy.  At  every  meeting  of  the  project,  experts  paid  special 
attention to the needs and issues of posted women workers. 
This initiative was supported by women participants too, since 
54%  of  total  project  participants  were  women  (65  out  of 
121 participants). This was ensured by adopting participation 
criteria based on the applicant’s knowledge, active participation 
in trade union activities and their potential for disseminating 
practical  knowledge  and  skills  obtained  among  a  wider 
spectrum  of  workers  (potential  knowledge  multipliers)  rather 
than  their  gender,  race  etc.  Furthermore,  the  project  staff 
involved 2 women in the project management.

3.2.4.  Equal Rights for Posted Workers – Raising Awareness About Directive 96/71/EC

‘Common projects among trade unions in the field of posted workers 

are absolutely necessary. There is a strong need to raise awareness on this 
phenomenon and improve the expertise of employee representatives.’

Call identification number: VP/2015/007
Grant identification number: VS/2016/0046

Project duration: December 2015 – June 2017

EU contribution in euros: 150 241.44

Policy area: Working conditions

Policy sub-area: Posting of workers 

Implementing/participating countries: Bulgaria, 
Croatia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania

Target groups: Social partners (representatives of trade 
unions in oil and gas industry)

Therefore,  the  aim  of  the  project  is  to  increase  the 
knowledge of national trade union representatives on Directive 
96/71/EC, raise awareness about issues that arise for posted 
workers  and  encourage  closer  cooperation  among  national 
trade unions within the EU while providing support to posted 
workers.  Achieving  the  objective  would  help  not  only  with 
improving  quality  of  services  provided  or  ensuring  effective 
implementation  of  the  Directive  96/71/EC,  but  also  with 
increasing  trade  union  credibility  and  professionalism  when 
negotiating  with  companies  or  government  institutions  while 
representing posted workers.

Project results, measured impacts, achievements, 
lessons learned

The  main  outcome  of  the  project  was  the  development  and 
publication  of  a  strategy  that  contains  vital  information  and 
recommendations  for  trade  unions  and  employers  showing 
them ways of using the knowledge obtained in practice when 
dealing  with  issues  concerning  posting  of  workers  in  the  oil 
and gas sector.

The  strategy  was  developed  during  the  workshop  by  trade 
union representatives, together with an expert, after evaluating 
the  extent  of  issues  concerning  posting  of  workers  and  on 
what scale these issues are dealt with by trade unions in each 
project country. After developing the strategy, the project team 
made  sure  to  raise  awareness  about  the  importance  of  the 
posting of workers and the main issues that posted workers 
face during national seminars. Finally, to ensure effective use 
of the new strategy and the new tools created, members of 
trade unions were provided with training.

Since  workers  from  new  Member  States  are  the  most 
vulnerable  to  unequal  treatment  in  the  receiving  country, 
international cooperation and communication between social 
partners (trade unions) and authorities is necessary to provide 

Socioeconomic context

Moving  from  one  EU  Member  State  to  another  for  a  limited 
period  has  become  an  increasingly  important  feature  of 
employment for companies and for workers in the oil and gas 
sector. New Member States especially stand out with a rapid 
increase of workers being posted outside the country. However, 
there is a lack of reliable information on posting workers within 
the EU, and this can result in unfair competition and fraudulent 
social practices, as many posted workers do not know what to 
expect while working abroad and what rights they have. While 
trade unions should be able to assist posted workers concerning 
these issues, representation in national trade unions is usually 
weak. Unions very often lack expertise and knowledge not only 
on  how  to  reach  posted  workers  in  the  oil  and  gas  industry, 
but also on legal circumstances in other Member States and in 
offering them support and help when issues arise.

 27

Activities implemented

•  1 international workshop (13 participants);
•  national training seminars (12 participants each);
•  1 international closing conference (50 participants);
•  Publication  on  how  to  deal  with  issues  related 
with posting of workers (750 copies in 5 different 
languages).

Coordinator
OZZGNiG – All-Poland Trade Union of Polish Oil and Gas 
Companies (Poland)

Partners 
NPS – Naftininku Trade Union (Lithuania); SING – Sindikat 
naftnoga  gospodarstva  (Croatia);  NFCW-PK  –  National 
Federation  of  Chemical  Workers  Podkrepa  (Bulgaria); 
FSLCP - Federation of Chemical and Petrochemical Trade 
Unions (Romania)

Project/organisation website 
http://ozzgnig.pl

European added value

The main value added of the project is sharing and promoting 
best  practice  examples  while  dealing  with  the  problems  that 
posted  workers  face.  The  EU  funding  allowed  international 
partners  to  participate  in  the  workshop,  training  seminars 
and  the  final  conference  and  this  strengthened  cooperation 
in  trying  to  ensure  the  effective  implementation  of  Directive 
96/71/EC.  Lastly,  developing  the  strategy  with  practical 
recommendations  on  better  protection  of  posted  workers  in 
the oil and gas sector and training trade union representatives 
encourage free movement of posted workers within the EU.

Sustainability measures

The  participants  of  the  project  expressed  their  general 
satisfaction with the project and affirmed that it was beneficial. 
The outputs of the project can serve as a basis for the possible 
implementation of methods, mutual assistance practices and 
knowledge on how to deal with problems related to the posting 
of workers in all countries involved.

Gender equality measures

Gender  equality  was  not  an  issue  directly  addressed  by  the 
project.  The  total  number  of  participants  in  the  workshop, 
closing  conference  and  national  training  events  included  46 
women and 90 men.

support and access to relevant legal and practical information 
for  potential  interested  workers.  Moreover,  social  partners 
should be actively involved in the implementation of Directive 
96/71/EC  and  experts  in  trade  unions  should  be  trained  to 
ensure the quality of a service and the accuracy of information 
provided.

Identification of potential good practices

Analysing  the  cases  of  partner  countries  and  exchanging 
good  practices  was  crucial  in  developing  and  publishing  the 
strategy that contains vital information and recommendations 
which could be applicable for trade unions when dealing with 
issues  concerning  the  posting  of  workers.  Having  a  well-
defined strategy also helps trade unions understand their core 
capabilities,  identify  and  address  weaknesses  and  mitigate 
risks,  makes  it  possible  to  focus  on  the  right  things  that  are 
the most likely to deliver the best performance both now and 
in the future.

Transferability elements of the activities

The main transferable element of the project is the scope of 
exchanged experience on specific problems – social dumping, 
deductions  for  housing  and  transport  costs,  unpaid  wages, 
lack  of  social  protection,  the  hazardous  nature  of  the  work 
undertaken, unsatisfactory lodgings, etc. Holding international 
events,  training  trade  union  representatives  and  creating 
strategies with practical recommendations offer a platform to 
share good practices and generate new ideas to secure equal 
conditions for their posted workers.

Policy evidence generated by the project

The project has helped trade unions in the oil and gas sector in 
solving the EU policy implementation issues and provided for a 
strategy on how to deal with issues concerning the posting of 
workers in the sector.

Transnational dimension

The  project  included  partners  from  five  countries  (Bulgaria, 
Croatia,  Lithuania,  Poland  and  Romania).  The  transnational 
discussion  of  representatives  of  social  partners  generated 
new  ideas  and  suggestions  on  how  to  improve  the  situation 
of  posted  workers  and  how  to  revise  the  existing  law.  New 
partnerships  were  created  between  the  trade  unions  in 
project  countries  as  well  as  their  transnational  cooperation 
strengthened  to  better  inform  and  defend  posted  workers  in 
the oil and gas sector within the EU.

Dissemination strategy

Since the main deliverable of the project was the strategy, it 
was first presented during the final conference in Warsaw to all 
project  partners.  Altogether  750  copies  of  the  strategy  were 
published  in  five  languages  (Bulgarian,  Croatian,  Lithuanian, 
Polish and Romanian); it is also available on partners’ websites 
in  native  languages.  All  partners  were  responsible  for  the 
dissemination of the materials through their close and extended 
networks. Thus, the results of the projects were presented at 
every internal meeting of trade union members.

 28

3.3.  Employment

Information sharing and outreach activities to young people about Youth Guarantee offers

This section presents a project in the field of employment, funded under the call for proposals4 aimed to better inform young 
people about the Youth Guarantee, engage with and reach out to them, and bring them into the Youth Guarantee service.

Projects funded under this call were expected to carry out one or few activities of the following types:
•  strategy design and monitoring of the dissemination, information sharing and outreach activities;
•  dissemination, information sharing and outreach activities;
•  actions  aiming  at  the  creation  and  improving  of  networks,  two-way  communication,  cooperation  mechanisms  and 

exchange of good practices among Youth Guarantee provision and governance stakeholders;

•  conferences, seminars;
•  training activities.

The activities were expected to ultimately lead to an increased number of young people being aware of the Youth Guarantee and 
of those registered with relevant authorities (national Youth Guarantee providers).

(4) 

Call for proposals VP/2015/005: Information sharing and outreach activities to young people about Youth Guarantee offers.

 29

3.3.1.  New Communication and Cooperation Model for Better Information About the Youth 
Guarantee

‘The project created tools for YG stakeholders that help raise awareness and 

engage youth to participate in Youth Guarantee schemes.’

Call identification number: VP/2015/005/0032
Grant identification number: VS/2016/0023

Project duration: 19 February 2016 – 18 July 2017

EU contribution in euros: 379 202.10

Policy area: Employment

Policy sub-area: Youth Employment 

Implementing/participating country: Lithuania

Target  groups:  National,  regional  and  local  authorities; 
Employment services; Social partners; Non-Governmental 
Organisations;  Experts 
impact 
assessment; Media; NEETs.

in  evaluation  and 

platform,  a  mobile  application  and  additional  dissemination 
toolkits.  These  project  outputs  have  helped  to  systemise 
information about Youth Guarantee from various sources and 
present it to NEETs, social partners and governance institutions. 
Overall  project  deliverables  made  information  sharing  more 
effective and improved the work quality of stakeholders.

The  awareness  campaign  reached  many  citizens:  more  than 
230  representatives  of  stakeholders  participated  in  project 
conferences;  188  participants  from  municipal  authorities, 
police,  probation  services,  NGOs  discussed  and  shared  their 
good  practices  about  how  to  reach  young  people  who  are 
not registered in labour offices; more than 3 600 NEETs were 
motivated to contemplate, understand their needs, plan their 
activities and implement the plans, and were introduced to job 
opportunities.

The  project  coordinator  specifies  that  the  communication 
tools created through the project and the campaign led to an 
increase in the number of young people aware and registered 
with  the  national  Youth  Guarantee  provider.  The  survey 
showed  that  NEETs  (55%)  are  more  likely  to  be  informed  or 
have heard about the Youth Guarantee initiative compared to 
young people who are in training or employed (36%). Among 
all information sources regarding YG, NEETs were most likely 
to have learned about YG from a labour office (60%), Facebook 
(37%), a friend (30%), online advertising (23%), Google (24%), 
television (21%), and YG coordinators (17%).

Identification of potential good practices

The  project  coordinator  identified  three  good  practices.  First, 
the  availability  of  structured  and  quality  information  about 
Youth  Guarantee  initiatives  is  a  key  element  of  successfully 
communicating  with  young  people.  Therefore,  it  is  important 
to  make  information  understandable  and  accessible  in  one 
place. Secondly, it is essential to engage with young people via 
channels that they commonly use, such as social media, local 
events or viral videos. Thirdly, inter-institutional collaboration 
allows  young  people  to  access  pertinent  information  about 
initiatives much faster.

Transferability element(s) of the project/activities

Socioeconomic context

There are many different initiatives and organisations fighting 
youth unemployment in Lithuania, as well as plenty of publicly 
accessible  information  on  these  initiatives.  A  young  person 
might be lost in this flow and find it difficult to come across 
specific information. In this context, the partners saw a need 
to  coordinate  communication  and  marketing  activities  in  a 
more effective way, and to develop a communication strategy. 
Even more important was to identify and understand what can 
attract  the  attention  of  young  people  and  motivate  them  to 
seek more information about employment opportunities.

Aims of the project/organisation

The main objectives of the project were 1) to inform and engage 
Youth  Guarantee  stakeholders  in  Lithuania,  develop  their 
capacities, strengthen partnerships and promote personalised 
information  delivery  to  the  target  group;  2)  to  increase 
awareness  among  NEETs,  society  and  social  partners  about 
YG by building and testing a communication and cooperation 
model to reach out to young people and help them enter the 
Youth Guarantee service.

Project results, measured impacts, achievements, 
lessons learned

The main deliverables of the project were a new informative 

Mobile applications could be used in all EU countries to engage 
young people who are looking for jobs, traineeships or other 
education  opportunities,  as  well  as  for  employers  who  are 
looking for workers and for social partners, and governmental 

 30

institutions  or  for  information  sharing.  An  app  is  an  auxiliary 
tool for national and European Youth Guarantee Websites.

Innovativeness of the project/activities

The  ‘Get  to  know’  open  door  campaign,  which  took  the  form 
of  events  for  youth  in  industrial  companies  in  all  Lithuanian 
districts,  is  considered  a  successful  element  of  the  project. 
Participants  were  introduced  to  internal  work  rules,  job 
opportunities,  salary  systems,  additional  rewards  schemes 
and  training  and  career  opportunities  at  specific  companies. 
It allowed participants to see how companies operate and to 
hear stories from employers. Young people were encouraged 
and invited to gain necessary vocational skills, as most of the 
companies visited need additional workers.

Dissemination strategy

The  target  group  was  exposed  to  project  results  –  such 
as  a  motivational  film,  video  clips,  presentations,  posters, 
advertisements  –  through  various  means:  television,  radio, 
monitors in public transport, magazines, cinemas, social media, 
etc. Project activities covered the whole country: 60 informative 
events were organised in youth centres or labour offices and 
60 ‘Get to know’ open door campaign events were organised 
for youth in industrial companies in all Lithuanian districts.

European added value

EU  funding  enabled  project  partners  to  implement  many 
activities covering the whole country. It also allowed them to 
experiment,  test  and  find  the  most  attractive  ways  to  reach 
young  people  and  to  get  them  interested  in  self-awareness, 
career opportunities, planning and implementation.

Sustainability measures

During  the  implementation  of  this  project  a  marketing 
strategy that can help reach out to young unemployed people, 
inform  them  about  the  different  options  that  exist  for  them, 
and  motivate  them  to  participate  was  created.  This  acquired 
and  tested  knowledge  can  be  used  further  throughout  Youth 
Guarantee activities following the completion of the project.

Activities implemented

•  Creation of a new information platform, integrated 

into the national YG website;
•  Creation of a mobile application;
•  Organisation of 3 conferences;
•  Organisation of 10 round tables in 10 municipalities 

of Lithuania;

•  Creation of 6 motivational clips;
•  Organisation of a creative contest;
•  60 informative events in youth centres and labour 

exchange offices;

•  Implementation  of  “Get  to  know”  open  door 

campaign;

•  Organisation  of  15  motivational  events-seminars 

for NEETs;

•  Production  of  a  publicity  package  for  youth  (USB 
flash drives, umbrellas, touch screen cleaners, water 
bottles, thermos mugs, head phones, jumpers);

•  Press and media relations, advertising;
•  Production of an informative film;
•  Communication on social media;
•  Documentation  and  dissemination  of  5  success 

stories;

•  Sociological survey on the impact of dissemination, 

information sharing and outreach activities;

•  External evaluation of the project.

Coordinator
Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists

Partners 
The Ministry of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of 
Lithuania, European Movement Lithuania, the Association 
‘Langas į ateitį,‘ the Association of Lithuanian Chambers 
of  Commerce,  Industry  and  Crafts,  The  Lithuanian  Trade 
Union  ‘Solidarity,’  the  Lithuanian  Student  Union,  The 
Chamber of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania, Public 
Enterprise Project Management and Training Centre

Project/organisation website 
https://www.jaunimogarantijos.lt/lt/ 
www.lpk.lt

 31

4.  EaSI-funded organisations

The EaSI programme has a crucial role to play in promoting the involvement of civil society through financial support for the 
key EU-level NGO networks. The programme supports these networks with the aim of boosting their capacity to participate in 
and influence decision-making and policy implementation at both EU and national levels. Furthermore, such involvement fosters 
accountability and transparency of authorities and increases the relevance of policy responses.

Below the report describes activities implemented in 2016 by 10 EaSI-supported organisations active in the promotion of social 
inclusion, poverty reduction, microfinance and social enterprise finance5. These organisations are major EU-level networks working 
in different areas of social policy and holding four-year Framework Partnership Agreements with the European Commission.

The overall goal of the funded organisations is to support the Commission’s social investment approach at national and local 
levels as well as the implementation of the Social Investment Package (SIP), the Social Business Initiative and the Europe 2020 
Strategy. The organisations also contribute to the key principles set out in the new European Pillar of Social Rights, 
including gender equality, work-life balance, support to children, the inclusion of people with disabilities and long-term care, as 
well as to targets of Europe’s 2020 Strategy in terms of employment and fighting poverty and social exclusion. To this end, the 
following types of activities were implemented in 2016:

•  support for the Commission in the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of initiatives 
undertaken toward the policy objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy and the Social Investment Package and the 
Social Business Initiative; support for the main EU-driven processes such as the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) on 
social protection and social inclusion and the European Semester6;

•  support  for  stakeholders’  involvement  in  the  policy  process,  including  voicing  the  concerns  and  expectations  of 
organisations  facilitating  access  for  (potential)  entrepreneurs  from  disadvantaged  and  under-represented  groups  and 
social enterprises to finance;

•  strengthening the capacity of the networks’ members;
•  providing  data  and  a  strong  evidence  base  on  policy  developments  and  trends  as  well  as  collecting  relevant 
information about citizens’ concerns and good practices in the social policy field in the Member States, to contribute to 
better policy-making.

Maps indicating the geographical coverage of actions are not provided in the project fiches of organisations, since most of them 
cover the whole of Europe and beyond.

(5) 
Funded under the Call for Proposals for Operating Grants Open to EU-Level NGO Networks that have signed a Framework Partnership 
Agreement for 2014-2017 and are active in the Area of Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction or Microfinance and Social Enterprise Finance 
(VP/2015/010).
(6) 
Introduced in 2010, the European Semester provides a framework for the coordination of economic policies across the European 
Union and addressing common economic challenges. Every year the Commission undertakes a detailed analysis of each Member State’s plans 
for budget, macroeconomic and structural reforms. It then provides EU governments with country-specific recommendations for the next 12-
18 months. Policy decisions in response to the country-specific recommendations are made by the national government in question, based on 
whatever action they deem appropriate.

 32

4.1.1.  EAPN

‘In 2016, Members of the network assessed progress on Social Europe and delivery 
on the Europe 2020 Strategy targets on poverty reduction, employment and education.’

Call identification number: VP/2015/010

Grant identification number: VS/2016/0038
Policy area: Social protection and social inclusion

Policy  sub-area:  Youth  employment;  Combat  long-term 
unemployment;  Fight  against  poverty  and  social  exclusion; 
Promotion  of  a  high  level  of  quality  and  sustainable 
employment;  Guarantee  adequate  and  decent  social 
protection; Combat discrimination; Transnational dimension.

Implementing/participating countries: EU Member 
States, Norway, Iceland, Serbia and FYR Macedonia

Project duration: 1 January 2016 – 31 December 2016

EU contribution in euros: 938 447.97   

Target  groups:  National,  regional  and  local  authorities; 
Specialist  bodies  provided  for  under  Union  law;  Social 
partners;  Non-governmental 
organisations;  Higher 
education  institutions  and  research  institutes;  Experts  in 
evaluation and in impact assessment; Media.

The  European  Anti-Poverty  Network  (EAPN)  is  the  largest 
European network of national, regional and local organisations, 
including  anti-poverty  NGOs  and  grass-roots  groups,  as  well 
as European organisations active in the fight against poverty 
and social exclusion. It was established in 1990 and currently 
brings  together  more  than  6  000  organisations  and  grass-
roots groups.

Aims of the project/organisation

EAPN aims to work for a Social Europe free of poverty and social 
exclusion  with  access  to  economic,  social  and  cultural  rights 
for  all.  To  achieve  this,  it  seeks  a  fair  distribution  of  wealth, 
accessible quality employment, high levels of social protection, 
the combat of discrimination and the meaningful participation 
of  people  experiencing  poverty  and  social  exclusion  through 
organisations that represent them.

Project results, measured impacts, achievements, 
lessons learned

Through  its  national  networks,  EAPN  has  brought  together 
experiences  from  all  EU  Member  States  into  coherent 
positions, linking them directly to relevant EU policy processes. 
In 2016, EAPN published its assessment of the 2016 Country-
Specific Recommendations (CSRs), which was based on inputs 
from  national  networks  and  European  organisations  in  their 
membership.  Members  of  the  network  assessed  progress 
on  Social  Europe  and  delivery  on  the  Europe  2020  Strategy 
targets on poverty reduction, employment and education. The 
report together with a detailed country-by-country analysis is 
available on the web.

EAPN  also  produced  the  report  ‘Assessment  of  the  National 
Reform Programmes 2016 – What Progress on Social Europe?’, 
which was referenced in a letter to the European Commission 
President  Juncker,  sent  on  11  October,  regarding  the 
preparation of the Annual Growth Survey 2017. By this letter 
the  network  urged  the  European  Commission  to  embrace  a 
more transformative social and economic agenda, underpinned 
by  real  democratic  accountability  and  participation,  starting 
with the Annual Growth Survey 2017 priorities.

The engagement of EAPN members in the European Semester 
process resulted in the ‘Analysis of the 2017 Annual Growth 
Survey’ and Joint Employment Report called ‘Delivering on the 
Promises  of  a  Better  Social  Europe?’  and  the  EAPN  ‘Position 

Paper on the European Pillar of Social Rights – Last Chance for 
Social Europe?’ in September 2016.

Another key achievement in 2016 was the hosting of a Policy 
Conference  with  the  focus  on  the  European  Pillar  of  Social 
Rights,  which  resulted  in  a  recommendation  on  the  Social 
Pillar. Like in previous years, EAPN has organised the annual 
European  Meetings  of  People  Experiencing  Poverty  as  a 
contribution and a catalyst for national participation process. In 
total, EAPN organised 5 high-level events, which reached 327 
participants and 9 capacity-building actions for its members, 
which attracted 171 participants.

Identification of potential good practices

In  2016,  EAPN  organised  12  exchanges  of  good  practices, 
peer reviews and mutual learning events, which attracted 280 
participants  in  total.  In  addition,  it  published  a  selection  of 
good practices aimed at eradicating energy poverty in Europe. 
This was a side project of the Energy Poverty Handbook, co-
authored  with  MEP  Tamas  Meszerics,  Building  Performance 
Institute  Europe  and  Housing  Europe.  The  booklet  presents 
projects  that  delivered  large-scale  physical  interventions  to 
offer  energy  advice,  smart  metering  or  financial  support  for 
energy poor households, as well as bottom-up projects which 
actively  involve  the  households  in  need.  Lessons  learned 
are  also  discussed,  and  success  factors  and  elements  of 
sustainability are reviewed.

Policy evidence generated by the project

In  addition  to  the  analytical  reports  mentioned  above,  EAPN 
produced a barometer report ‘Monitoring the implementation 
of the 20% of the European Social Fund that should be devoted 
to  fight  against  poverty  2014-2020’  and  the  EAPN  booklet 
‘The contribution of meaningful Social Innovation to reducing 
poverty and social exclusion in Europe’ in 2016.

Dissemination strategy

The  EAPN  Flash  (electronic  newsletter),  which  includes  links 
to the key documents and outputs, is regularly sent to about 
2000 recipients. There is also a key documents page with all 
documents from multiple years publicly available on the web. 
EAPN reaches about 1 700 users through its targeted mailing 
system, as well as users on Facebook, Twitter (@EAPNEurope) 
and www.issuu.com (http://issuu.com/eapneurope).

 33

European added value

The key added value of EAPN was that it brought the voice of 
people experiencing poverty and those working at ground level 
into the policy debate and the implementation of EU policies at 
EU, national, regional and local levels.

Activities implemented

•  Key policy work;
•  Alliance building;
•  Capacity building and funding;
•  Engagement of people experiencing poverty;
•  Communication;
•  Internal governance

Sustainability measures

Some of the key areas for policy follow-up in 2017 identified 
by EAPN include the following:

Coordinator
Réseau  européen  des  associations  de  lutte  contre  la 
pauvreté et l’exclusion sociale (Belgium) 

Partners 
-

Project/organisation website 
www.eapn.eu 

•  a  transformative  EU  strategy  that  invests  in  social 

rights, and reduces poverty and inequality;

•  concrete  measures  to  guarantee  social  standards, 
starting with a Minimum Income Directive and Golden 
Rule on social protection spending;

•  using EU funds to deliver on social rights – a new EU 
poverty and inequality programme, underpinned by an 
anti-poverty  strategy  to  deliver  on  the  Europe  2020 
poverty target;

•  use of the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived 
and  the  European  Social  Fund  (ESF),  specifically 
monitoring the 20% of ESF for social inclusion;

•  rights-based  approaches  to  migration,  refugees  and 

asylum seekers;

•  adequate minimum income schemes;
•  energy poverty;
•  mainstreaming  the  implementation  of  the  European 
Pillar  of  Social  Rights  explicitly  through  the  European 
Semester.

 34

4.1.2.  FEANTSA

‘In 2016 FEANTSA launched the Housing First Europe Guide and set up a Housing 

First Europe Hub, which is a new platform to promote and scale one of the most 
promising approaches listed in the SIP.’

Call identification number: VP/2015/010

Grant identification number: VS/2016/0044
Policy area: Social protection and social inclusion

Policy  sub-area:  Youth  employment;  Fight  against  poverty 
and social exclusion; Promotion of equality between women 
and men; Guarantee adequate and decent social protection; 
Combat discrimination.
Implementing/participating countries: Over 130 
member organisations in 30 countries, including 28 EU 
Member States.

Project duration: 1 January 2016 – 31 December 2016

EU contribution in euros: 963 160.78  
Target  groups:  National,  regional  and  local  authorities; 
Specialist  bodies  provided  for  under  Union  law;  Non-
governmental organisations; Higher education institutions 
and research institutes; National statistical offices; Media;
Others 
(people  experiencing  homelessness,  young 
professionals from the homelessness sector, foundations)

FEANTSA  was  established  in  1989  as  a  European  non-
governmental  organisation  to  prevent  and  alleviate  the 
poverty and social exclusion of people threatened by or living 
in homelessness. It is the only major European network that 
focuses  exclusively  on  homelessness.  Most  of  FEANTSA’s 
members  are  national  or  regional  umbrella  organisations  of 
service  providers  that  support  homeless  people  with  a  wide 
range of services, including housing, health, employment and 
social support.

Socioeconomic context

Evidence  from  across  Europe  points  to  a  worsening 
homelessness  situation,  reaching  record  numbers  across  all 
Member States, except Finland. National upward trends show 
that  millions  of  people  are  being  left  behind  by  inadequate 
policies, leading to dramatic consequences for European social 
cohesion and economic stability.

Aims of the project/organisation

In  2016,  the  action  aimed  to  strengthen  the  evidence  base 
for  EU,  national  and  local  policies  addressing  homelessness, 
and  focus  on  the  most  promising  practices  such  as  Housing 
First. It also sought the inclusion of homelessness in the most 
relevant EU processes, especially the European Semester and 
the European Pillar of Social Rights.

Project results, measured impacts, achievements, 
lessons learned

In  2016  FEANTSA  supported  the  Commission  by  providing 
inputs for the country reports on homelessness and producing 
analysis of country reports and CSRs with a special focus on 
housing and health. Its lobbying efforts resulted in a reference 
to the right to shelter for homeless people as part of the right 
to housing (principle 19) in the Pillar.

Based  on  the  guidelines  on  homelessness  provided  by  the 
Social Investment Package (SIP), the federation contributed to 
the  development  of  homelessness  strategies  for  the  Basque 
Country, Catalonia and Flanders.

FEANTSA’s  annual  European  policy  conference  brought 

together 300 homelessness practitioners from across Europe 
and  beyond  to  showcase  innovative  practices  that  address 
homelessness, and to stimulate policy debate on current and 
future challenges. During the conference, the 2nd edition of the 
Housing Exclusion in Europe report was presented. It includes 
trends in homelessness and evictions in Europe, the European 
index of housing exclusion and monitoring of European case-
law in relation to housing.

Innovativeness of the project/activities

Housing  First  is  arguably  the  most  important  innovation  in 
homelessness service design in the last 30 years in the way 
that it uses housing as a starting point rather than an end goal, 
especially  for  people  who  need  significant  levels  of  support 
to  enable  them  to  leave  homelessness.  In  2016  FEANTSA 
launched the Housing First Europe Guide and set up a Housing 
First  Europe  Hub,  which  is  a  new  platform  to  promote  and 
scale one of the most promising approaches listed in the SIP. 
The Hub includes 15 partners and already has a governance 
structure,  an  annual  budget,  a  strategy  and  a  work  plan.  In 
addition,  the  federation  was  actively  involved  in  the  Belgian 
peer review on Housing First.

Policy evidence generated by the project

The  European  Observatory  on  Homelessness,  set  up  by 
FEANTSA  in  1992,  has  become  a  lead  actor  in  transnational 
homelessness research in Europe and beyond. Three editions 
of  the  Journal  on  Homelessness  were  published  in  2016,  as 
well  as  analysis  and  concrete  policy  suggestions  on  the  link 
between  homelessness  and  free  movement,  impact  of  the 
asylum crisis on homelessness, and the precarious situation of 
migrants in transit. The annual research conference, organised 
in cooperation with the Social Research Institute of Denmark 
and  supported  by  the  Danish  Ministry  of  Social  Affairs, 
attracted  150  participants,  mostly  academics  and  presented 
about 30 research papers on homelessness.

New partnerships created

In 2016 FEANTSA, together with Friends of Europe, Fondation 
Abbé  Pierre  and  Housing  Europe,  initiated  the  creation  of  a 
new  European  Platform  to  identify  and  promote  affordable 

 35

Activities implemented

•  Academic research (focused on migration);
•  Identification  and  promotion  of  best  practices 

(focused on Housing First);

•  Training (with toolkits focusing on health and free 

movement);

•  Lobbying (focused on gender and youth);
•  Communication  (focused  on  the  role  of  the 
EU  in  supporting  Member  States  to  combat 
homelessness)

Coordinator
Fédération  Européenne  des  Associations  Nationales 
Travaillant avec les Sans-Abri (Belgium)

Partners 
-

Project/organisation website 
http://www.feantsa.org
www.habitact.eu
www.housingrightswatch.org
www.housingfirstguide.eu

housing  solutions  for  people  who  are  not  ‘served’  by  the 
existing housing market.

Dissemination strategy

EU support allowed FEANTSA to redesign its website and run 3 
additional websites, which are major European online resources 
on homelessness. In addition, it published and disseminated 3 
thematic  magazines,  11  monthly  news  Flashes,  1  Migration 
newsletter,  2  Health  newsletters  and  2  Local  homelessness 
newsletters. In 2016, FEANTSA increased its presence on social 
media, with more than 6 000 followers of the related Twitter 
accounts and over 3 000 likes on Facebook.

European added value

EU  funding  has  contributed  to  FEANTSA’s  efforts  to  put 
homelessness  issues  on  the  EU  policy  agenda.  It  provided  a 
platform  for  homelessness  stakeholders  to  get  involved  in 
transnational  cooperation  and  networking.  The  European 
Observatory on Homelessness has been a key tool to promote, 
facilitate  and  disseminate  research  on  homelessness  across 
Member States and beyond. A housing exclusion index (based 
on EU-SILC) developed by FEANTSA in 2016 serves as a tool for 
Member States to monitor and benchmark their performance 
in the field of homelessness.

Gender equality

Homelessness is predominantly a masculine problem, but most 
Member States face an increasing number of homeless women. 
Because of FEANTSA’s lobbying efforts, the EPSCO Council and 
the  European  Parliament  have  put  women’s  homelessness 
as a priority issue on the agenda for EU activities on gender 
equality.  FEANTSA’s  lobbying  is  expected  to  materialise  in  a 
European study on women’s homelessness in 2017 or 2018. 
In addition, FEANTSA has produced a statement paper on the 
links between violence against women and homelessness. The 
federation  has  included  women’s  homelessness  as  a  priority 
issue for its annual convention in 2017.

 36

4.1.3.  The European Social Network

‘The study “Investing in Children’s Services, Improving Outcomes” marked the end 

of a three-year project implemented in 14 European countries, and is probably the 
most comprehensive report on cross-comparison of children’s policies and services 
in Europe today.7’

Call identification number: VP/2015/010

Grant identification number: VS/2016/0048
Policy area: Social Protection and Social Inclusion

Policy  sub-area:  Youth  employment;  Combat  long-term 
unemployment;  Fight  against  poverty  and  social  exclusion; 
Promotion of equality between women and men; Promotion of 
a high level of quality and sustainable employment; Guarantee 
adequate and decent social protection; Combat discrimination;
Transnational dimension.

Implementing/participating countries: ESN members 
in 35 countries

Project duration: 1 January 2016 – 31 December 2016

EU contribution in euros: 858 696.82   

Target  groups:  National,  regional  and  local  authorities; 
Employment services; Social partners; Non-governmental 
organisations; Higher education institutions and research 
institutes; Experts in evaluation and in impact assessment;
Media; Social services users’ representatives; Associations 
of social services professionals.

Since 1992, the European Social Network (ESN) has brought 
together  key  stakeholders  from  European,  national,  regional 
and local level governance with the aim of generating debate, 
facilitating  learning  and  informing  policy-making  in  the  field 
of  social  services.  Currently  ESN  unites  over  120  member 
organisations in 35 countries.

Aims of the project/organisation

ESN’s  strategic  objectives  for  2016  were  aligned  to  key 
themes in the European Commission’s agenda, specifically the 
modernisation of social protection throughout the life-course, 
the efficiency and adequacy of social policies, social progress 
and the reinforcement of the social dimension of the European 
Union.

Project results, measured impacts, achievements, 
lessons learned

In 2016, ESN’s monitoring of the European Semester process 
achieved  the  highest  level  of  involvement  so  far,  with  the 
European  Semester  Reference  Group  bringing  together  25 
country reports into an overall report on the Semester process 
from a social services perspective. The annual report entitled 
‘Connecting  Europe  with  local  communities  –  Social  services 
priorities for the European Semester 2017’ provides an input 
on why and how the role of local and regional authorities in the 
European Semester process can be strengthened in the future.

In  cooperation  with  the  Slovak  Presidency  of  the  EU,  ESN 
organised  a  seminar  on  social  services’  workforce,  which 
brought together 103 participants to discuss issues of service 
planning  and  coordination,  new  technology  for  planning  and 
training, joint work between professionals, workforce’s role in 
quality, and EU mobility of the social services’ workforce. The 
seminar will feed into the ESN’s analytical report that will be 
published on this topic in 2017.

One  of  the  key  results  in  2016  was  a  two-day  event  at  the 
European  Parliament  which  launched  the  study  ’Investing  in 
Children’s  Services,  Improving  Outcomes.’  It  marked  the  end 

of a three-year project implemented in 14 European countries. 
The  study  assesses  how  key  principles  of  the  European 
Commission’s Recommendation ‘Investing in children: breaking 
the  cycle  of  disadvantage’  are  implemented  in  practice. 
According  to  one  of  the  speakers,  this  is  probably  the  most 
comprehensive report on cross-comparison of children’s policies 
and services in Europe today. More than 100 participants from 
21 countries met to discuss key issues identified in the report 
on  unaccompanied  children  and  integrated  children’s  social 
services to inform future work on child protection.

Several events were held by ESN thematic working groups to 
share  good  practices  on  how  to  promote  quality  services.  A 
second workshop on youth took place in Athens and brought 
together  some  of  the  issues  raised  in  the  2015  workshop 
around  joint  work  between  social  services,  education  and 
employment  for  young  people  with  complex  needs,  with  a 
specific focus on young people in the criminal justice system. 
Members of the working group on disability met in Bulgaria to 
address key issues for the development of community-based 
social services, including service quality and user involvement in 
service planning, implementation and evaluation. The working 
group  on  ageing  and  care  met  in  Belgium  and  addressed 
investment  in  the  social  services  workforce  with  a  focus 
on  informal  care,  and  ICT-based  social  services  to  address 
social  isolation  and  support  care  needs  at  home.  In  total,  6 
mutual learning events were held in 2016, and attracted 154 
participants.

Identification of potential good practices

The ESN has put together a practice repository, which aims to 
provide its members and the interested public with an insight 
into the field of social services across a range of target groups 
and themes. The repository is regularly supplemented with new 
practices and is a key resource for social service professionals. 
It is publicly available through the ESN website.

Dissemination strategy

Outputs produced by ESN in 2016 were disseminated through 

(7) 
outcomes”.

As expressed by one of the speakers at the European Parliament event launching the study “Investing in Children’s Services, Improving 

 37

Activities implemented

•  Knowledge exchange activities including a seminar 
on social services workforce, a workshop on youth 
and 4 meetings of working groups on ageing and 
care and disability services;

•  Peer-learning  programmes,  including  a  report  on 
investing  in  children’s  services  and  peer-learning 
visits of directors of social services;

•  Research-based  activities  including  the  mapping 
of  services  for  young  people,  the  development  of 
children services country profiles and the evaluation 
frameworks for social services programmes.

Coordinator
European Social Network LBG (the UK)

Partners 
-

Project/organisation website 
www.esn-eu.org 

monthly  newsletters  to  ESN  members  (sent  to  about  2  000 
members),  monthly  newsletters  to  a  general  audience  (sent 
to  about  12  000  contacts)  and  placements  on  the  website 
(approached by about 39 305 visitors). They were also shared 
through targeted communication with stakeholders and media, 
as  well  as  through  social  media,  the  LinkedIn  group  Social 
Services in Europe (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4644372) 
with  428  members  and  the  Twitter  account  (https://twitter.
com/ESNsocial) with 1 579 followers.

European added value

During 2016, ESN made considerable efforts to contribute to 
EU policy debates and development in the social policy field. 
For  example,  it  made  inputs  into  several  of  the  EU’s  main 
social policy initiatives such as the social dimension of the EU 
semester process, the implementation of the Recommendation 
on  investing  in  children,  the  consultation  on  the  disability 
strategy and the consultation on an EU Pillar of Social Rights. 
In  addition,  ESN  raised  awareness  of  EU  policies  among  its 
members at local level, enhanced networking and the exchange 
of  good  practices  among  its  members  and  those  active  in 
delivering social services and addressing the issues of poverty 
and social exclusion.

Sustainability measures

2017 is the year when ESN will have to decide on its priorities 
for  the  coming  period.  A  few  areas  that  are  likely  to  be  of 
concern  to  ESN  members  and  the  EU  include  the  following: 
the social services work force including issues of mobility and 
transferability  of  qualifications;  the  services  for  children;  the 
integration of refugees and asylum seekers; ensuring quality 
in informal care and the role of social services in supporting 
carers; ensuring quality and developing integrated services.

 38

4.1.4.  EUROCITIES

‘In 2016 a real policy change in Gdansk took place due to the exchange of good 

practices among cities on refugee and migrant integration and inclusive labour 
markets.’

Call identification number: VP/2015/010

Grant identification number: VS/2016/0039
Policy area: Social Protection and Social Inclusion

Policy  sub-area:  Youth  employment;  Combat  long-term 
unemployment; Fight against poverty and social exclusion;
Promotion  of  a  high  level  of  quality  and  sustainable 
employment;  Guarantee  adequate  and  decent  social 
protection; Combat discrimination; Transnational dimension.

Implementing/participating countries: EUROCITIES 
member cities in 39 countries

Project duration: 1 January 2016 – 31 December 2016

EU contribution in euros: 751 340.72   

Target groups: National, regional and local authorities;
Employment services; Social partners; Non-governmental 
organisations; Higher education institutions and research 
institutes; Media.

EUROCITIES network was founded in 1986 and brings together 
local governments of over 135 of Europe’s largest cities and 
over 45 partner cities across 39 countries. It offers its members 
a  platform  for  sharing  knowledge  and  exchanging  ideas  and 
aims to shift the focus of EU legislation in a way which allows 
city  governments  to  tackle  strategic  challenges  at  the  local 
level.

Aims of the project/organisation

The  EUROCITIES  Social  Affairs  Forum  (SAF)  is  one  of  the  six 
thematic fora through which day-to-day work of the network 
is  conducted.  In  2016  its  priorities  were  to  promote  social 
cohesion  and  inclusive  labour  markets,  and  tackle  deep-
seated poverty, with a focus on the reception and integration 
of refugees. The EaSI grant was used to support activities of 
the SAF and achieve objectives of the grant agreement.

Project results, measured impacts, achievements, 
lessons learned

In 2016 EUROCITIES improved knowledge of its members on 
the  European  Social  Pillar  through  regular  policy  briefings. 
It  engaged  senior  policy-makers,  both  politicians  and  city 
administrators,  in  EU  social  policy  development  through  a 
high-level  roundtable  discussion  on  inclusive  labour  markets 
and other high-level events on affordable housing and refugee 
integration.

To inform EU social policy-making, EUROCITIES produced several 
policy statements and reports, based on consultations with the 
cities, for example, on the European Pillar of Social Rights, on 
the reception and integration of refugees and asylum seekers 
in cities, on the implementation of Youth Guarantee schemes 
and national Roma integration strategies at the local level, etc. 
Some of the reports resulted in the development of new EU-
level databases, fed into new studies and led to the creation of 
new partnerships, for example, a group of practitioners from 
28 cities willing to exchange knowledge and practice on how to 
prevent radicalisation and violent extremism.

In  2016  EUROCITIES  carried  out  several  activities  for  its 
members  aimed  at  information  sharing  and  learning.  For 
example,  2  meetings  of  the  SAF  were  held:  one  in  Nantes 
(focusing on the involvement of citizens in social innovation) 
and one in Athens (focusing on the inclusion of refugees). These 

events were attended by over 100 representatives of the cities, 
including  politicians,  who  shared  transferable  practices  and 
discussed opportunities for joint actions (such as the Solidity 
cities initiative on refugee reception and integration).

Identification of potential good practices

EUROCITIES  acts  as  a  platform  for  its  members  to  share 
knowledge and exchange ideas which have a direct impact on 
policies at the local level. For example, representatives from 
Barcelona and Ghent visited Gdansk in April 2016 to discuss the 
situation of migrant integration in the city and identify some 
potential  areas  for  development.  After  intensive  discussions 
with  key  stakeholders,  the  participants  drew  up  a  series  of 
recommendations  and  drafted  an  action  plan,  which  were 
included  in  the  final  ‘Gdansk  Integration  Model’  and  adopted 
by  the  city  council  in  June  2016.  This  city-to-city  mentoring 
scheme  used  by  the  members  of  EUROCITIES  is  considered 
to be a cost-effective model for local policy development and 
could be replicated across Europe.

Policy evidence generated by the project

Policy  evidence  underpinned  most  of 
the  activities 
implemented  by  EUROCITIES  in  2016  and  served  as  a  basis 
for mutual learning of its members. It focused on high-priority 
issues,  such  as  anti-radicalisation,  the  refugee  crisis,  skills 
development, homelessness, etc. For example, the report ‘City 
Responses on Preventing Radicalisation and Violent Extremism: 
Social Inclusion as a Tool?’ examines different approaches and 
strategies used in 28 major cities, and their impact on funding 
and human resources. The findings show that addressing social 
inclusion  issues  such  as  education,  inequality  and  poverty  is 
key to success.

In  2016  EUROCITIES  launched  2  new  thematic  websites:  1) 
Solidarity Cities (www.solidaritycities.eu) is an initiative on the 
management  of  the  refugee  crisis,  launched  by  the  city  of 
Athens. It provides a comprehensive platform for the collection 
of  information,  reports  and  initiatives  of  member  cities  in 
receiving  and  integrating  migrants,  and  calling  for  greater 
solidarity across Europe; 2) Cities at Work (www.citiesatwork.
eu) is a comprehensive platform for information, reports and 
initiatives  of  member  cities  on  the  promotion  of  inclusive 
labour  markets,  skills  development  for  social  inclusion,  and 
social entrepreneurship.

 39

Activities implemented
reports 

•  10 

(surveys,  studies,  analyses  and 

expertise);

•  7  exchanges  of  good  practice,  peer  reviews  and 

mutual learning events;

•  5  conferences,  seminars  and  other  high-level 

events;

•  67 information and communication actions;
•  4 events supporting capacity building actions;
•  16  events  supporting  networking  and  cooperation 

meetings

Coordinator
EUROCITIES ASBL (Belgium)

Partners 
-

Project/organisation website 
www.eurocities.eu
www.solidaritycities.eu
www.citiesatwork.eu

Dissemination strategy

Publicity  measures  aimed  at  awareness  raising  included:  3 
online SAF newsletters, 3 websites, 1 twitter account, 2 videos, 
45 articles on EUROCITIES flash newsletter, 7 Articles in the EU, 
National or local press and 6 SAF policy updates. There were 
2 153 downloads of EUROCITIES publications from the social 
affairs publication section of the www.eurocities.eu site.

European added value

With  the  support  of  the  EaSI  grant,  EU  policy-making  has 
been  enriched  with  good  practices  from  the  local  level,  with 
the analysis of challenges faced by the cities in implementing 
such  policies  as  migration  and  integration,  skills,  the  Youth 
Guarantee and the EU urban agenda, and with suggestions for 
their improvement. Dedicated programmes for mutual learning 
and knowledge transfer have been created among local public 
administrations  on  Roma  integration,  migrant  integration, 
social  housing,  inclusive  labour  markets,  active  inclusion 
of  homeless  people,  social  innovation  and  inclusive  public 
services.  Finally,  in  2016  real  policy  change  in  Gdansk  took 
place  due  to  the  transfer  of  good  practices  among  cities  on 
refugee and migrant integration and inclusive labour markets.

Sustainability measures

The network will continue its work on the inclusion of refugees 
and the creation of inclusive labour markets in cities through 
the EUROCITIES Solidarity Cities initiative and the EUROCITIES 
Declaration on Work, respectively. It will engage its members 
in  support  for  the  Commission  in  the  development  and 
implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights through 
EUROCITIES  high-level  roundtable  discussions  and  other 
events.

 40

4.1.5.  EuroHealthNet

‘The network collected 85 news items on good practices in tackling health 

inequalities and their social determinants and made them publicly accessible via the 
renewed database on the www.health-inequalities website.’

Call identification number: VP/2015/010

Grant identification number: VS/2016/0037

Policy area: Social protection and social inclusion
Policy  sub-area:  Youth  employment;  Fight  against  poverty 
and social exclusion; Promotion of a high level of quality and 
sustainable  employment;  Guarantee  adequate  and  decent 
social protection; Combat discrimination.
Implementing/participating countries: Austria, 
Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, 
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, 
Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, 
Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Wales

in  1996, 

is  a  not-for-profit 
EuroHealthNet,  established 
partnership  of  organisations,  agencies  and  statutory  bodies 
working on public heath, disease prevention, health promotion 
and  reducing  inequalities.  Its  members  are  national  and 
regional  institutes,  academic  and  research  centres,  national 
and  regional  authorities  and  government  departments. 
EuroHealthNet  supports  their  work  in  the  EU  and  associated 
states  through  policy  and  project  development,  networking 
and communications.

Aims of the project/organisation

Two major aims of the EuroHealthNet are: 1) to improve and 
sustain  health  between  and  within  European  States  through 
action on the social determinants of health, and 2) to tackle 
health inequalities.

Project results, measured impacts, achievements, 
lessons learned

EuroHealthNet  acts  as  a  knowledge  broker  between  the 
health and social systems, and makes sure the public health 
community is actively engaged in priority areas of EU policy. 
In 2016, it focused particularly on policy developments around 
the  potential  European  Pillar  of  Social  Rights,  which  brings 
together  policy  areas  related  to  the  social  determinants 
of  health.  The  network  further  addressed  the  factors  that 
shape health and social inequalities by supporting the Social 
Protection Committee and involving it in discussions on social 
sustainability.  A  high-level  conference  ‘Sustainable  Societies: 
Health  and  Social  Investment  in  the  EU’  took  stock  of  UN, 
EU  and  Member  State  tools  that  advance  investments  for 
a  sustainable  society  and  presented  examples  and  good 
practices of investment from EU Member States and regions. 
The conference was attended by 116 people from around 25 
countries. 

Two  study  visits  were  organised  to  create  and  develop 
connections  between  representatives  of  health  promotion 
agencies from different Member States. The visit in Slovenia 
addressed  cross-sector  collaboration  for  healthy  and  active 
ageing,  while  the  visit  in  Wales  focused  on  sustainable 
development approaches to health and health equity. Country 

Project duration: 1 January 2016 – 31 December 2016

EU contribution in euros: 496 662.32  

Target  groups:  National,  regional  and  local  authorities; 
Social partners; Non-governmental organisations; Higher 
education  institutions  and  research  institutes;  National 
statistical offices; Media.

visits to 10 other Member States were initiated.
Because  of  extra  activities  originally  not  planned,  the 
REJUVENATE  framework  was  developed.  This  is  a  ten-point 
reference  tool  designed  to  address  and  tackle  the  major 
health,  social,  economic  and  environmental  sustainability 
factors ahead to 2030, globally and locally.

Identification of potential good practices

The  network  collected  85  news  items  on  good  practices  in 
tackling health inequalities and their social determinants and 
made them publicly accessible via the renewed database on 
the www.health-inequalities website.

Policy evidence generated by the project

In 2016, EuroHealthNet collected and disseminated data and 
evidence on policy developments and trends to tackle health 
and  social  inequalities  through  thematic  reports,  local  case 
studies  and  good  practices.  For  example,  the  policy  brief 
‘Making  the  Link:  Migration,  Refugees  and  Health  Needs’ 
presents good practices in receiving and integrating refugees 
and  asylum  seekers  implemented  in  some  members  of  the 
EuroHealthNet,  and  outlines  areas  where  progress  can  be 
made.

Another policy brief highlights that the European Pillar of Social 
Rights can address health inequalities by helping re-integrate 
vulnerable  groups  into  the  labour  market,  by  improving  the 
quality of work and by promoting affordable, high-quality pre-
natal  and  early  years’  services.  The  EuroHealthNet  analysis 
of  the  2016  EU  Semester  process  concludes  that  there  is 
an  increased  awareness  of  the  need  for  policies  related  to 
children  and  families,  and  the  need  for  fiscally  sustainable 
health care systems is recognised among most CSRs relating 
to health. The issue of access to health is increasingly raised, 
but  vulnerable  people,  children  or  migrants  are  not  directly 
mentioned.

New partnerships created

In  2016,  7  new  organisations  joined  EuroHealthNet.  The 
network has implemented joint activities with EAPN, Eurochild, 

 41

Activities implemented

•  Development,  monitoring  and  evaluation  of 
initiatives undertaken toward the policy objectives 
of  Europe  2020  Strategy  and  in  particular  the 
Social Investment Package (SIP);

•  Supporting  stakeholders’  involvement  in  the  EU 
and national policy processes through information 
sharing and learning activities;

•  Strengthening  the  capacity  of  EuroHealthNet 
members  to  support  the  implementation  of  EU 
priorities;

•  Providing data and strong evidence base on policy 
developments and trends in the social policy field 
in the Member States, so as to contribute to better 
policy-making.

Coordinator
EUROHEALTHNET AISBL (Belgium)

Partners 
-

Project/organisation website 
http://eurohealthnet.eu 

Eurodiaconia,  Age  Platform,  Smoke  Free  Partnership,  EPHA, 
MHE, FEANTSA, European Youth Forum, Eurocarers and other.
Dissemination strategy

Increased  online  presence  of  the  network  resulted  in  an 
increase of 7 960 views and 4 698 visitors since the previous 
year.  The  Healthy  Ageing  site  was  updated  in  2016  and 
received 9 413 visits between the end of July and December. 
By the end of 2016, EuroHealthNet had approximately 3 000 
Twitter  followers,  906  Facebook  likes,  and  1  114  LinkedIn 
followers. Hard copies of reports were disseminated at events, 
conferences and meetings, while digital communications were 
disseminated though email, websites, social media, newsletters 
and the EuroHealthNet online magazine.

European added value

Due  to  EaSI  funding,  EuroHealthNet  acted  as  a  leader  of  a 
thematic network of NGOs and stakeholders that are part of 
the EU Health Policy Forum and developed a joint statement 
for  action  on  health  and  equity.  It  has  worked  closely  with 
partners  from  the  health,  social,  research,  environmental, 
economic  and  other  sectors  to  stimulate  social  investment 
actions  and  the  engagement  of  stakeholders  on  the  ground. 
The network has maintained and regularly updated a database 
of good practices in tackling health inequalities and their social 
determinants and promoted the exchange of good practices by 
organising 2 study visits in Slovenia and Wales.

Sustainability measures

The  network  will  further  strengthen  the  engagement  of 
its  members  and  stakeholders  in  the  strategic  issues  of  a 
potential EU Pillar of Social Rights, the EU Semester and the 
EU Solidarity Corps. It will continue a systematic monitoring of 
relevant sectors and inter-sectoral work, which is essential in 
implementing policies related to the social, economic and other 
determinants of health.

 42

4.1.6.  ENSIE

‘In 2016 ENSIE developed a methodological tool to measure social and economic 
impact of Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISE’s), which was applied in 10 
member organisations from 9 EU countries.’

Call identification number: VP/2015/010
Grant identification number: VS/2016/0036

Implementing/participating countries: ENSIE 
members in 21 European countries

Policy  area:  Social  Protection  and  Social  Inclusion, 
Employment and Social Economy

Policy  sub-area:  Youth  employment;  Combat  long-term 
unemployment;  Fight  against  poverty  and  social  exclusion; 
Promotion  of  a  high  level  of  quality  and  sustainable 
employment; Combat discrimination; Transnational dimension.

Project duration: 1 January 2016 – 31 December 2016

EU contribution in euros: 129 246.82  
Target groups: National, regional and local authorities;
Employment services; Social partners; Non-governmental 
organisations;  Experts  in  evaluation  and  in  impact 
assessment; Others (disadvantaged people).

Since its foundation in 2001, the European Network of Social 
Integration  Enterprises  (ENSIE)  represents  networks  and 
federations of work integration social enterprises (WISEs) with 
the  objective  of  contributing  to  a  sustainable  development 
within the European Union. At the moment, ENSIE gathers 28 
national and regional networks from 21 European countries.

or in the open labour market;

•  16.5%  became  self-entrepreneurs  or 

found  a 

professional training;

•  35%  have  other  outcomes  such  as  unemployment, 

illness or death.

Project results, measured impacts, achievements, 
lessons learned

In 2016, ENSIE was engaged in European lobbying work through 
direct  participation  in  debates,  meetings  and  conferences  on 
topics related to social policies, EU 2020 target and the SIP. It 
participated  in  activities  of  the  European  Commission  Expert 
Group  on  Social  Entrepreneurship  (GECES)  and  produced, 
among others, 4 policy recommendations, 2 press releases and 
5  contributions  to  EC  consultations  regarding  the  promotion 
of quality and sustainable job creation for vulnerable groups. 
The network organised 2 high-level events, which attracted 94 
participants.

At  the  national  level,  ENSIE  organised  information  and  good 
practice  exchange  sessions  for  its  members;  these  focused 
on  the  European  Semester  process,  active  labour  market 
measures,  access  to  finance  (including  EaSI  guarantee,  EFSI 
Social  Equity  and  ESIF),  migrants,  NEETs  and  citizenship 
and  the  participation  of  disadvantaged  workers.  In  total,  14 
exchanges of good practice, peer reviews and mutual learning 
events,  which  attracted  321  participants,  were  organised.  In 
addition, the practices of ENSIE members in youth integration 
were collected in a publication ‘NEETs integration and WISEs.’

Policy evidence generated by the project

ENSIE  maintains  and  regularly  updates  a  database  on 
WISEs in several European countries. It has also developed a 
methodological tool to measure the social and economic impact 
of  WISE’s  (Impact  WISE’s  tool).  The  tool  was  disseminated 
among 17 members and applied in 10 member organisations 
from  9  EU  countries.  As  a  result,  12  954  disadvantaged 
workers from 807 WISEs were interviewed. The interview data 
shows that WISEs have positive outcomes for 65% of people 
engaged in them as a pathway to integration:

•  48.5% found a job in the same WISE, in another WISE 

These figures demonstrate that WISEs are efficient, especially 
labour  market  measures 
in  the  framework  of  active 
implemented  by  public  authorities  to  develop  this  type  of 
enterprise and favour the integration of people most excluded 
from the labour market and society.

Results  of  a  study  based  on  the  Impact  WISE’s  tool  were 
presented during a public seminar ‘Being WISE toward EU2020 
strategy!’  held  at  the  European  Parliament  on  17  November 
2016.

New partnerships created

The network welcomed two new members from Hungary and 
Czech Republic, and also strengthened contacts with other EU-
level organisations, such as members of the Social Platform, 
Social  Economy  Europe,  Intercontinental  Network  for  the 
Promotion  of  Social  Solidarity  Economy,  European  Migration 
Network and others. In total, 42 contacts and meetings with 
partners took place in 2016.

Dissemination strategy

Outputs produced by ENSIE were disseminated online through 
its  website,  emailing  and  social  media,  while  printed  copies 
of  the  reports  were  disseminated  during  events  at  national 
and  regional  levels.  Online  dissemination  activities  in  2016 
resulted in 8 969 website visits, 947 Facebook likes and 702 
Twitter followers.

European added value

The  exchange  of  good  practices  that  took  place  in  2016, 
especially that on the integration of migrants and NEETs, was 
highly appreciated by the members of the network. They placed 
great value in getting this kind of information to improve their 
own  performance.  Therefore,  ENSIE  plans  to  continue  the 
exchanges of good practices among its members to increase 
the European added value.

 43

Sustainability measures

In  2017,  the  network  will  continue  its  activities  linked  to 
the  promotion  of  the  social  economy,  in  particular  WISEs 
and  provide  evidence  of  their  impact  on  the  integration  of 
disadvantaged people in Europe.

Gender equality measures

Gender equality was not directly addressed by the network in 
2016. However, ENSIE contributed to studies carried out by the 
European  Women’s  Lobby  on  women  social  entrepreneurs  in 
Belgium and Luxembourg. The studies showed the impact of 
women  entrepreneurs  and  set  up  some  recommendations  to 
favour adequate frameworks for entrepreneurship and gender 
equality in the research countries. Gender balance was kept in 
all events organised by the network in 2016.

Activities implemented

•  European lobbying carried out;
•  Networking and lobbying with members;
•  The network’s structure reinforced;
•  The  database  on  Work 

Integration  Social 
Enterprises  (WISEs)  in  Europe  updated,  published 
and presented;

•  European  tool  on  social  and  economic  impact 

measurement for WISEs developed;

•  Exchange  of  practices  on  the  impact  of  WISEs  on 

disadvantaged groups: migrants and youth;

•  Exchange  of  practices  on  the  impact  of  WISEs  in 

improving citizenship of vulnerable workers.

Coordinator
European Network of Social Integration Enterprises (ENSIE) 
ASBL (Belgium)

Partners 
-

Project/organisation website 
www.ensie.org 

 44

4.1.7.  European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD)

‘A fundamental milestone has been reached in terms of cooperation with key 
stakeholders in the disability sector: The Joint Declaration on Developing Together 
the Support Services of Tomorrow was signed between EASPD and 5 key networks.’

Call identification number: VP/2015/010
Grant identification number: VS/2016/0034

Implementing/participating countries: EASPD 
members in 33 European countries

Policy  area:  Social  Protection  and  Social  Inclusion  and 
Employment

Project duration: 1 January 2016 – 31 December 2016

EU contribution in euros: 484 419.20

Policy  sub-area:  Active  inclusion;  Housing  exclusion  and 
homelessness; Social Services of General Interest (SSGI); Local 
development.

Target  groups:  National,  regional  and  local  authorities; 
Social partners; Non-governmental organisations; Higher 
education institutions and research institutes; Media.

The  European  Association  of  Service  Providers  for  Persons 
with Disabilities (EASPD), a non-profit NGO, represents over 12 
000 service providers for persons with disabilities from across 
Europe  and  across  disability.  The  main  objective  of  EASPD 
is to promote equal opportunities for people with disabilities 
through effective and high-quality service systems. They strive 
to deliver high-quality services promoting the full participation 
and inclusion in society of all persons with disabilities.

This action supports the implementation of EASPD’s strategy 
2014-2017  which  is  to  ‘reach  out’  and  proactively  and 
horizontally  connect  with  the  different  stakeholders  and 
cooperate  on  the  ground,  with  extended  focus  from  the 
disability  sector  to  the  social  sector  and  to  the  mainstream 
actors  in  employment,  education  and  independent  living.  To 
do  so,  the  action  was  structured  around  the  following  three 
interlinked pillars:

•  Impact:  activities  designed  to  give  service  providers  a 

voice in Europe;

•  Innovation:  activities  addressed  to  facilitate  the 
modernization  and  development  of  services  via 
evidence-based practice;

•  Information: activities that make it possible to update 
members of the network on relevant policy developments 
and  cooperation  opportunities  at  the  European-wide 
and  the  EU  level,  as  well  as  communicating  the  key 
issues of grass-roots organisations to the actors at EU 
level.

Results

its  20th  operating  anniversary, 
the  core 
Celebrating 
achievements  of  EASPD  in  2016  can  be  grouped  in  4  main 
areas:

•  The work done around the European Semester. The pillar 
is seen as a tool to implement the UN Convention on the 
Rights  of  Persons  with  Disabilities  (CRPD).  Numerous 
reports were produced, seminars and fora organised to 
promote a more inclusive labour markets for all.

•  The DRI team (Development, Research and Innovation) 
developed  a  funding 
‘EASPD 
EU  Funding  Information  System’  in  order  to  provide 
practical  guidance  to  EASPD  network  members  to 

information  system 

increase  their  knowledge  on  EU-funded  projects  and 
help them to develop project proposals that can bring 
innovation to the sector.

•  The  new  structure  of  the  EASPD  Secretariat  and  the 
newly  established  teams  (Policy  Team,  DRI  Team  & 
Operations Team) developed. In addition, a new board, 
new  executive  committee  and  a  new  president  were 
elected.

•  EASPD  has  produced  14  papers  on  different  issues 
relevant  in  the  sector.  For  example,  access  to  health 
and  social  services,  employment  and  education  for 
refugees and migrants with disabilities, user-led support 
services, raising awareness by promoting the exchange 
of information on the UN CRPD, exchanging and sharing 
models  of  good  practice,  informing  its  members  on 
new  developments  in  the  disability  field  and  raising 
awareness at the European and national levels.

Policy evidence generated by the organisation

EASPD  has  continued  intensive  cooperation  with  the  EC  and 
the EP and maintained fruitful cooperation with the European 
Economic and Social Committee (EESC), the Council of Europe 
and many different EU-wide networks. Overall, the network’s 
communication,  dissemination  and  promotional  activities 
increased significantly, with an evident impact on the coverage 
of  EASPD  activities  and  publications.  During  2016,  EASPD 
produced  14  different  publications  on  policy,  activities  and 
communication work.

Potential good practices

A  fundamental  milestone  has  been  reached  in  terms  of 
cooperation with key stakeholders in the disability sector: The 
Joint Declaration on Developing Together the Support Services 
of Tomorrow was signed between EASPD and 5 key networks 
(EDF, ENIL, IE, MHE and COFACE). It represents a commitment 
to  discuss  the  development  of  common  position  papers, 
research activities and projects on the development of support 
in the future.

New partnerships created

EASPD  and  the  European  Union  of  Supported  Employment 
(EUSE)  signed  a  cooperation  agreement  on  26  May  2016  to 
work  together  toward  the  implementation  of  Article  27  of 

 45

Activities implemented

•  The new structure of EASPD Secretariat established;
•  Dissemination  to  members  on  relevant  policy 
developments  and  cooperation  opportunities  in 
Europe:
 ° EASPD EU Funding Information System created;
 ° Videoflash launched;
 ° LinkedIn profile created;
 ° website version in German created and launched;
identified 
challenges,  good  practice,  research  outputs  and 
other activities:
 ° 14  publications  on  policy,  activities  and 

to  stakeholders  on 

•  Communication 

communication work;

 ° 3  seminars  at  the  European  Parliament  on 
job  creation  for  staffs  in  services,  Juncker 
Investment  Plan  and  employment  for  persons 
with disabilities organised;
report 

 ° implementation 

the  UNCRPD 

of 

recommendations;

 ° 2 side workshops in New-York during the annual 
meeting  of  the  UN  committee  on  the  rights  of 
persons with disabilities

 ° developed  a  position  paper  detailing  their  view 
on  what  the  European  Pillar  of  Social  Rights 
should look like and be able to do;

 ° 2  cross-sectoral  annual  conferences:  Early 
(Moldova);  Support 
co-production 

tomorrow  and 

Intervention 

Childhood 
services  of 
(Brussels).

 ° fora  in  several  European  countries  to  address 
issues  of  concern  to  support  services  and 
enhance knowledge of the European Semester.

Coordinator
EASPD  –  European  Association  of  Service  Providers  for 
Persons with Disabilities (Belgium)

Partners 
-

Project/organisation website 
www.easpd.eu

the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with 
Disabilities (UN CRPD) and promote the supported employment 
methodology. At the end of 2016, the EASPD network comprised 
of over 15 000 service providers for persons with disabilities 
from across Europe and across disability.

Dissemination strategy

it  disseminates 

information  on  these  to 

The network has a specific focus on striving for and supporting 
the  UN  CRPD  and  the  European  Disability  Strategy  (EDS), 
therefore, 
its 
stakeholders via different channels, reaching the wider public 
through its website, social media and YouTube channel daily. 
During the year 2016, EASPD publicised more than 290 news 
items (in English and French) on the website, created a LinkedIn 
profile  and  launched  a  new  communication  tool  –  Videoflash 
which  aims  to  provide  news  from  the  sector  in  a  brief  news 
video with interviews and guest speakers.

European added value

EASPD  and  its  network  is  an  important  player  in  the  field  of 
disability  at  the  European  level.  Their  work  is  essential  in 
developing  project  ideas  and  consortia  combining  different 
stakeholders  as  well  as  disseminating  project  outcomes  and 
outputs. Because of EASPD’s work, its members and partners’ 
capacity has been built in terms of how to effectively participate 
in the ES processes. EASPD provides a unique EU added value 
by bringing support services closer to the EU decision-making 
process  and  by  providing  the  EU  institutions,  bodies  and 
networks  with  first-hand  information  on  the  situation  at  the 
grass-roots level.

Sustainability measures

More  practical  knowledge  and  work  needs  to  be  done  to 
ensure  result  sustainability.  First,  more  emphasis  should 
be  put  on  raising  awareness  among  support  services  for 
persons  with  disabilities  and  among  public  authorities  or 
service commissioners on how to implement co-production in 
practice.  Second,  it  should  be  ensured  that  the  EU  prioritises 
the implementation of the UN CRPD. Therefore, it is important 
to increase activities at the national/local level and seek for a 
closer cooperation with national, regional and local authorities. 
Third, innovative services are needed to transform perceptions 
and ensure the enjoyment of rights for persons with disabilities 
while  improving  service  sustainability.  To  this  aim,  it  will  be 
essential  to  reach  out  to  all  actors  in  society,  especially 
mainstream  actors  in  the  employment,  education,  assistive 
technologies or community-based services sectors, therefore, 
the discussion of a new multiannual strategy for 2018 – 2021 
started during the conference ‘Support services of Tomorrow,’

 46

4.1.8.  Eurodiaconia

 ‘In 2016, Eurodiaconia played an important part in the discussion about the 

European Pillar of Social Rights. The organisation wanted to ensure that the 
European Pillar of Social Rights delivers on its commitment to upward social 
convergence and focused on the need for the Pillar to clarify the relationship 
between the adequacy and sustainability of social protection.’

Call identification number: VP/2015/010
Grant identification number: VS/2016/0042

Implementing/participating countries: Eurodiaconia 
members in 32 countries

Policy area: Social Protection and Social Inclusion

Project duration: 1 January 2016 – 31 December 2016

Policy sub-area: Ageing; Active inclusion; Social Services of 
General Interest (SSGI); Housing exclusion and homelessness; 
Roma inclusion; Migration; Child and Youth poverty and social 
exclusion;  Long-Term  Unemployment;  Social  inclusion  of 
migrants and refugees.

EU contribution in euros: 499 939.23

Target groups: National, regional and local authorities;
Social partners; Non-governmental organisations; Higher 
education  institutions  and  research  institutes;  Experts  in 
evaluation and in impact assessment; Media.

Eurodiaconia is a European federation of social and health care 
organisations  founded  in  the  Christian  faith  and  promoting 
social  justice.  Its  network  represents  the  needs  and  unique 
experiences  of  45  national  and  regional  organisations  in  32 
countries.  Eurodiaconia  provides  its  members  with  political 
and advocacy support in the field of social inclusion and social 
services, offering information materials, training and seminars 
designed to inform members about European policy issues that 
concern them and at the same time equip them to participate 
in the policy process themselves at the Member State and the 
European level. In addition, Eurodiaconia engages directly with 
the European institutions, basing its policy contributions on the 
experience of the network organisations.

This  action  was  designed  to  be  year  three  of  a  four-year 
programme  to:  (i)  develop  Eurodiaconia’s  capacity  in  the 
social  policy  field,  and  (ii)  enable  and  empower  its  members 
as participants in the main EU-driven social policy processes.

The  main  objectives,  for  2016  were:  (1)  to  advocate  for 
inclusion, care, and empowerment of the most vulnerable and 
excluded and ensure dignity for all; (2) to engage with other 
organisations across Europe by facilitating networks, meetings, 
member  partnerships,  and  best  practice  sharing;  (3)  to  bring 
together experts on the European Diaconia from all over the 
continent,  whose  shared  goals  are  the  further  development 
of  practical  approaches,  identity  and  community  in  Christian 
social care today.

Results

As an organisation focused on promoting social justice at the 
policy level, Eurodiaconia’s main achievements in 2016 were:

•  A  number  of  policy  papers,  suggestions,  guidelines 
and  publications  were  produced;  training  seminars 
and working group meetings hosted; thematic network 
meetings  attended;  decision-makers  through  cross-
party meetings and official calls addressed in order to 
promote the development, adoption and implementation 
of social policies that overcome the challenges facing 
people  in  Europe  with  regards  to  poverty,  inequality, 

social  exclusion  and  unemployment;  networking  with 
Eurodiaconia’s  network  members,  partner  NGOs  and 
the European Institutions.

•  In 2016, Eurodiaconia played an important part in the 
discussion  about  the  European  Pillar  of  Social  Rights. 
The organisation wanted to ensure that the European 
Pillar  of  Social  Rights  delivers  on  its  commitment  to 
upward social convergence. Eurodiaconia’s work on the 
topic  focused  on  the  need  for  the  Pillar  to  clarify  the 
relationship  between  the  adequacy  and  sustainability 
of social protection;

•  Lastly,  Eurodiaconia  also  worked  with  its  members 
to  build  capacity  and  transfer  knowledge  on  both  the 
architecture  of  European  social  policy  development, 
adoption  and  implementation  and  on  content  and 
orientation,  equipping  its  members  to  be  effective 
advocates  and  implementers  of  effective  and,  where 
necessary,  innovative  social  policies.  To  do  so  the 
existing  funding  toolkit  was  augmented,  and  a  rapid 
information tool was launched with information on the 
EU funds for its members.

Policy evidence generated by the project

To  support  its  engagement  in  the  key  advocacy  topics 
Eurodiaconia developed policy papers on topics such as Upward 
Social  Convergence,  addressing  inequalities  through  social 
services,  policy  recommendations  on  ending  homelessness 
through innovation and investment. The organisation provided 
opportunities  for  its  members  to  engage  in  EU-driven  social 
policy topics through study visits to Brussels, participating in EU-
level conference and debates such as the Annual Convention, 
FEAD platform, the Roma Platform and others, provided info on 
who to contact in the EP, SPC etc. and supported participation 
in national consultations such as those on the Social Pillar.

New partnerships created

Eurodiaconia  continued  to  be  active  in  EAPN,  Social  Services 
Europe, EFIN, EAV and Social Platform. The organisation also 

 47

Activities implemented

•  40 reports, studies and surveys published;
•  19 Eurodiaconia events held;
•  17 study visits organised;
•  2 events in the European Parliament held;
•  network meetings and capacity building of member 

organisations;

•  development of policy input.

Coordinator
Eurodiaconia - European Federation for Diaconia (Belgium)

Partners 
-

Project/organisation website 
www.eurodiaconia.org

formed and led an alliance on integrated and long-term care 
services and developed their cooperation with CESI on common 
issues such as economic governance and labour mobility.

Dissemination strategy

improving 

Among  the  activities  implemented  in  2016,  Eurodiaconia 
its  communication 
continued  developing  and 
channels.  Eurodiaconia  raised  the  visibility  of  its  work  in  the 
social field through press and media exposure, online webinars 
and  social  media  activity.  On  Eurodiaconia’s  social  media 
channels, a substantial increase was registered both in terms of 
numbers of followers, and interaction on Facebook and Twitter 
and Instagram. Additionally, Eurodiaconia has a weekly E-news 
that  goes  out  every  Friday  for  around  35  weeks  of  the  year 
plus  a  monthly  newsletter  in  French  and  German.  Finally,  to 
reflect Eurodiaconia’s ever-diversifying network, developments 
on the organisation’s website were made to ensure an easier 
and more accessible experience for members communicating 
in different languages.

European added value

With the EC funding that constitutes a considerable portion of 
Eurodiaconia’s budget, the organisation was able to continue 
its activities in the many areas of social development across 
Europe. The organisation and its members became increasingly 
engaged  due  to  the  various  capacity-building  activities  and 
tools  carried  out  by  Eurodiaconia  in  2016.  Eurodiaconia  and 
its  network  member  organisations  also  continued  their  work 
in different alliances at the European level with a mission to 
further  the  reduction  of  poverty,  inequality,  social  exclusion 
and unemployment.

Eurodiaconia  continues  to  be  recognised  as  a  trusted  and 
valued  partner  of  the  European  institutions  and  other  NGO’s 
and organisations. The organisation brings a strong evidence-
based contribution to policy development and implementation.

Sustainability measures

In 2017, Eurodiaconia will continue to work on the proposed Pillar 
of Social Rights both in terms of content and implementation. 
The  organisation  will  also  continue  to  work  on  specific  areas 
such  as  Roma  integration,  child  poverty  etc.;  it  will  also  try 
to give more opportunities for its members to engage in the 
European  Semester.  Furthermore,  the  organisation  will  look 
at creating more synergies with national-level actions on the 
Semester and links with the national semester officers. Lastly, 
in 2017, due to increased populism and its effect on the social 
fabric,  Eurodiaconia  together  with  its  member  organisations 
will  try  and  develop  responses  to  the  current  trend  and  to  a 
wider concern regarding youth disengagement from democratic 
processes. 

 48

  
  
  
 
4.1.9.  Caritas Europa

‘EU decision-makers continued to recognise Caritas Europa (CE) as a relevant 
partner in policy dialogue and were influenced by CE’s lobbying activities in the 
domains of social policy, migration and social economy.’

Call identification number: VP/2015/010/0004

Grant identification number: VS/2016/0040

Policy area: Social inclusion and poverty reduction

Policy  sub-area:  Youth  employment;  Combat  long-term 
unemployment;  Fight  against  poverty  and  social  exclusion; 
Promotion of equality between women and men; Promotion of 
a high level of quality and sustainable employment; Guarantee 
adequate and decent social protection; Combat discrimination 
based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, 
age or sexual orientation; pay particular attention to vulnerable 
groups, such as young people; Transnational dimension.

Implementing country: Belgium

Socioeconomic context

The financial and economic crisis that started almost 10 years 
ago still affects European societies: more people live in poverty 
than  before  the  crisis.  Even  if  the  labour  market  is  slowly 
recovering, working conditions have deteriorated, the number 
of ‘working poor’ has increased from 8.5 to 9.6%. At the same 
time, serious gaps exist in the social welfare systems of many 
EU countries. This is partly due to the austerity policies used 
to address the economic crisis, and partly because a number 
of countries still have not developed a fully performing social 
protection system. Caritas Europa (CE) is concerned about the 
prevailing  policy  course  which  prioritises  budgetary  stability 
and  economic  growth  over  addressing  the  consequences  the 
economic  crisis  has  had  on  people’s  lives.  CE  urges  to  put 
people  first  and  the  economic  policies  at  the  service  of  the 
people.

Aims of the organisation

CE is a network of 49 national organisations in 46 European 
countries serving the most deprived, offering services to people 
experiencing poverty and advocating for policies affecting them 
to be changed, humanitarian aid, promotion of voluntary work. 
The main policy themes of the 2016 Work Programme were:

•  Child  poverty,  including  the  implementation  of  the 
Commission’s Recommendation on investing in Children 
and the child related Country-Specific Recommendations 
(CSRs) produced within the European Semester Process;
•  Social  exclusion  among  young  people,  including  the 
implementation  of  the  Youth  Employment  Package, 
Youth Guarantee and youth related CSRs;

•  Legal, employment and inclusion conditions of migrants, 
including the CSR addressing social exclusion and legal 
conditions and unemployment among migrants;

•  Social  rights, 

including  the  Collective  Complaints 
mechanism  as  an  additional  tool  to  ensure  that  all 
residents  enjoy  the  social  rights  they  are  entitled  to, 

Participating countries : Caritas Europa members in 
46 countries
Project duration: 1 January 2016 – 31 December 2016
EU contribution in euros: 740 791.99  

Target  groups:  People  experiencing  poverty;  CoE/
EU  Institution  representations;  National,  regional  and 
local  authorities;  Social  partners;  Non-Governmental 
Organisations; Media.

thus contributing to achieving the SDGs, and reinforcing 
the significance of the European Social Charter, also as 
the basis for the forthcoming European Pillar on Social 
Rights.

•  Any other policy area that may affect the objective of 

poverty reduction and social inclusion in Europe.

Project results, measured impacts, achievements, 
lessons learned

In  2016,  CE  along  with  its  member  organisations  continued 
providing  relevant 
inputs  to  decision-makers,  both  at 
national level and EU level, concerning the development and 
implementation  of  social  policies;  their  impacts,  risks  and 
gaps  identified;  and  constructive  proposals  concerning  the 
development  of  the  European  social  model(s)  in  the  future, 
with special focus on the family.

Furthermore,  EU  decision-makers  continued  to  recognise  CE 
as a relevant partner in policy dialogue and were advised in 
the  domains  of  social  policy,  migration  and  social  economy 
through  CE’s  lobbying  activities.  A  major  advocacy  outcome 
was  achieved  in  relation  to  CE’s  work  on  inclusive  social 
models. The Socialists Democrats – centre-left political group 
in the European Parliament – invited CE to present its views in 
a seminar on child and family poverty, to comment on the draft 
position paper on a proposal for an EU Child Guarantee, and 
present its views on the reconciliation of work and family life 
in a joint hearing by the FEMM and EMPL committees of the EP.

In terms of capacity building, member organisations of CE have 
increased their capacity in relation to advocacy and networking, 
organisational  development  and  financial  sustainability  by 
meeting  and  sharing  their  experiences.  Furthermore,  CE  and 
its  members  have  been  developing  a  system  to  collect  and 
analyse data from the grass-roots level, relying on a mapping 
system and on the Caritas Poverty observatories. This system 
allows  CE  to  have  more  and  better  evidence  regarding  the 
situation  of  poverty,  social  policies,  good  practices  in  social 
innovation and the possibility to upscale these practices.

 49

Activities implemented

•  Advocacy and lobbying activities aiming to promote 
EU initiatives supporting development of conditions 
for more inclusive societies and for inclusive growth;
•  Inputs  from  Caritas  Europa  and  its  Member 
Organisations  concerning  the  development  and 
implementation  of  social  policies;  their  impacts, 
risks  and  gaps;  constructive  proposals  concerning 
the development of the European social models in 
the future.

•  Capacity-building activities in advocacy, networking, 
organisational development, financial sustainability.
•  Development of a system between Caritas Europa 
and  its  member  organisations  to  ensure  the 
collection  and  analysis  of  reliable  data  from  the 
grass-roots level.

Coordinator
Caritas Europa (Belgium)

Partners 
-

Project/organisation website 
http://www.caritas.eu/

Policy  evidence  generated  by  the  project  and 
European added value

CE  and  its  member  organisations  generated  critical  inputs 
regarding  the  development  and  implementation  of  social 
policies; their impacts, risks and gaps identified; and proposals 
on  the  development  of  the  European  social  model(s)  in  the 
future.  In  2016,  the  Caritas  report  ‘End  Poverty  in  Europe’ 
was discussed by the EU Council and recommendations were 
reflected in the Council conclusions on Combating Poverty and 
Social Exclusion.

Dissemination strategy

the  member  organisations  engaged 

Both  CE  and 
in 
disseminating  information  about  the  activities  implemented. 
Some  centralised  dissemination  activities  in  2016  included 
media  (11  press  releases  resulted  in  148  media  mentions), 
social  media  (680  Twitter  posts,  231  Facebook  posts),  intra-
network  email  communication  (19  email  alerts)  as  well  as 
events  of  diverse  levels.  Communication  activities  of  Caritas 
Europa  target  media,  decision-makers  and  other  civil  society 
organisations  present  in  Brussels,  as  well  as  the  whole 
European Caritas Network and private people.

Sustainability measures

CE  worked  toward  sustainability  empowering  its  members 
to  contribute  to  advocacy  activities  by  providing  collected 
information,  building  capacities,  networking.  Their  inputs, 
analysis,  and  country-specific  reports  were  shared  with 
relevant stakeholders in the EU and used in ongoing activities 
throughout the year. All the activities implemented contribute 
to dialogue and advocacy strategies toward change for people 
experiencing poverty.

 50

4.1.10.  European Microfinance Network

‘The action grant contributed to the expansion of the European Microfinance 

Network activities in terms of advocacy and capacity building.’

Call identification number: VP/2015/010/0001

Grant identification number: VS/2016/0019
Policy area: Social inclusion and poverty reduction

Policy  sub-area:  Combat  long-term  unemployment,  Fight 
against  poverty  and  social  exclusion,  Combat  discrimination 
based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, 
age or sexual orientation; pay particular attention to vulnerable 
groups, such as young people, Transnational dimension.

Implementing country: Belgium

Socioeconomic context

Microfinance  can  give  European  citizens  the  opportunity  to 
access  additional  financial  instruments  in  order  to  create, 
develop  and  sustain  their  economic  activities,  and  to  better 
respond  to  shocks  in  the  future.  The  European  Union  has 
understood  the  potential  of  microfinance  to  reduce  social 
and  financial  exclusion  and  has  started  regulatory  and 
financial initiatives in this sector. However, the accessibility of 
microloans across Europe is uneven, and provided by diverse 
and mostly small organisations.

The  action  aimed  to  enhance  the  development  of  the 
microfinance  sector  by  advocacy  and  capacity-building 
activities.

Project results, measured impacts, achievements, 
lessons learned

The action grant contributed to the expansion of the European 
Microfinance  Network’s  activities  in  terms  of  advocacy  and 
capacity building.

Advocacy,  which  is  important  to  increase  the  recognition  of 
the  sector,  took  the  shape  of  addressing  policy-makers  by 
meeting  with  them  and  providing  written  inputs  on  different 
topics affecting the microfinance sector. Regular meetings and 
events  enhanced  communication  between  the  microfinance 
sector and the different policy-makers at the EU and national 
levels. The other key activities in this area were: provision of 
feedback regarding the European Code of Good Conduct and 
the EaSI tools for microfinance, the design of the post-2020 
EU tools for the sector, the work on incorporating a reference 
to  microfinance  in  the  Capital  Markets  Union  Initiative,  and 
the proposition of a revised EU definition of microfinance and 
microcredit.

In terms of capacity building, the action grant contributed to 
strengthening the skills of EMN member organisations as well 
as increasing the EMN’s organisational capacity. In 2016, EMN 
members participated in 5 exchange visits and 4 peer-to-peer 
visits that the EMN co-financed. The EMN collected and shared 
good  practices  of  the  field  through  its  website;  organised  a 
good practice award, set up 2 webinars, mobilised members to 
8 working groups related to microfinance, financial and social 

Participating countries : 85 organisations in 23 
European countries

Project duration: 1 January 2016 – 31 December 2016

EU contribution in euros: 374 143.84  

Target  groups:  National,  regional  and  local  authorities; 
Social partners; Non-Governmental Organisations; Higher 
education  institutions  and  research  institutes;  Experts  in 
evaluation and in impact assessment; Media; Microfinance 
Providers: non-banking financial institutions and banks.

inclusion and social entrepreneurship; it also provided advice 
and consultancy to 2 microfinance actors and held an advocacy 
workshop.  Regarding  the  EMN’s  organisational  capacity,  the 
action grant allowed EMN to develop a communication tool to 
send targeted information to stakeholders, implement internal 
and external audits, and provide training to EMN staff on project 
management, social media strategy, advocacy, languages, etc.

Identification of potential good practices

The  EMN  identified  a  few  lessons  and  recommendations  for 
the network’s future activities. First, the network realised that 
external  stakeholders  value  the  input  from  the  microfinance 
sector  and  its  ability  to  respond  quickly  to  requests  for 
information  with  feedback  from  the  field.  In  addition,  since 
microfinance is a multi-policy tool, it is useful to reach out to a 
wider range of DGs. Furthermore, having a board member with 
working experience in the European Investment Bank is a key 
facilitator of the surge in activity because of knowledge and 
contacts in the EU system.

Policy evidence generated by the project

In  2016,  the  EMN  issued  two  intellectual  outputs  related  to 
the  microfinance  sector.  A  new  edition  of  the  EMN’s  main 
publication  ‘Microfinance  in  Europe:  A  Survey  of  EMN-MFC 
Members. Report 2014-2015’ presented key facts and figures 
of the two microfinance networks operating in Europe, as well 
as an overall view of the European microfinance market, thus 
deepening  the  understanding  of  core  issues,  such  as  scale, 
outreach, sustainability and social and financial performance. 
In  addition,  the  EMN  published  a  legislative  mapping  report 
for  microcredit  provision.  The  aim  of  this  series  of  national 
factsheets is to provide a snapshot of the various legislative 
frameworks  treating  the  provision  of  microcredit  in  Europe 
by  non-bank  financial  intermediaries.  A  questionnaire  was 
designed  and  sent  to  a  pre-selected  set  of  15  practitioners/
national  networks  to  gather  answers  covering  the  following 
10  countries:  Belgium,  Bulgaria,  France,  Germany,  Hungary, 
Montenegro, Netherlands, Serbia, Spain and UK.

Transnational dimension

By the end of 2016, the European Microfinance Network had 
85 members in 23 European countries. Thanks to the Action 

 51

Grant, members were able to meet and learn from each other.

Activities implemented

New partnerships created

The  year  2016  was  very  favourable  for  networking  and 
partnerships:  the  EMN  participated  in  12  joint  actions  with 
peer  networks.  The  meetings  were  effective  for  discussing 
collaboration  opportunities  and  agreeing  on  topics  where 
organisations can unite and promote their positions together 
at the EU and national levels. In addition, the EMN along with 
MFC  have  strengthened  their  relationship  with  the  European 
Investment  Bank  group,  and  three  parties  are  currently 
drafting  a  memorandum  of  understanding  to  formalise  their 
cooperation.

Dissemination strategy

The  European  Microfinance  Network  based  its  dissemination 
strategy on e-communication channels. To communicate with 
its members and stakeholders the EMN relied on social media, 
its website and newsletters. Social media tools were updated 
regularly  throughout  the  year.  The  EMN  tweeted  369  times, 
received  306  new  followers  and  11  391  profile  visits.  The 
Facebook page was liked 384 times during 2016, whereas the 
LinkedIn  page  received  95  new  followers.  Their  website  was 
updated regularly: its content included 34 microfinance-related 
news pieces, 22 microfinance-related calls, 17 job opportunities 
in  the  microfinance  field,  41  microfinance  events  promoted, 
36 microfinance-related reports and documents uploaded. By 
the  end  of  2016,  the  EMN  had  edited,  published  and  sent  6 
newsletters to 4 000 contacts each time.

In addition, the EMN started developing a communication tool 
that will help to send targeted information by area of interest 
to  separate  mailing  lists  –  e.g.  researchers,  practitioners, 
policy-makers, partners, etc.

European added value

In  2016,  the  EMN  implemented  multiple  advocacy,  research, 
networking  and  communication  activities,  which  helped  to 
strengthen  the  microfinance  sector.  It  would  not  have  been 
possible to carry out most of the project activities without EU 
support.

•  18  meetings  with  EU  institutions  representatives 
from DG EMPL, DG REGIO, DG MARKT, DG ENTR, EIF;
•  8  events  attended  on  microfinance,  financial  and 

social inclusion and social entrepreneurship;

•  12  meetings/events  with  peer-networks  (MFC, 
European Parliament Credit Unions Interest Group, 
European  Banking  Federation,  EFIN,  Convergence, 
UEAPME, Confrontations Europe);

•  Social media tools – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn – 

regularly updated;

•  6 newsletters edited and published;
•  Updated  EMN  website:  34  microfinance-related 
items of news published, 22 micro-finance-related 
calls published, 17 job opportunities in microfinance 
or related fields advertised, 41 microfinance-related 
events  promoted,  36  microfinance-related  reports 
and documents uploaded, 6 EMN newsletters

•  Created  promotional  products 

to  enhance 

memberships launched: 2 E-cards and 2 videos;
•  Advice and consultancy provided to 2 microfinance 

actors;

•  4 conference participations to introduce  European 

Microfinance Network;

•  Organised  meetings  of  8  working  groups,  think 

tanks, idea-labs

•  1 student internship arranged with MI-BOSPO;
•  15 good practices shared through EMN website;
•  1 good practice award organised;
•  1 exchange visit organised;
•  4 peer-to-peer visits organised;
•  2 webinars set up;
•  5 board of directors’ meetings organised;
•  1 General Assembly meeting;
•  9 trainings attended by EMN staff members;
•  1 annual report prepared and published;
•  1 annual internal financial audit;
•  1 annual external evaluation;
•  1 communication tool set up;
•  1 annual conference held;
•  1 European microfinance day organised - 31 local 
actions were carried out by 27 EMN members in 14 
countries;

•  1 event on personal microcredit;
•  5 EMN policy notes published;
•  1 national advocacy workshop organised;
•  1 national mapping report;
•  1 e-magazine published;

•  1 European microfinance research award 

organised;

•  1 European Microfinance Overview Survey 

published.

Coordinator
European Microfinance Network

Partners 
-

Project/organisation website 
http://www.european-microfinance.org/

 52

5 

Afterword

This  report  has  provided  a  review  of  projects  and  organisations  funded  by  the  EU  Programme  for  Employment  and  Social 
Innovation (EaSI) and implemented in 2014-2017. A total of 17 project/organisation fiches, which can be read as stand-alone 
documents, were produced by the research team and presented in the report.

Analysing  and  disseminating  information  about  the  results  of  supported  projects  and  organisations  form  part  of  EaSI 
performance monitoring for 2014-2020. The programme’s monitoring approach foresees biannual reports presenting projects 
and organisations supported by EaSI and its predecessor programme PROGRESS. This is the eighth such report. It follows the first 
seven issued in 2014-2017.

It is expected that this report will be beneficial to public authorities of the Member States, civil society organisations and private 
actors in at least two ways. First, it will serve as guidance for public, private and civil society actors wishing to apply for EU 
funding in the future. Second, it will provide policy-makers with ideas that can inform the design and implementation of new 
policy interventions in the covered policy areas.

In addition to these key aims, the results are expected to contribute to further EaSI monitoring and evaluation activities. The 
developed project/organisation fiches will feed into preparing the EaSI Performance Monitoring Report for 2017-2018. Finally, the 
report team believes that the results will be useful for the evaluators of the programme.

 53

Annex I – List of projects and organisations included in this report

No. in 
the 
report

Page

Title of the project /organisation

Funding source

EU contribution 
in euros

Website

1.1.1.  Social Protection

3.1.1

16

SHARE 6th wave data collection in Spain

EaSI-PROGRESS

381 827.28

3.1.2

18

Policies for an Aged Workforce in the EU - 
PAWEU

EaSI-PROGRESS

183 463.68

3.2.1

21

ECMIN 2.0 - Workers’ information and portal 
website on applicable working conditions

EaSI-PROGRESS

175 347.31

Working conditions

http://www.share-project.
org/

https://www.inps.it/
nuovoportaleinps/default.
aspx

https://www.
constructionworkers.eu/
en

3.2.2

23

3.2.3

25

Posting fraud and social dumping – trade 
unions to overcome issues related to 
posting of workers in the metal sector

Posted workers in the EU: Joining Forces 
for Action on solidarity and cooperation 
mechanisms to ensure fair and competitive 
future for European economy and society

EaSI-PROGRESS

146 081.15

http://www.mzzpamdg.pl/ 

EaSI-PROGRESS

124 615.24

http://postedworkers.eu/
en/main

3.2.4

27

Equal Rights for Posted Workers – raising 
awareness about Directive 96/71/EC

EaSI-PROGRESS

150 241.44

http://ozzgnig.pl

3.3.1

30

New communication and cooperation model 
for better information about the Youth 
Guarantee

EaSI-PROGRESS

379 202.10

https://www.
jaunimogarantijos.lt/lt/

Key EU-level NGO networks

Employment

4.1.1

33

European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN)

EaSI-PROGRESS

938 447.97

https://www.eapn.eu/

4.1.2

35

FEANTSA

EaSI-PROGRESS

963 160.78

http://www.feantsa.org/

4.1.3

37

The European Social Network (ESN)

EaSI-PROGRESS

858 696.82

www.esn-eu.org

4.1.4

39

EUROCITIES

EaSI-PROGRESS

751 340.72

http://www.eurocities.eu/

4.1.5

41

EuroHealthNet

EaSI-PROGRESS

496 662.32

http://eurohealthnet.eu

4.1.6

43

ENSIE

EaSI-PROGRESS

129 246.82

http://www.ensie.org/

4.1.7

45

European Association of Service Providers 
for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD)

EaSI-PROGRESS

484 419.20

http://easpd.eu/

4.1.8

47

Eurodiaconia

EaSI-PROGRESS

499 939.23

https://www.eurodiaconia.
org/

4.1.9

49

Caritas Europa

EaSI-PROGRESS

740 791.99

http://www.caritas.eu/

4.1.10

51

European Microfinance Network

EaSI-PROGRESS

374 143.84

http://www.european-
microfinance.org/

 54

Getting in touch with the EU

ONLINE

Information in all the official languages of the European Union is available on the Europa website:
europa.eu

IN PERSON

All over Europe there are hundreds of local EU information centres.
You can find the address of the centre nearest to you at:
europa.eu/contact

ON THE PHONE OR BY EMAIL

Europe Direct is a service that answers your questions about the European Union. You can contact this 
service by freephone:
00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (certain mobile telephone operators do not allow access to 00 800 numbers or 
may charge for these calls), or
by payphone from outside the EU: +32 22999696, or by email via europa.eu/contact

READ ABOUT EUROPE

Publications about the EU are only a click away on the EU Bookshop website:
bookshop.europa.eu

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doi: 10.2767/204901