Description (EN): In March 2000, EU heads of state and government agreed on an ambitious goal: making the EU "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion".
Project VERSO (Volunteers for European Employment) identifies good practices and develops policy tools intended to be used in pursuing the above goal at regional policy level. Sustainable and inclusive economic growth is pursued by investigating European Good Practice Examples of civic society ressources being used in support of LED-initiatives (Local Employment Development - initiatives).
As an interregional project, VERSO seeks to transfer good practices and thereby improve and further focus regional policies in ways that will support use of civic society ressources in relation to employment.
The background for the VERSO is twofold. Firstly volunteering constitute a major source of renewable problem-solving that has not been
systematically tapped in relation to employment efforts crucial to competitive knowledge societies in times of increased competitive pressures, aggravated budget constraints and demographic challenges. Secondly European unemployment is a major obstacle to growth, the well-being of the individual as well as to cohesion and equal opportunity. Volunteering has unique qualities capable of broadning the scope, hightening the flexibility and enhancing the inclusiveness of public employment services. Volunteering in support of LED initiatives is cost-effective, sustainable, problem solving and has multi-lateral benefits for the volunteer, the service user as well as for cohesion, groth of human capital and regional competitiveness.
The VERSO partnership is comprised of 8 public authorities and 4 knowledge partners working together in order to produce a Best Practice Catalogue and practical guidelines to all European regional or local authorities interested in developing policies that will
support the inclusion of civic society ressources in the development of local employment services. Good practice examples form all over Europe is analyzed in order to extract policy recommendations and policy assessment tools. Secondly the VERSO project will exchange knowledge and good practice examples by disseminating a European Good Practice Catalogue with cost-benefit estimates and thereby enabling public authorities to choose and establish good practices suitable to their particular needs profile. In order to gain experience in how these good practices or policy instruments may be successfully transferred the public authority partners in the VERSO will carry out a twofold policy process. From good practices, sets of local / regional policy recommendations are made by the public authority partners and these recommendations are then operationalized in implementation plans on the basis of bi-lateral study visits, seminars and general networking activities in the partnership.
Read more Achievements (EN): The internal kick-off meeting 8-9 March 2012 34 representatives from the 12 partners participated in the internal kick-off meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark. The objective of the conference was to create a common understanding of the project, VERSO: ‘Good experience in support of Local Employment Initiatives’. The eight Public Partners initiated the process of exchange of experience through short presentations, available at the webpage, in which they highlighted preliminary experiences with good practices and different understandings of the concept of volunteers for European employment. The presentations provided valuable insight in the regional social situation and experiences with volunteering and employment strategies across Europe, and valuable discussions. Furthermore, special attention was given to the pre-modeling phase, with details on methodology, definitions and practical approaches, as well as design of the workflow between the public partners and the knowledge partners. 52 representatives from the 12 partners participated in the external kick-off conference, held on 30 May to 1 June 2012, in Denmark. The host, the Municipality of Middelfart, shared some of the locally tested good strategies with voluntary mentors, who help unemployed young people to find an internship in a company or encourage young people to complete their education. Several field trips focusing on volunteering as a part of local employment strategies, was carried our by the visiting partners. The hands-on experience to the Middelfart projects initiated fruitful discussions and paved the ground for establishing of common indicators for good practices across very different social, and economic contexts, different historical experiences with volunteerism and different labour market mechanisms. In the eldercare sector, caretakers serve as mentors for interns and help them improve their employability and ability to hold a regular job. In the energy village of Føns the citizens have cooperated with Middelfart Municipality, examining their homes for possible energy-saving potentials. The citizens agreed to renovate the houses accordingly and pay for the work with money saved on energy, thereby also creating more jobs in the local area. The citizens mentioned advantages such as better indoor climates, lower energy costs and more local jobs. Middelfart Municipality is famous in Denmark for being the first to renovate 100 public buildings for "free". A private partner guarantees the energy savings and the municipality invests in the project and pays for the investment with money saved on the public energy budget. The Project Political Board is constituted by 12 members, (all regional politicians and NGO representatives). The PPB ensures political interest in the project, provides overall political strategic guidance, ensures the commitment of policymakers during the project and guarantees that project activities and results correspond with local and regional political strategies and priorities on unemployment and human capital (development). The PPB is a set-up to strengthen the interplay between VERSO, regional political authorities and the voluntary sector in Europe. Ms Voetmann known as a key figure in voluntary work in Denmark, was appointed chairperson, and Mr Kaj Johansen, elected politician in the Middelfart Municipality, appointed vicechairperson. Ms Penny Brown, Chief Executive from the UK, found the VERSO project provides a unique opportunity to share knowledge and expertise about excellent practices that has been developed in our respective countries’.
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