The Open Method of Coordination

1. The Open Method of Coordination was established by the European Council of Lisbon (March 2000) as: • a tool for implementing the new EU strategy for sustained economic growth and greater social cohesion • a means of spreading best practice and achieving greater convergence towards EU goals • a means to help Member States to develop their own policies

2. The Open Method of Coordinationinvolves: • Fixing guidelines for the EU combined with specific timetables for achieving their goals; • Establishing indicators and benchmarks as a means of comparing best practice • Translating the EU guidelines into national/regional policies; • Periodic monitoring, evaluation and peer review.

3. The four Common Objectivesof the EU Strategy Towards Social Inclusion 1. To facilitate participation in employment and access by all to resources, rights, goods and services 2. To prevent the risks of exclusion 3. To help the most vulnerable 4. To mobilise all relevant actors

4. Situation analysis Poverty risk: • More than 68 million people (15%) • Wide variation: • 10% or less (Czech Republic, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary and Slovenia) • 20% or more (Ireland, Slovakia, Greece, Portugal)

5. Streamlining process • Purpose: to strengthen the social dimension of the open method of coordination • create one overall process for social inclusion, social protection, health and longterm care • syncronisation with the economic and employment processes

6. ESF: principles • Article 1 ESF Regulation: “(…) the Fund shall support measures to prevent and combat unemployment and to develop human resources and social integration into the labour market in order to promote a high level of employment, equality between men and women, sustainable development, and economic and social cohesion” • main focus: integration in labour market

7. ESF: principles ESF policy fields: • Promote active labour market policies to reduce unemployment • Improve access to the labour market, with a special emphasis on people threatened by social exclusion • Enhance employment opportunities through lifelong education and training programmes

8. ESF: principles Policy fields: • Promote measures which enable social and economic changes to be identified in advance and the necessary adaptations to be made • Promote equal opportunities for men and women

9. ESF: principles • Eligible activities (in all 5 policy fields) • mainly assistance to persons(education and vocational training, employment aids, social economy, etc.) • assistance to structures and systems (improving education structures, developing links between work and education, etc.) • accompanying measures(care services, awareness-raising, etc.)

10. ESF and social inclusion • Figures: • ESF: approx. 62.5 B Euro (total SSFF: approx. 195 B Eur) • 15% of ESF spending, i.e. 9 B Euro, for social inclusion (EU average) • but important national differences: between 1 and 38% of ESF funds for social inclusion

11. ESF and social inclusion • Important: ESF funding only possible if related to integration in labour market • Ensure links between ESF and social inclusion process: • Importance of consistency between HR strategy, NAP (empl. and incl.), and priorities/measures for funding • MTR: opportunity to revise programmes

12. ESF and social inclusion • Wide scope of target groups and activities • MS identify the target groups and develop interventions to tackle the obstacles to the integration in the labour market (tailor made approach)

13. ESF and social inclusion • Wide scope of target groups and activities • assistance to persons(e.g. job counselling, training, psychological support, etc.) • assistance to systems and structures(e.g. developing instruments and methods, training the trainers) • accompanying measures(e.g. childcare services, awareness raising)