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ESF outcomes to feed Regional Policy

October 2007

The 5th "OPEN DAYS - European Week of Regions and Cities" will be held between 8th and 11th October 2007 in Brussels. Around 5,000 people - including regional policy experts and practitioners - will participate. The European Commission's Directorate General  Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities is an active partner in the event and will be organising several workshops related to ESF activities and results.

This year, the event's theme is: "Making it happen: regions deliver growth and jobs". About 150 workshops and sessions will focus on the new generation of cohesion policy programmes.

The OPEN DAYS 2007 programme is built around five sub-headings:

• Attracting investors: Regions and cities show how it works;
• Proximity matters: Clusters and regional development;
• Spending it wisely: Public-private partnerships and financial engineering;
• Crossing borders: Networking and best practice supporting growth and jobs;
• Checking delivery: How the new programmes are implemented.

The last two headings are of special importance for DG Employment: the results of many national and transnational activities supported under ESF/EQUAL - with the aim of achieving the Lisbon objectives - are going to be showcased.  Key actors, notably at regional level, will be interested in the main outcomes presented, showing the work achieved and the lessons which could be mainstreamed into policies and practices. It will also be the perfect opportunity to feed into the activities of the new ESF during the new programming period 2007-2013.

DG Employment is organising 15 workshops, covering the following themes:

ESF/EQUAL Workshops
	Working in partnerships to foster employment and social inclusion
	The role of micro-credit in promoting entrepreneurship and its effects on social inclusion
	How to implement a gender mainstreaming approach into regional development policies [1]
	Regional strategies for innovative and social inclusive restructuring
	(Ex)-offenders: Effective resettlement or possible re-offending?
	Supporting innovative actions to underpin reforms and organisational change
	Social and economic integration of deprived neighbourhoods and disadvantaged groups in urban areas
	Managing migration and facilitating social integration
	Social Economy: Integrating social enterprises into Local Development Policies
	Quality Management in ESF Programmes
	Innovative approaches and strategies for Inclusive Entrepreneurship
	Sound planning, management and self-assessment of innovative and transnational projects : Project Cycle Management at work
	Overcoming discriminatory practices against immigrants and ethnic minorities in employment
	Active ageing: Regional responses to the demographic challenge
	Transnational and interregional co-operation: a mechanism to improve the quality and effectiveness of the ESF 2007-2013

• Full information is available on the event website: www.opendays2007.eu
• [1] Introduction to the workshop on gender mainstreaming :
   

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