The ADAPT and EMPLOYMENT COMMUNITY INITIATIVES
A joint working document of the European Commission and the Member States

EMPOWERMENT

A new way of looking at inclusion and strategies for employment 

BACKGROUND TO THEMATIC ACTIVITIES
	
At the end of 1997, the Commission and the European Social Fund Heads of Mission from all Member States agreed a Common Strategy for Thematic Activities and Visibility which would apply to the final phase of ADAPT and EMPLOYMENT. This strategy was intended to strengthen the role of the two Initiatives in having a policy impact at European and Member State level. One major target for impact is the European Employment Strategy (EES) which was launched at the Luxembourg summit, in 1997. Broad priorities for the EES are established annually in the form of European Employment Guidelines. Then, these Guidelines are incorporated into National Action Plans for Employment (NAPs) that set out what each country intends to do to create more and better quality jobs, during the year in question. 

A quick overview of the Initiatives shows that they have much to offer in terms of new approaches that have proved to be effective and successful in stimulating or retaining employment. It is easy to find a direct relationship between these approaches and most of the current 22 Employment Guidelines. Also, similar links exist with many of the policy orientations established in the NAPs of the various Member States. So, it was not surprising that the Commission and the Member Sates were anxious to explore the rich mine of good practice represented by the 3,846 ADAPT and the 6,230 EMPLOYMENT projects that have been supported through the Union. Nine broad priority areas were chosen and on each of these a Thematic Focus Group (TFG) was established. Each TFG involves those Member States which attach a priority to its theme and are committed to exploring and disseminating good practice in that field. The Commission is also represented on each group, which is chaired by a lead Member State, in some cases assisted by other Member States wishing to share this responsibility.

TFG	Theme	Bnl	Bfr	DK	D	GR	ESP	F	IRL	IT	L	NL	P	A	FIN	S	UKgb	UKni	
1	Territorial approaches	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	o	ü						ü		ü			
2	Integrated approaches for training	ü		ü		ü							ü			ü	ü		
3	New jobs		o		ü	ü		o				ü		ü	ü	ü	ü		
4	Crossing the job threshold				ü		ü		ü			ü					ü		
5	New forms of work organisation	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü		ü	o	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü		
6	Desegregation of the labour market			ü	ü	ü			ü				ü	ü	ü	ü		ü	
7	Employers and people with disabilities		ü	o	ü				o					ü	ü				
8	Empowerment of excluded people	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü			ü			ü	ü			ü		ü	
9	Active involvement of young people			ü	ü	ü						ü	o		ü				
Lead Member State	0Assisting Member State üOther participating Member States

The TFGs have met on a number of occasions during 1998-2000. They have taken account of the views and experience of project promoters and also those local people who have benefited directly from the new services and facilities that the projects have introduced. They have also consulted employers including SME managers, trade unionists and experts in the fields of guidance, employment, training, work organisation and local development. Many TFGs have promoted or organised national or European conferences and events. The results of their work have also been reflected in a series of publications of which this is one, and in information contained on a variety of European and national web sites (see list of useful addresses at the end of this publication).

The Thematic Focus Group on “Empowering the excluded” has looked into the ways in which EMPLOYMENT-INTEGRA projects pursued the objective of ‘empowering’ excluded people and groups, as a strategy for their integration into employment. It identified projects most representative of this approach and worked at both national and European level to explore the nature and impact of empowerment strategies for employment and inclusion in INTEGRA projects. Twelve Member States worked with the United Kingdom (Great Britain): Belgium-fr, Belgium-nl, Denmark, Greece, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Ireland, Ukgb and Ukni, later joined by Spain. 

 Key activities have included
	
•	Identification of national programmes and policy priorities relevant to the theme.
•	Identification of objectives in NAPs of relevance to the theme
•	Selection of good practice projects
•	National events in Belgium, Germany, UKgb, Sweden, Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain
•	Identification of descriptors of ‘conditions of empowerment’
•	European Event in Birmingham in June 1999 on “Empowerment : strategies for employment and inclusion”
•	National project group activities in Belgium-fr, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Sweden, UKgb, 
•	European-level workshop in December 1999 – with project representatives, national and European experts - to discuss emerging characteristics of “empowerment” as a principle in strategies for employment and inclusion	

The INTEGRA strand of the EMPLOYMENT Community Initiative combines the promotion of employment integration with that of social inclusion. It focuses on adult job-seekers that are most distant from the labour market including long-term unemployed people, migrants, refugees, itinerants and travellers mainly in areas of high unemployment, and those with a history of problems with the law, drug addiction or access to secure housing.

The work of this Thematic Focus Group has been co-ordinated 
by the United Kingdom (Great Britain).

Warm thanks are due to all those who have assisted with this collective initiative. 

Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged.
The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of the European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs. 

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS AN EMPOWERMENT PERSPECTIVE?
WHAT DOES EMPOWERMENT MEAN?
WHAT IS THE RELEVANCE OF EMPOWERMENT?
WHAT ARE THE KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF EMPOWERMENT?

EMPOWERMENT IN PRACTICE

INDIVIDUAL EMPOWERMENT

REALLY LISTENING AND RESPECTING INDIVIDUAL CHOICE
LETTING PARTICIPANTS SET THE PACE
EXTENDING OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN FROM DIRECT EXPERIENCE
BUILDING MOTIVATION AND CHANGING ATTITUDES
SUPPORTING CHOICES OF NEW ROADS TO ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE
PROMOTING THE RECOGNITION OF INTERMEDIATE ACHIEVEMENTS BY THE ENVIRONMENT

GROUP EMPOWERMENT

DEVELOPING A SENSE OF COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY
DEVELOPING THE ORGANISATIONAL CAPACITY OF INFORMAL GROUPS
DEVELOPING PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS IN TARGET GROUP ORGANISATIONS
GAINING A FOOTHOLD IN THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS
SEEKING TO INFLUENCE CHANGE IN EMPLOYMENT SYSTEMS
CREATING NEW NEGOTIATING PLATFORMS
AIMING TO SET THE AGENDA FOR THE POLICY DEBATE

EMPOWERMENT IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

PARTICIPATION IN THE PROJECT DESIGN 
PARTICIPATION IN RUNNING AND EVALUATING PROJECT ACTIVITIES 
FORMER PARTICIPANTS PLAYING A GUIDANCE OR TEACHING ROLE
PARTICIPATION IN OVERALL MANAGEMENT
PARTICIPATION IN DISSEMINATING PROJECT RESULTS
SPEEDING UP CHANGES IN PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

EMPOWERMENT TO CHANGE SYSTEMS AND STRUCTURES

DEVELOPING THE IMPACT OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS
MAKING CHANGES IN THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS
HAVING AN IMPACT ON THE SYSTEM’S PRIORITIES 
MULTIPLIER EFFECTS 

HOW TO MONITOR PROGRESS

CONCLUSIONS

ANNEXES
I.	EMPOWERMENT IN A BROADER CONTEXT
II.	SELECTION OF NATIONAL POLICIES IN SUPPORT OF EMPOWERMENT 
III.	EXAMPLES OF MONITORING AND EVALUATION METHODOLOGIES
IV.	USEFUL ADDRESSES

ADAPT AND EMPLOYMENT IN BRIEF

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS AN EMPOWERMENT PERSPECTIVE?

Empowerment introduces a new perspective on the integration of excluded people and groups into the labour market by directly linking strategies for inclusion with strategies for employment. An empowerment perspective draws attention to the fact that people and groups experiencing exclusion lack power and influence in many ways: their voice is not heard, they lack resources and opportunities to express their needs and aspirations or to have their life experience valued. Yet ignoring their views and excluding them from participation in the decisions that affect them is bound to reduce the effectiveness of policies and programmes for employment and inclusion.

Empowerment presents a new challenge to both employment and social systems. It is about changing the balance of power. On the one hand, those who have little or no power, such as excluded people, should acquire the capacity to have informed opinions, to take initiatives, make their own decisions and influence change. On the other hand, those who operate from a position of power must relinquish some of that power, authority and influence by entering into open negotiation with other actors, changing their attitudes, adapting rules and reorganising decision-making processes.

Empowerment-based approaches to employment and inclusion have a double dynamic. They aim to improve the way excluded people organise themselves to take more responsibility and acquire more control over their lives. At the same time, they aim to change social, economic and political systems to enable excluded people and groups to play a “full” role in society in general and the labour market, in particular. It is a radical concept that raises fundamental questions about the distribution of roles and responsibility in the process of inclusion. It is a dynamic process that offers a new vision of what inclusion processes are about.

“Not being the subject of community’s efforts, but making your own changes, this is the foundation of ‘empowerment’ ” -  Bengt Starrin, Acting Professor of Social Work at the University of Karlstad, Sweden.

WHAT DOES EMPOWERMENT MEAN?

In the context of European programmes that tackle employment together with the social integration of excluded people and groups, the notion of “empowerment” is increasingly associated with innovative action. The terminology of empowerment may not be used, but other terminologies bear witness to similar concerns for its outcomes, its process and its pre-conditions.

The term empowerment is echoed by expectations concerning:

•	An outcome of self empowerment, linked to the capacity to make independent choices and to take one’s future into one’s own hands: self-determination, self-management, self-help, self-learning, self-employment, citizen participation, active citizenship, active participation;

•	A process of promoting progress towards self-empowerment: developing capacities to make informed choices, giving more autonomy, giving the power to fulfil the rights and responsibilities of a citizen, building the capacity of voluntary groups and organisations, promoting participation in decision-making;

•	A set of pre-conditions that include tackling the multiple factors that generate dependency and exclusion, acknowledging the needs and aspirations of excluded people and groups, as well as their rights to equal opportunities and equal treatment.

Projects adopting an empowerment perspective in their work need to apply a range of objectives at different levels:

•	At the level of the individual job seekers participating in projects;
•	At the level of the target groups that face similar challenges in returning to employment;
•	At the level of project management;
•	At the level of local systems and structures that affect progress towards employment and inclusion.

Projects can develop both the capacity and opportunity of individuals and groups to play a full role in economic and social life, taking into account psychological, social, economic and political aspects of empowerment. This can take many forms and corresponds to different ways of talking about or describing empowerment in the different Member States. 

The emphasis may be on the need for excluded individuals to take responsibilities (prise de responsabilité), or to decide for themselves (Selbstbestimmung). Self-help and self-employment can be starting points. The chance to take initiatives to improve one’s situation is sometimes considered as a chance to become an active citizen (approche citoyenne, burgerzin). This approach capitalises on a desire to play a full part in improving the quality of life in the local community (community development, Stadtteilentwicklung). Independent choices and autonomous self-management are indicative of progress towards empowerment. References are also made to the need to develop the capacity of groups of excluded people to organise and manage services for others in the same situation (capacity-building) and to participate in decision-making (Mitbestimmung, social partnership). Active participation can result from a process of empowerment and support it further when there are opportunities for consultation or co-decision. 

WHAT IS THE RELEVANCE OF EMPOWERMENT?

“Our policies and action to combat social exclusion must contribute to the sharing of economic and social benefits of European integration across the whole of society – to improve the standard of living and the quality of life for all” - Odile Quintin, Acting Deputy Director General of DGV, Birmingham, June 1999.

An empowerment perspective opens a fundamental debate about the way agencies and individuals treat excluded people and groups. How is it possible for public agencies to work with excluded people and groups and not just work for them? How can they give greater recognition to the fact that quality of life and quality of work are inseparable issues for excluded groups and give them a chance to play an independent and responsible role at all levels?

Empowerment is essentially a relevant perspective in the context of integrated strategies for inclusion. It helps tackle an important factor of exclusion: the lack of opportunities for excluded people to participate in decisions that affect them at all levels. In the context of European policies, social exclusion has been understood as a dynamic, multidimensional process caused by multiple factors. Low income, poor housing, poor health, poor educational level, lack of engagement in the world of work and poor access to services all contribute to a poor quality of life and to becoming entrapped in alternative life styles. This process of marginalisation is compounded by the lack of opportunities to be asked or to express one’s views, to be listened to, and for one’s opinions to be acted upon.

Empowerment approaches constitute a radical departure from approaches to solidarity, based on philanthropy, charity or forms of social protection that increase the risks of dependency and tackle only part of the problem. They are an appropriation of the process of change by excluded people and groups. 

The special European summit in Lisbon in March 2000 has defined a new global strategy for a knowledge economy, capable of sustainable economic development, for more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. This implies a modernisation of the European social model by investing in human resources and combating social exclusion. In this respect, Member States are invited to “mainstream the promotion of inclusion in Member States' employment, education and training, health and housing policies”, thus complementing the action of EU Structural Funds. An agreement on a new European social agenda, based on a communication by the Commission is expected at the December 2000 summit. This is likely to emphasise new forms of partnership and participation of all stakeholders, especially the excluded themselves. 

Empowerment is also very relevant to employment strategies. For excluded people, access to employment is both a consequence of having entered into a process of inclusion and a significant step towards greater inclusion. Since December 1999, one of the European Employment Strategy’s main objectives is to promote “a labour market open to all". As indicated in Employment Guideline 9, this will involve further development of active and preventive measures for the integration of ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups. To take advantage of sound economic growth and to develop economic as well as social cohesion throughout the European Union (EU), it is essential to integrate those people that currently represent an unexploited potential of skills, talent and diversity. To achieve this, an empowerment perspective puts the focus on enabling those excluded from the labour market to take an active part in their own process of inclusion into society and work.

Further development of empowerment approaches is expected to take place in the European Structural Funds. The Structural Funds are the main financial means of direct Community support for the most disadvantaged regions and people in the EU. Following recent reforms, the Funds, in the period 2000-2006, will increasingly promote social inclusion. The European Social Fund in particular gives a high priority to the “promotion of social integration and equality of opportunities for all in access to the labour market”. The new EQUAL Community Initiative (2000-2006) will support new avenues for addressing exclusion, discrimination and inequalities in relation to employment. It introduces empowerment as a general principle of action alongside partnership, transnational co-operation and a thematic focus. A basic principle of all actions in the programme will be that “those suffering from discrimination in the labour market are enabled to participate in project implementation and in decision-making at all levels”. It is expected to build upon the experience of the INTEGRA strand of the EMPLOYMENT Initiative that gave a new emphasis to empowerment. INTEGRA’s guidelines recommended that “all actions should be based on the principle of empowerment of the target groups and persons concerned, promoting their active participation in decision-making processes and offering structured pathways to inclusion in the labour market.“ Lessons from these pilot projects form the basis of this report.

WHAT ARE THE KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF EMPOWERMENT?

The Thematic Focus Group analysed the conditions, processes and outcomes of empowerment in the context of INTEGRA and has drawn conclusions based on experience in the Member States. These activities have highlighted the following key characteristics of empowerment in the context of strategies for employment and inclusion.

Key characteristics of empowerment in the context of 
strategies for employment and inclusion

•	Empowerment is a process, aimed at a change in power relationships.

•	It can be a process that applies to individuals, groups, organisations or communities.

•	It implies two-way change: on the part of those who previously had little or no power and on the part of those who hold authority and power in employment, social, cultural and political systems.

•	It requires a change in professional practice. Those who previously had little or no power are listened to. Their experience as well as knowledge, their aspirations as well as their needs, their opinions and insights are taken seriously and acted upon in the process of problem solving. 

•	It should take place in the context of a comprehensive approach that tackles a range of psychological, social, cultural, and economic issues.

•	It implies different approaches to lifelong learning, including aspects of social learning and is based on more interactive methodologies that give a central place to learning by doing.

•	It implies non-traditional approaches to conflict management and resolution. By questioning the implicit consensus between those in power, it throws a new light on the assumptions on which policies, programmes and professional approaches are based.

•	It implies a recognition that power takes many forms and remains partial and relative: the exercise of power requires the management of tensions between co-operation and competition, between a value-based commitment and the possibility of coercion, between reliance on fair exchange and autocratic or violent behaviour. 

EMPOWERMENT IN PRACTICE

The context of a public programme geared to the employment and inclusion of excluded people and groups presents both constraints and opportunities to enable empowerment to take place. What a project is able to do is to create the conditions in which excluded people and groups can prepare for, or experience, a degree of self-management and of participation in a process of change in employment and social systems. The crucial questions are whether, by engaging in this process of change, excluded people have a better chance of progressing towards quality sustainable employment, and whether the taking of their initiatives and opinions into account can actually improve the effectiveness of policies and programmes.

An essential requirement is that projects set explicit objectives that create the pre-conditions for a process of empowerment and initiate processes that enable participants to take every opportunity to exercise responsibility, either individually or collectively. 

INDIVIDUAL EMPOWERMENT

Most INTEGRA projects develop structured pathways that aim to improve people’s employability. A particular feature of employability or job-readiness is understood as a capacity to adjust to different situations in order to remain competitive in a fast changing labour market. Learning to get a job is not enough. Learning to learn is essential. Learning to take advantage of opportunities and gaining a degree of control over one’s own situation demonstrate a degree of empowerment. For this to be achieved project sponsors and their partners need to take full account of the multiple problems faced by people excluded from the labour market in a particular area, and to adopt empowering strategies.

The innovation, in an individual empowerment perspective, resides in how certain approaches are delivered, including accreditation of prior experience, information and guidance, skill development, new job profiles or enterprise creation. It resides in a number of small but demanding changes of attitudes that challenge professional practice. Objectives of individual empowerment include improving the pre-conditions of empowerment, such as access to material resources, information and skills, as well as initiating and supporting a process of personal development leading to greater autonomy in handling learning and employment choices. This implies that participants are asked for their views, that they are listened to and that their views are acted upon.

Individual level objectives

•	Access to quality essential life resources: housing, health, credit, citizen information
•	Access to job-related opportunities/resources: information about education, training and the labour market, advice, counselling, training, job-search assistance, work placements, jobs, self-employment
•	Personal development : self-confidence, self-identity, motivation, informed opinions, autonomy, autonomous choice, initiative-taking, problem-solving, ability to make independent choices, leadership, organisational skills, budgeting skills, political awareness
•	Personal acquisition of knowledge and skills : basic skills, ‘soft’ social interaction skills, communication, digital and vocational skills 
•	Opportunities to participate in society : working as a volunteer (active citizenship), becoming an elected member, joining an NGO or informal community group, 
•	Opportunities to participate in project design, development or management (see section 2.2.)

REALLY LISTENING AND RESPECTING INDIVIDUAL CHOICE

A first essential step in the practice of empowerment is to acknowledge people’s life experience in a non-judgmental manner so that they begin to trust that they will be treated with respect and dignity.

Holistic approaches promote individual empowerment. They take into account the psychological, social and cultural needs of the participants as well as the need to become economically active. With an empowerment approach, project workers value participants’ expressions of need and aspirations. They ‘listen’ better and take into account the participants’ experience and aspirations before attempting a personal interpretation or applying professional ‘models’ for explaining the difficulties encountered. This fresh look at the situation helps them uncover both hidden capacities that can help, and genuine obstacles that can hinder, progress towards employment.

The "RUGs - Reinsertion of Uncompetitive Groups " project (I-1997-UKgb-545), based in Newcastle upon Tyne (UK), focuses on the potential demonstrated by young people in difficulty rather than on their problems. The project has rethought the professional approach to guidance and developed a fully accredited assessment procedure capable of giving full recognition to skills acquired in the home or ‘on the streets’. From a comprehensive catalogue of personal potential, skills, aspirations, preferences, and hopes, the project worker and the young person move to a discussion of obstacles that prevent the attainment of goals and the development of an action plan. This positive approach includes giving recognition to learning achievements at intermediate stages and represents a motivational approach to social and vocational guidance. 

Wanting a better quality of life is often the first motivation. This should be recognised as a deciding factor for excluded people in joining any employment project.  For example, single parents want to be better able to assist their children in their schoolwork. Or, in the words of a young man of migrant origin preparing to create his own business, “This is a chance to earn my  living normally, not too much, not too little, not lacking in anything and being able to do what I want, to decide by myself”.

The "Action for the socio-economic integration of drug addicts and high risk groups" project (I-1997-GR-543) in Athens, works with people recovering from substance abuse who are generally also in employment, as this is their only means of survival. Training and support activities aim to improve the quality of their lives and help them cope better with day to day interactions. The local centre also offers a programme of activities, developed with the participants, that involves families, neighbours and local businesses and has significantly improved tolerance at local level. It is only with the support of the centre that the participants achieve an improvement in their lifestyles, which includes starting professional training and moving to better jobs.

LETTING PARTICIPANTS SET THE PACE

In developing the autonomy of participants, empowerment approaches pay particular attention to the order and speed at which new opportunities are made available. Ideally, the different elements of the pathways to qualification should be negotiated with participants to take account of their personal needs and aspirations. 

Support during a period of stabilisation may be an essential pre-condition for empowerment. For those whose lives have been particularly damaged by experiences of poverty, sometimes combined with health problems and direct or indirect involvement in criminal activity, a period of stabilisation is essential. Integrated projects, working with other agencies,  can offer a context in which to regain health, social confidence and motivation, resolve serious problems and begin to re-establish relationships with family and friends. 

The French project ‘Reseaux de soutien de l’emploi’ (I-1997-F-621) has set out to break the isolation of long-term unemployed people through ‘employment support networks’. In these networks, a behaviourist approach is adopted that relies on group dynamics, practical support and joint reflection to help people learn or relearn how to manage their own life situation. As a result of this experience, one of the participants came to the conclusion that, “We had lost our identity. The project forced us to look again at what we had left behind and has rekindled our determination”. 

Participants readily identify communication, language and computer skills as essential in overcoming obstacles to qualifications, jobs and social interaction. Language and communication skills are particularly requested by migrants or refugees and digital literacy is increasingly understood as being a necessary competence. Employment projects can develop training modules, unavailable in standard educational provision, that provide basic skills in a way that is directly relevant to job search. 

Training in Communication and Information Technologies is rarely accessible to unemployed people who are very distant from the labour market, yet it is widely recognised as a key to accessing jobs. In the TELIS project (I-1997-D-508), seven prisons in Bremen, Lower Saxony and Brandenburg have developed an infrastructure to deliver professional training in virtual classrooms, with the help of videoconferencing, which is combined with individual tutoring and support. 

Flexible, action-based learning programmes respond better to individual needs and aspirations.

In the Danish "RESTART" project (I-1997-DK-501), unemployed young people with various social problems who have lost all motivation are offered the opportunity to participate in a comprehensive approach to help them regain a sense of responsibility and belonging. In small groups, they discuss their needs and wishes and select activities from the range on offer that includes outdoor activities, organisation of social events and work experience opportunities. These activities are designed to give an experience of teamwork and to rebuild identity, sense of self-worth and belief in the capacity to hold down a job. 
 
Unpaid voluntary work develops motivation and self-confidence. Voluntary work can be a natural stage in a pathway to employment. Some projects are able to tap into a personal motivation to engage in voluntary activities to help rebuild confidence and give more meaning to efforts to seek paid employment.

In the Belgian Project "Espace citoyenneté" (I-1997-Bfr-527), unemployed people in receipt of minimum income help run a cafeteria and publish a local newsletter in a neighbourhood centre that offers other opportunities for a variety of citizens’ initiatives. These activities bring recognition, personal satisfaction and a desire to move on to vocational training or management training for jobs that will be also be valued by local residents.

EXTENDING OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN FROM DIRECT EXPERIENCE

Learning is a process that differs for each individual. Some learning environments are more conducive to the development of personal motivation and give a greater sense of control at each stage of development. For example, many people are resistant to classroom environments but respond to more interactive learning based on experience. Given the opportunity to test themselves in new and more supportive situations, they are able to acquire knowledge and skills more rapidly.

Direct personal contact with employers overcomes prejudices.

The "Action for Urban Regeneration" project (I-1997-Bnl-509) in Genk, Flanders trains long-term unemployed people for self-employment and gives them the opportunity to meet local entrepreneurs face-to-face on an equal basis. This personal contact has reduced prejudices and apprehensions on both sides and created a new motivation to find ways of entering the world of enterprise. 

Working in the local community provides job satisfaction. 

Young people involved in the "Integraçao social de jovens de minorias etnicas" project (I-1997-P-512) develop local events and activities in their own neighbourhood, as part of their training as cultural mediators. Their commitment to improving the quality of life in a multi-cultural and deprived area has been central to their determination to complete their training and then to find employment locally.

BUILDING MOTIVATION AND CHANGING ATTITUDES 

Job seekers, particularly those from excluded groups, often need to change their views of themselves and of their place in their neighbourhood, community or culture. This gradual process requires more than the provision of new information and cognitive knowledge. It requires a supportive environment that offers new experiences and helps rebuild a positive self-image and a social identity, which, in turn, brings about a change in opinions and attitudes.

Group supported psychological approaches help rebuild identity.

The Greek project Support structures, activities of training and employment for juvenile offenders (I-1997-GR-515) provides counselling to job-seekers and their family members, both individually and in groups. The counselling provides an opportunity to confront personal issues and to take account of them in making educational and professional choices. This confidence-building process is further boosted by skill development workshops run by volunteers that explore creativity and develop self-knowledge and self-respect.

Learning to cope with a multicultural environment reinforces power.

The project Career re-orientation for newcomers (I-1997-NL-582) aims to support migrants in coming to terms with the Dutch labour market and the type of job that they would like and would be able to undertake. To begin with, participants are encouraged to tell their individual life stories. As a result, much of the intercultural tension between refugees and professionals is dissipated. The process also delivers a realistic image of participants’ experiences and expectations. Intensive training is provided to enable professionals to deal with the emotions released and with the cultural differences and on how to adopt this innovative way of working.

Gaining insights into the local work culture helps develop a more realistic view of chances in the labour market. Local traditions and organisational cultures influence the functioning of local employment systems. Participants need to know how the local labour market functions and to understand the expectations, languages and practices of employing organisations. 

The project "Vluchtelingen Werk Werkt" (I-1997-NL-558) in Utrecht does not simply provide factual information about the local labour market in its work with a group of refugees. It draws on an analysis of attitudes towards authority in different cultures to improve participants’ understanding of social relations and different ways of approaching problem-solving in their own cultures and in a work context in the Netherlands. This reflection is extended at each stage of the placement strategy. 

SUPPORTING CHOICES OF NEW ROADS TO ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE 

One way of gaining a degree of autonomy in the labour market is to create an enterprise and become one’s own boss. In assisting excluded people along this path, empowerment entails nurturing the desire to take risks with commercial ideas, while providing a wide range of support and information to optimise progress. This assistance may be directed towards self-employment or to the creation of a social enterprise.

The "ReBus" (Refugees in Business) project (I-1997-NL-) offers a complete coaching route to refugees who want to set up their own business, in the Netherlands. The starting point is the business idea that the participants have themselves, in whatever sector or field. The coaching route includes information about entrepreneurship, a course in entrepreneurial skills and mediation in relation to funding. Individual advice and coaching is provided before, during and after the start of the business. This combined advice and assistance is offered thanks to close co-operation between the project promoter SEON, the Emplooi consultancy agency that helps non-Dutch potential entrepreneurs, a social economy bank Triodos and the employment office of the Dutch Refugee Council. Although not all the new businesses are successful, the project is nonetheless empowering in that is gives participants a realistic view of their chances.

PROMOTING THE RECOGNITION OF INTERMEDIATE ACHIEVEMENTS 

Progress towards empowerment is recognised subjectively by participants themselves. However, the process depends on gaining support from trusted people and can be accelerated by more formal recognition of a range of intermediate achievements. 

Self-assessment permits greater personal ownership of choices along a pathway to employment.
Many projects encourage participants to develop a personal action plan, followed by periodic assessments of progress and appropriate reviews of the initial goals. In an empowerment perspective, projects build up the capacity for self-assessment and treat the review as a supportive dialogue. Thus, participants realise that they are responsible for the consequences of their own choices.

Recognition of prior experience and certification of early stages in learning is rarely integrated into formal systems of qualification. Many projects strive to gain formal recognition for the initial and intermediate stages in their skill development programmes in order to improve employability. Transnational exchange has facilitated the replication of certain systems of accreditation of prior learning, such as the British Open College system of credit accumulation. 

Mobilising a wide range of partner agencies is essential if there is to be a wider recognition of participants’ progress. An integrated pathway for employability requires the co-operation of a wide range of public and private agencies. Each of them can play a role in raising awareness of the issues at stake for participants. Partnerships at territorial level, in particular, can have a multiplier effect by helping to build mutual trust and by attracting the commitment of local residents, companies and other agencies.

In Scotland, the "Edinburgh Homeless Project" (I-1997-UKgb-504) runs information days with local employers from the banking and insurance sector when information is exchanged on the outcomes of training programmes, the needs of the industry and the conditions of employment for those with low levels of qualification.

The Spanish project "Empleo, formacion y empresa social para personas sin hogar" (HD-1995-ESP-082) has involved local residents’ associations in helping with the integration of homeless people living in a local hostel. Similarly in the project Action for the socio-economic integration of drug addicts, local residents in Athens have supported the activities of a centre for recovering substance abusers.

GROUP EMPOWERMENT

To be able to participate in the process of change, excluded people need to organise themselves to legitimately represent their interests in the decision-making processes that concern employment and inclusion. This means developing groups and organisations that have a capacity for self-management and for self-representation. As a counterpart, policy makers need to find ways of reducing the distance between themselves, and the most excluded groups.

Many excluded people are motivated to play a more active role in the social and employment systems that determine the chances of their counterparts gaining access to quality employment. This motivation results from a gradual process: 

-	individuals in a group begin to understand that they lack power and are excluded by the system; 
-	individuals in a group identify with others in a similar situation;
-	the group develops a list of skills and instruments needed to gain greater control over their lives;
-	the group arrives at a decision to act jointly in specific ways.

In practice, projects intervene at different stages of this process, creating the conditions in which group members can develop a common understanding of their situation and supporting a process that allows them to take action jointly. Existing traditions of mutual help and the political and cultural context greatly influence the nature of the process. 

Group level objectives

•	Group members’ personal development : acquisition of skills and personal capacities, awareness of strengths and weaknesses of self and others, handling of relationships with peers and others, capacity to work in a team 
•	Group members’ opportunity to act for change : discovery of similar problems, awareness/understanding of common interests, support and friendship within the group, knowledge and understanding of social and employment systems, organisational skills, leadership skills, management skills, campaigning skills 
•	Creation and consolidation of new formal and informal groups (of excluded people)
•	Group self-definition : group understanding of the exclusion dynamic in a local setting, definition of common principles and goals, definition of internal power relationships 
•	Group management capacity : setting goals and priorities, action-planning, feedback systems, service provision and other organisational and management skills
•	Group representation in other settings : choice of strategies, capacity to oppose, difference in roles of a representative or a delegate invested will full authority to act or speak on behalf of the group in negotiations, campaigning skills, capacity to participate in various consultation and decision-making processes

DEVELOPING A SENSE OF COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY THROUGH MUTUAL HELP

Participation in an employment programme is an opportunity for excluded people to overcome their sense of isolation and encounter people facing similar difficulties. Group development methods can encourage mutual help and mutual support. After recognising their common concerns, participants move on to proposing new actions and taking responsibility for the management of small projects. Through this experience, many social and organisational skills are developed. At the same time, new local resources are provided, which facilitate the return to work for other people like themselves. 

The "Moving On Up" project (I-1997-IRL-511) in Dublin is part of the One Parent Exchange Network, an existing network of local associations of lone parents with a track record of influencing change in their interests. The project has developed tools to help set up new local groups of lone parents (group kit, telephone help line) and has trained participants in organisational skills to enable them to engage in the process of change in their own neighbourhood, at individual, group and community-level. In this way, they have acquired the capacity to assist others in organising collectively to promote the employment of lone parents.

DEVELOPING THE ORGANISATIONAL CAPACITY OF INFORMAL GROUPS 

EMPLOYMENT projects in INTEGRA have experimented with tools to enhance the capacity of existing groups of excluded people to organise more formally and more efficiently, and to work towards changing the process of economic and social integration in their neighbourhood, or for the interests of members of the group concerned. 

In an inner-city area of Dublin, a working group has been established with statutory and voluntary service providers to work on issues of substance abuse and pregnancy. Participants in the Community Response INTEGRA “Family project” (I-1997-IRL-530) instigated its formation. This project concentrates on providing local people with the opportunity to influence action in relation to the drug misuse problem in their area through empowerment strategies at all levels. The working group consists of two community groups, the local health board and the local maternity hospital. It seeks to encourage co-ordination of service provision and referrals and commissions studies into the needs and difficulties experienced by women who are pregnant and also misuse drugs.

The "Community Access project" (I-1997-UKgb-530), in Central London, provides management training to key members of community associations of migrants from various ethnic minorities to enable them to put their organisations on a sound legal and financial footing. From that new basis, the organisations are able to take responsibility for the independent management of community access points, providing a high standard employment and training advisory service to unemployed people from the same ethnic minorities. This new neighbourhood service is able to reach unemployed people that would otherwise be unlikely to progress in terms of training and quality of employment.

DEVELOPING PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS IN TARGET GROUP ORGANISATIONS

The term target group organisation is used here to designate groups that are made up wholly or primarily of members of the target group, have adopted formal rules of operation, are publicly accountable and in which majority control is in the hands of members of the target group.

The capacity to provide new services of professional standard is a key added value of the development of target group organisations. They offer a mix of experience and expertise in making services more immediately accessible to the groups concerned and better tailored to their needs. Professional training and research skills are essential components of developing quality standards.

The "InVesT" project (I-1997-UKni-501) in Northern Ireland has developed new recognised qualifications and training programmes for volunteers and staff of local voluntary and community organisations. Accompanied by a market-research study of the demand for this type of training, they have provided vital information to those responsible for training in the province, which is likely to influence future provision.

Developing a capacity to collect and analyse the views of the people concerned and to carry out relevant research is also important in acquiring an autonomous voice. Projects can prepare target group members to acquire the type of expert knowledge that is necessary to enter into processes of negotiation.

The "Empowerment towards employment" project (I-1997-UKgb-593) is run by four Housing Associations that manage social housing developments, located in different parts of England. All four Associations are trying to improve relationships with their tenants. They have involved a group of unemployed local trainees in community consultation processes, after training them in the relevant methods. In one of these methods, the ‘participatory rapid appraisal method’, residents are interviewed in local supermarkets and community centres by the trainees who are also residents of the same area. The experience resulted in the Housing Associations recognising that such community consultations are essential in improving relationships with tenants and providing a better support service. 

GAINING A FOOTHOLD IN THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS 

In order to further the interests of their members, target group organisations must first develop legitimacy as representative organisations and be aware of the organisational cultures of key agencies. 

Participation in a partnership development process is one way of gaining a foothold in decision-making processes. Target group organisations can benefit from the experience of co-operation at operational level to carry out concrete projects. These contacts can also lead to participation at a more strategic level. To tackle employment and inclusion, it is often necessary to create new platforms, specifically devoted to strategic planning in this field, to establish bridges between public authorities, employers and target group organisations at policy level. 

The project "Social and Labour integration programme for the Gypsy community" (I-1997-ESP-564), was developed by the regional authority in Granada, in Spain, in collaboration with local Gypsy organisations. Representatives from these associations participated fully in the planning and implementation of the project and co-ordinated several of the project activities. Through working together, a climate of trust has been established between the associations, the regional authority elected representatives and staff members, local entrepreneurs and directors of workshop schools and other training bodies. This is considered to be an important step towards greater recognition of Gypsy organisations as legitimate partners in social and economic integration.
 
SEEKING TO INFLUENCE CHANGE IN EMPLOYMENT SYSTEMS 

Groups of excluded people can attempt to improve the relevance of training to opportunities in the labour market and can work towards reducing discrimination in the workplace. They can also help to diversify the types of entry jobs and the conditions that apply to them combining inclusion objectives with more flexible employment.

In the German project NADESHDA (Hope) (I-1997-D-549), a group of Jewish repatriates from the ex-Soviet Union have taken their future in their own hands. As a self-help group of older academics, they had found that standard retraining provision available to them did not lead to employment. In co-operation with the Ennepe-Ruhr branch of the NGO Arbeiterwohlfahrt, they conceived a training project, which qualified them to work as trainers/advisers with handicapped people, for which there is growing demand. Their employment prospects are now very good.

The "LECA" project (I-1997-S-514) in Sweden is training members of the migrant community as social entrepreneurs and agents of change. It is run by a co-operative that collaborates with members of migrant organisations who are concerned about the low employment rate of their peers and wish to find alternative routes to participation in economic life.

The "Edinburgh Community Trust" project (HH-1995-UKgb-) has developed social enterprises for people with recurrent mental health problems. Trainees are directed to tailor-made courses that equip them to become workers or supervisors in enterprises that implement models of participative management. They have also contributed to the development of new procedures for the introduction of flexible working.

Trade unions have a long tradition of representing the interests of groups of workers or job-seekers that suffer discrimination in the labour market and of helping excluded groups access better quality employment. They are involved in employment projects that help train workers to participate in negotiations on work re-organisation and equal opportunities issues. 

The "Role of the Trade Unions in promoting Ethnic Equality in the European Labour Market" project (I-1997-DK-508) is run by a consortium of Danish trade union groups. It trains trade union members as mediators in cases of racial discrimination at work. This process helps in the recruitment of ethnic minority members to  the trade union itself and reinforces the union’s capacity to negotiate company agreements on equal opportunities for all.

CREATING NEW NEGOTIATING PLATFORMS 

Participation of users in the development of policies has been the practice in some fields. For example, in urban planning, public consultations have become part of a formal process in some Member States. Opinion surveys and referenda are sometimes used as elements of information in determining national policies. Such formal consultations are much less common in relation to the employment integration of excluded groups and there is a strong need to develop more negotiating platforms in this field.

The Spanish project LIBER (I-1997-ESP-580) was instrumental in setting up the Insertion Platform in Álava, a province of the Basque Country, in April 1998. This platform aims to define a joint global action plan for the social and labour insertion of people with social difficulties. It helps co-ordinate activities developed by different private and public bodies, determines short, medium and long term objectives, and promotes a more effective use of the existing resources.

A good example of a more top-down approach is the Finnish policy of creating networks of migrant organisations in support of local integration programmes. The Finnish project "Strategic Initiatives for solutions to unemployment" (I-1997-FIN-519), in Helsinki, organises regular meetings between the city’s policy makers and representatives of associations of migrants.
 
AIMING TO SET THE AGENDA FOR THE POLICY DEBATE

To be prepared to participate effectively in setting the agenda for policy debate, INTEGRA projects have empowered grass-root structures to engage in discussion at strategic level. They have also actively prepared members of the target groups to understand and analyse current policy developments and to learn to present their point of view more effectively. 

The "Agents Régionaux d'Intégration" project (I-1997-Bfr-536) in Wallonia has set up a range of meetings at different levels and on different issues. In this case, representatives of the target group organisations and other NGOs are full members of local representative councils. These councils have an advisory role, which is enshrined in the 1996 decree of the Walloon Regional Parliament on the integration of people from the immigrant community. 

EMPOWERMENT IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

An employment project is ideally placed to provide the conditions in which excluded people can learn and practice various aspects of managing services that benefit their peers. To date, NGOs and trade unions have played an important role in developing and managing training and employment services for excluded groups. However, if excluded groups themselves are to take more responsibility for their own future, it is important to involve them directly in project management, as will be the case in the new EQUAL initiative.

Project level empowerment objectives

•	Participants’ involvement in project design
•	Participants’ contribution to effective implementation (including seeking and taking seriously the opinions of participants, involving participants in design, evaluation and redesign of activities and achieving a balanced involvement of different types of participants) 
•	Participants’ involvement in management (by ensuring representation of participants on management board and the sub-structures; by involving participants in the search for additional resources, in dissemination and in feedback, monitoring and evaluation)
•	Personnel management (critical development of empowerment practices, on-going staff support, training and development geared to empowerment practice)

PARTICIPATION IN THE PROJECT DESIGN 

Target group organisations rarely have the capacity to become the main sponsors of employment projects. Yet, given appropriate time and resources, they can have a direct say in early consultations and discussion that shape a new project or partnership and thus contribute to the effectiveness of the activities that will be undertaken.
 
The "Novos Horizontes" project (HD-1995-P-007) is based in one of the areas of illegal housing in Lisbon, which has a poor public image. The project has initiated a process called “planning for real” that allows the residents of the area to generate their own agenda for change. This process is based on the search for solutions to specific problems that are, from the beginning, identified by the residents. This happens in workshops, with the help of a small-scale model representing the whole neighbourhood. The process builds local residents’ capacity for self organisation and mobilisation, in their quest for better basic living conditions, such as bus services, sewer systems, road improvement, public garbage disposal and green areas. Initiated in 1996, the process has contributed to setting priorities in the INTEGRA project and supported other actions that help to achieve its overall objectives. This has reinforced the positive image of the project with local people and increased its legitimacy vis-à-vis public authorities.

PARTICIPATION IN RUNNING AND EVALUATING ACTIVITIES 

As projects enter into a more open dialogue with participants, these individuals are able to identify specific roles that they could play in the implementation of the project. Experience shows that this approach improves the project’s effectiveness. 

In the Greek project “Integration of ethnic repatriates doctors into the Greek reality" (I-1997-GR-525) members of the target group were involved from the outset in the design of the project. They made an important contribution to structuring the vocational training programme on the application of new technologies in medicine. At organisational level, the “Greek Association of Pontian Scientists”, a target group organisation, is a partner of the project. Its roles include the provision of information and advice to the repatriate doctors and the promotion of employment by tracking down prospective employers. 

In the German project REFUGE (I-1997-D-539), the organisation of transnational study visits was largely the responsibility of a group of participants. This developed their confidence in working in an international and multicultural setting. 

FORMER PARTICIPANTS PLAYING A GUIDANCE OR TEACHING ROLE 

People who have experience of a process of empowerment are often in a good position to gain the trust of project participants. A combination of knowledge and experience can be a considerable asset in achieving project objectives. 

In the Dutch project "Intercultural Job Coaching" (I-1997-NL-518), refugees are offered a training period in the work environment of their choice. Past trainees are now employed by the project on a contract basis to act as job coaches or mentors for the current trainees in the same field of work. The use of these “intermediaries” drawn from the target group leads to better mutual understanding of both participants and employers and facilitates the integration of refugees into the Dutch labour market.

PARTICIPATION IN OVERALL PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Projects that practice a collaborative form of management recognise that participants are able to provide knowledge and insights that are not available to the professional staff and thereby contribute to the success of the project.

The Swedish project "Integration and migration home" (I-1997-S-501) has established a systematic dialogue between project participants and management. The participants’ point of view is not ignored. For example, their opinions were taken into consideration in designing and improving the training programmes and creating a number of specific training modules. As one of the project’s objectives was to analyse the obstacles and opportunities for repatriation, their knowledge of the trends in their country of origin was a crucial element of the process.

PARTICIPATION IN DISSEMINATING PROJECT RESULTS

Participants are sometimes called upon to present project results in their own way and bear witness to the benefits they have derived from the projects. For example, various dissemination events have involved beneficiaries in specific roles. A major advantage is that structured contributions from participants can focus discussion on meeting the expectations of the target group. In a Conference in Dublin, in 1999, on the reintegration of ex-offenders, an INTEGRA project participant was one of the first speakers and his first-hand account had a significant impact on the nature of the following debate. In Athens, in 1998, a seminar concerning employment projects for repatriates of the ex-Soviet Union gave participants the opportunities of telling their stories as part of a panel. 

The impact of a project often depends on its message being relayed to appropriate networks representing the interest of the target group. Through the "ETORKIN" project (I-1997-ESP-655) in Spain, a new strategic development group has been created to promote the economic and social integration of non-EU residents. Mesa Integra is a platform led by the Department of Employment and Economic Development and the Department of Social Intervention of the Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council. It includes five associations representing the interests of the target group, as well as representatives of INTEGRA projects who are non-EU residents themselves. It is recognised that their experience of successful projects enables them to suggest more ideas, for example on ways of recruiting new project participants, on the evaluation of results and in proposing and implementing innovative activities. 

SPEEDING UP THE CHANGE IN PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE 

The empowerment process depends on a change of practice on the part of front-line workers such as trainers, employment counsellors, business counsellors, social workers, urban planners and other development agents. They often lack in-depth understanding of the complexity of exclusion processes and partnership development skills. They may also be unfamiliar with the aptitudes required to deal with the permanent negotiating process of empowering practices. So, they need to learn how to listen to the needs and aspirations of people who are somewhat distant from employment and from existing services and agencies. 

Training for professionals in the concept and practice of empowerment is required. As the concept of empowerment becomes more familiar, professional workers could benefit from training programmes specifically focused on empowerment practice, so that they can themselves feel empowered to negotiate openly with excluded people and groups. These programmes should stress how to design a learning process as an interaction in which trainee and trainer adapt to each other’s capacities and treat each other as partners in a joint enquiry for knowledge. They should also provide tools for supporting group development and for maximising project impact. Techniques developed in the fields of adult education, youth work, ‘popular’ or ‘community’ education are particularly relevant.
 
Intercultural training or learning to work effectively with cultural diversity, is an essential tool for promoting empowerment. Various models of intercultural training have been developed through INTEGRA projects. 

“Itaca” is a Spanish project (I-1997-ESP-635) led by a consortium of associations with experience in migrant's integration.  In nine different regions, Itaca has set up Vocational Guidance Centres in which intercultural training is provided to employment mediators. 

"AHOI", a project led by the German Red Cross (I-1997-D-513), provides intercultural training for employment counsellors operating in voluntary sector information centres for migrants or in public employment services. The training programme is designed with the participation of people of migrant origin and offers an Internet-based series of distance-learning modules, which have a wide application.

EMPOWERMENT TO INFLUENCE CHANGE IN SYSTEMS AND STRUCTURES

For projects that offer opportunities to experience a degree of self-management or participation, a key indicator of success is that changes take place in the way decisions affecting excluded groups are made, changes to the structures of decision making and changes to the content of decisions. 

Whilst an impact on decision making in the project’s sponsoring organisation may be relatively easy to achieve, impact on other organisations can only happen if the distance between them and excluded groups is reduced. This, in turn, depends on excluded groups having the capacity to act independently and to cease to be passive recipients. It also depends on their capacity to understand the nature of the decision-making process and policy-development process in a particular area and in specific policy fields. An empowerment perspective seeks to create conditions that facilitate a change in power relationships between target groups associations, public agencies and employers so that employment policies are better targeted and delivered. Some ideas about possible steps in this process have been drawn from the experience in INTEGRA.

Empowerment objectives at community and society level

Development of civil society:
Training and employment to support the functioning of target group organisations 
Provision of knowledge and information on policy development
Creation of alliances between target group organisations and building bridges with relevant public and private agencies, employers and trade unions
Provision of resources to develop and sustain target group organisations 

Changes in decision-making processes
Representation from target group organisations expected as a right in specific meetings 
Action that takes account of the rights and opinions of excluded groups
Co-decision by groups, as of right, in setting priorities and allocating resources

Changes in the functioning of the social and employment systems
Promoting equal treatment of excluded people by public agencies and employers
Promoting employment of target groups in employment and social services and specific professions (e.g. change agents)
Developing social responsibility in companies
Setting of policy priority for inclusion and employment

DEVELOPING THE IMPACT OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS 

Civil society is understood in the EU as the wide range of interest groups that seek to influence the policy-making process. They usually have expertise in delivering services and contribute to the liveliness of public debate in many policy areas. In relation to employment and inclusion, the policy domains straddle employment and social policy and reach out into health, housing, social protection, anti-discrimination and several other fields that constitute separate policy fields. In October 1999, the EU Economic and Social Committee held a first convention on “Civil Society Organised at the European Level”.

INTEGRA has assisted target group organisations and community groups in their formation and professionalisation. It has also facilitated the consolidation of networks representing the interests of specific target groups in relation to employment integration for migrants and refugees, lone parents, ex-substance abusers, ex-prisoners, and other specific groups. The most successful of these projects have consciously linked individual, group and community level empowerment. Here are some examples of different approaches and priorities.

Training participants in group development

The "Moving On up" project (I-1997-IRL-511) in Ireland trains participants as facilitators in the introduction of a ‘group kit’, an information pack for lone parents self-help groups providing information on a range of topics to assist group formation and to develop the skills of group founders and leaders. So far, its has been distributed to over 250 groups of lone parents and those working with lone parents.

Training participants as managers of services 

The “REFUGE” project in Lower Saxony (I-1997-D-539) provided intercultural training for members of migrant organisations, some of which manage information, support and counselling services. At their request, the project later developed a module to train members of the organisations in management and organisational skills, adapting the programme to explore ways of coping with intercultural tensions. 

Training participants in policy development 

Gaining an understanding of the process of policy development is a challenging prospect. However, those committing their time and energy to target group organisations also have strong and relatively focused interests. The more successful projects combine ad hoc learning through experience with some more structured modules. 

For example, the "Moving On Up" project in Ireland (I-1997-IRL-511) comprises over seventy local community groups of lone parents. They place a high priority on implementing democratic principles and one of their activities involved local group members in training and discussion about the development of family friendly opportunities in employment. These activities eventually led to a change in legislation.

Creating alliances of grass roots organisations

At national level in Sweden, grass roots organisations involved in delivering ESF-funded projects for migrant and refugee groups have taken the first steps in setting up an ESF Grass Roots Forum.

At a more local level, the “VISTA” group (I-1997-IRL-506) is an alliance of statutory, voluntary and community groups acting to revitalise the Donore area of Inner City Dublin. VISTA set out to build an inclusive ‘working alliance’ between community groups with a view to intensifying collaboration with service providers. The two-year project has completed some of the first steps such as the training of community leaders and the joint running of local events. Capacity-building to consolidate the alliance will require more time but progress has been made in developing a common understanding of the exclusion issues faced by local residents and the various groups have learnt from each other.

Helping participants develop networking skills

The "Agents Régionaux d’Intégration" project (I-1997-Bfr-536) in the major cities in Wallonia, Belgium has created a structure for joint working and joint decision-making at different levels. Local groups representing the immigrant population are full members of all discussion and decision groups. In these platforms, a working relationship has been established with social and employment agencies, employers and trade unions and elected representatives.

MAKING CHANGES IN THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

Consultation of excluded groups is a first step towards participation in decision-making. Empowerment is often seen as a process of promoting active participation of excluded groups in decision-making. The notion of active participation, however, covers many different forms of involvement. Being informed and consulted before others take decisions is an opportunity to exercise some influence without guarantee of success. Ultimately, it is only when advice given by excluded groups is acted upon that a real shift of power has taken place. 

In the Helsinki project, "SISU - Strategic Initiatives for Solutions to Unemployment" (I-1997-FIN-519), run by the city administration, local migrant groups are supported in meeting city decision-makers on a regular semi-formal basis. This is an important first step in establishing dialogue and giving visibility to groups at risk of marginalisation.

Participation in partnership can be an opportunity for co-decision. In practice, each partnership creates a number of formal rules, as well as informal processes, that affect the balance of power. Modes of negotiation and decision-making may differ for setting general priorities or allocating specific resources to certain activities. In an empowerment perspective, it is essential that domains in which target group organisations have a right to co-decision be clearly defined. It is also important that individuals who are appointed as delegates or representatives understand their mandate, know when or if they may express personal opinions and remain fully accountable to their organisation.

Training in partnership development has been rare in INTEGRA projects. The Italian "EUROTRAMP" project (HD-1995-IT-021) has used a bottom-up approach to the building of a large partnership in which the ethics and priorities of partner organisations were openly discussed so that there was more transparency about each participant’s agenda and synergies could be created.

Some trends can be discerned towards co-decision with excluded groups. 
In Ireland, the Social Partnership arrangements, at national and regional level, involve representatives of the voluntary and community sector in the policy development process. 
Also in the Netherlands, the annual Social Conference is a formal means of consulting service users via representative organisations. The 1999 Conference involved a number of INTEGRA project sponsors for the first time. (See also Annex II) 

Beyond the local level, the involvement of target groups generally requires a hierarchy of representative groupings. In the context of European policy development, the European Platform of Social NGOs brings together national target group organisations and NGOs. It is increasingly consulted on the development of social and employment programmes.

CHANGING THE ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOURS OF KEY ACTORS IN THE SYSTEMS

Improving the way excluded people are treated by external organisations is a difficult challenge. An Irish evaluation of empowerment projects obtained participants’ views of their experience of dealing with the public services. The consensus was that there is a need for empowerment and education strategies to be introduced for the professionals and civil servants that deal with excluded groups and individuals.

Changing attitudes of key actors can begin through awareness-raising efforts. Many projects devote part of their work to sensitising key agencies to the needs and potential of excluded groups. Information days, product fairs, social events, business breakfasts and presentations to specific agencies all play a role in changing attitudes, reducing prejudices and creating conditions for greater empowerment of excluded groups.

Changing public attitudes is also important and the media can play a powerful role in providing positive images of excluded groups.

The “Integration and Home Migration” project in Sweden (I-1997-S-501), in which migrants learn to design and build solar-powered implements, have set up an enterprise to market them both in Sweden and in Africa. It gave priority to developing a certain national notoriety through television programmes and other public events. This has helped develop positive attitudes towards African migrants who still encounter great difficulties in gaining other than low-skilled employment.

HAVING AN IMPACT ON THE SYSTEM’S PRIORITIES

Changing policy regimes through new regulation, legislation or resource allocation is a powerful way of promoting the employment of excluded groups. This has been the objective of a number of projects whose ambitions went beyond the improvement of the way in which existing priorities and programmes are implemented. 

At the same time as they developed the concept of ‘cultural mediator’ and designed courses to train local immigrants and Gypsies for this particular job profile, the “Novos Horizontes” project (HD-1995-P-007) (Amadora) and the “Dinamizacion - Rumo ao Futuro” project (Lisbon) promoted the legal recognition of this new qualification. The law has now been passed and this new professional status facilitates the employment of the former trainees by local schools, health centres and other agencies. 

“Contra l’exclusió, junts anem a fons” (I-1997-ESP-599) is a project co-ordinated by the city council of Barcelona, through its City Development Agency, its Department of Social Services and fourteen local insertion enterprises. As a national law was being discussed for the creation of a formal status for such enterprises in Spain, the project set out to give an impulse to the development of the approach. It created the Barcelona Committee ACEI (Insertion Enterprise Catalonian Network) to promote and defend the collective interests of agencies committed to the social and economic integration of excluded groups. In this way, it was instrumental in the city administration’s decision to adopt the promotion of insertion enterprises in its programme for the employment integration of excluded groups. 

The "Moving On Up” project in Ireland (I-1997-IRL-511) mobilised the members of local lone parents group in a campaign to alter employment legislation to facilitate the adoption by employers of family-friendly policies. The evidence and arguments that they were able to bring forward, including the result of their own systematic research, was influential in shaping the legislation that has now been adopted. 

To what extent are legal and social rights implemented where excluded groups are concerned? There is a need for organisations to take on a watchdog role in this respect.

A group of INTEGRA projects in Ireland has launched a debate on the extent to which rights enshrined in the law and constitution fail to be applied to the more excluded groups.
For example, as Member States continue to improve anti-discrimination policy regimes, the implementation of newly-acquired rights is still under development and excluded groups can play a role in facilitating their application in practice.

The promotion of social responsibility amongst employers is undertaken in a number of Member States and through the European Business Network for Social Cohesion. In Denmark, the pursuit of ‘employment for all’ has also given rise to a national campaign. The Ministries of Labour and Social Affairs have proposed initiatives aimed at making the labour market ‘wider’. These include discussions with the social partners about the social chapter that has been included in collective agreements, about flexi-jobs and about the social responsibility of businesses. Flexi-jobs are permanent jobs, in both the private and public sector, for people who have limitations in their ability to work. 

The transnational partnership "More Colour in the Media" (HD-1995-NL-008), as well as training migrants as programme makers and technicians, launched discussions with broadcasting companies about their recruitment policies and their responses to customer demand. Following the adoption by the Dutch public broadcasting agency of an equal opportunity agreement, the European Federation of Broadcasters also followed its example and adopted an equal opportunity charter.

MULTIPLIER EFFECTS

Trained members of the target groups can act as agents of change and ‘ambassadors’ in fostering new and more positive attitudes to the employment potential of excluded groups.

The "Refugee Communities: Labour Market Advice and Guidance" project (I-1997-UKgb-551) has focused on building capacity with refugee communities by offering an advice and guidance course to key players from community organisations in the South East of England. The course was developed in conjunction with the beneficiaries and was tailored to their actual needs. It was followed up with beneficiaries developing and leading their own sub-projects in their own community groups.
 
The Rotterdam project ‘Gateway’ (I-1997-NL-508) concerns an  access route for refugees, which is oriented towards the labour market and supported by trained refugees who function as coaches and mediators. In this project, the shop floor is the primary place of learning but, among other things, the mediator of refugee origin offers a broader picture of the status of the particular job in Dutch society and labour market. The project has also set up a social and employment mediation agency called ‘Work for Refugees’. The presence of group members as mentors and intermediaries has resulted in a large response from potential participants and helped change the attitude of employers towards employing refugees.
HOW TO MONITOR PROGRESS

The principle of empowerment has implications for the way in which projects are monitored. An empowerment approach to evaluation implies that target groups, as well as staff are treated as equal partners with project managers and sponsors in the process of generating analyses of outcomes, critical monitoring of progress and formulation of results. In practice, this needs to be planned from the start of the project or programme. This has not been the case in INTEGRA.

However, the Thematic Focus Group has devoted some of its activity to the development of other methodologies that can assist in assessing the specific added value of adopting practices that develop opportunities for self-management or participation. A number of pointers were identified

•	As empowerment is an on-going process, it is particularly important to organise an on-going assessment that is used to improve internal processes and outcomes

•	As empowerment operates at individual, group, project management and system change levels, monitoring activity needs to be adapted to each of these levels

•	There is a contradiction inherent in measuring someone else’s empowerment and there is a danger that it leaves participants feeling powerless. The assessment process should therefore include members of the target groups, so that adjustments can be made to take account of their use of language and normal frames of reference.

•	As the practice of empowerment requires continual and radical adaptation of the role of professional staff, their opinions need to be taken into account alongside those of participants

•	The empowerment-related objectives of the project may need to be redefined over time. In particular, specific empowerment objectives need to be clearly formulated and agreed before undertaking an assessment process

•	As good practice suggests, a ‘baseline’ must be defined at the outset. This should be a systematic description of the power relationships affecting participants, staff, management and other organisations

•	The use of quantitative assessment alone is insufficient when attempting to measure empowerment. Qualitative methods must also be applied to acknowledge the complex personal and organisational issues involved

•	Particular attention must be paid to the validation of assessments, for example by the use of systematic comparison, control groups or discussions with a variety of actors and participants in other projects.

•	In relation to individual empowerment, indicators relating to skills acquired by participants should be reviewed by employers’ representatives to identify relative importance of these skills to actual employment opportunities.

Some assessment and evaluation exercises have been undertaken of empowerment approaches in INTEGRA projects. Selected examples of work in progress are given in Annex IV.

CONCLUSIONS

Experimentation with an empowerment perspective in INTEGRA projects has highlighted the benefits of involving participants at all levels of project development and implementation. The broader consideration of the Thematic Focus Group (TFG) has identified a growing interest in some of the Member States in integrating an empowerment perspective at policy and programme level to the extent that can already be ‘traced’ in their public policy agenda. 

The introduction of an empowerment perspective in European social and employment policies will require further debate, analysis and testing. The work of the TFG has shown the potential impact of this new perspective for building bridges between economic and social objectives. It could also enrich and accelerate the impact of the European Employment Strategy on excluded groups by introducing fresh ideas into the debate, as well as new and more effective modes of implementation and delivery. The initial lessons drawn from experience to date indicate the need for changes in practice as well as a number of the pre-conditions that should be met in projects, programmes and policies.

Elements of empowering practice

An empowerment perspective is a new way of looking at the process leading to employment and inclusion. This process must to be seen as a continuum that requires new ways of working with excluded individuals and groups or with the organisations set up by members of these target groups themselves. Projects are likely to work at individual, group and organisational levels to create the conditions that are favourable to empowerment and to enable the process to take place. Some of the essential principles in empowerment practice are outlined here:

•	Explore and acknowledge the full potential of excluded people’s experience, motivation and positive aspirations, including those not directly related to employment; 

•	Treat participants as equal partners, negotiate with them at all stages and respect their opinions and choices, including their right to learn from failure at intermediate stages;

•	Offer a chance to take responsibility on a small-scale, as appropriate, to facilitate learning from experience;

•	Give priority to a process of personal development that strengthens self-worth and self-confidence as a pre-requisite to more formal learning;

•	Diversify informal and formal learning opportunities, mobilising employers and other agencies in the process;

•	Support experimentation with a wide range of employment options that offer a greater degree of autonomy (e.g. enterprise creation), better reconciliation between work and personal life (flexible working) or a greater sense of job satisfaction (socially useful activities);

•	Assist the development of mutual help and support in organised groups of participants;

•	Encourage the creation and development of formal organisations made up of members of the target group, capable of managing tailored services and of engaging directly in the process of change; 

•	Support the development of alliances of grass roots organisations that can share experience and expertise to pinpoint specific issues and propose innovative solutions.

Conditions of empowerment at project level

For such practices to be effective, a number of conditions must also be put in place. At different stages in the process and depending on the context in which the project operates, the majority of the following conditions need to be addressed:

•	Acceptance of excluded groups as equal partners in the design, implementation and dissemination of projects, with new roles and responsibilities; 

•	Adoption of explicit empowerment objectives and methods of empowerment practice;

•	Continued efforts to improve interagency co-operation, to help to tackle obstacles to inclusion identified with the target groups and to broaden the range of opportunities on offer;

•	Creation of new ways of tackling the personal and systemic discrimination faced by excluded people, promoting more open attitudes, and facilitating equal treatment by public agencies and employers;

•	Provision of staff training, support and development so that they can also be empowered to open more areas to negotiation with excluded people and groups;

•	Promotion of greater transparency in processes of decision-making to allow excluded groups to engage with the process and contribute relevant experience and expertise, for example via consultation, participation in partnerships and in co-decision.

Relevance of empowerment to current trends in policies for employment and inclusion

Important framework conditions for the development of an empowerment perspective also need to be incorporated in the systems and structures that affect employment and inclusion. There are signs that new principles are being adopted in a number of Member States and at European Union level. 

Trends in national policies

Some Member States have integrated specific objectives to increase the participation of excluded groups in the process of change and in their decision-making structures (see Annex II). These new priorities acknowledge the structural and political dimension of empowerment objectives by giving support to the development of target group organisations or by providing opportunities for excluded individuals and groups to participate in consultations and in local partnerships.

Also in National Action Plans for Employment, priorities set for promoting employability and entrepreneurship offer many avenues that can contribute to an empowerment perspective. Among the most promising are: individual action plans, holistic approaches, intercultural training, the development of self-help organisations, promotion of the social economy, local employment pacts and partnerships and decentralisation of services.

Trends in European policy priorities

Further development of an empowerment perspective for employment and inclusion could also strengthen a number of policy level commitments in the European Union. 

An empowerment perspective strengthens the commitment to democratic principles as it arises from greater awareness of the need for more debating opportunities, open to all, on key aspects of social and economic cohesion. Social cohesion, in particular, depends on the extent to which each person has developed sufficient capacities and is offered sufficient opportunities to shape his or her own destiny, via the systems and institutions of a society based on democratic, as well as market principles. In this respect, an empowerment perspective supports a more effective participation of excluded groups in integrated approaches to promote inclusion.

An empowerment perspective also strengthens the commitment to anti-discrimination and equal opportunities as it places the person at the centre of pre-occupations: any person, irrespective of age, sex, disability, ethnic group, religion or belief or sexual orientation, irrespective of degree of social exclusion. It creates new and more equal opportunities for this person, alone or with others at similar risk of exclusion, to be ‘heard’ and influence changes in the nature of power relations. It is particularly challenging to introduce it where the groups concerned suffer from a lack of visibility, a lack of recognition of their potential and a lack of participation in decision-making.

An empowerment perspective can also strengthen the impact of the European Employment Strategy on the creation of a labour market open to all. Empowerment can release the dynamic potential of more open and direct negotiations between job seekers, professionals and employers. By supporting target group organisations to make contributions at all levels of policy development and implementation, it enhances the potential for innovation. In this challenging process, a new look can be taken at pre-conceived ideas, professional traditions and management styles.

Key lessons for policy 

In the delicate business of changing the balance of power, indications are that setting a number of priorities can lead to greater recognition of the added value of empowerment, particularly in relation to: 

•	Improving knowledge of the dynamics of exclusion and inclusion to foster a change of attitudes towards excluded groups and to counter discrimination and promote equal opportunities; 

•	Broadening the acceptance of a concept of lifelong learning that gives greater recognition to life experience and skills acquired outside the school or workplace and supports professionals in developing empowerment practice;

•	Changing decision making processes to take better account of the point of view of the user, consumer or client of public services;

•	Mobilising employers in the pursuit of ‘employment for all’ and social cohesion that is conducive to sustainable productive businesses;

•	Encouraging trade unions and NGOs to contribute to the empowerment of excluded groups, including the building of bridges between these types of organisations;

•	Supporting the development of an organised civil society that can become a full partner in policy development;

•	Creating strategic negotiating platforms at various levels that permit a greater participation in civil society by representatives from excluded groups and make the process of policy development and implementation more transparent and participative.

											Annex I

Empowerment in a broader context 						

The idea of empowerment is broadly recognised as rather problematic and controversial. It carries a potential for liberation for those that benefit from the process. At the same time, if it is a matter of giving or imposing additional power or responsibility, it immediately begs the question of why should anyone devolve power, to what end, with what interest in mind. In introducing it as a potentially helpful perspective for employment and inclusion strategies, these dilemmas must be recognised and open to further debate.

Some members of the Thematic Focus Group have drawn on the contribution of experts in the tradition of social development that have already worked with the concept for the last few decades. Their rapid review of the literature, mainly in English, has shown that empowerment first emerged as an alternative approach to socio-economic development in the developing world. The idea is to cease to consider excluded people as helpless victims and to engage them on an equal basis in the process of change, including that of policy development.

Success stories of empowerment approaches

Development workers in the third world have come to recognise the superiority of traditional agricultural practices that conserve water and deal with predators in locally tried and tested ways that are more efficient than the more technologically advanced and resource-hungry techniques.

Social housing tenants in Scotland organised themselves to demonstrate that the incidence of respiratory illness among children was in fact due to a fungus that developed in the flats, as a result of structural problems that caused severe dampness.

Parents of drug addicts in deprived neighbourhoods in the United States provide a shining example of questioning an approach that had failed to protect their children from drug peddlers and the violence it entails. Organising collectively, they pooled their experiences of the roles played by all involved and successfully developed alternative preventive approaches that those in power had previously shunned.

The concept of empowerment is used in a number of academic and practice fields. Interest in empowerment has arisen either from recognition that professional approaches were in some way failing (third world development, medicine, and social work) or from a reflection on the application of democratic principles to the policy development process (political science, community development). Some relevant elements that require further investigation can be extracted from the academic debates underway in these disciplines. 

Empowerment challenges traditional approaches and requires an alternative ethos and practices characterised by a number of principles

Those with little or no power must be listened to, and therefore they must be encouraged to speak out, so that their knowledge, experience, needs, aspirations and insights are taken into account in problem solving. People, individually or collectively, can become ‘agents of change’ and can represent their own interests once given the opportunities to do so. The contribution of excluded groups to collective learning processes is increasingly seen as essential for the functioning of complex societies. In brief, those in power must ask excluded people, listen to them and act on what they have learnt from them.

Empowerment implies an alternative view of conflicts in society, including new approaches to problem solving

Empowerment strategies give rise to differences of opinion, and debates have been on going in a number of arenas. For example, a new enthusiasm has developed for empowerment in the context of personnel management on the grounds that it increases productivity and reduces conflicts in the workplace. Critics point to the higher stress levels that are induced due to a lack of individual or team support. 

In social policy, many professions are based on the assumption that excluded groups wish to be integrated into society as it currently stands, on the basis of consensus. This value system is challenged by alternative approaches that raise awareness of areas of conflict in order to bring them into public debate. In this way, anti-racist, feminist and community development approaches have been able to place new issues on the agenda and redraw balances of power. 

Conflicts also arise around the use of specific language and vocabulary associated with particular power bases that tends to perpetuate processes of exclusion, domination or co-operation

Empowerment remains a contested concept for the functioning of democracy

Empowerment approaches have been shown to enhance democracy and foster liberation. By bringing more actors into public decision-making, it could counter the trend towards poor participation in the electoral process and help move towards a more multicultural society. Open debate and more transparency in decision-making are generally considered to reduce social tensions. Others fear that heightened competition between different groups may shift some decisions away from the arena of public debate, giving rise to new forms of manipulation, new 
areas of secrecy or the creation of new barriers and sanctions.

										Annex II

Selection of national policies in support of the empowerment of excluded groups      

 
Belgium	As part of its integration policy, the Walloon government has set up sub-regional centres for the integration of immigrants. These centres improve immigrants' information, integration and access to training and jobs. Immigrants’ organisations participate directly in their management, as well as in the on-going evaluation and review of the region’s policy. The Flemish government also initiated a Partnership Programme involving beneficiaries of ESF projects in formulating new proposals.	
Denmark	The Danish Government has developed a nation-wide campaign ‘Our Common Concern’ for a new partnership in social co-responsibility. It has created a specific institution, the Copenhagen Centre, to support efforts to this end and to co-operate closely with public authorities, companies, trade unions and NGOs. This includes co-operation in reducing dependency on benefits, the creation of flexi-jobs and permanent jobs in both the private and public sector for people who have limitations in their ability to work. 	
Germany	In addition to large-scale programmes for the integration of young people and long-term unemployed people, recent developments include added public fund support for the development of self-help organisations of disabled people, as well as self-help organisations of immigrants. They are able to promote more effective employment integration projects, promote intercultural dialogue and become important partners with the public services. 	
Greece	To assist the empowerment of excluded groups, the Ministry of Labour, the National Institute of Labour (EIE) and the Manpower Organisation  (OAED) are supporting the creation of a significant number of new structures with specialised remits. For example, a special emphasis is being placed on the development of new structures including a National Employment Observatory for socially vulnerable groups, a series of centres for the promotion of the employment and a number of new support structures financed by the Greek public services. There will also be new roles for the Employment Services in dealing with special social groups.	
Ireland	The collective, structural and political dimensions of empowerment are being addressed by the inclusion of the community and voluntary sector as a social partner at national level and in the administrative / institutional arrangements established to monitor the implementation of policy. The concept of social partnership now includes four pillars: the Trade Union Pillar; the Employer and Business Pillar; the Farming Organisations Pillar; and the Community and Voluntary Pillar. To facilitate participation by the Community and Voluntary sector in these arrangements, the Community Platform was established by organisations in this sector. It comprises a wide range of non-governmental organisations that are involved in combating exclusion, as well as in campaigning for policy change.

Among the underlying guiding principles of the National Anti-Poverty Strategy is actively involving the community and voluntary sector and encouraging self-reliance through respecting individual dignity and promoting empowerment. This is supported by a series of initiatives: formalisation of the participation of the sector in the National Social and Economic Forum; Green Paper on the Community and Voluntary Sector and its relationship to the State (1997); Green Paper on ‘Adult Education in an Era of Lifelong Learning’. The latter recognises adult education as a participative and empowering process, which strengthens the democratic system. It specifically identifies the major contribution of the community and voluntary sector in mobilising and engaging the most excluded groups.	
Netherlands	The Dutch government organises a large Social Conference each year. Representatives from the national, regional and local authorities, churches, unions, social services, political parties (national and local), business people, anti-poverty organisations, and NGOs all participate in a social dialogue. Discussion subjects include (social) activation, and the income and participation of the people concerned. The results from the conference are used to further policy development and improve policy implementation. Experiences from some INTEGRA projects will be presented and discussed in the forthcoming Social Conference.	
Portugal	In Portugal, some policy measures have been created in the area of social economy such as the “Social Market for Employment” that can attract the participation of community associations in the definition of integrated solutions to problems in a given geographical area.  A principle underpinning these measures is the development of participation, individual responsibility and the empowerment of disadvantaged groups. Another is democratic decision making in economic matters so that benefits for society are planned alongside economic gains.	
Sweden	The Swedish Monitoring Committee for the EMPLOYMENT Initiative has adopted a policy statement on empowerment which underlines the importance of giving resources and power to groups excluded from the labour market, especially in the context of developing new initiatives supported by the European Social Fund. These principles will be considered during the preparation of the National Action Plan for Employment for the year 2000.	
United Kingdom	In England, Scotland and Wales, social inclusion has gained prominence on the policy agenda through a series of new White Papers, backed by additional resources, that promote access to learning and the revitalisation of deprived neighbourhoods. The involvement of excluded groups in the process is promoted as being a particularly important ingredient at local level.	

										Annex III 

Initial steps in developing assessments of empowerment practices 

Monitoring of progress towards empowerment first requires a time for reflection on the concept of empowerment in order to clarify the baseline for the assessment. Such a reflection was initiated by the TFG. The process started with the elaboration of an initial list of “conditions” of empowerment at individual, group and community levels. This list was discussed and critically reviewed by working groups in several Member States, involving good practice project staff and participants, programme managers and evaluation experts. This has been an effective way of exploring differences and similarities in interpretations of the concept of empowerment. It has also prompted new activities aimed at assessing progress towards empowerment, at project level. 

In terms of individual level empowerment, assessment models include subjective assessments by participants themselves, joint assessment systems involving staff and participants and guided discussions amongst professionals.

The E-Team project (I-1997-UKgb-585), in Durham (Great Britain) provides a comprehensive service to improve access to the labour market for ex-offenders whose difficulties are compounded by a history of substance abuse. A detailed evaluation has been undertaken by the Centre for Applied Social Studies of the University of Durham to assess the effect of the INTEGRA project on the self-esteem and empowerment of users of the service.

The measure of empowerment is adapted from a relatively new instrument called ‘Making decisions’ developed by Sciarappa et al, in 1994. A 28-point ‘Empowerment Scale’ is used as a basis for a questionnaire completed by participants, at yearly intervals. These points cover a number of dimensions including: esteem, power, activism, control and anger. Participants were asked to which extent they agree with statements such as “Most of my misfortunes in life were due to bad luck; “I see myself as a capable person”; “Making waves never gets you anywhere”; “People working together can have an effect on their community”.

Comparisons have been made with responses to similar questionnaires obtained from other groups such as community mental health service users. So far, results seem to indicate that the E-team project participants have higher mean scores on the empowerment scale. However, further validation will be necessary, as there is a risk that those mental health service users that have been most empowered will have lost contact with the service and therefore failed to respond to the questionnaire. The methodological approach is nevertheless using a mainly quantitative approach that could be adapted for transnational use.

Similarly, the London INTEGRA Empowerment Network brings together a group of project staff representatives that have developed their own scale. This arose from discussion between staff members, the outcomes of which were further corroborated by participants. The end result was a series of statements in relation to perceived changes with regard to skills, confidence, choice, support, communication and attitudes and values that may have resulted from participation in the project. Over a hundred participants recorded their degree of agreement with a number of statements, showing an unexpected high response from beneficiaries in terms of gains in self-confidence. Other scales are being developed to record perceptions of progress towards empowerment by other stakeholders in the project, including employers.

In the ARSIS project in Athens (I-1997-GR-531), a range of qualitative methods have been used to assess the impact of the project’s approach on individuals including group evaluation, individual discussions between beneficiaries and psychologists and regular on-going feed back from beneficiaries. Questionnaires were completed by beneficiaries all stages of the project as well as six month after the completion of each of these stages.

In terms of assessing the structural impact of empowerment approaches, monitoring exercises are studying the impact of project activities on external organisations.

For example, the Community Response Family project (I-1997-IRL-530), in Ireland, has undertaken an enquiry into the impact of the project on members of groups and organisations that have been stimulated to participate in area regeneration efforts. Specifically, the enquiry will assess changes in awareness, knowledge and attitudes amongst those that have been targeted by videos, theatre plays and publications produced as part of an awareness-raising exercise on health issues affecting people’s capacity to return to employment

Useful Addresses								Annex IV

Projects

More details about each project may be found by using the number that appears in brackets after the title to search the database on the following web site: www/europs.be/equal

Some of the projects mentioned in this publication are also featured in the Thematic Activities section of this web site.

Members of the Thematic Focus Group

Belgique
Ms Jenny Charlier
Mission FSE
Email: 

Danmark
Mr Peter Sanderhoff
Socialministeriet
Email: DPPSA@SM.DK

Deutschland
Mr Ulrich Förster
Europabüro für Projektbegleitung
Email: foerster@efp-bonn.de

Ellas
Ms Athanasie Pipergia
EIE - Ethniko Instituto Ergasias
Email: nli@itel.gr

España
Ms Belen Sanchez
IMSERSO
Email: integra@seg-social.es

Ireland
Mr Tom Ronayne
Work Research Co-Operative
Email: Wrc@iol.ie

Nederland
Ms Wiecher van der Laan
Mr Hans Diemel
Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid – BUESI
Email: hdiemel@minszw.nl

Portugal
Ms Sandra Almeida
Mr Carlos Nunes
GICEA
Email: gicea@mts.gov.pt

Sverige
Mr Christian Råbergh
The Swedish ESF-Council
Email: christian.rabergh@esf.amv.se

United Kingdom
Mr Roger Sumpton
Ms Fiona Bates
Joanne Moore
The EMPLOYMENT Support Unit
Email: employment@ecotec.co.uk

Ms Jill Lovejoy
DfEE

European Commission
Mr Ismo Grönroos-Saikkala 
Mr Bernard Hublet
European Commission
Employment and Social Affairs Directorate-General 

The Platform of European Social NGOs
Co-ordination Office
17, rue de Londres
B – 1050 Brussels
Tel: +32 2 511 37 14 - Fax: 32 2 511 19 09
Http://www.socialplatform.org

ESF National administrations

België
Mr Louis VERVLOET
Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap 
Tel: +(32.2) 507.44.34

Belgique
Mr Guy DE SMEDT
Cellule FSE
Tel: +(32.2) 207.75.16

Danmark
Ms Inge MAERKEDAHL
Arbejdsministeriet – Den Europaeiske Socialfond 
Tel: +(45) 35.28.81.00

Deutschland
Mr Kurt BRÜSS
Ministerialrat - Referat VIIa3 
Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Sozialordnung
Tel: +(49.228) 527.27.16

Ellas
Ms Chrysoula PAPANDREOU
Ministry of Labour - ESF
Tel: +(30.1) 524.30.68

España
Ms Aurora SAETA DEL CASTILLO
Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales
Iniciativas Comunitarias
Tel: +(34.91) 409.09.41
	
France
Ms G. RIALLE-SALABER
Ministère du Travail, de l'Emploi et de la 
Formation Professionnelle - DGEFP
Tel: +(33.1) 44.38.30.36
	
Ireland
Mr Eugene FORDE
Principal Officer
Department of Enterprise & Employment
Tel: +(353.1) 676.58.61 – Ext. 3205 

Italia
Ms Annalisa VITTORE
Ministero del Lavoro e della Previdenza Sociale
Tel: +(39.06) 46.83.41.81

Luxembourg
Mr Erny DORNSEIFFER
Ministère du Travail 
Tel: +(352) 478.61.12

Nederland
Mr Jacques VAN BAAL
Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 
Directie Internationale Zaken
Afdeling Europese Subsidie-Instrumenten
Tel: +(31.70) 333.49.73

Österreich
Mr Michael FÖRSCHNER
Bundesministerium Arbeit und Soziales 
Abteilung Europäische Integration
Tel: +(43.1) 711.00.21.76

Portugal
Mr Francisco MELO ALBINO
Director-Geral do D.A.F.S.E.
Tel: +(351.21) 814.14.50

Ms Ana VALE
GICEA
Tel: +(351.21) 799.49.30

Suomi
Ms Riitta KANGASHARJU
Ministry of Labour
Tel: +(358.9) 18.56.90.79

Sverige
Ms Margareta LORENTZI
Ministry of Labour
Tel: +(46.8) 405.13.43

United Kingdom
Ms Elaine TREWARTHA
Department for Education and Employment
Tel: +(44.171) 273.30.00

UK Northern Ireland
Mr Ken GIBSON
Training & Employment Agency
Tel: +(44.1232) 25.76.68

ADAPT AND EMPLOYMENT IN BRIEF

ADAPT and EMPLOYMENT are two Human Resource Initiatives which are led by the European Social Fund. Both Community Initiatives started in 1995 and some projects will continue until the end of the year 2000. Projects were selected following calls for proposals in 1995 and then again, in 1997. Member States manage these Initiatives in partnership with the European Commission and National Support Structures and EUROPS, the Commission’s technical assistance office, assist in their implementation. 

The principles underpinning both Initiatives are: 

•	transnationality: projects must be partnered with projects in other Member States which are focused on similar or complementary priorities;
•	innovation: projects must experiment with new ideas or methods, or with new combinations of existing ideas, methods or collaborators;
•	local involvement: projects should involve a range of local individuals and organisations and focus this combined resource and experience on developing their innovative ideas;
•	multiplier effect: the experiences should be recorded, evaluated and widely disseminated through expert and professional networks, and to the public.

The ADAPT Community Initiative aims to transform the way in which companies, especially small firms, the organisations which support them, and workers themselves, respond to industrial change. In terms of the methods used, the 1997 projects have placed a greater emphasis on the use of new information and communication technologies and the building of the information society.

Almost 4000 projects have been or are supported under ADAPT, financed jointly by the European Social Fund and public and private sources in their Member State. The total ESF contribution for the five years of the ADAPT Initiative is over 1.6 billion euros.

The EMPLOYMENT Community Initiative targets groups of people who face special difficulties in the labour market. It has four inter-related strands: NOW to improve the situation of women in the labour market; HORIZON for people with disabilities; INTEGRA for socially excluded people; and YOUTHSTART for young people. EMPLOYMENT aims to identify new solutions to the problem of unemployment in the European Union by funding pilot projects: to contribute to the development of human resources; to improve the working of the labour market; and to promote social solidarity and equal opportunities. 

More than 6000 projects have been selected for funding from the EMPLOYMENT Initiative, with a total contribution from the European Union of more than 1.8 billion euros.

The impact of the ADAPT and EMPLOYMENT projects is reinforced by grouping them in transnational partnerships so that the lessons learnt in one Member State can be taken up and used throughout the European Union. This learning across frontiers was further strengthened by the joint strategy for Thematic Activities and Visibility, which is described in the Introduction to this report. In this final phase of the Initiatives, every effort is being made at national and European level to ensure that as many individuals and institutions as possible know about, and can benefit from, the legacy of ADAPT and EMPLOYMENT. 

All of these Thematic Activities have also informed the design of EQUAL, the new ESF Community Initiative, which will operate from 2000 to 2006. This Initiative will build on the achievements of ADAPT and EMPLOYMENT, as it is intended to promote new practices to fight labour market discrimination and inequality of all types, particularly through transnational cooperation.