Social inclusion and education in Hungary: 1.3 million participants in the activities of Human Resources Development Programme

The programme focused on two main thematic areas: social inclusion and education, funded in total by EUR 2.9 billion EU financing (1.8 billion ESF and  EUR 1.1 billion ERDF). Thanks to this support, more than 600,000 children benefitted from educational activities to compensate for the disadvantages of their social background. Childcare and education facilities for around 200 000 children were built or renovated. Around 150,000 people gained qualification and labour market integration projects helped more than 50,000 disadvantaged people.

Bence Rétvári, State Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior in Hungary also highlighted the creation of one million new jobs in the 2014-20 period, which significantly reduced the number of people living in severe material deprivation.

The programme’s other significant achievement lies in its health developments and disease prevention activities. It also made the ambitious commitment to move 10,000 people – persons with disabilities and children –from institutional to community-based care. DG EMPL Acting Director General Andriana Sukova summarized, that in this case quantity had been given priority over the quality of the result, but that closer cooperation with NGOs and other stakeholders can help avoid this type of issue in the future.

A related programme provided 2.5 million boxes of food and basic material assistance for the most deprived people, as well as school materials for 100 000 disadvantaged children per year.

Acting Director General Sukova and DG REGIO Head of Unit Agnès Monfret also looked to the future and emphasized that the European Union will continue investing in human resources, for example in the field of education, supporting teacher’s wages. Targeted interventions are a must to close the gap between less and more developed territories.