During the online Peer Exchange, 12 practitioners from Belgium, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain and Sweden exchanged on concrete challenges and emerging practices of implementing accompanying measures and social inclusion programmes in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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The first Peer Exchange explored the different ways to implement accompanying measures and social inclusion programmes in light of the recent pandemic.

It focused on how to reach out to target groups, such as Roma, mobile EU citizens, people with mental health problems and new target groups. Forms of volunteering and assessing needs of end recipients were also explored..

The event took place in the context of the recent amendments in EU funding to address the social impact of the pandemic, as well as the merging of the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) into the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) in the new funding period.

The Peer Exchange balanced panel discussions with interactive peer consultations, providing opportunities for maximising communication between participants. It focused on:

• new approaches undertaken by partner organisations to overcome challenges triggered by the pandemic;
• how to address the needs of new FEAD beneficiaries;
• how to evaluate the outcomes of the new measures.

The Peer Exchange is part of a cycle of capacity-building activities aiming at improving the delivery of FEAD at national, regional and local level during the transition period from 2020 to 2021.