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Breakfast debate in Vojvodina: Youth on the move

23 August, 2018 By Editor

On the occasion of the Autumn plenaries in Vojvodina, a Breakfast Debate will be organised on 27 September on “welcoming unaccompanied migrant children” .

Youth on the move: a current topic

The topic of this Breakfast Debate has been chosen based on exchanges held at the previous plenary meeting in Arad, where several regions expressed their interest in sharing experiences around the unaccompanied migrant children. According to the European Commission, in recent years the number of children in migration arriving in the European Union -many of whom are unaccompanied- has increased in a dramatic way.

A child-rights perspective

The proposal by the President of the AER Committee on Social Policy and Public health Mihai Ritivoiu is to take a child rights perspective for this Breakfast Debate, as all AER members are signatories of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

For this reason, AER invited the European Programme for Integration and Migration (EPIM) to lead the Breakfast Debate. This collaborative fund has considerable experience in supporting civil society projects in the fields of migration and integration. Hearing from their experience, learning about good and bad practices in Europe, will help move the conversation forward. It will also be an opportunity for regions to share their own experiences too and engage in mutual learning.

The European Programme for Integration and Migration

EPIM is an initiative by the Network of European Foundations. As a collaborative fund, EPIM links the resources and expertise of foundations to strengthen the role of civil society in building inclusive communities and in developing humane and sustainable responses to migration, based on Europe’s commitment to universal human rights and social justice.

EPIM supports civil society in building effective pan-European coalitions and in shaping pan-European solutions by promoting a constructive interplay between policies and practices at all levels. This is done in domains such as:

promoting alternatives to immigration detention,
contributing to the development of humane and effective asylum systems;
enhancing community cohesion,
enabling mobile EU citizens to exercise their free movement rights; and
working with children and youth on the move for their protection and empowerment.

Under its Thematic Fund on long-term prospects and protection of children and youth on the move in Europe, EPIM supports civil society organisations and public bodies -or authorities- seeking to address gaps in policy and practice and the struggle for communities to provide adequate protection as well as long-term perspectives for the life of children and youth on the move in Europe.

The projects EPIM supports seek to strengthen the approach of alternative models of care embedded in the communities and supporting inclusion on an individualised level which is widely recognised as the most beneficial for all children. They also seek systemic impact at policy-level for more comprehensive frameworks addressing children in migration in agendas at national, EU and global level.

Here a brief video that synthesizes how EPIM works:

Mutual learning at the core of better policymaking

AER members exchange experiences to learn from each other and improve regional policies. Mutual learning is at the core of AER’s actions, since its creation and is what makes the network special. While AER members have exchanged about migration long before the Syrian crisis, the topic has received increased atention since 2015

The December 2015 AER Autumn Bureau focused on “Facing the Migration & Refugee Challenges”. This led to the sharing of experiences from regions along one of the migration routes and the exchange of diverging point of views. Members adopted a declaration stating the need for adequate support and re-affirming the willingness of AER to support its members in this.
In April 2016 the Committees’ Spring Plenary in Timis (RO) focused on “Communication & actions in times of crisis”. The events aimed at sharing experiences and helping policy makers to fight populist rhetorics, while implementing fair and effective policies.
In November 2016, in Izmir (TR) the Autumn plenary meetings were an opportunity to further pursue exchanges on topics as varied as migrant entrepreneurship and the health of refugees
In 2017 AER, together with the European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities and 10 other partners, developped a project on the Access to services for Migrants with Disabilities: the AMiD project
In January 2018 AER organised an event together with Friends of Europe on the Syrian Refugee Crisis, which led to a series of Policy Insights and Recommendations
In March 2018 AER published a handbook with good practices on “Culture for the Inclusion of Refugees and Migrants”, in which are shared AER’s members’ experiences in the use of culture to increase the inclusion of refugees and new arrivals in their regions. This collection of best practices aims to inspire readers and motivate regions to continue exchanging experiences on this important topic.
On the occasion of the 2018 Bureau and General Assembly in Lillehammer (Oppland, NO) a Task Force on migration, to identify further policy messages and convene advocacy efforts.

The Breakfast Debate on welcoming unaccompanied children serves the same purpose: learning from peers in wider Europe and inspiring policy making in the regions.

Yes, but money

AER strives to facilitate exchanges which provide its members with ideas to inspire and tools to implement. The Breakfast Debate will therefore also provide insights on opportunities for projects both via The European Programme for Integration and Migration and European Union programmes.

The European Commission has for instance recently opened a call for projects on “Care for migrant minors, including unaccompanied minors“. The objective of the call is to finance projects focusing on the exchange of good practices and provision of the necessary training so as to support the implementation, expansion, improvement of alternative care systems (such as family-based care, or foster care, or supervised independent housing arrangements) or of effective alternatives to detention. The deadline for the submission is 31 January 2019. The Breakfast Debate will be an opportunity to discuss potential partnerships too.

Photo Credit: Annie Spratt on Unsplash

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On the road: AER travels to Varaždin, Croatia to discuss EU funding opportunities

13 June, 2018 By Luca Magri

The EU Funding Seminars organised in Varaždin the 6th June by AER Secretariat and the great support of Varaždin County highlighted important take aways. Twelve Croatian Counties, AER member and no members, plus another one from the bordering Slovenia were represented in the audience.

This high participation to the event confirms the interest of regions on funding, Structural funds as European programmes as well. And the need for public institutions to cluster around a network: to have a strong and effective impact.

The warm up: overall picture from EU and national perspective

Participants and speakers were welcomed by Robert Vugrin, Deputy Prefect of Varazdin County, and Mathieu Mori, Secretary General of AER. Mr. Vugrin underlined the engagement of Varazdin County when it comes to get more funding as a fundamental factor to increase regional development.

Mathieu Mori shared the important role that Varazdin County has in the AER network. Mr. Čačić, President of Varaždin County, was recently elected President of Committee 3 on Culture, Education and Youth. Mr.Čačić brough a fresh vision to the Committe 3 plan, being clear on the need to give value to civil servants’ skills quoting the successful AER Centurio project.

What regions need: good calls for projects and the right support

Regions are the best governing level body for an efficient implementation. For this reason national governments set a framework for call for proposals that covers a smaller range of strategic priorities. Marija Rajaković, from the Ministry of Regional Development and European Funding present the actual situation in Croatia. Ms Rajaković stressed the importance of building functional regions structured on local working groups and in dialogue with cities. Ms Rajaković took the opportunity to give an anticipation on the coming funding opportunities for structural funds in Croatia. September will be the time for a call for proposals focused on disabilities and October on youth. The call on youth will have specific objectives will be on education and Roma inclusion as well as VET- Vocational Education and Training.

AER is there to give as much as support to members to take advantage of funding opportunities. AER Project Unit offers a professional range of services to members and no-members. Luca Magri, in charge of Finance of European Projects, presented and explained how to get the most from information of coming calls to implementation of projects. AER is the perfect network, partner and voice for a region.

Focus on real projects: mobility and rural development

Integrated passengers transport is not a new idea in the public transport field. But the perspective of setting a plan in a medium populated area with an important part of country side and close exchanges with bordering other countries made it peculiar. Ante Klečina, in charge of public transport at Varazdin County, highlight how a good integrated system means more efficient use of public resources making final users happier. A good regional transport integrated system bring positive impact on the increase of employment and the decreasing of depopulation. And this systemic rethinking of the ecosystem started with input from structural funds and the first masterplan back to 2014.

Licitar are delicious colourful decorated cookies made with honey dough. Licitar was the first traditional production to be the focus of a rural development project from the reach heritage of the area. UNESCO inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as Gingerbread craft from Northern Croatia in 2010. Thanks to the support of structural fundings, the local production led by Gladović family could have a relaunch keeping alive this old tradition. New sources of income are generated updating the production of licitar and opening the workshop to curious tourists.

Useful links

Programme

EU funding opportunities for Croatian Counties, only Croatian version

AER services for projects and funding

Integrated passenger transport – ERDF, English version

Integrated passenger transport – ERDF, Croatian version

Diversification and development of rural economic activities, English version

Diversification and development of rural economic activities, Croatian version

Contacts

Member Relations

Anne Henk Bloemhoff

Tel: +32 2 400 10 22
E-mail: ah,[email protected]
Languages: en, de, nl, jp

Single point of contact for regions
Induction for new members
Members’ happiness

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Committee 2 Annual Report June 2017 – May 2018

7 May, 2018 By Johanna Pacevicius

The General Assembly is the highest authority of AER and convenes representatives of all its full members at least once a year. The General Assembly adopts among other things, the annual reports of the Thematic Committees.

This report is the compilation of actions developped and implemented within Committee 2 between the 2017 General Assembly in Sankt Pölten, Lower Austria (AT) and the 2018 General Assembly in Lillehammer, Oppland (NO).

Activities are organised in 3 categories:

Projects
Good practice sharing
Advocacy/ Lobbying

The AER Action plan, which brings together all the activities carried out within AER, is constantly updated.

Brokerage event in Partnership with ERRIN on health innovation: finished

After the success of the brokerage event on the green economy and innovation early 2017, we collaborated with ERRIN to stimulate project development. This resulted in the organisation of the Horizon 2020 Project Development Week.

Project development, Youth Mental Health: ongoing

On the occasion of the Nancy plenary meeting a project development workshop on youth mental health was held to further identify areas for potential collaboration on the topic of youth mental health and the desired scope for such a project. During the Committees Plenary meetings in London, Committee 2 and Committee 3 decided to join forces for the development of a European project on youth mental health. This is the follow-up of a workshop which was held in Izmir and which identified the difficulty for young people to relate to others as a shared challenge for many very diverse regions in Europe. During the AER General Assembly a first project development meeting was held to discuss the type of focus and funding programmes. In the context of this project development the AER Secretariat also engaged with diverse experts from organisations working on mental health and held a meeting with DG EAC on youth mental health.

Due to difficulties in identifying a potential lead partner, members decided to refocus this activity on good practice sharing and awareness raising through

-workshops
-webinars
-data collection
-gathering of prevention resources
-potential topic for a future Summer Academy
-advocacy activities

Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

The Silver Economy Awards aim to catalyse a sustainable European digital Silver Economy movement by promoting and rewarding innovative solutions to improve the quality of life for over 50s. The Awards are an opportunity to raise awareness around the lesser-known notion of the Silver Economy. They illustrate the breadth of the consumer markets and the public spending involved and the size of the opportunities available for entrepreneurs, investors, public authorities and civil society.

This year the Silver Economy Awards replace the traditional AER Regional Innovation Award. The first Awards Ceremony took place on May 2018 in Brussels under the moral patronage from Commissioner Mariya Gabriel.

SEED is a two-year project: 10/2016 to 09/2018

Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA): ongoing

The MOCHA team is led by the Imperial College London and involves 19 scientific partners from ten European countries and 30 country agents from each European Member State and EEA country. MOCHA appraises the differing models of child health that are used across Europe. The project identified gaps in knowledge, on surveillance of children’s primary care and children’s specific needs in primary care, lack of coordination of care, models of care that are not based on current child health epidemiology, and low prioritisation of children’s needs in e-health strategies. AER is a member of the Advisory Board. AER is benefitting from the connection with the MOCHA experts, which have been invited at AER events (workshop on health innovation ecosystems in Izmir, workshop on social capital for integrated care in Norrbotten) and also shared expertise and advice for the development of the project on youth mental health led by Catalonia and Norrbotten. The project is now in the final year where results will be published. The final conference will take place on 15-16th November 2018 in The Hague (NL).

Active and Healthy Ageing Network AHA-NET: cancelled

The project proposal aimed to implement a Leadership programme for the coaching and training of future reference sites. The development of a Leadership Programme for e-health innovation was agreed on by Committee 2 in 2012. Since then the methodology has been developed and ad-hoc training academies have taken place on the Silver Economy and integrated care systems. This project would have provided an ideal framework for the deployment at larger scale of this programme.

ACT2Bridge project – Actions to Support Regional Ecosystems on Health Innovation Research: postponed

This project aims to encourage and increase the participation of European regions with a low level of health-related research and innovation activity in European research programmes through benchmarking and mutual learning. An increase in their R&I activity is expected to leverage health services, and thus, into social and economic benefits for these regions. Within this project AER is leading the Working Package “Benchlearning and knowledge exchange between regions”, having as one of the main objective of to support our regions to reach equivalent levels of development in the different areas.

This project has not been financed but, considering the high standard of the consortia and the good evaluation it received, it is planned to be submitted again in the forthcoming calls.

AMID project for the inclusion of migrants with disabilities: ongoing

The project will guide key actors to respond adequately to the disability implications in the identification process and to the cultural implications in the relocation process. It will result in the creation of a Specific Needs Assessment Tool to be circulated among all actors dealing with migrants assessment.

AER leads the Working Package on “Tuning of Outcomes to European Local Authorities” and is the project partner that will ensure the perspective of the regions is included in the adaptation of the projects outcomes and tools.

The project kicked-off in January 2018. In April a second meeting focused on good practices, in particular the JUMA Refugees Map Services and the Washington Group Set of Questions on Disability

AMiD is a two-year project: from 01/2018 to 01/2020.

European network for harmonising self, society, and systems to facilitate integrated care, COST action proposal: cancelled

This project led by partners we have been working with previously aimed at pursuing the work of AER in the field of integrated care systems. The project was not accepted.

Project development, Social inclusion of vulnerable groups: ongoing

With views to the preparation of a project gathering regional good practices on inclusion a debate took place on the occasion of the Committee 2 Plenary meeting. The idea with this project is to define a general approach to inclusion, helping policy makers appraise their policies and develop effective policies for inclusion. As the topic received a lot of interest, a workshop on inclusion was organised on the occasion of the Committees Spring Plenaries in Arad.

Project development, Combatting isolation and social exclusion: ongoing

The region of Timis would like to develop a project to address the isolation of 2 social groups:
-orphans, who at the age of 18 find themselves without support and homeless because orphanages do not support youth after their 18th birthday.

-elderly people, who often live on their own and would need minimal support and company.

The idea is to gather good practices which have been implemented in similar contexts and to look at transferability and adaptation of such good practices.

The debate at the Autumn 2017 Committee 2 plenary showed that these issues are recurring issues in different regions. These topics will also be addressed on the occasion of the workshop on inclusion at the Committees Spring Plenaries in Arad. The idea is to identify good practices for potential benchmarking and transfer.

Project development, Public-private cooperation for social inclusion: cancelled

In order to initiate a project for good practices exchanges on the collaboration between regional governments and the private sector for the social inclusion of vulnerable groups, AER published an article outlining the different issues at stake. Following the publication of this article several regions have expressed interest in developping a project. As no lead partner was identified for the project development the project was canceled

Project development, Equal Health: cancelled

Possible project (seek funding opportunities). Exchange of experiences from different programs offering parental support. As this project idea was not further specified, the activity is cancelled.

DIGIT-ABLE project: planned

Building on the work previously done by AER on digitisation and inclusion, Committee 2 is leading on a project setting up a “European Platform on Vulnerable People in the Information Society”, mapping best practices and socio-economic impact of the digital empowerment of disadvantaged people.

The DIGITABLE-EU project aims to raise the knowledge about the level of digital inclusion of vulnerable people in EU countries and to trigger the sharing of knowledge and good practices in order to increase the level of digital inclusion of vulnerable people. In order to achieve this goal, this project will work on four main priorities:

Networking with public authorities (national/regional/EU level), social business actors, civil society organisations, international associations focusing on improving the quality of life and social inclusion of the different vulnerabilities targeted by the project as well as digital literacy.
Establishing a metrics for evaluating the quality and impact of practices for digital inclusion of vulnerable people, for the vulnerabilities covered by the project: People with disabilities; Elderly people; Marginalised young people and children (based on socio-economic status); Unemployed or those facing social problems; Migrants.
Realise an interactive online catalogue of best practices, accessible via a dedicated website;
Disseminate the catalogue through dedicated events

The project was submitted on September 2017 under the Horizon 2020 and it will run for 24 months. The coordinator is INSIEL SpA (Friuli Venezia Giulia – IT).

Committees Autumn Plenaries in Nancy: finished

This Autumn’s committees’ plenary took place in Nancy (FR) from the 12th to the 14th of September. The events featured a debate on culture in the digital age, a workshop on the value of data, a workshop on transport & mobility, a workshop on life-cycle approaches and the Committees Plenary meetings.

A discussion on Cohesion Policy and its advantages also took place in Nancy.

Committees Spring Plenaries in Arad: finished

The 2018 Spring Committees’ Plenaries took place in Arad (RO) on 20-22 March. The events featured a debate on innovation ecosystems, a workshop on integrated care systems, a lounge meeting on equal opportunities, a meeting of the working group on transports, a Breakfast Briefing on implementing democracy in regional policy making, a presentation of the social inclusion policies in Arad, a meeting of the Summer Academy Organising Committee and the Committees Plenary meetings.

The Committees’ Plenaries were an opportunity to develop the Committees’ work programmes.

INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform (IEPLP): finished

AER was a partner of the Policy Learning Platform (PLP) which is the second action of the Interreg Europe programme established to boost EU-wide policy learning and capitalisation of practices from investments on growth and jobs. The Platform aims to be a space for continuous learning where regional actors in Europe can tap into the know-how of experts and peers. The PLP was present at the European Week of Regions and Cities (formerly Open Days).

Event on a current transversal topic: finished

Jean-Luc Vanraes, President of the AER Committee on Regional Development and Economy invited AER members to contribute to the organisation of a mtual learning event on artificial intelligence held in Brussels, on November 30th 2017. A debate at the Committee 1 Plenary meeting paved the way for this event. This event, “Artificial Intelligence: are regions up to the challenge” was organised on the same format as the event “E-health let’s find a common language” which took place in December 2016 with the contribution of very diverse stakeholders. At the event, group discussions adressed the following topics:

Supporting innovation, attracting innovators
The Health Revolution
Culture In a Digital World
Skills and Competences: racing with machines
AI: Towards a Soulless World?

The event lead also to the publication of a series of articles on artificial intelligence and its implications for different policy areas.

Follow up on ALEC: ongoing

The Arctic Light E-health conference is an emblematic example of a succesful cooperation between an AER member region and the AER network. The workshop on data of the AER e-health network in Nancy followed up on issues addressed during the conference. Articles elaborating on topics of the ALEC conference, which are of specific interest to AER members should be published.

Healthcare without harm: tbc

The idea which was presented on the occasion of the Committe 2 Plenary meeting was to combine the topics of healthcare and environment. Activities have not yet been specified and can range from the publication of articles on the AER website showcasing good practices to the organisation of a mutual learning event (online webinar, workshop in Brussels or on the occasion of another AER event). Any such activity needs to be lead by an AER region and supported by a few others. The idea will be submitted at the Spring plenaries to identify whether this is an area where different regions would like to cooperate on.

In the meantime the AER Secretariat has connected the region of Värmland, which proposed this topic, with Diane Whitehouse, an e-health expert who has done research on this topic and whom AER members have had the opportunity to meet at the AER event on artificial intelligence.

Equal opportunities: tbc

Members were interested in sharing experience through articles on the AER website, exchange of good practices, and the sharing of regional data. Members interested in doing so can get support from the AER Secretariat.

This action needs to be further specified, especially in the context of the priorities the AER group on Equal Opportunities has defined for Committee 2: Health Inequalities (gender and socio- economic)

AER AT THE EUROPEAN WEEK OF CITIES AND REGIONS

Workshop on climate and energy transition: finished

Led by the region of Abruzzo, AER co-organised a climate side-event during the European Week of Regions and Cities 2017.

Workshop on the Silver Economy: finished

Led by the SEED consortium. This workshop took participants through four inspiring examples of how a Silver Economy can help regions and cities to better match the needs of their ageing population while supporting local businesses and solution providers. It was the opportunity to discuss the complementarity between these examples and the initiatives at EU level. The networking session that followed brought together potential partners around issues related to the Silver Economy.

Workshop of the INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform: finished

The workshop aimed at helping regions learn from the project outputs from their peers in Europe.

Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

Building on AER’s role in advocating for a strong cohesion policy, and following the adoption of a position paper on the future of cohesion policy post 2020 at the Bureau meeting in Sankt Pölten, Lower Austria (AT) on 1 June 2017, AER will continue to convene and deliver joint policy influencing work for the future cohesion policy by:

Holding regular debates on cohesion policy among members and between members and relevant stakeholders, such as the “Cohesion Policy: are you getting anything out of it?” debate during the AER Committees’ Autumn Plenary Meeting in Nancy on 12 September.
Gathering facts and figures on cohesion investments results and impact for a evidence-based advocacy.
Disseminating the AER position on future cohesion policy to key stakeholders and decision-makers in-country (in coordination with member regions) and in Brussels.
Working together with other European associations of regions, municipalities and cities and the Committee of the Regions to generate broader support for regions interests and policy proposals, including #CohesionAlliance created to demand that the EU budget after 2020 makes cohesion policy stronger, more effective, visible and available for every region in the European Union.

The Task Force on Cohesion Policy post 2020 will continue to support the work of AER in this field, providing strategic direction and oversight.

These actions aim to ensure European regions engage in the future cohesion policy discussions at regional, national and European level, and meaningfully contribute to the design and implementation of a stronger and more effective reformed policy.

Following the publication of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework on May 2nd, AER’s reaction can be found here

AER Report on Regionalisation: ongoing

More than 40 academic experts accepted to give their contribution to this work, by delivering detailed reports about the state of regionalisation and multilevel governance in chosen European countries. The study covers 41 countries, and each country report is based on a similar structure, thereby allowing a comparative approach among all studied countries.

AER participation in the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing: ongoing

AER is a member of the B3 Action Group on integrated care systems. In this framework AER has a commitment towards raising awareness & building capacities for integrated care systems. Participating in the EIP-AHA enables AER to connect with the right stakeholders, provide state of the art knowledge on health innovation and raise the voice of regions in European discussions on health innovation.

33rd Session of the Congress Local and Regional Authorities: ongoing

AER has a partnership status with the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. It sends high-level representatives to the meetings of the Congress and sits in the Chamber of Regions Bureau. On 19 October, the AER President, Magnus Berntsson, took part in the 33rd Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and addressed the Chamber of Regions during the debate on “Regional Co-operation and democracy in Europe: the role of European regional associations and organisations”. At the Session, the AER and the Congress expanded their existing collaboration by signing a Joint Action Plan for 2018-2020. The document reiterates the commitment to work together on various issues of mutual interest, notably regional democracy, youth participation and cultural diversity.

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Good practices on refugees and disability inspired AMiD project

2 May, 2018 By Luca Magri

Refugees and asylum seekers with disabilities is the main target of AMiD project. Started on January 2018, the project team is working on the development of the main project output, the Need Assessment Tool – NAT. The lack of tool and procedures to support refugees and asylum seekers with disabilities with the right actions and services is the challenge that AMiD wants to face. The second project meeting was focused on the preparation of the Need Assessment Tool – NAT. The meeting was also the opportunity to present good practices among the project partners, as way to pave a useful, sustainable and successful Need Assessment Tool – NAT.

AER already shared successful programmes to improve the refugees situation. During the meeting two good practices became particularly important. The first one is a web platform by ARCI, Italian association, where services offered to asylum seekers and international and humanitarian protection holders are reported on a country map. The second is a set of questions developed by the Washington Group of Disability Statistics to help to detect disabilities.

The JUMA Refugees Map Services: more that a web tool

The JUMA web tool answered to the gap of putting together all the players involved in the refugees work, from the refugees themselves to the volunteers organisations passing by NGOs and public institutions. The project was developed by ARCI in collaboration with UNHCR. The web tool was launched at the beginning of 2018. As disclaimed on the website, JUMA objective is to gather in a national map of the country all the information to services that already exists.

Services are clustered on seven groups of fundamental needs expressed by refugees and international and humanitarian protection holders: where to sleep, where to find legal assistance, where to find health care, where to find psycho-social assistance, where to find a language school. All those services are showed on a map of the country, with single boxes for each office to provide more information on the single service like contacts or a description of what is offered.

JUMA is not only a web platform. ARCI provides a telephone line dedicated to both: those who are looking for services and those that are offering ones. This is a way to be closer to refugees and a strategy to increase the number of organisations registered on the map. Refugees received the information on JUMA at their arrival on the hot spots, while organisations were informed of the project via a national campaign. The telephone line and the website are proposed in the several languages.

The Washington Group Set of Questions on Disability

The Washington Short Set was originally set to identify and record in statistics figures of people with disabilities. The set of questions does not identify particular health conditions or diagnostic categories but rather captures the possible impact of these conditions on functional abilities. The human right approach of the set based on the UN CRPD, Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is in line with AMiD values. Even the set was developed for a statistic purpose, the set of questions can fit different uses.

The questions ask whether people have difficulty performing six basic universal activities: walking, seeing, hearing, cognition, self-care and communication. The questions were not designed to measure all aspects of difficulty experienced by people, but rather those domains of functioning that are likely to identify a majority of people at risk of participation restrictions.

There are more set of questions available. There is a short set and other tailored for children (different sets for different ages). Where more information about disability is required, the Extended Set on Functioning is available to address in more detail the case.

A final word

JUMA is not an acronym neither a fancy project name. Juma is a name in urdu, the name of a young Afghan refugee, who travelled and staid in Greek and Italian camps. Once in Italy, he obtained the refugee status and the reunification with his family thanks the collaboration of different organisations. Inspired by this story, the platform linking those involved in the field made a tribute to this successful case choosing his name.

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Have you thought of Varaždin County as a partner for projects in education? You should!

27 April, 2018 By Editor

We are happy to share with you that one of our member region is eager to be involved in projects in the field of education.

Varaždin County (HR) is the third smallest county in Croatia but it is really much dedicated to its education offer. The County would like to be part of projects dealing with the following topics:

Education of mentors for recognition and work with gifted students with specific learning disabilities (work on methods and programs )
Exchanging examples of good practice among partners (existing methods and education programs)
Develop a methodology for recognising and evaluating gifted students and involving pupils with specific needs and disadvantaged learners (Roma children, migrant children …) in the system for estimates theirs talents.
Develop procedures and instruments for identifying potentially gifted students as recommendation for education systems of the states programmes.

Varaždin County has a long experience in European projects. They have a strong expertise in the field of education, that they are willing to share. They are eager to exchange experiences and developed projects on the topics mentioned. They are also willing to tackle specific issued linked to education within the Erasmus+ KA3.

If you want to learn more or if you are interested to cooperate with Varaždin County, do not hesitate to contact the AER Secretariat.

Contact

European Projects

Agnese Pantaloni

Phone: +32 2 400 10 52
E-mail: a.pantaloni(at)aer.eu
Skype ID: agnesepanta
Languages: it, en, pt

Articles by Agnese

EU funding
Calls for projects and tenders
Partner search

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Varaždin County is looking for a lead partner & partners to develop a project within the Erasmus+ KA3

27 April, 2018 By Editor

The County of Varaždin, in the south-west of Croatia, is looking for partners and lead partner to design a project in the field of education under the Erasmus+ Programme within Key Action 3. The AER Secretariat is happy to share with you this proposal coming from a member region very active in this field!

The overall objective of the project is to develop and implement innovative methods and practices to foster inclusive education/youth environments and promote common values in specific contexts. While the specific objectives are:

to promote inclusive education and training and foster the education of disadvantaged learners, including supporting teachers, educators and leaders of educational institutions in dealing with diversity and reinforcing socioeconomic diversity in the learning environment;
to support the inclusion of newly arrived migrants in good quality education, including by assessing knowledge and validating prior learning.

If you want to work with an experienced region in the field of education, which has already taken part in European projects or if you are willing to exchange experiences, this project is for you.

In case you are interested to be part of this project or to get more information, please come back to us by 7 May 2018 as the deadline to submit the project is on 22 May 2018.

Contact

European Projects

Agnese Pantaloni

Phone: +32 2 400 10 52
E-mail: a.pantaloni(at)aer.eu
Skype ID: agnesepanta
Languages: it, en, pt

Articles by Agnese

EU funding
Calls for projects and tenders
Partner search

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Committees develop their 2018-2019 work programme

2 April, 2018 By Johanna Pacevicius

On the occasion of the Committees’ plenaries in Arad, AER members identified the topics which matter most for them and on which they want to develop joint ations on with fellow regions. The developement of the Action Plan was a collective process to enable all participants to specify needs and decide to initiate activities which add value for their region. The principle is the following: as long as an action fits with the AER values, is in line with the AER priorities and has support from other regions, it can be included in the Committees work programmes.

Committee for Economy & Regional Policy

The main upcoming actions in the AER Committee on Economy and Regional Policy can be summed up as following:

Innovation & SMEs :

-sharing experiences & mutual learning on mainstreaming innovation in all public services
-youth entrepreneurship in link with Committee 3
-Event on the Share Economy led by Brussels Capital & Catalonia

Rural development

-waste management in rural areas
-import & export of local agricultural products
-local food systems/ short supply chains
-potential study visit to Norrbotten (to be linked with the TAIEX EIR peer learning opportunity of the European Commission)

Energy

-follow-up on the visit on the energy transition in Gelderland: preparing peer learning via the TAIEX-EIR tool
-international event on biomass in Vojvodina
-use the Sustainable Development Goals to communicate about AER activities
-event on using the Sustainable Development Goals as regional development framework

Transport and Mobility

-experience sharing on the deployment of electric mobility
-REFIT H2020 project on New Mobility Services
-experience sharing & advocacy in the framework of the European Innovation Partnership on Sustainable Cities and Communities on New Mobility Services and exchanges with AER members

Cohesion Policy

-follow-up activities

Committee for Social Policy & Public Health

The main upcoming actions in Committee 2 can be summed up as following:

Social inclusion

-exchange experiences on unaccompanied migrant children
-AMID project on migrants with disabilities
-exchange experiences on social entrepreneurship & social canteen
-highlight frontrunners to increase visibility& inspire

E-health & health innovation

-leadership programme for policy makers on e-health, integrated care systems and health innovation
-risks of digital exclusion
-business models
-data protection, profiling & mass surveillance
-Artificial intelligence, bots

Equal access to health

-vulnerable groups: meet them where they are & help them
– exchange good practices on reducing barriers to care & access to services

Committee for Culture, Education & Youth

The main upcoming actions in Committee 3 can be summed up as following:

Youth

-Erasmus+ project
-promote youth mobility for all across wider Europe via the Eurodyssey programme & ensure all AER members are aware of the opportunities the programme offers
– training on youth mobility for civil servants in the framework of the European College of Cluny

Education

-workshop on entrepreneurship education best practices
-digitalisation in education
-sexual& relationship education
-LGBTIQ rights & sexual identity in education systems

Youth mental health

-organise a webinar on youth mental health
-workshop for mutual learning & experience exchange
-youth mental health as a topic for an upcoming Summer Academy
-awareness activities on the importance of youth mental health
-data collection on youth mental health & impacts/ costs of ill mental health
-sharing of resources for prevention

Culture

-2018 Summer Academy on cultural heritage for regional attractiveness
-Virtual reality: creation of an informal network of regions with a focus on immersion and visualisation of world heritage and cultural heritage
-walking and hiking paths along cultural routes

AER Action Plan

The AER Action Plan brings together all the activities carried out within and via the AER network, be they large or small. The Action Plan aims to be constantly updated. It is the Executive Board, which approves actions to be added to the AER Action Plan, in order to ensure alignment with values and priorities.

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AER Committee 2 President Mihai Ritivoiu looks back on the Plenaries in Arad

28 March, 2018 By Editor

AER’s Spring Committee Plenaries took place in Arad (Romania), from 20 to 22 March 2018 in the very beautiful location of the City Hall of Arad. The City Hall is one of the most beautiful public building in Arad. “Ferdinand” room is a spectacular location and the warm welcome of the host made our stay even more pleasant. The astonishing building embodies one of the most significant works of eclectic architecture in the city. At the time of building “Palazzo del Municipio”, was reflecting the citizens of Arad will to follow the European model of urban renewal and modernisation. The central tower is 54 meters high. The clock situated at the top of the tower was brought from the Netherlands. Its bell marked each half-hour for almost a century. After 1989, it was reconditioned, and once Romania joined the European Union, the song played at each passing hour was replaced with the Anthem of Europe. This European spirit is still present this days.

AER brings together regions, so that they may stand stronger together, and grow in a space of best practice exchange. A milestone at the Spring plenaries was the development of the Committees work programmes: all regions were invited to share initiatives they would like to develop within the network, with the AER priority “A democratic, cooperative, inclusive and sustainable Europe of Regions”. The plenaries are the perfect place to find partners to develop new collaborations and projects and their implementation.

The Committees’ plenaries: it’s all about sharing & learning

Across wider Europe, regions engage in multilevel cooperation to support the development of innovation ecosystems either within their own territory, or in collaboration with neighbouring regions and cities, in national and cross-border frameworks. This kind of approach of regional policy is not something new to our members, just to mention two of our main topics in our committee: Arctic Light Conference focused on e-health, and Silver Economy (SEED).

At the core of our activities are two major topics: health and social affairs, which nowadays translates in Youth Mental Health which is a good example of Committee 2 and Committee 3 cooperation and Artificial Intelligence, that shows the cooperation between Committee 2 and Committee 1.

Migration and integration are not new to Europe, but the current refugee and migrant crisis is on a scale unseen for decades. Europe’s institutions and national governments have yet to forge proper responses – but rising tensions point to the need for a realistic and comprehensive policy that addresses both challenges and opportunities.

Integration issues, if not addressed effectively, will only serve to fuel discontent and create divisions. Policymakers need to avoid emotion and quick-fixes, and see migration and integration as an asset rather than a threat. Member regions address this topic ever since 2015 and an ongoing project I would like to highlight is AMiD, project for the inclusion of migrants with disabilities. This project will provide opportunities for experience sharing and capacity building in this area for all AER members.

Contact

President of Committee 2 for Social Policy and Public Health

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AER’s Equal Opportunities Group: inspiring work for regions

28 March, 2018 By Luca Magri

Day 2 of the Spring Plenaries 2018 ended with the update on the AER Equal Opportunities group activities and the inspiring sharing of examples of why equal opportunities matters for our network and for a more inclusive society.

Kenneth Johannesson (Värmland, SE), stepping in for Andrew Gibson (Hampshire, UK), Vice-President for Equal Opportunities, started by giving an overview of the composition of the AER Equal Opportunities group. Members of the group belong to the three Committees, one woman and one man for each one. It is important to stress that there is still one vacancy for a female on the Committee 2. The idea is to assure that equal opportunities is mainstreamed inside the work of each Committee. This is implemented tailoring a specific topic for each Committee:

Committee 1, focus on to what extent there is still a gender pay inequality
Committee 2, focus on factors determining equality of health across regions
Committee 3, focus on tackling obesity often as a consequence of poor wellbeing

WHAT EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IS ABOUT

It was useful to remind the audience what is meant by equal opportunities. The AER group agreed on the following common definition:

women and men have the same power to shape the society and their lives. This calls for the same possibilities, rights and obligations in all areas of life.

That being said, it is also important to make concrete examples of the impact of equal opportunities in our society. Everyone knows the #MeToo campaign by Alyssa Milano, hashtag that became a global campaign to question sexual harrasement and open up a space for women to share their stories.

That’s not all. Kenneth Johannesson explained also that equal opportunities can be seen from both a quality and quantity point of view. The gender salary gap and the women presence in the public debate are examples of quantitative figures while quantitive data deals more with opportunities for personal development and responsibilities.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES MATTERS FOR POLITICS

Why does the concept and practice of equal opportunities matter? For several reasons. The #MeToo campaign is an ongoing and great example bringing forward the message that a more equal vision of women and men decreases the rate of violence toward women, and represent an intrinsic human right.

What about politics? The Swedish Social Democrat Party made a short survey to get a better picture of gender participation in Sweden politics. Even if the new national government has an equal gender spread of ministers, the presence of women in the parliament is set at 43%, and is lower in city councils, where women represent less than a third of elected officials.

Kenneth Johannesson said that in the County Council of his region, Varmland (SE), there are around 40% of women but that there are only 2 women among the 18 leading politicians!

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR SOCIETIES

Society is not just politics. To have a broader picture, looking closer at the health care system gives again a picture in black and white. A survey from the SALAR, Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (2014) highlights first that in medicine the “norm” is man for health care system as research. That is regardless the higher risk of side effects and inappropriate combination of doses that women face. For a number of different diseases, from dialysis to alzheimer, the survey reveals medical unjustified differences in examination and treatments for women and men.

Violence against women is unfortunately a common issue. Kenneth Johannesson shared the experience of Varmland County (SE), where a handbook was prepared to increase the cooperation between the local police, the prosecutor, the correctional, the county, the municipality, the social insurance, the county government to address the problem.

Violence starts from a difference of power in a relationship. Statistics shows a difference regarding gender and violence: women are more exposed a domestic and psychologic violence while for men is more a question of violence in public spaces.

WHAT REGIONS CAN DO BETTER

Regional authorities can do a lot to change the situation. Support actions as prevention and protection, better cooperation among the different bodies as Varmland County (SE) handbook or simply giving more visibility to the problem are in full capacity of regional bodies.

Because the problem is still important, Kenneth Johannesson stressed some of the points to be improved from a regional perspective. Start having a better understanding of the causes: it is more relational or power structure? The prevention of use of ANDT, alcohol or drugs or tobacco is linked to violence and it should taken into account while adopting policies. And work on the abuser, to motivate for change for example with phone line for anger management, in some cases for the perpetrator in order to change behaviour.

Results of an effective equal opportunities policy could come with remarkable savings in the regional budget with potential re-allocation of resources for effective societal development or even tax reduction.

In case you want to know more about the presentation or the AER Equal Opportunities group, please contact Kenneth Johannesson and check this link.

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AER explores E-Health, Transport & Inclusion during workshops at Spring Committee Plenaries

27 March, 2018 By Vania Freitas

E-health workshop

Agneta Granström (Norrbotten, SE), Chair of the AER E-Health Network, opened the workshop by providing a brief update on the activities of the Network. Highlighting the group’s key successes in bringing e-health to the forefront of the European agenda and fostering interregional cooperation in this field, Agneta mentioned the H2020 SEED project and its Silver Economy Awards to innovative solutions in improving the quality of life of the ageing population, and the MOCHA (Models of Child Health Appraised) project to appraise the differing models of child health used across Europe. Delegates also had the opportunity to hear about the development of a new EU project on leadership for the development of e-health in Europe (presentation here).

Sandra Evans, from the University of Tübingen presented the Mach 5 project on Mutual Learning Partnerships Driving Social Innovation on Healthy Living Eastward across 5 European Countries. Sandra shared the key activities and lessons learned during the project, which established dynamic trans-regional clusters and multi-stakeholder ecosystems and expanded the European learning community on ICT for active and healthy ageing (presentation here).

Diane Whitehouse, from EHTEL (European Health Telematics Association), talked about the deployment of integrated care systems. Diana presented AER members with SCIROCCO, a 12 dimension-maturity model developed by the Action Group on Integrated Care of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing. Diana encouraged wider testing and application of the this on-line self-assessment tool that facilitates the successful scaling up and transfer of good practices in integrated care across European regions (presentation here). AER members offered insights into regional health and care systems in Värmland (SE), Trento (IT) and Prahova (RO).

Working Group on Transport and Mobility

Martin Tollén (Region Östergötland, SE), Chair of the AER Working Group on Transports and Mobility moderated this discussion.

Sergiu Bilcea, Vice President of the Arad County Council (RO), gave a presentation on a regional example of a transport and mobility project happening in Arad County. Sergiu explained how the region has improved cross-border mobility through the construction and modernization of roads with cross-border impact, using Cohesion Policy funds. The Vice President of the Arad County Council described how these investments promoted the cross-border labour mobility between Hungarian and Romanian territories and enabled Romania to make further progress on its accession to Schengen Area (Presentation available here).

Vivian Stribos (Gelderland, NL) then presented the Rhine-Alpine Corridor EGTC (European Grouping on Territorial Cooperation), which was created to strengthen and coordinate the integrated development of the Corridor from a regional and local perspective for an innovative, green and smart Corridor. Vivan challenged the Working Group to build mutual learning between regions from the nine core network corridors. AER members expressed interest in exploring the potential value of platform for exchange (Presentation available here).

The Chair of the Working Group, Martin Tollén, updated members on the New Mobility Services initiative of the Action Cluster Sustainable Urban Mobility of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC). Bringing cities and regions together with other stakeholders to show-case innovative mobility solutions and support their replication, the Action Cluster on Sustainable Urban Mobility launched this initiative to help better integrate and manage urban transport, contributing to the development of collective systems for seamless multi-modal mobility, and create an open and collaborative marketplace for new mobility services in Europe.

Roger Esteferos (Senior Expert, SE), elaborated on the state aid to State Aid to Regional Airports, providing an update on the situation (Presentation available here).

Workshop on inclusion

Highlights of this workshop include an insightful presentation from Erika Stark, General Manager of the Directorate of Child Protection and Social Assistance of Arad region (RO), who explained how the regional social services came together with the NGO sector and the communities themselves to reach out to those at risk of poverty and social exclusion. Erika shared the region’s strategy and programmes aimed at preventing and reintegrating those already experiencing social exclusion, presenting the initiatives targeted at the most vulnerable and socially excluded, in particular children and young people and people with disabilities. Erika talked about the work of the Arad region with children in care and the support provided to young people leaving care to make the transition to adulthood, as well as the employment and skills programmes developed for people with disabilities.

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COSME: a new call for proposals on supporting migrant entrepreneurs!

21 March, 2018 By Editor

Migration is a high topic of concern for AER members regions that has been approached in different ways, among which EU projects. To this extent, AER is involved as partner in a two-year project AmiD, which supports an efficient management of the reception and integration of asylum seekers and migrants with disabilities in the EU. Having in mind the opportunities given by EU funding programmes, AER continues its work of monitoring EU calls for proposals that could support the development of new actions in this direction.

Therefore, we would like to share with you a new call for project proposals launched by COSME programme.

What is it about?

“Entrepreneurial capacity building for young migrants” is a call aimed at supporting the creation, the improvement and the wider distribution of support schemes for migrant entrepreneurs, with a focus on training courses and mentoring schemes for migrant entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs.

The call for proposal identifies 4 Work Packages (WP):

WP1: Identification of potential migrant entrepreneurs
WP2: Education and training
WP3: Mentoring schemes for migrant entrepreneurs
WP4: Cross-border cooperation and best practice exchange

The aim of the activities to develop within the WPs is to help migrants to become self-employed and build a successful enterprise .

Practical information

The programme offers a maximum co-financing rate of 85% of the total project budget. 4 projects are planned to be financed, with a maximum budget for each project of 556.250€.

Projects should last 24 months maximum. The start date is fixed on the 1st of November, 2018.

Applicants must be established in one of the 28 EU countries.

The deadline for application is set on the 24 May 2018.

For further information, please check the call for proposal.

If you have a project idea or if you are interested to get engaged in projects aimed at supporting entrepreneurial capacity building for young migrants, please do not hesitate to contact the AER Secretariat.

Finance of European Projects

Luca Magri

Mobile: +32 2 400 10 53
E-mail: l.magri(at)aer.eu
Skype ID: beinclusive.lmagri
Languages: it, en, fr, es

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Finance and budgeting for European
projects
Administration for European projects

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Turkey and EU grant scheme: Izmir is calling EU partners on accessible tourism and disaster management

8 March, 2018 By Editor

The AER member region, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality (TR), is working on the submission of projects under the Town Twinning Action between Turkey and the EU Grant Scheme and is urgently looking for partners to complete the partnerships.

Two potential projects are considered, both with the purpose of enhancing living standards.

1. First project idea: services for citizens with disabilities and accessible tourism

The overall objective is to focus on applied methods for overcoming and removing the obstacles from disabled people’s life and to establish a long-term cooperation between the partners involved through seminars, conferences, workshops among other activities.

To this extent, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality – which has a strong background on this topic – is searching local authorities in the European Union with experience on disabled citizens and accessible tourism.

2. Second project idea: training on disaster management issues

The objective sets within this project is the sharing of knowledge and the exchange of good practices on methods used for vocational training service provision as well as roadmap for accreditation process according to the EU standards.

On this wise, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality – which counts internally on specific bodies equipped with recent technologies to develop preventive activities to avoid disasters – is searching specifically fire departments that have training centres providing training services within EU standards.

If you are interested to learn more about these projects or to be involved in the partnerships, please come back to us by 14th March 2018.

Contact

European Projects

Agnese Pantaloni

Phone: +32 2 400 10 52
E-mail: a.pantaloni(at)aer.eu
Skype ID: agnesepanta
Languages: it, en, pt

Articles by Agnese

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Committee 2 Progress Report Spring 2018

7 March, 2018 By Johanna Pacevicius

Twice a year the members of the AER Committee on Social Policy and Public Health gather in plenary meeting. This is the opportunity to set goals for cooperation through the elaboration of a joint work programme. Progress is evaluated, achievements are celebrated and experiences shared.

Evaluating progress

During the elaboration of the work programme in London, planned activities were organised in 3 categories:

Projects
Good practice sharing
Advocacy/ Lobbying

The below progress report was compiled for the Spring 2018 plenary meeting in Arad. It gives an overview of the situation, a year after the adoption of the work programme. The 2018 Committee 2 work programme will be jointly developed and adopted on March 21st at the Committee 2 Plenary meeting. Activities which are still ongoing will be integrated in the 2018 work programme too if still relevant for the Committee.

Projects

Brokerage event in Partnership with ERRIN on health innovation: finished

Project development, Youth Mental Health: ongoing

Due to difficulties in identifying a potential lead partner this activity could be refocused on good practice sharing during workshops at plenaries, webinars and or meetings in Brussels, depending on members needs and wishes. This will be defined on the occasion of the definition of the 2018 Committee 2 work programme in Arad on March 21st.

Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

This year the Silver Economy Awards replace the traditional AER Regional Innovation Award. The first Awards Ceremony will be on May 2018 in Brussels.

SEED is a two-year project: 10/2016 to 09/2018

Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA): ongoing

Active and Healthy Ageing Network AHA-NET: cancelled

ACT2Bridge project – Actions to Support Regional Ecosystems on Health Innovation Research: postponed

This project has not been financed but, considering the high standard of the consortia and the good evaluation it received, it is planned to be submitted again in the forthcoming calls.

AMID project for the inclusion of migrants with disabilities: ongoing

This project is led by the European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities and aims to improve the access to services for migrants with disabilities. AER is a partner and Valencia, Timis and Värmland are all members of the Advisory Board. The project is will provide opportunities for experience sharing and capacity building in this area for all AER members.

European network for harmonising self, society, and systems to facilitate integrated care, COST action proposal: cancelled

This project led by partners we have been working with previously aimed at pursuing the work of AER in the field of integrated care systems. The project was not accepted.

Project development, Social inclusion of vulnerable groups: ongoing

With views to the preparation of a project gathering regional good practices on inclusion a debate took place on the occasion of the Committee 2 Plenary meeting. The idea with this project is to define a general approach to inclusion, helping policy makers appraise their policies and develop effective policies for inclusion. As the topic received a lot of interest, a workshop on inclusion is foreseen on the occasion of the Committees Spring Plenaries in Arad.

Project development, Combatting isolation and social exclusion: ongoing

-elderly people, who often live on their own and would need minimal support and company.

The idea is to gather good practices which have been implemented in similar contexts and to look at transferability and adaptation of such good practices.

Project development, Public-private cooperation for social inclusion: cancelled

Project development, Equal Health: cancelled

Possible project (seek funding opportunities). Exchange of experiences from different programs offering parental support. As this project idea was not further specified, the activity is cancelled.

DIGIT-ABLE project: planned

Networking with public authorities (national/regional/EU level), social business actors, civil society organisations, international associations focusing on improving the quality of life and social inclusion of the different vulnerabilities targeted by the project as well as digital literacy.
Establishing a metrics for evaluating the quality and impact of practices for digital inclusion of vulnerable people, for the vulnerabilities covered by the project: People with disabilities; Elderly people; Marginalised young people and children (based on socio-economic status); Unemployed or those facing social problems; Migrants.
Realise an interactive online catalogue of best practices, accessible via a dedicated website;
Disseminate the catalogue through dedicated events

The project was submitted on September 2017 under the Horizon 2020 and it will run for 24 months. The coordinator is INSIEL SpA (Friuli Venezia Giulia – IT).

Committees Autumn Plenaries in Nancy: finished

This Autumn’s committees’ plenary took place in Nancy, France, from the 12th to the 14th of September. The events featured a debate on culture in the digital age, a workshop on the value of data, a workshop for the development of a project on youth mental health, and the Committees Plenary meetings.

A discussion on Cohesion Policy and its advantages also took place in Nancy.

INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform (IEPLP): finished

Event on a current transversal topic: finished

Supporting innovation, attracting innovators
The Health Revolution
Culture In a Digital World
Skills and Competences: racing with machines
AI: Towards a Soulless World?

The event lead also to the publication of a series of articles on artificial intelligence and its implications for different policy areas.

Follow up on ALEC: ongoing

Healthcare without harm: tbc

Equal opportunities: tbc

AER AT THE EUROPEAN WEEK OF CITIES AND REGIONS

Workshop on climate and energy transition: finished

Led by the region of Abruzzo, AER co-organised a climate side-event during the European Week of Regions and Cities 2017.

Workshop on the Silver Economy: finished

Workshop of the INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform: finished

The workshop aimed at helping regions learn from the project outputs from their peers in Europe.

Advocacy/ Lobbying

Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

Holding regular debates on cohesion policy among members and between members and relevant stakeholders, such as the “Cohesion Policy: are you getting anything out of it?” debate during the AER Committees’ Autumn Plenary Meeting in Nancy on 12 September.
Gathering facts and figures on cohesion investments results and impact for a evidence-based advocacy.
Disseminating the AER position on future cohesion policy to key stakeholders and decision-makers in-country (in coordination with member regions) and in Brussels.
Working together with other European associations of regions, municipalities and cities and the Committee of the Regions to generate broader support for regions interests and policy proposals, including #CohesionAlliance created to demand that the EU budget after 2020 makes cohesion policy stronger, more effective, visible and available for every region in the European Union.

The Task Force on Cohesion Policy post 2020 will continue to support the work of AER in this field, providing strategic direction and oversight.

AER Report on Regionalisation: ongoing

AER participation in the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing: ongoing

33rd Session of the Congress Local and Regional Authorities: ongoing

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Do you want to contribute in creating job opportunities for persons with disabilities?

6 February, 2018 By Agnese Pantaloni

Divergent– Ghent University (BE), a specialized vocational training center, is looking for European Partners for a transnational ESF Project.

The main question addressed by the project is: “How can we enhance employer involvement in creating labour market opportunities for persons with an occupational disability?”. While the focus of the project is on the role of the job intermediary or coach and their relationship with employers.

The partners searched within other European Union countries should have the following characteristics:

•   to be familiar with methods and tools for enhanced employer involvement in persons with an occupational disability
•   to be prepared to start a partnership in your own country (as a promoter) and submit a proposal to the ESF project
•   to have experience with transnational project work
•   to have commitment with the employ-er’s perspective and/or to have com-mitment with persons with an occupa-tional disability
•   to have a good knowledge of English

In order to well proceed with the drafting of the project, a preparative project meeting is organised in Brussels on 20th April.

Do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you wish to be involved in this project!

Contact

European Projects

Agnese Pantaloni

Phone: +32 2 400 10 52
E-mail: a.pantaloni(at)aer.eu
Skype ID: agnesepanta
Languages: it, en, pt

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AER members share knowledge to improve situation for refugees in their regions

5 February, 2018 By Editor

On 24 and 25 January 2018, AER co-organised several events focusing on local and regional responses to the Syrian refugee crisis in Brussels. AER would like to thank its honorary President, Dr. Hande Özsan Bozatli, who was instrumental in making these events happen. Dr Bozatli has always been a strong supporter of the Turkish-Europe dialogue. These series of events proves it once more. The Press release and background can be found HERE.

This article focuses on the experiences and best practices shared by the regions over the two days.

Best Practices – Västra Götaland (SE), Catalonia (ES) and the Netherlands

With control over the healthcare sector and certain dimensions of regional development, the AER President’s region, Västra Götaland (SE), had success integrating refugees into the labour market and socially. Recognising the need to de-institutionalise their labour market, Västra Götaland invested in programmes to accelerate the process of credential recognition for highly skilled Syrian refugees such as those arriving with medical degrees obtained in Syria.

Prior to the labour market reforms, it could take 6-9 years for professionals to undergo the re-training needed for them to enter the regional labour market. It now takes approximately two to three years before migrants acquire the certificates needed to continue working in their field. Additionally, Västra Götaland expedited the process refugees needed to go through before joining the Swedish education system. With going to local schools faster and parents participating in the labour market quicker, migrants were better able to socially integrate into communities.

Throughout the events it became clear that similar practices could be implemented elsewhere in Europe due to labour market demands. As Europe is beginning to experience large scale demographic change due to a rapidly ageing population demands for high skill workers in the public service sector will increase. Mr. Berntsson claimed that integrating refugees and migrants with professional qualifications into the labour market faster will help alleviate pressure on social services. He believes that a more flexible, de-institutionalised labour market like the one introduced in Västra Götaland will assist many EU countries in getting refugees into the labour market.

Mr. Berntsson also stated that Västra Götaland, who saw a 2 percent increase in their population with the arrival of the Syrian refugees, could not have managed to integrate the newcomers without the volunteer efforts of the local citizens. Similarly, according to Dutch MEP Ms. Piri the Netherlands had 60, 000 volunteers enlist to help Syrian refugees, translating into one volunteer for every refugee. Both claimed that having an active citizenry is vital to the resettlement of refugees with local governments unable to cope on their own.

Additionally, as stated by Catalonia (ES) Migration Secretary Mr. Amorós, his region has experienced success with a social mentorship programme to help integrate migrants and refugees into society. In the experience of Mr. Amorós, while refugees may come as temporary guests the reality is that many end up staying, meaning regions must focus on the inclusion of refugees in society. A relatively new project, the programme pairs refugees and locals who spend a minimum of one hour per week together to help refugees learn the language and adapt to local culture.

Best Practices- Gaziantep (TR)

Continuing AER’s involvement with Turkish regions, Dr. Bozatli reached out to Turkish regions Gaziantep and Adana to share their expertise in dealing with refugees, who graciously accepted Dr. Bozatli’s invitation. In each event, Gaziantep shared best practices which have allowed them to successfully host millions of refugees for over 5 years. Upon arrival, ensuring that the refugees’ basic needs were met by providing them with food, water, and shelter helped to prevent the spread of disease. When refugees began to leave camps and move to urban areas, Gaziantep established several priority areas including the provision of housing, healthcare, and education. Adequately meeting the refugees needs in each of these areas was aided by Turkey’s decision to treat refugees as nearly full citizens rather than as temporary guests.

After enrolling young children in schools and integrating current students into school systems, refugees in Gaziantep now have a higher rate of enrolment than they did in Syria. In Syria 80 percent of children would have been enrolled in schools while in Gaziantep 90 percent are now enrolled. Ms. Sahin claims that keeping children enrolled in schools has decreased their vulnerability to radicalization and has helped them feel like members of their local communities.

Gaziantep also invested in numerous infrastructure projects such as new waste management, waterworks, and transportation systems to cope with the rise in demand. Further complicating the matter for Gaziantep was a surge in housing prices because of increases in demand. Aside from building more units, the government ensured that 10 percent of all houses and jobs were available to Gaziantep citizens first, ensuring that their local population were not disadvantaged by the arrival of refugees. This has helped to reduce social tensions created by the arrival of refugees. Moreover, from the beginning the Gaziantep government has preached patience with a message of tolerance and inclusion, encouraging the local population to accept the refugees as regular citizens.

Best Practices- Adana (TR)

The sixth largest city in Turkey with a population of 1.8 million, there are officially 150, 000 refugees constituting nearly 8 percent of the local population. However, unofficially it is estimated that there are 300, 000 Syrian refugees in the Adana province, bringing numerous challenges for Adana to navigate.

In Adana, the arrival of thousands of refugees triggered increases in rent and scarcity of affordable housing. With 85 percent of migrants working in the agricultural sector, certain companies have exploited undocumented refugees for whom they pay low wages with no benefits. When adults have struggled to find employment, some have been forced to send their children to work resulting in sporadic instances of child labour.

The influx of migrants has also placed strain on local infrastructure, exacerbated by a cash strapped government. Keeping children in school has also been a challenge for Adana due to families’ need for a basic income and the remote location in which some refugees live.

Despite the challenges they face, Adana has managed to provide humanitarian support such as clothes, food, healthcare, and water to not only those residing in Adana but also to refugees stranded along the Turkey-Syria border. Furthermore, in cooperation with the University of Adana the municipality has established training centers for refugees to increase the number of trainers able to boost the vocational and skill development of other refugees. This programme has filled existing gaps in the provision of professional language learning opportunities, particularly for young adults. For refugees living on the outskirts of the city, the municipality has signed cooperation agreements with civil society organisations who provide services, including language training.

The presentations from the Turkish delegations can be found here.

Best Practices-Timis (RO)

Following the event, AER received insights into how Timis has dealt with the migration crisis, courtesy of its representative Mr. Mihai Ritivoiu, President of the AER committee on social policy and public health. In 2017, according to the Timis Border Territorial Inspectorate, there were nearly 2600 cases of illegal migration from its border with Serbia. The rapid influx of migrants forced the Timis Border Territorial Inspectorate to take special measures, allocating additional funds to stabilise the situation. Partly because of the measures taken, there was a 72 percent decrease in cases of illegal migration in the last quarter of 2017.

With an increase of 300-400 percent in illegal border crossings, the number of asylum applications has increased from 60 per month to approximately 300 per month. Those who were granted a form of protection from the Romania state received identity and travel documents. Issued for an unlimited period, the identity documents allowed asylum seekers to be smoothly integrated into the health care and labour market systems. Additionally, to integrate migrants, Timis collaborated with NGOs to offer serives desgined to help migrants acquire language skills and cultural understanding. Future plans in Timis involve setting up a specialized center for foreign minors, given that in 2017 many of those who entered the country were families with 3-4 children.

AER’s Work on Refugees and Migrants

Throughout the events, Mr. Berntsson and Dr. Özsan Bozatli had the chance to present the experiences of AER in the area of refugees and migrants. At the peak of the migration crisis, the topic of AER’s Bureau meeting in Brussels in December 2015, was “facing the migration challenge”. The bureau was a resounding success, bringing together regions from Turkey, Greece, and Italy who were receiving the largest numbers of refugees in Europe at the time, to share their experiences.

The following year, at AER’s spring committee meetings in Timis the topic was “communication and action in times of crisis”, giving an opportunity for all three AER committees to discuss how migration affected areas as diverse as innovation, health care, culture, and entrepreneurship.

Alongside its member regions, AER has also had the opportunity to implement the European project Access to Services for Migrants with Disabilities (AMID) where work is still ongoing. The AMID project is designed to create a common approach among European Local Authorities concerning the reception and integration of migrants and refugees with a focus on disabilities. The project will result in the creation of a Specific Needs Assessment (SNA) Tool to be circulated among Local Authorities, NGOs and EU agencies. This SNA tool will enable these actors to take disabilities into account while assessing asylum seekers, creating the basis for a standard approach to this topic at the EU level.

For those interested, more photos of the events are available on Friends of Europe’s Flickr album.

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Youth on the move: a current topic

A child-rights perspective

The European Programme for Integration and Migration

Mutual learning at the core of better policymaking

Yes, but money

The warm up: overall picture from EU and national perspective

What regions need: good calls for projects and the right support

Focus on real projects: mobility and rural development

Useful links

Contacts

Member Relations

Anne Henk Bloemhoff

Brokerage event in Partnership with ERRIN on health innovation: finished

Project development, Youth Mental Health: ongoing

Silver Economy Awards (SEED): ongoing

Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA): ongoing

Active and Healthy Ageing Network AHA-NET: cancelled

ACT2Bridge project – Actions to Support Regional Ecosystems on Health Innovation Research: postponed

AMID project for the inclusion of migrants with disabilities: ongoing

European network for harmonising self, society, and systems to facilitate integrated care, COST action proposal: cancelled

Project development, Social inclusion of vulnerable groups: ongoing

Project development, Combatting isolation and social exclusion: ongoing

Project development, Public-private cooperation for social inclusion: cancelled

Project development, Equal Health: cancelled

DIGIT-ABLE project: planned

Committees Autumn Plenaries in Nancy: finished

Committees Spring Plenaries in Arad: finished

INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform (IEPLP): finished

Event on a current transversal topic: finished

Follow up on ALEC: ongoing

Healthcare without harm: tbc

Equal opportunities: tbc

AER AT THE EUROPEAN WEEK OF CITIES AND REGIONS

Workshop on climate and energy transition: finished

Workshop on the Silver Economy: finished

Workshop of the INTERREG Europe Policy Learning Platform: finished

Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

AER Report on Regionalisation: ongoing

AER participation in the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing: ongoing

33rd Session of the Congress Local and Regional Authorities: ongoing

The JUMA Refugees Map Services: more that a web tool

The Washington Group Set of Questions on Disability

A final word

Contact

European Projects

Agnese Pantaloni

Contact

European Projects

Agnese Pantaloni

Committee for Economy & Regional Policy

Innovation & SMEs :

Rural development

Energy

Transport and Mobility

Cohesion Policy

Committee for Social Policy & Public Health

Social inclusion

E-health & health innovation

Equal access to health

Committee for Culture, Education & Youth

Youth

Education

Youth mental health

Culture

AER Action Plan

Contact

WHAT EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IS ABOUT

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES MATTERS FOR POLITICS

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR SOCIETIES

WHAT REGIONS CAN DO BETTER

E-health workshop

Working Group on Transport and Mobility

Workshop on inclusion

What is it about?

Practical information

Finance of European Projects

Luca Magri

1. First project idea: services for citizens with disabilities and accessible tourism

2. Second project idea: training on disaster management issues

European Projects