• Home
  • About
    • Governance & Structure
    • The AER Executive Board
    • The AER Secretariat
    • Statute & Strategies
      • AER Statute
      • AER Procedures
    • AER stands with Ukraine
    • The History of AER
  • Members
    • Who are AER’s members?
    • Member Directory
    • Join AER!
  • Mutual Learning
    • About Mutual Learning
    • The Knowledge Transfer Forum
    • Working Groups
      • Ongoing Working Groups
      • Past Working Groups
  • Advocacy
    • About Our Advocacy Work
    • The Bureau
    • The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
    • AER Political Priorities 2020-2025
    • Intercultural Regions Network
  • Projects
    • About Our Projects
    • Ongoing Projects
    • Look for Partners
    • Completed Projects
  • AER Programmes
    • AER Eurodyssey
    • AER SUMMER ACADEMY
    • AER Youth Regional Network (YRN)
    • AER Observatory on Regionalisation
  • Events
    • AER events
    • Other events

Assembly of European Regions

Connecting regions, inspiring Europe since 1985

You are here: Home / Archives for Good practices

This is the tag for all posts relating to Good practices.

AER working groups: it’s simple

4 July, 2022 By Johanna Pacevicius

The long-awaited guide for members willing to set up a new working group is finally there!

Working groups are for all AER members

All AER members can participate in working groups. Any AER member can submit a proposal for setting up a working group on a new topic.

It is possible to contribute to the work by:

  1. Sharing needs and topics your region would be interested to work on
  2. Offering expertise, flagging good practices you would like to share with AER members, proposing speakers
  3. Participating in events organised by the Chairs of the Working Groups
  4. Representing AER at thematic events: all AER members can be AER ambassadors!

To do this, contact AER Coordinator for Policy & Knowledge Transfer Johanna Pacevicius with ideas, proposals, requests.

How to propose a new Working Group

1. Identifying partner regions

Any AER member can submit a proposal for setting up a Working Group. A region, which would like to set up a working group should test the idea with other members and find supporting regions, in order to ensure there is a core group of regions that will be interested in dedicating time to exchange on the topic, and to be able to define activities that will be relevant to more than one region

Any AER member wishing to set up a Working Group should therefore find at least three supporting regions, which will contribute to shaping the activities, participate and contribute to the work. Either the AER member is already in contact with regions that could join the new Working Group, or they request the help of the AER Secretariat to contact regions that may be interested.

2. Submitting a proposal to the Executive Board

The region, which would like to set up a working group should develop a draft proposal for the focus of the Working Group and list a few potential activities to be presented to the EB together with supporting regions. The Draft Proposal for setting up the new Working Group, should:

  • mention the topic of the Working Group
  • clarify the focus of the exchange and dissemination of best practices
  • indicate the lead region and the supporting regions
  • propose a few activities which they would like to implement within the first two-years mandate
  • define an objective for the work of the Working Group (what will the activities help to achieve?)

3. The EB establishes the creation of the new Working Group

Once the proposal for setting up a new Working Group has been approved by the EB, an article is published about the new Working Group including information on:

  • the proposed focus
  • objective
  • lead region and supporting regions
  • envisioned activities

Regions interested to join the new Working Group and shape activities are invited to provide inputs by email.

4. Appointing a Chair

A first meeting of the working group will be organised in person or online, to appoint a Chair and agree on joint activities. The meeting will be announced beforehand on the AER website. The meeting will be open to all AER members. During this first meeting, Working Group members will agree on implementation details and responsibilities. Each Working Group decides on its own working structure

Role of the Chair of a Working Group

The Chair is responsible for the leadership of the Working Group and liaising with the Vice-President in charge of the Working Group policy area.

Each Working Group Chair’s region is charged to appoint a seconded officer to act as working group secretariat in liaison with the AER secretariat. The seconded officer is responsible for:

  • Co-organising events and projects in collaboration with the secretariat;
  • Managing the content of the meetings;
  • Drafting speeches and policy contributions;
  • The Chair will take the responsibility for the planning of the Working Group’s activities;

The Chair of the Working Group will inform the Vice-President in charge of the related policy area about the activities organised by the Working Group.
The Vice-President in charge of the related policy area will inform the Chair of the Working Group about upcoming events or EU policy developments, which may be of interest to the Chair and where the findings of the Working Group could be shared
When the Vice-President in charge of the related policy area is invited to external events, they will mention the activities of the working group

Photo by Hello I’m Nik on Unsplash

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Inclusion, Creativity & Human Potential: Includ-EU Workshop

7 June, 2022 By Johanna Pacevicius

This workshop is organised in the context of the Includ-EU project co-financed by AMIF programme of the European Union. It will look at labour market inclusion from a skills, creativity and human potential angle.

The opening and roundtable (09:30-11:00) will be streamed, you can register here to get the link to attend online:

 

The objective is to take a holistic approach to labour market inclusion, which takes into account space, skills and the realisation of potential. Participants will share policies and practices which support stakeholders to build on their ideas, motivation, competences and experiences.

Migrant entrepreneurs contribute to economic growth, create jobs and can support the post-COVID-19 recovery. Effective inclusion of migrants and EU citizens with a migration background into the labour market requires the active collaboration of a large variety of actors, including public authorities at local, regional, national and European level, civil society organisations, economic and social partners and employers.

This workshop aims to:

  • Give visibility to inclusion policies and practices shared in the context of the project and which can be of use to stakeholders across wider Europe
  • strengthen the collaboration between partners, support them in mobilising both their local and international networks
  • Facilitate the exchange of policies and practices for inclusion between local and regional stakeholders in Europe
  • Encourage the development of new collaborations between local and regional stakeholders

AGENDA

Green (H)ydrogen: Powering Our Regions’ Future

26 April, 2022 By Justin Sammon

You can check out the agenda and full list of speakers HERE.

Why is Europe talking about hydrogen?

Hydrogen is a versatile energy source with significant potential. It can be used as a feedstock, a fuel or an energy carrier, and has many possible applications across industry in the transport, heating and construction sectors. Most importantly, it does not emit CO2 and produces almost no air pollution when used. The European Commission estimates that “green” hydrogen from renewable sources could make up 13-14% of Europe’s energy supply by 2050, and act as a replacement for fossil fuels in high polluting sectors. 

However, there is significant work to do to scale-up production and demand. At present, hydrogen makes up less than 2% of Europe’s energy mix, and is still largely produced from fossil fuels. Producing clean hydrogen from renewable sources like wind and solar is expensive, and while technology has improved and come down in cost, there remain challenges connecting hydrogen production to energy grids and securing enough investment to make it viable.

What’s in it for Regions?

Regions have a key role to play in scaling-up the renewable hydrogen economy across Europe.  With the right level of private and public investment, European regions can lead in the creation of self-contained “hydrogen hubs” that link all elements of the value chain. Indeed, the EU has committed to a total generation capacity of 40GW of renewable hydrogen by 2030, and in early 2022 launched a call worth €300.5 million for projects to develop “cutting-edge hydrogen technologies” under its Clean Hydrogen Partnerships programme.

In this context, the AER and the Government of Catalonia are initiating discussions among European regions on hydrogen in the energy transition. This knowledge exchange and networking session will be the first step towards sustained exchanges between regions on the development of green hydrogen. It will be an opportunity for AER members to identify common priorities in the field, project and funding opportunities with the European Commission, and accelerate work towards building a hydrogen community within the AER network.

How can I get involved?

Members are welcome to register online to view this event remotely. There will be limited possibilities for those who join online to take the floor during the open session.

Members interested in joining a future working group on green hydrogen can fill in this survey.

Presentations

Presentation by Pere Margalef SVP Technology Officer Hydrogen

Presentation by Albert Ballbé, Head of technical evaluation, monitoring and verification of R&D projects in ACCIÓ, Catalonia (ES)

Presentation by Ana Ursua, General Director, Navarra Industrial Association, Navarra (ES)

Presentation by Giampaolo Canestri, Head of Energy Efficiency and Open Innovation Sector – engineer at Compagnie Valdôtaine des
Eaux, Valle d’Aosta (IT)

Lead experience exchange: propose a new working group!

25 November, 2021 By Johanna Pacevicius

An AER working group provides a space for experience and knowledge exchange. The ground for mutual learning is the community the AER creates between member regions that have very diverse contexts and shared objectives. The AER community is one of its main added values when joining projects or developing advocacy activities.

As the mandates of current Working Groups have all come to an end, AER is offering the possibility to all members to propose to lead knowledge and experience exchange on a regional policy area that is important for them.

So… how to start a working group?

Contact the AER Secretariat and tell us what you are looking for!

If you’re not yet sure exactly about the activities or the specific focus of the working group you would like to lead, but you know you want to be engaged and lead a working group, contact us!

We’ll schedule a meeting to specify needs. We’ll help you identify the topic and main objective of the working group you’d like to set up and make sure this will indeed create value for you. We’ll help you to develop a draft proposal on the focus of the Working Group and identify a few potential activities, which you will then be able to share with other AER members.

What kind of topics?

At the AER we like to say that everything is possible!

Topics need to be in line with the Mission and Objectives of the AER, as defined in the AER Statutes

They need to be in line with the basic fundamental principles of the Council of Europe.

Who will be in the working group?

You may already know with which regions you would like to specifically cooperate with, in that case let us know and when needed we can facilitate the connection.

Working groups are open to all AER members. In order to propose a new working group, a core group of 1 leading region and at least 3 supporting regions are needed for the creation of a working group.

If you don’t yet know which regions you’d like to work with, let’s discuss! Together with the AER Secretariat you’ll be able identify peers in other regions who could be interested to work with you.

What kind of activities?

As per the AER Statutes, working groups are responsible for

  • Promoting networking and knowledge exchange between AER members on specific issues related to regional development; (8.3a)
  • Identifying and disseminating good practices. (8.3.b)

In this context, and depending on what you would like to achieve, activities can include activities to raise awareness on a topic and share existing practices, experience sharing, workshops to identify how to address shared challenges and societal changes, information sessions on funding opportunities, project development workshops…

The process to create a working group is detailed on this page.

There are many ways in which the AER offer and synergies with other activities can match your expectations. Contact us!

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Not Just Another Workshop: Looking Back at the Includ-EU First Regional Peer-2-Peer Learning

10 July, 2021 By Anna Comacchio

The project in a nutshell: The Includ-EU Project is funded by the European Union’s AMIF– Asylum Migration and Integration Fund Programme and aims at enhancing regional and local expertise with engagement of social cohesion in Europe. In this workshop, we brought together representatives from all the different countries involved in the project: Italy, Greece, Spain, Romania, Slovenia and the Netherlands.

Setting the Scene.

We live in an increasingly complex society. There are no easy solutions or easy answers to the many challenges we are facing today, and the ones presented by migration, integration and inclusion are no exception. Policies and service designers must make sure these mirror the complexity of realities around us.

That is why our first Includ-EU Regional Workshop focused not on discussing solutions, but analysing and sharing problems and challenges in our ever-changing Europe, in a collaborative way, and with peer-to-peer dialogue.

The past few months have been challenging for all of us. The restrictions affected our work and social cohesion, especially for migrants but there are a few lessons learned that we can bring with us and that can help improve the near-future situation, and in light of new  unpredictable crises.

In her opening speech Geertrui Lanneau, Senior Regional Labour Mobility and Human Development Specialist, at International Organization for Migration (IOM), reminded us how migration is still very high on the European Agenda  with the EU pact on migration and asylum passed last year and followed by the EU action plan on integration.

At the same time, she stressed how it is not the EU that finally implements the integration action, but the Member States, and  in particular, the local and regional levels are the centre stage. 

Geertrui Lanneau, Day 1

It is with this mind that we feel that with our project we can make a difference through the exchange of practices, region-by-region tailored SWOT analyses and especially with the pilot projects to be tested and implemented in the different member states.

Alas, also this time the consortium and associated partners didn’t have the chance to meet in person, but even virtually, we had an extraordinary time and opportunities to exchange our experiences. In particular, we collectively brainstormed around new challenges raised by the pandemic as well as old challenges that the pandemic might have exacerbated, both in the way we work and provide services, and in the way migrants and vulnerable communities would interact with the community.

The fact that all participants had experienced similar challenges, had seen similar opportunities and learned similar lessons despite the different geographical contexts, was very surprising and helped create a warm atmosphere of collaboration that lasted throughout the workshop, which lasted 2 days, and it felt a very special and unique moment!

The visual result of our peer-learning exercise on Mural, Day 1

Let Your Imagination Soar!

Before getting into the second part of the first day of the workshop, we did a quick icebreaker activity, where we split in 3 teams of five, and each group took 5 minutes in separate breakout rooms to brainstorm together and draw 50 apples, with only one applicable condition: ALL THE APPLES MUST BE DIFFERENT.

It was hilarious and mind-opening at the same time to see how different groups came out with absolutely different ideas, stories, concepts, or how they decided to devote their time: some shared memories associated with apples while others exchanged about different way to say “apple mus” in different languages, but fun fact: none of the teams reached the 50 apples goal. 

In short, this exercise tells it all about the very purpose of the workshop itself, meaning it is not about the destination, and focusing on solutions, but about the journey and what you learn along the way.

Becoming familiar with design for change

In the second session of the day, we worked together with Abram El-Sabagh, a service designer and the founder of Design for Impact, who led us through some exercises and discussion on good service designing, while sharing his own personal journey.

“It was in mid-2019 when I realised I could spend less time working, and more time helping others create impact.

The truth is it was a difficult decision. My day job is about using Design to create impact. I’ve been able to travel around the world to places as far as Marshall Islands, Kenya, China, and Bhutan. All to help coach others and build their ability to create positive impact using Design. But something was missing.

I had experienced what it was like working alongside others who genuinely want to make our world a better place, and there is no feeling like it. It’s euphoric.”

“No passion to be found in playing small”

Innovation Systems are extremely complex, Abram goes on explaining, as there are many different components and they all interact together. Imagine for a moment the healthcare system for instance:  How many hospitals and doctors are there only in your area?

Another thing to keep in consideration is that experiences regarding the system depend on each one’s different pathway. In healthcare, the experience will change depending on which doctor I talked to, which disease or illness you have, to mention only a few variants.

Migration is of course, a very complex system affecting real people who are facing real challenges.

It is easy to read 10 books about system change and design, but it is harder to apply all the theories that you learn in real life. Abram explained how his path led him to go into the field, talk  and interact with different people from many professional and social backgrounds, rather than keep learning on his own. Eventually, he gathered more and more skills that are useful to design services and testing powerful ideas, until he was skilled enough to lead his own project.

KEY CONCEPTS OF DESIGNING SERVICES IN COMPLEX SYSTEMS

If a 1.5 hours session couldn’t of course cover and teach participants hard and soft skills harnessed through years of experience and exercise, Abram gave us the key concepts needed to start understanding how to create change thanks to design.

He touched upon many concepts, but few of them resonated particularly among the participants.

Emergence is one key concept in complex systems that is worth explaining, as  it means that because of the complexity and the many actors involved, one cannot predict behaviour, or be sure of what will happen before you test an idea and that’s why it is therefore important to test hypotheses.

As a consequence, running parallel fail-safe experiments and interacting with the system is the only way we can truly understand it.

When running an experiment, it is important to test behaviours and not intentions, as many times these intentions do not translate into behaviour (just think about your new year’s eve resolutions..).


A final concept to keep in mind in testing hypotheses  is that correlation does not equal causation -although these two often get mistaken- meaning that just because two things correlate does not necessarily mean that one causes the other.

Main takeaways from day 1

The big finale of day 1 came with an interactive exercise where participants were asked to design, in teams, a new policy or service to help people get vaccinated.

The special feature of the exercise was the identification of the team members with multi-level stakeholders, meaning that each team member represented a different perspective and therefore brought an additional value to the co-creation process.

Each team formed several hypotheses around why a specific cohort of people (migrants over 50 rather than young people living in the periphery) are not getting vaccinated enough and generated experiments to test each hypothesis.

What did participants learn?

Mainly 2 things came up from the different teams:

  1. You need to involve many people, not just the usual suspects. 
  1. It is important not just to co-design services in a participative way but we should also aim to co-create and co-decide on a political level. It is essential to cooperate at all stages of a project or process, “ If you want to go far, go together”.

All in all, we can safely and happily conclude that by reflecting on the challenges the pandemic created or worsened, speakers and participants shared their concerns around the needs of their regions, but also injected optimism in the future on integration and inclusion, while giving us reasons to believe that design and multi-stakeholders approaches can be powerful tools for creating sustainable and innovative services, solutions and policies.

Angelique Petrits with some of the participants, day 2

DAY 2 -Good Practices and Hard-won Wisdom through the Includ-EU Marketplace

After the insightful and comprehensive presentation by Ms Angelique Petrits  (DG Home, European Commission) on the new Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion (2021-27) and its 4 key areas -Education, Employment, Health, Housing-, the morning of Day 2 continued with a dynamic market-place exercise.

Here different regions and municipalities presented their own future strategy for integration, but showcased good practices and successful projects from the past programming period. We are happy to share here all presentations which are available below for you to browse.

Strategy on Migration, Valencia

Pilot experience of community sponsorship in the reception and integration of migrants, Valencia, Spain

Regional Plan for the socio-economic integration of TNCs, with focus on COMMIT Project, Tuscany, Italy

Project School for Adults, Jesenice, Slovenia

Integration Strategy, Cluj Napoca, Romania

Project Murcia Acoje (Welcoming Murcia), Spain

For more information, contact: [email protected]

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Rethinking Inclusive Societies in Light of Crises

24 June, 2021 By Anna Comacchio

“Migrants are ‘us’, not ‘them’. Everyone has a role to play in making sure our societies are cohesive and prosperous.” 

Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson 

Within the Includ-EU Project, AER continues its long-standing commitment to making the voice of its member regions heard, in both matters of migration and asylum and otherwise. In this context, we are proud the share their success stories developments and practices, in the upcoming workshop, organised with the involvement of Intercultural Regions Network.  

Integration and inclusion of people with a migrant background is a process that involves a whole of society, that includes migrant and local communities, employers, civil society and all levels of government. 

Regions, above all, have always had a paramount role to play and extensive experience in implementing innovative ideas and projects. They have the contextual knowledge and resources can be activated quickly.  

In light of this, AER’s role in the project is to foster structured regional exchanges, and the dissemination of knowledge and good practices within its wider network. This objective translates in organising of 5 thematic webinars structured around the key priority areas and 5 thematic workshops, envisioned to bring together target beneficiaries, experts, partners, and respectively representatives of interested social communities to exchange and engage in peer-learning exercises. 

So far, AER, with the support of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), has organised 3 of the planned webinars and is now preparing the 1st regional workshop, taking place on 30 June and 1 July from 9:00 to 12:30 (CEST). 

The pandemic might have exacerbated some of the challenges already in play in regards to integration of migrants but on the other hand, as for many other sectors, it has provided an occasion for shifting paradigm and rethinking our whole society in order to be better prepared for future crises. It can empower us to demand a much-needed transformation of a system in crisis. 

As such, the focus of the first day will be on how to rethink services in light of crises and raising awareness on the role of design in shaping better and more sustainable services. Abram El-Sabagh, expert in designing strategic solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals, will facilitate the session, in which participants will immerse in a peer-learning exercise, which will help them to brainstorm collectively and identify challenges and opportunities to apply to the concrete specific needs of each regional/local reality. 

The second day keeps looking ahead with the presentation by DG Home of the Commission new Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion (2021-27), which structures among 4 key areas: Education, Employment, Health, Housing. 

This is followed by a dynamic market-place exercise, where few regions and municipalities will present their own future strategy for integration, but also good practices and successful projects from the past programming period.  

We will hear from Valencia municipality (Spain) to Cluj-Napoca and Timis (Romania), among others. 

Registrations for day 1 are open exclusively to Includ-EU consortium partners, while day 2 is open to all interested stakeholders working on migration and interculturality. 

This project receives funding from the European Union’s AMIF – Asylum Migration and Integration Fund programme. It aims at bringing together local and regional authorities from Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia and Spain for the purpose of enhancing transnational knowledge and experience sharing cooperation and partnerships. 

To read about the results of the 1st workshop, follow AER website. To register, click here.

Contact: Anna Comacchio, Project and Policy Officer 

E-mail: [email protected] 

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Skills for Effective Innovation Ecosystems

14 June, 2021 By Editor

Article by Sandra Evans, Project Coordinator at Universität Tübingen.

It is not a secret anymore that open innovation ecosystems provide optimal conditions for creating new value. But what makes innovation ecosystems effective, or how are effective innovation ecosystems created? This important question was the topic of a panel discussion organised by the Assembly of European Regions (AER) as part of a set of very topical webinars organised within the Erasmus+ Skillnet project on enabling multi-stakeholder approaches to help build more innovative societies.

As we all have witnessed in the past year, a crisis can be an incredible driver for innovation by honing in on the most pressing issues. With the COVID-19 pandemic the overall mission was to reduce the number of infected persons and reach herd immunity. Accordingly, a diversity of stakeholders were able to very quickly align under a clear common goal and effect respective contributions. What the Coronavirus crisis also revealed was that governments and private companies were able to effectively work together in order to produce and certify vaccines in record time. However, what are the conditions that facilitate and optimize innovation activities?

Arnault Morrison, thematic expert on research and innovation at the Policy Learning Platform (PLP) of Interreg Europe, presented five actionable policy recommendations from a diversity of policy briefs published by the PLP. All are indeed key prerequisites for regions to benefit from sustainable innovation and resulting economic development:

  1. understand regional institutional context (especially the strengths and weaknesses)
  2. promote the diffusion of technology (rather than the invention of new)
  3. promote interregional learning and collaboration (i.a. by sharing good practices)
  4. promote an entrepreneurial mindset and startups (and decrease risk averseness)
  5. form a regional task force for regional skills assessment.

In addition, two regions elucidated their approaches towards building efficacy in two topically different ecosystems. Agneta Kardos from the Timiș County Council in Romania focused on how interregional learning and collaboration was crucial in building the local (informal) health and social care ecosystem. The presentation very nicely demonstrates that the process takes time, requires perseverance as well as a framework for exchange and learning. This framework was provided by different European funding instruments (primarily Interreg programs), which since 2008 have not only evolved with respect to terminology and approaches (e.g., moving from triple towards quadruple helix approaches) on the topic of aging populations, but also have been able to help build trust and a multi-stakeholder dialogue in the Timiș region.

Christiane Egger, deputy manager at the Upper Austrian Regional Energy Agency, shared her experiences from the energy transition in her region. One of the key pillars in the transition was the formal network of energy and environmental businesses, namely the Cleantech Cluster Upper Austria, which engaged in dialogue with policy makers. The mission of the energy transition has a clear message: to reach climate neutrality by 2050. In order to reach this mission, the agency takes on the role as orchestrator of the formal/informal and narrow/broad innovation networks and uses the carrot (financial incentives) – stick (regulatory framework) policy approach, which they have amended to include tambourines (dissemination and awareness raising) and a skateboard (innovation to speed up the process).

Ultimately, all speakers in their presentations and the ensuing discussion highlighted communication and connectedness as central to the innovation process and creating effective open innovation ecosystems.

Identifying and understanding the strengths and weaknesses in the respective regions, as the first recommendation by Arnault Morrison puts forward, provides the necessary base for formulating clear common goals and missions to guide policy priorities. While this seems trivial, it is absolutely crucial and will help to guide innovation activities by better understanding the actual needs and demands and thus, better being able to match demand and supply.

It is not easy to bring different stakeholders to the proverbial table, yet this can be instructive to everyone involved. Within the framework of the Interreg Europe project ACSELL, the SCIROCCO Exchange Tool was identified as a good practice to assess the readiness for demand-driven innovation in regions or ecosystems (https://www.interregeurope.eu/policylearning/good-practices/item/5304/scirocco-exchange-tool-to-assess-readiness-for-demand-driven-innovation/). This tool facilitates and structures the multi-stakeholder dialogue around 12 dimensions and helps to identify strengths and weaknesses. An improved understanding of the local needs and context as well as structured dialogue with all stakeholders is an important first step to creating effective innovation ecosystems.

Available EU funding opportunities and initiatives:

  • Apply for the Erasmus+ open call for grants ‘Partnership for Cooperation in the field of Youth – European NGOs‘ by 15th June 2021
  • Apply for the Pilot Projects & Preparation Actions open call ‘Preparatory Actions – Grassroots Programmes and Infrastructures Innovation‘ by 16 June 2021
  • Apply for the Horizon Europe open call for grants ‘Green Deal Innovations for the Economic Recovery‘ by 16th June 2021
  • Apply for the Horizon Recognition Prize ‘EU Prize for Women Innovators‘ by 30th June 2021
  • Apply for the Erasmus+ open call for grants ‘Capacity building in the field of Youth‘ by 1st July 2021
  • Apply for the Horizon Recognition Prize ‘The European Capital of Innovation Awards‘ by 15th July 2021
  • Apply for the COSME open call for grants ‘Enterprise Europe Network‘ by 11th August 2021
  • Apply for the Erasmus+ open call for grants ‘Alliances for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills‘ by 7th September 2021
  • Apply for the Erasmus+ open call for grants ‘Alliances for Education and Enterprises‘ by 7th September 2021
  • Apply for the Erasmus+ open call for grants ‘Partnership for Excellence – Centres of Vocational Excellence‘ by 7th September 2021
  • Apply for the Horizon Europe open call for grants ‘Energy Harvesting Storage Technologies‘ by 22nd September 2021
  • FORTHCOMING: Creative Europe call for grants ‘Fostering European Media Talents and Skills‘
  • FORTHCOMING: Creative Europe call for grants ‘European Cooperation Projects Small Scale‘
  • FORTHCOMING: Creative Europe call for grants ‘European Networks of Cultural and Creative Organisations’
  • FORTHCOMING: Creative Europe call for grants ‘Innovation Lab‘

Picture by Romain Tordo from Unslpash.

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

COVID-19 – Mental Health & Well-being of Healthcare Professionals

1 June, 2021 By Johanna Pacevicius

The Chair of the AER Digital Health Network, Donna Hendersson, Scotland (UK) is pleased to invite AER members and partners on 16 June 2021 from 11:00-12:30 CET for a webinar on supporting the psychological wellbeing of healthcare professionals. The event will highlight the potential of digital solutions and the importance of digital (technological) literacy in providing mental health support.

Knowledge exchange to accelerate change

Capacity-building and knowledge exchange is both the foundation and aspiration of SCIROCCO Exchange EU Health Programme funded project (www.sciroccoexchange.com). The ultimate objective of this project is to support health and social care authorities in their transformation towards sustainable integrated and more efficient health and social care systems through better understanding of local needs, mutual learning, access to tailored evidence and improvement planning.

To achieve this objective, AER developed the SCIROCCO Exchange Knowledge Transfer Programme to facilitate the exchange of experience, good practices and lessons learned in order to speed up the adoption of integrated care in European regions and countries. This Knowledge Transfer Programme builds on the expertise of AER in peer learning for policy innovation.

Enormous psychological pressure for healthcare workers

The COVID-19 pandemics has proven to be a catalyst of change and of greater demand for coordinated and integrated health and social care services, with healthcare professionals and citizens at the centre of this change. As a result, healthcare professionals in particular are under enormous psychological pressure with stress, fatigues and anxiety being present in over 86% of health and social care workers worldwide (Vizeh, M.2020).

The webinar will feature examples of:

  • Assessing the psychosocial impact of COVID-19 on nurses and midwives at Odense Universal Hospital (South Denmark) including personal and work concerns of nurses/midwives during the COVID-19 outbreak and level of emotional distress experienced by nurses/midwives during the COVID-19 outbreak.
  • PRoMis National Well-being Hub for those working in Health and Social Care in Scotland.

The outcomes of this webinar will also help to inform the knowledge of other regions and countries in providing mental health and wellbeing support for healthcare professionals.

Draft Agenda

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
Colorful Hands 2 of 3 / George Fox students Annabelle Wombacher, Jared Mar, Sierra Ratcliff and Benjamin Cahoon collaborated on the mural. / Article: https://www.orartswatch.org/painting-the-town-in-newberg/

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

COVID-19: How to effectively communicate the need for change?

25 May, 2021 By Johanna Pacevicius

The Chair of the AER Digital Health Network Donna Hendersson, Scotland (UK) is pleased to invite AER members and partners on 26 May 10:00 – 11:00 CET to participate in a webinar focused on communication and awareness raising strategies for the wider public in the time of COVID-19 as well as training of healthcare professionals remotely.

Change & greater demand for coordinated & integrated care

The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a catalyst of change and of greater demand for coordinated and integrated health and social care services, with healthcare professionals and citizens at the centre of this change. This includes the need for effective communication strategies, including both top down and informal strategies via social media, in order to build the necessary knowledge and skills in managing this pandemic. Training and awareness-raising strategies and programmes on communication between professionals and wider public is an emerging trend across health and social care systems in Europe and worldwide. It is therefore vital to encourage countries and regions to share their knowledge and experience in implementing these strategies and programmes.

The webinar is organised jointly with the Scirocco Exchange project and ECHAlliance as part of Scotland’s Digital Health Housing and Care Learning network event which will take place on 26-28 May 2021.

ECHAlliance Integrated Care Thematic Innovation Ecosystem has been set up to facilitate the sharing of good practices, exchanging ideas and gaining new knowledge. In collaboration with the EU Health Programme co-funded project SCIROCCO Exchange and Scottish Digital Health and Care Learning Network, the Ecosystem offers the opportunity to share the experience of Scotland and Lithuania in managing the communication and training strategies in response to COVID-19 crisis. Specifically, this knowledge exchange webinar will feature examples of:

  • Effective communication strategies
  • Training of healthcare professionals on the forms of communication
  • Training of citizens on the forms of communication
  • Healthcare literacy initiatives.

The outcomes of this webinar will inform about the objectives and aspirations of newly established Integrated Care Thematic Innovation Ecosystem and opportunities for collaboration. It will also help to gain the knowledge of other regions and countries in communicating the need for change in response to COVID-19 and accelerate the learning and potential adoption of this knowledge at local and regional levels.

Download the agenda here

Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash

Disclaimer “The content of this Webinar represents the views of the author only and is his/her sole responsibility; it cannot be considered to reflect the views of the European Commission and/or the Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency or any other body of the European Union. The European Commission and the Agency do not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.”

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Why Innovative Skills are the Catalyst for Rural Areas

5 May, 2021 By Valeria Simonte

On 25 March, the Assembly of European Regions hosted the “Ambitious Skills and Innovation Strategies: A Territorial Approach” webinar. The event was part of the series of webinars on EU funding opportunities organised within the Skillnet project (co-founded by the Erasmus+ Programme) to bring together experts in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and to establish collaborations for future EU project proposals.

We are now living in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where machines and artificial intelligence play a significant role in enhancing productivity and wealth. These changes have given rise to new skills requirements and a growing skills shortage among businesses and especially SMEs, which often struggle to find the talent they require. The new skills requirements are not only limited to high-tech and manufacturing competences but also cover interpersonal skills, as well as competences related to sales, human resources, care, and education.

In the context of regional innovation strategies, rural areas should play an essential role, not just as a source of raw material and places to locate space-intensive activities, but as genuine partners and drivers of innovation. Additionally, increasing attention should be addressed to the many interdependencies between regional development policies and the skills required to sustain innovation strategies.

Interreg EU Policy Learning Platform – Support for regions in delivering better place-based policies

Existing networks and platforms offer increasing support to regional authorities across Europe to develop and deliver better policies through a territorial approach. Among these, Elena Ferrario, Thematic Manager of the Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform (PLP), presented the services of the PLP as online learning, events, and personalised policy advice through a free on-demand peer review service. The latter is a service offered to local, regional, and national policy makers who seek advice on a specific policy framework through the design of a two-day knowledge-exchange experience with experts and peers. The cooperative approach within the Interreg community allows to identify the thematic experts who will set the to-do-list of actions within two working days (online or onsite), and after 12 to 18 months they will follow-up with the implementation results.

The application for the peer review service is open permanently and is an easy process. Interested regions can access the Terms of References and/or contact Elena Ferrario [[email protected]] to apply.

Additionally, the PLP outlines policy briefs, concise and to-the-point documents outlining recommendations and best practices for regional and local authorities and policymakers. In this context, Katharina Krell, Thematic Expert of the Interreg Europe PLP, highlighted the Skills for Innovation and Skills for Energy Transition briefs, which feature policy recommendations that draw on Interreg Europe’s experience with projects on the development of skills for innovation, and which aim to show regions a path towards better regional innovation policymaking.

Good practice from the Donegal County – Education and training for high tech skills

The ICT FinTech and engineering industries are key sectors within the Donegal County, contributing to regional development and boosting place-based innovation. To this aim, Mr. Vinny McGroary, Area Training Manager at the Donegal Education & Training Board (ETB), stated that the County encourages the continuous development of new skills through Donegal ETB. The latter provides second-level education programmes and Further Education Training which include a partnership of collaborations within the community, voluntary and private sectors, as well as with businesses.

The national strategy is focused on promoting growth through the improvement of working skills from the beginning of apprenticeships right up to the professional level. Additionally, Donegal ETB provides a number of full-time and part-time programmes for the development of skills tailored to the industry’s needs, and many of these courses are industry certified and endorsed by employers. Among these, the Skills to Advance and Skills for Work programmes are tailored to upskill people with a lower skill set and who need more opportunities to make progress in their professional careers. The Apprenticeship programme enables close collaboration with industries through a combination of learning in the workplace and education in the training centre.

The provision of these trainings focusing particularly on the ICT, FinTech, and Engineering sectors has been of core relevance to address the high rates of school drop-out. Additionally, it contributed to boost solid partnerships between people, businesses, and local organisations.

Funding incentives for territorial development

As presented by Agnese Pantaloni, EU Projects Coordinator at the Assembly of European Regions, the EU has deployed several means to support territorial development in rural areas. Among these we find:

  • The Common Agricultural Policy 2021-2027 (CAP) will be supported by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development which is designed to reduce economic, environmental, and social constraints in urban areas and outermost regions, fostering knowledge transfer and innovation while promoting social inclusion, and economic development.
  • Additionally, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) supports Technical Vocational Education and Training systems through investment on skills development for smart specialisation, employability, and adaptation to labour market changes.
  • The European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) brings together the existing European Social Fund with the EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI), the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) and the Fund for Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD). Initiatives supported through this newly established fund will likely focus on the acquisition of digital skills through schooling and education, support measures to improve the recruitment, and promote the socio-economic integration of newcomers from third countries.
  • Interreg Programmes aim at fostering a more competitive, smarter, greener, resilient and connected Europe. Interreg Programmes include cross-border, transnational, and interregional.
  • With a budget of over €28 billion, the ERASMUS+ Programme supports mobility and learning for all across the European Union and beyond. It provides opportunities for study periods abroad, traineeships, apprenticeships, and staff exchanges in all fields of education, training, youth and sport.
  • Horizon Europe finances research and innovation projects in thematic areas such as climate change, transport, health, food, agriculture, rural development, energy efficiency. Participating in Horizon Europe is open to all types of organisations based in the EU and all over the world, both public and private sector organisations, working on individual and collaborative based projects.

Where to find resources & support?

LEADER/ CLLD: European initiative that supports development projects to revitalise rural areas through bottom-up approaches.
European Network for Rural Development: Hub for sharing ideas & experiences on how rural development policies work in practice, facilitating knowledge sharing and networking among all rural stakeholders in the EU.
Smart Specialisation Platform: The platform that provides guidance and good practice examples, tools to facilitate strategy formation & mutual learning of the smart specialisation strategy (S3).
EIP-AGRI: European Innovation Partnerships that build bridges between science and practice, collecting knowledge and best practices for farmers, foresters, advisers, and others.
Policy Learning Platform: The second action of Interreg Europe programme that provides a space for continuous learning, where a network of policy makers can benefit from personalised expert advice, updated news and examples of peer-reviewed good practices.

Open and Future EU Funding Opportunities and Initiatives

  • Become an AER member
  • Apply to the AGRIP-SIMPLE-2021 Open Call for proposals for simple programmes 2021: Promotion of agricultural products (topics in internal market and in third countries) by 11th May 2021
  • Apply to the ERASMUS+ Open Call for projects: Small scale partnerships by 20th May 2021
  • Apply to the ERASMUS+ Open Call for projects: Cooperation partnerships by 20th May 2021
  • Apply to the UCPM Open Projects Grant Call: Network Partnership by 1st June 2021
  • Apply to the SOCPL Open Call for Projects: Information and Training Measures for Workers’ Organisations by 9th June 2021
  • Apply to the ERASMUS+ Open Call for projects: Partnership for Cooperation in the field of Youth – European NGOs by 15th June 2021
  • Apply to the ERASMUS+ Open Call for projects: Partnership for Cooperation in the field of Education and Training – European NGOs by 15th June 2021
  • Apply to the Horizon Europe open call for projects: Green Deal Innovations for Economic Recovery by 16th June 2021
  • Apply to the Horizon Europe open call for projects: EIC Accelerator Open 2021 by 16th June 2021
  • Apply to the ERASMUS+ Open Call for projects: European Youth Together (Small)by 24th June 2021
  • Apply to the SOCPL Open call for projects: Support for Social Dialogue by 30th June 2021
  • Apply to the SOCPL Open call for projects: Improving Expertise in the Field of Industrial Relations by 15th July 2021
  • Apply to the ERASMUS+ Open Call for projects: Partnership for Excellence – Centres of Vocational Excellence by 7th September 2021
  • Apply to the ERASMUS+ Forthcoming Call for projects: Alliances for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills (implementing the ‘Blueprint’) by 7th September 2021
  • Apply to the ERASMUS+ Forthcoming Call for projects: Alliances for Education and Enterprises by 7th September 2021
  • Join the EU Green Week 2021 from 3rd May to 13th June
  • Access the Future of the Common Agricultural Policy proposal by the European Commission
  • Access the new Horizon Europe Programme
  • Access the new Erasmus+ Programme

To learn more, you can download the presentations from the webinar on the event webpage, and join discussions through the Peer Learning Clubs!

Photo from Unsplash @jeshoots

This webinar was organised as part of the SKILLNET series of webinars on EU funding opportunities. SKILLNET is a project funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission. Through building transnational and cross-sectional partnerships, SKILLNET aims to strengthen the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system’s capacity to design high-quality VET programmes tailored to current societal needs. To this end, after each webinar, a bulletin with open and upcoming EU opportunities is circulated among relevant stakeholders.

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Improving the attractiveness of Technical and Vocational Education & Training for women

26 April, 2021 By Valeria Simonte

We are pleased to invite you to the webinar on Improving the attractiveness of Technical and Vocational Education and Training for women.

The Technical and Vocational Education and Training sector has a major role to play in providing the skills Europe will need in the future. Moreover, countries with well-designed vocational training programmes find it easier to avoid youth unemployment, even in times of crisis. However, this sector has traditionally been a predominantly male environment.

This is why the European Parliament underlined the need to

continue to address gender bias and gender-stereotypical choices by ensuring and encouraging the equal participation of women in vocational training for what are usually traditional ‘male’ professions and of men in ‘female’ professions; calls for the gender dimension to be reinforced in efforts to modernise VET systems and to make learning both at and outside work more accessible to women employees and those with family care duties, not least in sectors where women are under-represented, notably the digital, STEM and green sectors, in order to combat gender segregation in education and employment and combat gender stereotypes

European Parliament resolution of 17 December 2020 on the Council Recommendation on vocational education and training (VET) for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience (2020/2767(RSP))

 

The event will be held on 13 July 2021 at 10:00 CET and will give regions the chance to share insights and hear about support initiatives at EU level.

AGENDA & PRESENTATIONS: 

  • 10:00-10.05: Housekeeping rules and quick presentation of the Skillnet project, Valentina De Vico, Communication Manager, Skillman Team
  • 10:05-10:10: Opening, Andrew Gibson, AER Vice President for Inclusion, Diversity & Equal Opportunities
  • 10:10-10:20: Combating gender stereotypes, Alexia Fafara, Junior Policy and Campaigns Officer, European Women’s Lobby, SRHR lead
  • 10:20-10:30: The Gender+ project, Michael Miller, Project Officer, The Opportunity Centre
  • 10:30-10:40: Hampshire (GB) Women in Construction, Carolyn Jay Project Manager in the Skills, Partnerships and Strategy Team
  • 10:40-10:55: Discussion with all speakers and attendees
  • 10:55-11.00: Closing

The webinar is also available on Youtube

The events are part of the Skillnet webinar series AER is organising, which provides an opportunity for mutual learning around topics identified by AER members.

 

 

Contacts

 [email protected]

 [email protected]

 

This webinar is organised as part of the SKILLNET series of webinars on EU funding opportunities. SKILLNET is a project funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission aiming to strengthen the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system’s role and capacity to design high-quality VET programmes tailored to current societal needs through enhanced transnational and cross-sectoral partnerships.

 

BRIGHT IDEAS – The Role of Regions in Improving Energy Efficiency

26 April, 2021 By Johanna Pacevicius

Eva Hallström, Chair of the AER Working Group on Energy and Climate Change invites all AER members and friends to join an event on the role of regions in improving energy efficiency. Regions will share their experience, challenges, and enablers. This event is co-organised by Värmland (SE) and Viken (NO)

Energy Efficiency: how to achieve the transition in the industry?

This webinar aims to build a platform for discussions regarding the EU’s work on energy efficiency, focusing on the green transition within the industry. It will be an opportunity to share ideas, experiences, and best practices.

Experiences from the Bioeconomy Region

Värmland and Viken are both members of the “Bioeconomy Region”, a leading region of the forest bioeconomy.

To achieve climate goals while making use of the full potential of the forest bioeconomy, the rate of development and innovation needs to be faster. This is why the Interreg project «The Bioeconomy Region» was created in 2017 by a number of actors in inner Scandinavia

Both regions will share how they support improved energy efficiency in fields as diverse as production, construction or logistics.

Synergies with the Green Deal

The industry will play a central role in the transition to improved energy efficiency and carbon neutrality in Värmland, Viken, and in Europe as a whole. this is why synergies between the European Green Deal and the EU’s Industrial Strategy are needed.

This webinar on energy efficiency will also be an opportunity to gather inputs and testimonies, which will contribute to the work being developed by the AER Task Force on Climate.

Programme:

13:00 Welcome by Eva Hallström, Chair WG on Energy and Climate change, AER
13:10 Regional perspectives on Energy Efficiency

 

Stina Höök, Regional Councillor, Region Värmland, SE

Johan Edvard Grimstad, Regional Councillor Region Viken, NO

13:30 Projekt BIS – Climate measures and energy efficiency through Regional cooperation and innovation 

 

Sandra Svennberg, Head of Unit, Department of regional development, Region Värmland, SE

Janne Buhaug, Head of rural and regional business development Region Viken, NO

13:50 Digitisation as method to achieve Energy Efficiency

 

Charlotta Kullander Hedbom, Energy and Climate Advisor

14:00 Panel discussion
14:20 The AER Task Force on Climate: how the findings of this webinar will be used for joint advocacy work

 

Magnus Berntsson, AER President, Chair of the AER Task Force on Climate

14:30 Conclusion

 

 

Registrations are open! Creating Effective Innovation Ecosystems

24 March, 2021 By Valeria Simonte

We are pleased to invite you to the webinar “Creating Effective Innovative Ecosystems” which will take place on 19 April 2021 at 10:00 CET.

Innovation ecosystems: a complex set of relationships

The term innovation ecosystem derives from the analogy with biological ecosystems. These are a complex set of relationships among the living resources, habitats, and residents of an area. Their functional goal is to reach sustained equilibrium.

An innovation ecosystem describes the complex set of relationships among very diverse actors and entities, which work for technology development and innovation in a territory. Amongst others, this includes the material resources and human capital of universities, colleges of engineering, business schools, business firms, venture capitalists, industry-university research institutes, state or regional economic development agencies and chambers of commerce, funding agencies and policymakers.

Partnerships, competences and talent

Regions are facing a paradigm shift from closed innovation and linear subcontracts to open innovation ecosystems. Value chains are becoming more interregional and a wider spectrum of stakeholders is necessary. In this context, communication, collaboration and engagement on all sides are essential to attain effective innovation ecosystems.

Ecosystems are smart when all segments of society take part to build a culture of co-design and co-creation in their area. The participation and integration of diverse collaborative partnerships is a key enabler to support and foster innovation ecosystems.

In this context, facilitating the involvement of Technical Vocational Education & Training centres (TVET) in innovation ecosystems is imperative to increase the availability of competences and talent.

The webinar will look at:

  • The elements that enable an effective innovation ecosystem;
  • how regional ecosystems involve different levels of education, and in particular whether TVET stakeholders are involved.

How to join the webinar

Click on the “register here” button below

or go to the Skillnet events page and choose:

  • E 421 – Creating Effective Innovation Ecosystems | @: Online () 19.04.2021 10:00 CET
Register here

Speakers and the agenda of the event will be announced soon.

This webinar is organised as part of the SKILLNET series of webinars on EU funding opportunities. SKILLNET is a project funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission aiming to strengthen the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system’s role and capacity to design high-quality VET programmes tailored to current societal needs through enhanced transnational and cross-sectoral partnerships.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is download.png
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is logosbeneficaireserasmusright_en_1.jpg
Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Advocating for Youth Participation at Regional Level

22 March, 2021 By Gisela Guari Cañada

Do you want to learn more about the European Youth Goals and its Youth Strategy, the opportunities and challenges for youth participation at local and regional level, and how to develop and effective advocacy plan?

Read the Y-FED Training Handbook!

In 2018, as a result of a Structured Dialogue with young people, decision-makers, and other stakeholders, the European Union developed the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027. This youth strategy set out to achieve eleven European Youth Goals. These aim to overcome main challenges that young people face in their daily lives, and present a vision of Europe that empowers young people to reach their full potential. 

Promoting the active participation of young people in decisions and actions at local and regional level is essential if we are to build a more democratic, inclusive and prosperous society. Active citizenship is understood as participating in democratic life with the main purpose of playing an active role in the development of society and contributing to the improvement of the well-being of its citizens. However, it is relevant to bear in mind that participation in democratic life is more than voting, hence, active citizenship is fostered by having the right, the resources, and the opportunity to participate and influence in decision-making processes, as to be engaged in actions that contribute to building a better society.  

In this regard, the project “Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it” co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme aims to bring the EU closer to its young citizens by developing a proposal for an improved institutional framework of the Union in line with the European Youth Goals. It supports their implementation by embedding them in the reformed EU institutional model and transposing them from the European to the local level.

Within the framework of this project, the Assembly of European Regions together with JEF Europe, organised an advocacy training seminar which aimed to empower young people to advocate for meaningful youth participation at local and regional level. Over three days in early March, 24 young activists from Bulgaria, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Spain, Malta and Poland learned the skills needed to advocate for their rights and priorities.

The training seminar kicked-off on Thursday 4 March 2021 with an introduction to the European Union Youth Strategy 2019-2027 and the European Youth Goals.

Following the European module, the main focus of the second session was on enhancing participants’ understanding of active youth participation in democratic and political life at regional and local level. Trainees got to learn about examples of best practices and non-formal education activities, which facilitated the identification of youth participation challenges as outlined in the European Youth Goals.

The last day of the training seminar aimed to build participants’ advocacy skills and provide them with the right tools to lobby for better youth participation. The trainees were split into 8 groups in which they had to develop an advocacy strategy based on the challenges for youth participation identified during the previous session. They also had to design a timeline of advocacy activities to be implemented at local and regional level to push for change. The challenges were the following:

  • young people’s lack of engagement, and critical thinking in decision-making processes on local and regional level
  • creating more inclusive communities for young people with fewer opportunities
  • instrumentalisation of young people for political goals by decision-makers
  • lacking opportunities for active participation for young people on local and regional level
  • difficulties in accessing organised groups and activities for rural/suburban youth
  • lack of information and networking amongst young people regarding current mechanisms for youth participation
  • lack of transparency in consultation processes with young people
  • financial and educational obstacles to empowering young participation

What’s next?

Following the training seminar, the trainees will implement their advocacy actions in European regions, which will be part of the follow-up activity within the Y-FED project.

Stay tuned to hear how the young activists will overcome the obstacles identified and improve youth participation at regional and local level.

Photo by UX Indonesia on Unsplash

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Active Participation & Social Inclusion To Harness The Diversity Advantage

23 February, 2021 By Valeria Simonte

On 16th February 2021, the Assembly of European Regions in cooperation with IOM and the Intercultural Regions Network hosted the webinar “Intercultural regions: Active Participation & Social Inclusion“.
This was the third webinar co-organised within the framework of the Includ-EU project which works towards building more inclusive and cohesive European Societies.

Intercultural interaction at the core of positive diversity management

Policies and practices that foster intercultural interaction and inclusion are instrumental in enabling cities and regions to manage diversity positively. This third webinar focused on regional and local experiences facilitating migrant’s active participation and social inclusion.

Political will, effective methodologies, a learning environment

The webinar, which was moderated by Irena Guidikova, Head of Division of the Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Programmes at the Council of Europe, presented different experiences of the pivotal role of regions in building inclusive and welcoming communities, where no one is left behind.
Ms. Guidikova highlighted the slow evolution of concepts around migration, from the assimilation approach, which considered that individuals had to completely conform to the host society without the latter changing in any way and where all efforts were aimed at avoiding change, to the intercultural approach, in which aims cities and regions strive to become more inclusive and to harness the diversity advantage.

To this aim, the Intercultural Cities Network, which brings together over 140 cities in Europe and beyond, developed a variety of tools and methodologies as well as a mutual learning environment for cities. This inspired the creation of the Intercultural Regions Network, led by the Council of Europe and the Assembly of European Regions.

Are all animals equal?

Conny Brännberg, co-chair of the Intercultural Regions Network at the Regional minister of culture in Västra Götaland (SE), started his intervention citing George Orwell and asking whether in Europe some may be more equal than others. Building intercultural and cohesive regions can only be achieved by truly treating people equally.

The EU Action Plan: Lessons learned and upcoming changes

Angeliki Petrits, Policy Officer at the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs – DG HOME of the European Commission provided an overview of the main actions & principles underpinning the new EU Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion (2021-2027), built upon the lessons learned from the previous EU Action Plan.

In this context, the sectoral areas of actions regard:

  • Inclusive education and training, meaning better equipment for multicultural classrooms, as well as an easier recognition of qualifications and continued language learning.
  • Improving job opportunities and skills recognition by bringing together different labour market partners, and facilitating the assessment of migrant’ skills, especially for women.
  • Promoting access to health services, while ensuring that people are informed about their rights, and recognise the specific challenges faced by women.
  • Provide adequate housing, through the EU funding opportunities and the boost of mutual learning, both at the national and local level.

Ms. Petrits, underlined the importance of reinforcing strong multi-stakeholder partnerships of cooperation, as well as supporting the use of digital tools for integration and inclusion through the EU funding opportunities.

Overcoming barriers

Have you ever heard about quality social contact?

Jobst Koehler, Senior Integration & Migrant Training Specialist at the International Organisation for Migration – IOM, presented different solutions to overcome social barriers to integration and thus achieve a quality social engagement.

Understanding the possible targeted solutions to overcome the different barriers to participation is pivotal to address the latter. Whether they are individual, social, or institutional barriers Mr. Koehler stressed the importance of collective experiences and a social mix of activities, which combined with local communities’ communication around integration can influence the perception of host and migrant communities and helps to defeat the barriers to participation.

Experiences from the regions

The webinar presented two experiences from the regions:

Catalonia: community involvement at the core

Arancha Garcia Fresneda, the representative from the Secretariat for Equality, Migration, and Citizenship of the Government of Catalonia provided a quick overview of the activities implemented with migrant communities whose main features are cross-cutting approach, consensus, intergovernmental coordination and cooperation, and dialogue with civil society. In this context, Ms. Fresneda presented the activities carried out by the Association EAMISS – Equipo de Atención y de Mediación Intercultural y Socio sanitaria whose president is Jossie Rocafort.

Ms. Rocafort explained the strong presence of the Filipino community in the region and how their potential contribution to the development of an integrated society is hindered by the lack of communication with social services, among other challenges. In this context, the EAMISS Association aims to combine internal and external services to raise awareness within the community, among which language courses, social and legal assistance, as well as more activities aimed at boosting gender equality through the recognition of women’s rights.

The University of Padua & the Mentorship project

A very successful local example is the mentorship project organised by IOM to ease the inclusion process of TCNs in Italian universities by implementing peer to peer support scheme. In this mentorship programme implemented at the University of Padova, student committees are supporting foreign students’ integration by providing them with administrative, academic and social support.
Elena Tubertini, a Tutor and Team coordinator in the Mentorship project, presented the work they carry out, as well as the results of a mapping exercise to analyse needs and barriers of foreign students currently studying at the University of Padova.

Wrap-up & next steps

The event provided both insights on the barriers to active participation and examples of approaches and practices which improve active participation and inclusion.

The Includ-EU website will be launched in Summer, where anyone will be able to provide good practices & foster mutual learning.

Regions interested in joining the Intercultural Regions Network should contact Vania Freitas – [email protected]

Watch backClick here
AgendaClick here to download
Handouts Angeliki Petrits –  DG HOME – The Action Plan on Integration & Inclusion 2021-2027
 Jobst Koehler – IOM – Barriers to Participation
 Jossie Rocafort – Catalonia – Equipo de Atención y de Mediación Intercultural Sociosanitaria, EAMISS
 Elena Tubertini – University of Padua – Mentorship Project 2020/2021
Contact[email protected]

This webinar is organised in the context of INCLUD-EU, an EU project funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration fund (AMIF) which contributes to building more inclusive and cohesive European societies by enhancing knowledge, driving innovation, and stimulating cooperation between local and regional authorities in the European Union. To know more about the project, visit the project webpage, and consult this info sheet.

Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 23
  • Next Page »
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Tweets by @europeanregions

AER Projects

  • Ongoing projects
    • EU-BELONG: An Intercultural Approach to Migrant Integration in Europe’s Regions
    • Includ-EU: Regional and local expertise, exchange and engagement for enhanced social cohesion in Europe
  • Partner search
  • Completed projects
    • SCIROCCO Exchange project
    • SKILLNET – Sector Skills Network of VET centres in Advanced Manufacturing: a coalition of transnational VET providers
    • CUBES – Cultural Administration Boosting with the Engagement of Sustainability for Local Communities
    • Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it
    • AMiD – Access to Services for Migrants with Disabilities
    • AER Summer Academy 2016
    • Alcohol Prevention Peer Reviews
    • ECREIN+
    • Engaged
    • Joint Efforts to Combat Dropout (JET-CD)
    • Let’s REUnite! Together for cohesion project
    • MOCHA
    • MORE4NRG
    • PRESERVE
    • PYE – Promoting Youth Employment
    • PRO-I3T
    • REALM – Regional Adult Learning Multipliers and the Europe 2020 Flagship Initiatives
    • Regions4GreenGrowth
    • Road to the Future
    • SEED European Silver Economy Awards
    • Smart Care
    • Smart Europe
    • YES – Youth Entrepreneurship Strategies

Library

Statutory Documents
AER Strategies
Minutes
Media Kit
Activity Reports
Newsletters
European Regions Map

Join AER!

Become a Member

Job Opportunities

Sign up for our Newsletter

Website map

Brussels · Strasbourg · Alba Iulia

A Network, a Partner and a Voice of European regions, since 1985 · Copyright © 2023 · Assembly of European Regions · [email protected] · Log in