Equal employs a thematic approach for developing and disseminating new ways to deliver employment policies that combat discrimination and inequality experienced by those attempting to access the labour market.
It employs an approach to tackling these issues based on seven leading principles: Mainstreaming, Partnership, Equal Opportunities, Innovation, Empowerment, Transnational and Thematic.
Equal Brighton & Hove is a Theme A programme: Helping people access the labour market.
The other themes are Promoting opportunities for ethnic minorities (Theme B), Opening business creation to all (Theme C), Strengthening the social economy (Theme D), Promoting lifelong learning (Theme E), Raising the adaptability of businesses and people (Theme F), Reducing gender inequalities (Theme H), Supporting asylum seekers (Theme I). For links to other Development Partnerships working across these themes visit the Ecotec website. For more information about the Equal Programme as a whole, visit the main EU website.
Empowerment Overview
Equal defines Empowerment as the development of capacity and opportunity for individuals and groups to play a full role in society in general, not only in economic terms, but also in social, psychological and political terms, with those involved in the implementation of activities also taking part in decision making.
Equal recognises 4 main principles of Empowerment:
Empowerment is vital to create the real, lasting and sustainable change needed to integrate socially excluded and marginalised groups into communities, and to build the capacity of those communities and the people within them. To make it happen, individuals and communities must be able to take control of their own future by accessing resources and developing the skills to generate opportunities for themselves.
The real challenge of Empowerment is that it signals a move in the balance of power, away from those in positions of control (for example, partnership board members and project managers) and towards the intended beneficiaries. Communication must be honest, open and widespread; relationships must work on the basis of trust and freedom, with those involved able to take risks and try things out, even where project staff may suspect that the activity will not be successful. The following questions may be useful:
Our definition of Empowerment places it as the centre of developing measures to tackle social exclusion and marginalisation from the labour market. In terms of the EQUAL programme, Empowerment at its best will mean that the intended beneficiaries of the activity – people facing discrimination in the labour market – will also take part in developing the project and making decisions at all levels.
Within Equal, Empowerment is closely linked with innovation, as the programme aims to join strategies for employment with strategies for social inclusion. This is a challenging task and one that requires new thinking and approaches and we look forward to working with our activity partners across the city to identify, share and improve good practice.
Further Resources
Equal Brighton & Hove delivered a seminar on Empowerment for all APs on July 7th 2006. Its aim was to share the principles of empowerment and support projects to recognise areas of empowerment within their own projects.
The following files from the seminar are available to download:
An exercise was conducted at the end of the seminar that involved identifying and breaking down into stages the empowerment related activities in Project Full Bids. A blank Empowerment Plan is available, along with an example.
For any further details on completing an empowerment plan for your project please contact Linden Farrer on 01273 294544.
Equal Brighton & Hove (EBH) promotes recognising the value of diversity throughout the partnership.
EBH has identified groups that tend to experience lower levels of opportunity in employment. The groups form the focus for the partners' activities.
The Core Team encourages and works alongside partners to ensure equality issues are actively considered through all aspects of the projects. This is in line with the legal duties that apply to most public authorities for disability, ethnic origin and gender.
EBH is innovative in encouraging our partners to work as if the duties apply to all participants. We will do this by: identifying relevant equality issues; assessing policies and practices; offering support and advice, and; learning from what worked well and what did not.
Barriers to equality exist at different levels; the individual - their personal situation and their employability; employers - how committed and effective they are at attracting and retaining a diverse workforce.
EBH will encourage projects to challenge their assumptions about how they work. We will assess how effective they have been in supporting beneficiaries by monitoring and evaluation of programme developers.
The City of Brighton and Hove hosts a broad and complex range of structures that aim to encourage social and economic participation in public life. These link with regional and national organisations and structures working with similar aims. EBH will look at the effectiveness of these structures in supporting and delivering sustainable improvements in equality of opportunity for all residents.
Tackling new ways of dealing with discrimination and inequality in the labour market.
Equal Brighton & Hove aims to break down barriers to employment through novel actions and activities. The project will support a better understanding of the local labour market and look for new opportunities to strengthen the economy. These novel approaches can be summarised as -
ECOTEC have produced a Good Practice Guide on Measuring and Sustaining Innovation
The Equal programme has been designed so that its actions influence policy developments and make sure that policy makers learn lessons from its activities. This is the ultimate goal of Equal.
Mainstreaming is not the same as dissemination, although this is an important part of the mainstreaming process.
Mainstreaming is the process through which DPs can create an impact through influencing understanding, policy goals, practice, and priorities. It means using DP findings and adopting new practice whereas dissemination relates to publicising lessons through conferences, events, reports, and thematic papers.
Dissemination on the other hand involves DPs sharing information, and raising awareness of results and outcomes.
Mainstreaming takes place at two different levels: vertical and horizontal.
ECOTEC have produced a Good Practice Guide on Mainstreaming
This level is aimed at the Development Partnership, Partners, and other local or regional agencies with similar interests, commonly focusing on practical lessons.
It starts with peer networking, and can involve
This level aims at influencing national policy, using intermediaries to transfer key lessons.
It is the more challenging form of mainstreaming, as it needs direct contact with policy makers. It can involve:
Equal is delivered by Development Partnerships and not by individual organisations.
This reflects the need for a multi-agency approach to tackle the barriers to employment faced by many individuals, and also reflects the range of specialist organisational skills required to deliver an effective Equal DP.
The importance placed on partnership is illustrated by the significant time and resources it devotes to developing partnerships during Action 1, and in supporting and maintaining partnerships in Actions 2 and 3.
ECOTEC have produced a Good Practice Guide on Partnership