Name of Organisation:

QeC-European Regeneration Areas Network

Representative:

Haroon Saad, Director

Contact details:

Rue van Artevelde 80, B-1000 Brussels
Belgium
Tel: +32 (0)2 524 45 45,
Fax: +32 (0)2 524 44 31,
E-mail: info@qec.skynet.be
Website: http://www.qec-eran.org

Name of Organisation:

Kreisausschuss des Odenwaldkreises

Representative:

Dr. Michael Reuter

Contact details:

Michelstaedter Str. 12
64711 Erbach
Tel: + 49 (0)6062-70462
Fax: + 49 (0) 6062-70401
E-mail: m.zeitler@odenwaldkreis.de
Website: www.odenwaldkreis.de

Short presentation of the organisation:

The 'Kreisausschuss des Odenwaldkreises' is the public administration of the Odenwald district, which is situated in the Bundesland of Hessen.

The department responsible for Youth has been actively working for improving the situation of disadvantaged young people for a better integration in the labour market. The tasks of the youth office are: planning of youth helping, economical youth helping, general and special social services, promotion of children and youth, child guidance and psychological advice for families with children.

Special focus on planning youth policies in the way that we update our policies to the needs of young people.

The youth unemployment is a central theme and so are the methods to improve the transition from school to work to get the social disadvantaged young people into vocational training.

 For more information on the districts' training activities click here: http://verbundausbildung.odenwaldkreis.de

For general information (in German) on the Odenwaldkreis go to: http://www.odenwaldkreis.de

Description of on-going projects relevant to the current project partnership:

"Spinach for Popeye" is a project for young people in the transition between school and work. The project contains a yearly conference with teachers and social workers and the exchange of good practice examples, supports to develop innovative, preventive and intervening policies/methods.

We inform each other about the actual scientific discussion in the countries.

We also have a yearly International Youth Exchange in the project Spinach for Popeye

Project: "Ausbildungsverbünde", 3 partners (companies and administrative institutions) together have the responsibility for one apprentice, trainee. They share the costs and the training for 3 years.

Other Areas of interest:

• Projects which help improving the transition from school to work for young people - to get good training vacancy.
• Stabilization and motivation of youngsters in order to integrate them into society.
• Prevention of social exclusion.

Name of Organisation:

Municipality of Thessaloniki

Representative:

Vasilios Papageorgopoulos

Contact details:

45 El. Venizelou str.
54631 Thessaloniki
Greece
Tel: +30 2310 270544
Fax: +30 2310 228222
E-mail: mayosal@otenet.gr

Name of Organisation:

Municipality of Den Helder

Representative:

Drs.W.M.Veltkamp

Contact details:

Department OWS(Education,Welfare,Sport)
Postbox 36, 1780 AA, Den Helder
Netherlands
Visitors Adress: Townhall, Drs.F.Bijlweg 20, 1784 MC Den Helder
Tel: 0031 223 678425
Fax:0031 223 678455
Email: p.veltkamp@denhelder.nl Website:www.denhelder.nl

Short presentation of the organisation:

 
The local government of Den Helder, a town with 60.000 inhabitants in the north of North-Holland, is responsible for integrated youth policy in general. Prevention of early school leaving is part of the local policy. The schools for secondary education are also responsible for prevention of early school leaving. The local government is responsible for looking after all pupils to be participating to compulsory education, to contact parents if not, and, if necessary, to give penalties to parents if they don't send their children to school. National and local policy is that every pupil leaves school and enters the labour market with a start qualification.

The secondary schools are autonomous and get their money from the national government. Local government is responsible for coordinating and stimulating cooperation of all the youth care provisions acting around and in the school. It is the interest of the local government to prevent early school leaving because people without qualifications will have big trouble to get and keep their job. If they are long unemployed the municipality has to pay their social benefit.

The policy group for early school leaving consist of: a policy officer responsible for group of the department for Education, Welfare and Sport (included youth policy and culture policy) named OWS has a team for pupils care; one full time and one part time official for the registration of compulsory pupils; three part time consultants looking after participation of compulsory education; one official for coordination functions to get youngsters older than 16 back to school to get a start qualification or get to work.
The policy officer for prevention of early school leaving is working close together with this team for pupil care. The early school leaving policy officer is working close together with the integrated youth policy officer.

Priorities of the municipality are to have a good registration system to know very well which pupil is at compulsory school and which is not, to invite the pupil and his/her parents to talk about this being not at school and give penalties to the parents if they not improve their behaviour.

Another priority is to have a good working pupil care network in and out primary and secondary school.

Next priority is to have a good catch net provision for school drop outs to give them a second chance and to improve their social skills and to change their way of coping with certain situations and get them back to school or get them into a combination of school and working.

The last priority is to reach pupils leaving after compulsory education school without a start qualification and try to get them back to a vocational training, get them into work or into a combination of work and vocational training.

It is also important to create good connexions between the different school levels since these are crucial moments when things can go wrong. But schools are responsible for the way they hand over the pupils. In each secondary location there are pupil care teams with counsellors of the school, police representative, youth care worker, health care worker, compulsory education consultant and a representative of the Triton catch net provisions.

There are neighbourhood teams for primary schools and Buro for youth care for signalling problems with pupils and families in the neighbourhood. There will be one team to help pupils professionally with behaviour problems. There is a specialized organisation to help pupils with learning problems in primary school.

In the quarter of Den Helder with a concentration of immigrant people there is a Children centre for extra activities for children after school time to learn about Den Helder and Holland and to play and have fun and cook together with other kids; kids from all over the world come together to this centre. For mothers this centre offers help in bringing up their children with special group meetings of mothers with questions about bringing up their children. A female street corner worker makes contact with kids and their parents to bring them to the centre. In the centre Buro for youth care has a special programme for kids who have behavioural problems in school and hinder their school development.

There is a central coordination team for risk youngsters to coordinate the approach to youngsters acting out in the neighbourhoods. Police, youth care, Triton youth work and compulsory education consultants of the municipality are participating in this coordination platform. They can use a street corner worker of Triton to make contact with the youngsters and mediate between them and grown up people living in the neighbourhood and complaining about of the behaviour of certain youngsters.

For early school leavers we have an Activation Centre of Triton with 24 learn/work places subsidized by the municipality.The youngsters analyse with professional help what their problems are, how to solve all these problems and how to cope with stressful situations and find a new way to get a successful future. They spend time to work on their social skill, social behaviour, relation problems and problems with housing, debts, drug and alcohol abuse. They (Triton) use European youth exchanges as an important tool, subsidized by the European Youth programme.

In school the more practical oriented pupils who have great difficulties with normal learning can follow a practical course partly consisting of work and come together with a group and learn around the practical experiences.

For newcomers, immigrant youngsters, there is a special group in secondary education to learn the language and customs of Holland.

Description of on-going projects relevant to the current project partnership:

Activation Centre of Triton foundation.
Target groups: school drop out, Early school leavers 13 - 16 years old.

Project Centre of Triton foundation.
Target group: 17 - 50 years, early school leavers and long term unemployed.
Solve their problems, teach them social skills and how to cope in another way with stressful circumstances.

Bring them back to school (mostly another school),get them into work or both into vocational training and work.

For more info see www.triton-denhelder.nl De Schooten, Arbeid en Scholing, Projecten Centrum

Other Areas of interest:

We have a European network for exchanging ideas, methods, and projects to help better disadvantaged youngsters to be prepared for the labour market of the future. Partners are Falkirk county in Scotland, Odenwaldkreis in Germany, Goteborg and Helsingborg in Sweden.

The activities consist of a once a year congress of a week about an actual theme and it is organised by one of the partners. Each partner participates through a mixed delegation of eight members (teachers, youth care workers, youth workers and policy officers). Exchanging best practices and newest ideas, inspiring each other and developing new projects are the main targets. In between we have exchanges of teachers, workers and politicians and yearly we are organising with the partners a youth exchange with youngsters from the target group, through the European programmes Socrates and Youth.

We are looking for one or two partners from Southern Europe, such as, for instance, Spain, Italy, or Greece.

Name of Organisation:

District Council Amsterdam South-East

Representative:

Edward Adusei

Contact details:

Po . box 12491
1100 AL Amsterdam Zuidoost
Tel: +31 (0)20 - 2525 347
Website: www.zuidoost.amsterdam.nl

Short presentation of the organisation:

We have 2 policy and 22 other staff members.
One policy advisor focusing on education and the other one on job opportunities.
Our policy priorities are:

1. Combating Early School leaving;
2. Promotion of Social and Economic integration of migrants (new and old comers) in to the Dutch Society

Our main activities are as follows:

• We organise integration courses, especially Dutch language courses for those who need it.
• We get the (potential) school leavers registered, negotiate their replacement on school or job projects
• We organise workshops, conferences on schooling and job opportunities to share and spread information

Description of on-going projects relevant to the current project partnership:

Project 1. ONZ MOET (an integrated learning approach: school/practical training/extra school hours activities)
Target group: Early school leavers and potential youths at risk

Objectives:

• To help the target group to ascertain the required diploma for job and further education
• To provide extra curriculum activities after regular school hours in order to keep the target group out of the street.

Results: 50 participants successfully graduated.

Project 2. RMC (Regional Registration Centre)

Target group: The (potential) early school leavers (17 to 22)

Objectives:

• To get the target group registered to get them back to school

Results: see presentation (to the 1 st Restart Steering Group Meeting)

Project 3. Parents Participation

Target group: Parents

Objective:

• To create awareness of the consequences of early school leaving

Results: 25 parents participated in the project. No one dropped out

Project 4. Field Staff project

Target group: 17 tot 22 students

Objective:

• To trace those who do not respond to letters and telephone calls

Results: 139 out of the target group were traced and went back to school and or found jobs.

Other Areas of interest:

• Socio- economic development of the inhabitants
• Projects that prevent early school leaving and promote job opportunities

Required Partners:

• Partners from the labour market, education and welfare organisations
• Partners who can support us financially.
  

Name of Organisation:

Federacion de Municipios y Provincias de Castilla La Mancha (FEMPCLM)

Representative:

Eugenio Sànchez Garcia (General Secretary)
Lidia Garcia Alises (Local Coordinator)

Contact details:

Camarin de San Cipriano, 3. 45002 Toledo
Tel:+ 34 925 254 927
Fax: +34 925 226 148
E-mail: lidia@fempclm.com
Website : www.fempclm.com

Short presentation of the organisation:

The FEMPCLM was founded in 1989 in Castilla La Mancha, and the mail activities are:

• Promotion and defence of the autonomy of the Municipalities and other local Organizations.
• Representation of the generic interests of the local communities before the political and administrative instances of the Independent Community of Castilla la Mancha.
• Promotion of studies on problems and questions of local character.
• Dissemination of the knowledge of the local institutions, fomenting the citizen participation.
• Development and consolidation of the European democratic spirit in the municipal scope, based on the autonomy and solidarity of the local entity.
• The members of the FEMPCLM were 900 municipalities and the 5 county councils of the region.

The structure is: President, General Secretary, Vice General Secretary and General Coordinator

Areas of Work: Social Affairs, environment, training and education, insurances, European programs, consumption.

There are also different commissions on: woman, education, environment, social affairs, cooperation, health, with the participation of different groups from the municipalities.

We have a special relation with the regional government of Castilla La Mancha, and we have differents agreements about themes like: woman, education, environment, social affairs, health, cooperation etc.

 Description of on-going projects relevant to the current project partnership

• DG IGUALDAD DE OPORTUNIDADES Y EMPLEO Programme, LATENT POTENTTIAL, 2002
• EQUAL programme, INSEREMPLEO, 2004
• TRANSNATIONAL COOPERATION AND EXCHANGE PROJECTS TO COMBAT SOCIAL EXCLUSION, STRATEGIES FOR SOCIAL INTEGRATION, 2004
• INTERREG III-C,CONNECTED CITIES, 2005
• INTERREG III-C., TECNOEMPRENDE, 2004
• TRANSNATIONAL COOPERATION AND EXCHANGE PROJECTS TO COMBAT SOCIAL EXCLUSION, RE-START: INNOVATE APPROACHES TO TACKLING EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING ,2005
• URBACT, URBANITAS, 2005
  
  

Name of Organisation:

Centre of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational Education and Training

Representative:

Metka Zevnik, Director

Contact details:

Ob zheleznici 16, 1000 Ljubljana,
Slovenia
Tel: + 386 1 5864 200
Fax: + 386 1 5422 045
E-mail: info@cpi.si info@cpi.si
Website: http://www.cpi.si/

Short presentation of the organisation:

  The Centre studies developmental trends in labour markets and prepares profiles of occupations and competence-based vocational standards (occupational standards) which form the basis for the preparation of educational programmes of vocational and technical education and for certification of national vocational qualifications. The Centre develops methodologies and prepares modern module-based educational programmes of short-term, secondary, as well as post-secondary vocational education. Other basic activities include the monitoring and introduction of educational programmes, evaluation of school-leaving exams and the vocational Matura as well as the development of new methodical and didactic concepts of knowledge, learning and teaching.

Important tasks of the Centre include the permanent education and training of teachers, professionals and mentors in vocational and technical education and the provision of technical support and guidance to providers of vocational and technical education. The Centre encourages and coordinates different developmental and innovative projects in vocational and technical schools, proposes projects for the equipment of schools, and in cooperation with publishers, develops modern didactic material and learning technology.

Description of on-going projects relevant to the current project partnership:

Leonardo da Vinci projects:
Virtual Vocational Orientation Package - VirtuOrientation, February 2002 - May 2004
To prepare an interactive web portal which enables mediation of information from the areas of education and employment - including the assessment of users' interests and abilities - through clear and easy access.
See: www.virtuorientation.net

AGETT
October 2002 until May 2004
The broader goal of the project is to raise the level of adult education, while the more specific goal is the following: the development of guidance activities for adult education.

Total Counselling
January 2003 until February 2005
To prepare the concept of a holistic model of counselling for young people which interacts elements of vocational, educational and personal counselling. The concept will introduce a suggestion on how to place the model into national systems.

Facilitating Access to Lifelong Learning through the Recognition Procedure of Non-formal and Informal Learning
October 2003 - September 2005
The basic goal of the project is to create conditions for the recognition of non-formal and informal learning as well as to develop tools which will help in the evaluation of qualifications acquired outside the formal system of education.

Recycling
August 2003 until July 2005.
In the phase 1 of the project, a European RecyOccupation profile was developed on the basis of systematic research in the United Kingdom, Spain, Greece and Germany. The goal of Phase 2 of the project is, however, to place the European profile in the qualification and educational systems of individual countries and to prepare a programme and adequate informative. material.

Hands on Approach to Analytical Chemistry in VET
November 2003 - March 2006
To develop a handbook for teachers and a collection of exercises for students, which will enable students to be actively involved, and therefore come to a better understanding of spectrophotometry and some other basic analytical techniques aided by simplified instruments.

Qute
October, 2004 to October, 2006
Based on experiences from different countries, we are within the project develop an instrument package for self-evaluation in vocational and technical schools, combined with interactive web page and electronic expert system.

B.E.A.TR.I.C
October 2004 - September 2006
Main goal of the project is to develop an example of methodology for interconnection and recognition of educational materials of two-way educational and training paths (educational and certificate system).

ADEC (Adult Educator in Company)
December 2004 until February 2007
The purpose of the project is to develop a training programme for experts/specialists from large enterprises, who are working in the field of knowledge transfer and have no formal andragogical or pedagogical education. Activity of Centre of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational Education and Training comprises preparation and production of knowledge standard for Adult Educator in Company.

Socrates - Gruntwig projects: WIZARD TOOLBOX
January 2002 until February 2005
Creation of flexible tools for the education and training of vulnerable groups in society (unemployed, immigrants, young people with a low level of education, prisoners, etc). The aim of these tools is to help these people overcome the obstacles they encounter and to ease the way to personal development and an active participation in the learning society. The Wizard Toolbox is made up of different examples of 'good practices' directed at different target groups, as well as the designed tools called the Learning Society game.

Phare projects:
Phare 2000: Grand scheme in Savinjska region: Activating the employment potentials at the local level : Training - a key to increased employability
November 2002 - January 2004
See: http://www.cpi.si/ucitelji/mednarodno_sodelovanje/phare.aspx

Phare 2003: Tt com net
April 2005 until July 2006
Go to website:

Other Areas of interest:

• Producing guidelines and recommendations within development of training for resuscitation
• Designing standardised teaching programmes suitable for all trainees in Europe
• Counselling on methodological and didactical issues
• Preparing inclusive measures for young people (drop outs), who are not in any of given forms of education
• Adopting results of the project and analysing the possibilities to include them into occupational standards at the end of the project duration
• Promoting exchanges of experience and good practice
• Participation on trans-national project partners meetings and conferences

Name of Organisation:

Olmec / Presentation

Representative:

Jagroop Kaur Dhillon
Projects Manager

Contact details:

47-49 Durham Street
Vauxhall
London SE11 5JA
UK

Short presentation of the organisation:

Olmec is a charitable community investment foundation set up in 2003 as a subsidiary of Presentation; one of the leading social investment agencies in the UK.

We work with individuals and community-based organisations, investing in their strengths and fostering equality and social justice. We initiate focused programmes that will have tangible and positive outcomes. Our programmes are inter-related, to maximise the investment to recipients.

We aim to empower communities by challenging injustice, disadvantage and discrimination. All of our projects have the following objectives:

• To develop opportunities for community investment through creative and innovative approaches
• To maximise resources available to communities through continuous research, evaluation and analysis of current thinking and models
• To enable and empower communities by developing knowledge, confidence and skills
• To document and disseminate learning to increase impact of best practice
• To initiate social change by collectively influencing current public policy at a local, regional, national and European level.

We are accountable to a Board of Trustees and are completely independent form any governmental structures. The team is lead by the Director of the organisation: Tanzeem Ahmed and we have a Projects Manager as well as a Project Co-ordinator, a Project Officer and several volunteers that help us deliver our ambitions.

Description of on-going projects relevant to the current project partnership:

Our projects include but are not exclusive to the following:

PARTNERSHIPS FOR CHANGE is a network that encourages partnerships and sharing of good practice among organisations working to raise the attainment levels of minority ethnic students. Olmec sustains the network and has worked in partnership with a range of organisations to deliver highly successful and well attended events over the course of the last two years. The early school leavers project will be delivered as part of this on-going stream of work.  

BLACK ON BOARD tackles the under-representation of minority ethnic communities on housing association boards. To ensure boards more closely reflect the make-up of the communities they serve we train members of minority ethnic communities and support their applications for board membership. We then provide follow up mentoring support. Almost all of the people we work with find board positions.

NEXUS aims to bring new investment to neighbourhoods by securing resources from businesses in the form of skills and expertise. We work to achieve sustainability, social inclusiveness and prosperity in the communities in which we operate.

All of Presentation's contractors are committed to Nexus. Nexus businesses provide jobs, training, advice and resources to the communities and organisations that we work with. For example, Nexus businesses have provided pro bono legal work for an advice centre, and refurbishes a centre building in Vassal Ward in Brixton. Nexus businesses also provide work placements for Solid Foundations Interns.

SOLID FOUNTATIONS programme aims to break down the barriers to employment faced by refugees and help them to channel their talents into sustainable careers. The programme provides structured work placements combining work experience, training and support in areas such as job search and interview techniques. The fledging project has already found placements for 13 people of whom 6 have gained employment so far. The second round of placements is in progress. The Home Office has awarded the project Beacon status (an example of best practice) and an overall rating of five out of five.

COMMUNITY RESEARCH is utilised as a tool to influence policy and provision. For example we are currently collecting evidence on the processes and factors that contribute to population transience in Haringey (an inner London borough). We will recommend interventions that can bring about more stability and cohesion in local areas.

With "Cracking It!" we looked at young people's exposure to drugs in Lambeth - research was designed and delivered by members if the local community. We used the findings to research the extend our work connecting communities to drug agencies. We also used the findings to successfully fundraise for equipment and resources for a local youth project. High exposure to drugs together with a lack of meaningful alternative provisions have been crucial factors in limiting young people's opportunities. Olmec is working with other agencies including education and drug agencies to deliver a programme of education and awareness to help young people make more informed choices.

COMMUNITY CHAMPIONS is delivered as a result of a highly successful partnership between Olmec and the Scarman Trust in London. We support applications to the trust from individuals in the community who wish to establish projects. Successful bids assisted by Olmec include the establishment of education programmes for example arts programmes for excluded young people.

BRONZE WOMAN MONUMENT PROJECT Olmec's mission in conjunction with the Bronze Woman committee is to motivate, educate and promote involvement of citizens to work together to meet the challenges of the community. Through the use of the bronze woman statue, Olmec will support the Bronze Woman Committee to develop an education programme which will engender more knowledge and respect for African and Caribbean heritage.

Other Areas of interest:

 Our other areas of interest include:

• Community Cohesion: we are constantly exploring ways of assisting communities to become for cohesive and sustainable truly valuing the multi-cultural nature of neighbourhoods.
• Equalities: diversity, equal opportunities and social justice are at the centre of all our work but we are also exploring projects and ideas that will work explicitly in this area
• Heritage: in order to be a truly multi-cultural society, we need to recognise, acknowledge and celebrate the contributions that different communities have made and continue to make to Britain, we are designing programmes that will help explore these issues and raise awareness.
• Social Enterprises: this is a rapidly evolving area in the UK and we are keen to ensure that all communities are able to benefit from the opportunities that this new field brings with it. We are keen to explore what the barriers for various communities are and to help design solutions that are effective for them.