Project Starting Date: 18 March 2013

Project End Date: 18 June 2014

Project Budget: € 179.500,00

Contractor: ACE International Consultants, Spain

Final Beneficiary: Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (MLSP)

Overall objective:

To enhance capacities of the relevant actors in the country, including non-governmental organizations and social partners in the implementation of social inclusion policies at local level.

Purpose:

To strengthen the capacity of the relevant civil society actors in the country, including municipalities to develop and implement social inclusion projects.

Expected Results:

Output 1. The trainees are selected and their training needs identified;

Output 2. Training plan, including training programme and methodology developed;

Output 3. Teaching and training materials designed and elaborated;

Outputs 4. 220 people from CSOs, local self-government units, social partners, relevant governmental institutions (social work centres) and other organizations trained to prepare and manage social inclusion activities (indicatively 60% of total 220 trainees represented civil society actors);

Output 5. Selected groups of trainees with mature partnerships – based project ideas (generated during the training sessions) coached for completing the project proposals.

Target groups:          

220 people from CSOs, local self-government units, social partners, relevant governmental institutions (social work centers) and other organizations trained to prepare and manage social inclusion activities (indicatively 60% of total 220 trainees represented civil society actors).

Key project activities:

The project built up on the experience and it was an extension of EU-funded project “empowering relevant actors for social inclusion at local level”, which provided trainings to CSO’s representatives and local self-government units for preparation and implementation of social inclusion projects.

The project provided the following activities:

1. Identification of target population

This activity included:

• Identification and selection of the CSOs, local self-government units, social partners, relevant governmental institutions (social work centers), and other organizations responsible for preparing and/ or implementing social inclusion projects.

The identification and selection of targeted organizations was carried out in close cooperation with the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and followed the principles of fairness and transparency.

2. Development of a training plan, training programme and design of the teaching and trainings materials and methodology for delivery of trainings tailored to the training needs

This activity included:

• Development of a training plan that amongs other included a training programme and methodology adjusted to the needs of target group, detailed time-frame of implementation and resources needed;
• Design of teaching and training materials.

The trainings provided the selected participants with the skills to enable them to effectively prepare and manage projects in the field of social inclusion of disadvantaged groups. These trainings covered the following topics:

• Project cycle management;
• Financial management;
• Partnership building and networking, including methods for engagement of all stakeholders;
• Social and economic development at local level with focus on positive activation methods for the disadvantaged people;
• Indicators and data recording methods at local level.

All the trainings were accustomed to the specific needs and preferences of the target group.

The best practices and EU experiences in the field of social inclusion were integrated in the developed teaching and training materials. Moreover, the trainings were organized in a way to facilitate the development of partnership-based project ideas related to social inclusion, fight against poverty and discrimination at local level.

3. Implementation of the training plan for the targeted stakeholders

A training plan was implemented through:

• Trainings for 220 persons from CSOs, local self-government units, social partners, relevant governmental institutions (social work centers) and other organizations (service providers);
• Coaching the groups of trainees with mature partnership-based project ideas (generated during the training sessions) for completing the project proposals.