EU seeks proposals for the grant scheme Establishing Support in Social Inclusion and Employment of Disadvantaged and Marginalized Groups with the purpose of reinforcing social inclusion of people at a disadvantage and supporting access to employment of disadvantaged groups in Croatia.
Average unemployment rate in Croatia in 2010 was 17.6%. Some vulnerable groups are even in more difficult positions regarding the labour market and are facing more constraints in job seeking and entering the labour market, such as the long-term unemployed5 social care and assistance beneficiaries. According to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare’s data, the share of unemployed people capable to work among permanent social assistance beneficiaries is high. The share of unemployed people capable to work in 2009 was 41.95%, while in December 2010 it slightly decreased to 41.58%.
Considering that almost half of social care and assistance beneficiaries (members of groups such as: people with disabilities, refugees and displaced persons, members of national minorities, older people, the homeless, drug addicts, victims of domestic violence or former inmates) are work-able individuals and that a large number of beneficiaries remain in the system for a longer period of time it is important to avoid over-reliance on social assistance, and take further steps towards inclusion of these individuals into the labour market.
They are often exposed to accumulated problems and the tailor made measures should therefore combine psychological empowerment, training in life skills (for example, handling difficult situations) with individual and group counselling for employment, vocational guidance as well as training and re-training schemes. The grant scheme aims at the promotion of their social inclusion and employment through: increasing their motivation for entering the labour market; encouraging participation in community actions; increasing employability and raising public awareness on discrimination issues in the work place. The projects should help those long-term unemployed social care and assistance beneficiaries who are found fit for work to get intense help and support in finding a job, while those who are not currently fit for work should get a new programme of a more personalised support so they can best prepare to return into the labour market in the future.
Program Objectives
The global objective of this Call for Proposals is to promote social inclusion of the long-term unemployed social care and assistance beneficiaries by supporting their access to the labour market.
The specific objective of this Call for Proposals is the preparation of the long-term unemployed social care and assistance beneficiaries for labour market integration.
PRIORITY ISSUES:
The priorities of the Grant programme will be as follows:
– Direct engagement of the long-term unemployed social care and assistance beneficiaries in work activities;
– Provision of psycho-social support to the long-term unemployed social care and assistance beneficiaries.
Deadline for submitting the proposal is Aug 3, 2011
For eligibility criteria, further information and other details please visit this link.
