Network; ongoing
EUSDR Priority Area(s): PA 9 People & Skills, PA 10 Institutional Capacity & Cooperation
The ESF Network of the EUSDR was established following the Meeting of Ministers in charge of EU funds at the margins of the EUSDR Annual Forum in Ulm, Germany, in 2015. The Network constitutes a platform of ESF Managing Authorities in the Danube Region to facilitate the exchange and coordination between the Managing Authorities, the respective EUSDR Priority Areas, and the European Commission as well as further relevant stakeholders. From 2024, also the future Managing Authorities of the Candidate Countries are part of the network. It aims at fostering transnational cooperation in the Danube Region, thereby connecting cooperation and investment, and serves as a joint knowledge hub for implementation, planning, and exchange of experience with social policies.
The EUSDR ESF Network is chaired and organised by PAC 9 “People and Skills” and PAC 10 “Institutional Capacity & Cooperation” together with the network partners.
Objectives: The ESF Network embeds the targets of the EUSDR into the ESF OPs and supports the accession process of candidate countries to foster transnational cooperation in the Danube Region. The network aims at:
- Developing a common understanding of the role of the EUSDR about the ESF+/IPA;
- Consolidating the network: Enhancing Know-how-transfer and co-designing of a state of the art of social innovation; capitalising on and disseminating good practice out of project results and experiences;
- Managing transnational cooperation: Building a viable programme framework to manage transnational cooperation.
Need and (expected) impact: The ESF Network is of highest relevance for the EUSDR and the Danube Region as a whole, as it enables the alignment of funding towards the Strategy, and, by embedding transnational elements into the OPs, combines cooperation and investment as well as to support the accession process of the involved candidate countries. Moreover, the network is implemented in cooperation with EUSDR PA 10.
Macro-regional dimension: Till 2023, only the nine EU member states participated in the ESF MA network. From 2024, we started to enlarge the network to the candidate countries to enforce capacity building in the field of social/employment policies between EU member states and candidate countries.
Stakeholders involved: Representatives of ESF Managing Authorities, IPA Managing Authorities, line ministries, European Commission (DG EMPL and DG REGIO), CSO & NGOs.
Budget and Funding: The network is enabled via the PAC project/Interreg Danube Region Programme.
Further Information: https://peopleandskills.danube-region.eu/esf/
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