European Social Fund: 8th Call for project proposals

The Planning and Priorities Coordination Department has issued a pre-announcement of the Eighth Call for project proposals to be part-financed by the European Union under the European Social Fund (ESF) 2007-2013.

This call for projects will fall under three Priority Axes of the Operational Programme II entitled ‘Empowering People for More Jobs and a Better Quality of Life’. OP II aims to strengthen social and economic development by improving employment and job opportunities, encouraging a high level of employment and more and better jobs. It supports initiatives which aim to increase employment and quality and productivity at work, promote social inclusion and encourage disadvantaged people to join the work force.

The following are the priority axes of OP II pertaining to this call for project proposals and their respective Focus Areas:

Priority Axis 2: Investing in the Employability and Adaptability of the Workforce: The focus area is ‘continuous training and education’. Priority will be given to projects addressing environment/ green skills; RTDi-related skills as well as projects focusing on the employability and adaptability of older workers (40-55 years). The indicative financial threshold is of €4 million.

Priority Axis 3: Promoting an Equal and Inclusive Labour Market: The focus areas under this priority axis will be:

1) ‘Female participation in the labour market One of the government’s primary objectives for this Operational Programme is to increase the female participation rate in the labour market. With more women than men graduating from University, the loss of such an important resource to an economy which is heavily dependent on its human resource base has to be addressed.

This operational programme will support a number of measures which will seek to intervene to solve difficulties faced by women on re-entering the labour market having previously given birth to children.

Priority will be given to projects promoting skills for women returning to work, provision of childcare studies as well as piloting of innovative working arrangements.

2) ‘Addressing labour market distortions and ensuring that work pays Priority will be given to projects addressing the optimisation of social benefits; bringing those at the furthest edges closer to the labour market through training, work assignments, etc; and the promotion of healthy and safe environments at work.

The indicative financial threshold is of €7.5 million

Priority Axis 4: ‘Strengthening of Institutional and Administrative Capacity The focus areas under this priority axis are:1) ‘Strengthening public sector reform’; 2) ‘Lifelong learning for the Public Sector’; 3) ‘Strengthening the quality of employment services’; 4) ‘Promoting a more effective social and civil dialogue in Malta’. The indicative financial threshold is of € 7.5 million. The actual launch of the call will be announced by the Planning and Priorities Coordination Department.

info@impetuseurope.com
www.impetuseurope.com