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Helpdesk Project 2023 highlights!

Forged through a unique partnership of 16 key stakeholders including EPR, spanning nearly all social sectors, the Helpdesk worked on leveraging capacity of Managing Authorities and Social Services, improving tools to simplify procedures for accessing and using EU Funds and proposing technical and practical recommendations to better foster quality social interventions with EU Funds. During the first phase of the project, the consortium mapped out existing knowledge to obtain better insight in the barriers and challenges faced by Social Service providers and Managing Authorities in accessing and using ESF+ and ERDF funds – using the following methods:

  • 2 Surveys: 1 for Service Providers and 1 for Managing Authorities
  • Knowledge Map – Information about EU Funds in all Member States
  • 10 National events in Sweden, Greece, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Ireland, Austria, Spain, Belgium and Italy.
  • 3 Cross-Sectoral and 10 Sectoral Workshops across  nearly all social services sectors (services for persons with disabilities, older persons, homeless persons, work integration enterprises, child protection and family in poverty)

The intelligence collated was used to develop the following products to share and build capacity within social services:

  • Helpdesk Website 
  • Online Helpdesk Service
  • Massive Open Online Course
  • Booklet of Promising Practices – one of the inspiring projects is the MOAI LABS – Innovative transnational laboratory, which was submitted by INTRAS.

Following the cross sectoral and sectoral workshops, for which EPR was responsible for the disabilities sector, partners and the contracted experts started work on the following project deliverables:

  • Toolkit on Facilitating ESF+ & ERDF for Social Services to assist managing authorities (national, regional, and local) including intermediary bodies and agencies, in the process of accessing and managing funds from ESF+ and ERDF (along with other programs) for the benefit of social services. 
  • Technical Guidance on Effective Interventions in Social Services

During the last quarter of 2023, the partnership started to develop a strategy on the sustainability of the project’s deliverables, further dissemination of the deliverables, sustainability of the partnership and financial sustainability.  EPR is one of the 16 project partners that have signed a cooperation agreement, in which we commit to continue working together in an informal working group focusing on access to EU funds for social services.