If you are looking for examples of good practices in EU Employment and Social Innovation projects, look no further. The European Commission published its fourth monitoring report to highlight good practices of projects across Europe.

This report collected a total of 16 examples of good practice, 3 under the Your First EURES Job(YfEJ)  initiative , 7 in the field of social protection and inclusion, 3 in the area of employment and 2 from projects focusing on working conditions – the so-called PROGRESS axis of EaSI. Other reports were published in 2014, 2015 and early 2016.

Your first EURES Job

Your first EURES Job (YfEJ) is a scheme aimed to help young people up to 35 years old to find a job, traineeship or apprenticeship in another Member State, as well as employers looking for the skills they need. It  is open to young candidates and employers of the EU-28 countries, Norway and Iceland.

Candidates must be nationals and legal residents in any of those countries.

Activities are implemented by consortia driven by EURES services, involving at least seven countries.

A successful example of this project was conducted in Sweden, where the settled target of 500 jobs were surpassed. Indeed, 504 jobseekers found employment.In addition, 148 jobseekers were granted interview trips and 11 got recognition of qualification. Moreover, 10 SMEs were supported for employing 85 persons.

Social protection and inclusion

Another interesting project in the field of social protection and inclusion was EMPAC. Funded by the European Commission from October 2012 until March 2015, this research project was intended to improve the integration and educational achievement of under-performing newly-arrived migrant pupils aged three to 11 years old.

Conducted in the United Kingdom, Italy, the Czech Republic and Spain, the project achieved its results by identifying and piloting new and existing strategies for supporting the integration of newly-arrived families and children into school life within a rigorous research framework

A wide range of resources were developed, such as an action planning template, a teachers’ attitude and confidence survey and language and cultural background country profiles, providing information on migrant pupils’ main countries of origin, social customs, etiquette and education.

Employment

In the employment area, a success was the Geothermal and Solar Skills project (GSSkills), a collaboration between France, Germany.   The aim of the project was to set up a catalogue of skills and qualifications to enrich the knowledge of workers in Geothermal and Solar Systems. Meant to be used as a teaching and learning aid for training institutions, the catalogue helped to reduce the unemployment rate and to stimulate the economy as well as regional competitiveness.

Working conditions

A project on working conditions in the Baltics, focusing on the posting of workers, was also a notable example of good practice. It helped to enhance the implementation, application and enforcement of the Posting of Workers Directive by for example preparing training materials for social partners, supporting the creation of an educational film or the creation of a dedicated website.

This monitoring is part of the EU’s Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI).

Such examples of good practice may form a basis for policy recommendations and even be useful to the policy-maker designing or implementing policy interventions in this area.