General Framework In this section you can find information about: What is the European Social Fund (ESF)? The European Social Fund (ESF) is the European Union’s main instrument for financing strategic objectives of the employment policy. For 50 years, ESF has invested in programmes dedicated to develop peoples' abilities and employment in the EU Member States. The ESF is devoted to promoting employment in the EU Member States. Over de programming period 2007 – 2013, the goal of ESF’ interventions is to support the Member States to anticipate and administrate efficiently the social and economic changes. The Regulation no.1081/2006 of the European Parliament and Council regarding European Social Fund establishes the areas and principles through which the human resource development will be done in the next period. Which are the key areas of intervention of the European Social Fund? The ESF finances the following priorities: Increasing adaptability of workers and enterprises; Increasing access to employment and participation in the labour market; Reinforcing social inclusion by fighting discrimination and facilitating access to the labour market for disadvantaged people; Promoting partnership for reform in the fields of employment and inclusion.
At the same time, in the least prosperous regions which fall under the convergence objective, the ESF will also support: investment in human capital, in particular by improving education and training systems; action aimed at developing institutional capacity and the efficiency of public administrations, at national, regional and local level.
Which are the ESF’ horizontal themes? Partnership. Aiming at results with a better impact to a national, regional or local level, the ESF supports the application of the partnership principle between all relevant stakeholders, starting with the programming stage and continuing with the implementation and monitoring of the use of European Union’s financial support. Innovative actions and transnational initiatives. Starting with the principles promoted within the community initiative EQUAL 2000-2006, ESF supports including innovative actions and transnational initiatives in the range of interventions which receive financing through the operational programmes. This will involve cooperation between public authorities, social partners, representatives of the civil society, with the purpose of promoting exchange of good practices in the field of human resources development. Equal opportunities. Promoting equal opportunities constitutes a horizontal priority in the present programming period.
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