Social exclusion is not only a concern for people who are socially disadvantaged. It is an issue that demands engagement across the whole society. This is why ERACIS, the Regional Strategy for Social Cohesion and Inclusion in the Spanish region of Andalusia, is increasingly being seen as a model for others to follow in tackling this. ERACIS is a strategy that enables local governments to create tailored action plans for social inclusion involving public and private entities operating within the same territory. As a testament to its success, the strategy is now being implemented in 99 disadvantaged areas in Andalusia[1].

The ECSILI Project, an acronym for Empowering Communities: A Local Action Plan for Social Inclusion and Labour Integration of Refugees, takes inspiration from the success of ERACIS.  Over the course of the next 18 months, the European Social Network (ESN) will lead the ECSILI project consortium to apply the strategy to different local contexts. ECSILI is an European Social Fund + Social Innovation + project aimed at mitigating the societal consequences of the war in Ukraine. Its core objective is to improve social and labour market inclusion of Ukrainian refugees in the municipalities of Warsaw, Poland and Arad, Romania.

ECSILI inserts itself in the broader EU strategy launched in March 2022 with the activation of the Temporary Protection Directive. Issued to cope with the mass influx of displaced people caused by the war in Ukraine, the policy lists social welfare, and employment as rights to be granted to the beneficiaries of protection. However, according to the 2023 Eurofound survey on “Barriers to employment reported by Ukrainian refugees”, 21% of the respondents listed lack of information on the services to contact and 16% mentioned struggling to have their qualifications recognised. 

Against this backdrop, the ECSILI consortium will engage in creating appropriate structures to ensure the practical implementation of the rights outlined in the directive through the creation of personalised pathways towards employment and social support by community social services. 

ECSILI aims to fill the gaps within existing structures for Ukrainian refugees’ social and employment integration in the two cities. In Warsaw, fragmentation of information among different local agencies hinders refugees’ integration into the local labour market. In Arad, the lack of matching between skills and occupation impacts the refugees’ sense of belonging to the community. 

To address this, the creation of a framework for social integration of refugees in the two cities will follow different steps. 

In the first instance, a local needs analysis will be conducted in each city with the active involvement of local stakeholders. Engaging refugees, social workers, local employers, NGOs and employment services will help generate a sense of community and agency, emphasising everyone’s role in the social well-being of their city. 

Moreover, the project partner SkillLab, an international company based in the Netherlands, will create a skills profiling tool to facilitate matchmaking for labour market access. This will help refugees capitalise on their professional assets to find a suitable occupation.

After a framework model for Ukrainian refugees’ inclusion has been created for the two cities, it will be time for the piloting phase. The new strategies will be implemented with the help of social services professionals recruited to offer personalised help to refugees. The overall goal will be to improve the living conditions of 50 Ukrainian refugees in Arad and 80 in Warsaw through the search of a suitable employment, referral to relevant available public services and involvement in community activities. 

According to Alfonso Lara Montero, ESN Chief Executive, social inclusion means "working across agencies so that refugees have access to a job in line with their professional qualifications, enabling them to stand on their own feet and contribute to the local economy"  and the ECSILI project is designed to do exactly that.

As the war in Ukraine persists, and anti-Ukrainian sentiment grows among host communities (BBC 2025), ECSILI stands out as timely and necessary. With all of this in mind, the ECSILI consortium launched in Brussels on 8-9 May 2025. Its work to enhance social inclusion begins immediately. 

Learn more about ECSILI and its goals on the project’s webpage.