The Social Services Helpdesk on EU Funds (SESK) was a 24-month project funded by the European Social Fund+. Led by a consortium of 16 organizations/networks with members from across Europe, its aim was to provide the building blocks of a Social Services Helpdesk that would support social services in accessing and using EU funds and help Managing Authorities use EU funds to finance quality interventions in the field of social services.
Additionally, the Helpdesk project aimed to foster relationships between the managing authorities and the authorities responsible for designing social services, creating a dialogue and reciprocal collaboration with a common vision to improve social services' access to EU funding and therefore contribute to tackling social challenges across Europe through cooperation and good practice exchange.
As well as a website and online resource centre, the project also produced a Toolkit on Facilitating ESF+ and ERDF for Social Services, a Guidance on Effective Interventions in Social Services, and a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to support public social services applying for EU funds.
ESN, as the organization which represents public social services and a growing number of Managing Authorities, was responsible for making sure they were actively engaged in all project activities and that their needs and challenges were equally reflected and represented.
ESN also assisted in facilitating the exchange and cooperation between Managing Authorities, social services, and the European Commission to ensure that funding priorities were based on an assessment of social needs so that investments targeted programs that responded to these needs.
In April 2023, a Helpdesk webinar was conducted to showcase the primary findings of the evidence gathering effort. During the event, representatives from both national and European sectors shared their insights and recommendations based on these findings. The webinar recording is accessible through this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9nhPb9ZTIo
In May 2023, ESN hosted a three-day event in Brussels centered around the theme Tools to Facilitate and Manage EU Funding. The workshop catered to managing authorities, entities responsible for social services planning and coordination, intermediate bodies, and experienced social service providers in managing ESF+ and ERDF for social services.
More recently, in October 2023, ESN organized a three-day training workshop on EU funding in Stockholm, Sweden. This workshop specifically targeted beginners within the social services sector who work with submitting project proposals and developing project activities funded by the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+).
On 16 April 2024, the partnership hosted its closing conference in Brussels. The event was opened by European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit. Speaking via video, Commissioner Schmitt stressed the importance of social services in society to deliver vital support to citizens and highlighted the need to ensure that EU funding can be accessed by the entities that can provide such support. Commissioner Schmit praised the HELPDESK project for its remarkable work to help social services navigate the funding landscape, particularly its Facilitation Toolkit which could help to alleviate the administrative burden of ESF+ applications and implementation.
Over the last two years, the project has developed several key tools to support Managing Authorities, Intermediate Bodies and social service providers to access and effectively use EU funds. These tools include:
- A Cross-country Report on the needs, opportunities, and challenges related to the use of ESF+ and ERDF funds by social services.
- Country Fact sheets to help social services better understand the functioning of ESF+ and ERDF in each EU Member State and provide relevant contacts and information sources to access EU funds.
- A Facilitation Toolkit for Social Services Projects to help Managing Authorities streamline the project management process and help services effectively respond to the administrative and technical challenges encountered at every stage of the project cycle in 10 languages. This tool can also be used by social service providers in their advocacy work toward Managing Authorities.
- An e-training for Social Services, available in 6 languages, on how to successfully fund their EU projects from the start of the call process to beyond the final reporting period.
- Policy Guidance for Managing Authorities, the European Commission and social service providers with recommendations and practical steps on how to improve access to EU Funds in 10 European languages.
- Booklet of inspiring practices with examples of how social services have accessed and implemented EU-funded projects for innovative forms of support in 10 languages.”
For more information, contact Vesa Latifi, Project Officer, at vesa.latifi@esn-eu.org.