European Week of Regions and Cities Partnerships for strengthening labour market policies and social inclusion Workshop 11E19 Working in partnerships to foster employment and social inclusion Brussels, 11 October 2006 Dirk Maier, Jana Machačová

_ Ms. Jana Machačová: Forum Office Vienna at the ZSI (Centre for Social Innovation), OECD LEED Forum on Partnerships and Local Governance _ Mr. Dirk Maier: Co-ordination Unit for the Austrian Territorial Employment Pacts (TEPs) at the ZSI (Centre for Social Innovation) Whos talking?

The area-based partnership is a tool to improve governance. It seeks to: _ improve policy co-ordination and adaptation to local conditions; _ lead to better utilisation and targeting of programmes; _ integrate civil societys concerns into strategic planning exercises through more widespread participatory democracy; _ stimulate corporate involvement in local projects; and _ promote greater satisfaction with public policy. (OECD Local Partnerships for better Governance, 2001) Why looking at partnerships? Partnerships - a bridge for linking concepts to people

Which partnerships? Forum partnerships are characterized by: _ MULTI-LEVEL: Partnerships decision-making involves stakeholders from supranational, national, regional and local levels. _ MULTI-SECTORAL: Multi-sectoral (or cross-sectoral) partnerships involve stakeholders representing various economic sectors/branches, governmental and non-governmental actors seeking to improve the co-ordination between labour market, education, economic and social policies at local and regional level. _ MULTI-DIMENSIONAL: Partnerships apply integrated approaches to multi- dimensional problems. Forum partnerships are primarily focusing on employment and social issues and economic development

TEPs in Austria Canadian CFDCs BBWA in Berlin Greek partnerships TEPs in Hungary Irish partnerships France: CBE, MIFE, EREF, PLIE Slovakian LSIPs SNP in Portugal Partnerships in Norway RPP in New Zealand TEPs in Catalonia WIBs in the USA TEPs in Italy LSP in UK RESOC & SEER in Flanders Finnish partnerships RGC in Sweden Partnerships diversity (Selection)

_ Clear, simple, shared and understandable vision; _ Sufficient financial and human resources; _ Common agreement and commitment of key interests; _ Mutual confidence, respect and trust among the partners; _ Clear definition and division of partners roles. (Professional management, shared mandates or agendas, collaborative decision-making, high level of information exchange and good communication; realistic timeframes, dynamics and flexibility, understanding and political support.) Partnerships Success Factors (in general) Motivation and patience are keywords in partnerships operation

_ Lack of clear purpose; _ Unclear division of tasks and responsibilities; _ Lack of skills for effective partnership operation (e.g. management, financial control, negotiation); _ Unbalanced inputs-outputs; _ Limited financial resources. (Unrealistic goals; manipulation or domination of the leader, hidden agendas, frequent personal changes (might be contra-productive), lack of communication, misunderstanding of the partnership role in the territory.) Partnerships Failure Factors (in general)

The Austrian TEP case Labour market challenges exist, which can not be met by just a few institutions on their own _ e.g. concentration of unemployment on certain groups of persons; _ e.g. gender segregation on the labour market; _ e.g. shifts between industries, economic sectors and regions as a result of developments, in the business and technology areas in particular.

TEP - Partners Provincial Government Labour Market Service Federal Office of Social Affairs Chamber of Labour Economic Chamber Chamber of Agriculture NGOs (Local Initiatives) Municipalities Federation of Industry Federation of Trade Unions Provincial School Board Educational Institutions Gender Mainstreaming Experts Budgets of the partners: over EUR 500 Million p.a.

Territorial Employment Pacts in Austria Tyrol Burgenland Vorarlberg Salzburg Upper AustriaLower Austria Styria Carinthia Vienna Regional Managers for Employment Monitoring / Evaluation Direct linkage with Objective 2 and 3 Implementation within Objective 1 Open partnership-process Regional co-ordination for vocational training Pool of ideas / experimental capital Interdisk - platforms Local Pacts

Austrias lessons learned _ raison dêtre of the partnerships must be obvious to all partners; _ clarification of roles, functions and tasks of partners; _ TEP partners are the core of the partnership, the TEP co-ordinations are the drivers of partnerships; _ dominance of partners; _ documentation of work performed; and _ communication.

Austrias External Success Factors _ Funding of the operative structures by the Ministry for Economics and Labour and the ESF; _ Creation of an external and independent federal TEP Co- ordination Unit as counsellor and information hub; _ Guidance not directives; _ Long-term process approach; _ Structural development is accompanied by development of new topics; and _ Empty field of action has to be assigned.

Partnerships _ are important instruments to address multi-level, multi-sectoral and multi-dimensional problems in regional development and labour market policy; _ could be very different, but each type of partnership can successfully meet the challenges of the regions; _ success is a result of careful internal planning and external programming; and _ build effective communication channels between sectors. Conclusions

Useful partnerships links _ Territorial Employment Pacts, Austria: _ Area based and Community Partnerships, Ireland : _ Employment Pacts, Hungary: _ Central Uusimaa Partnership, Finland: _ Territorial Employment Pacts (TEPs), Spain: _ Local Strategic Partnerships, UK:

Contacts Centre for Social Innovation - ZSI / Vienna Jana Machačová Dirk Maier Homepage: Thank you for your attention.