Co-East & EQUAL

Margaret Davies & Doug Reed

Why are we here?

Co-East Partnership

The project partners are: Essex (with co-ordinating role) Cambridgeshire Hertfordshire Peterborough Suffolk Peterborough Learning Centre Ltd. MDR Partners (project management)

EQUAL (EastLearn)

Source of Finance:European Social Fund (ESF) - Community Initiative

Monetary value to Suffolk - plus match funding

Timescale: 15.05.02 - 14.08.04 Total beneficiaries: 400

Target Groupswomen returnersethnic minoritiesdisabled people

Libraries

Management Monitoring/Local Delivery

Marketing/Evaluation Transnational Activities

Target Groupswomen returners

people in rural areasunemployed people

people with basicskills needs

MDR PartnersManagement

andTransnational

Activities

Essex County CouncilCo-ordinator

Mainstreaming and ThematicNetworking

SubcontractingEvaluation

Target Groupswomen returnersethnic minoritiesdisabled peopleolder workersrural/isolatedunemployed

people

Target Groupswomen returnersethnic minoritiesdisabled peopleolder workersunemployed

people

Target Groupswomen returnersethnic minorities

people in rural areaspeople with basic

skills needsunemployed people

Cambridgeshire

Essex

Hertfordshire Suffolk

Peterborough

Overall Objective

To increase and demonstrate the

potential of public libraries to provide

awareness, training and lifelong

learning opportunities which impact on

the recruitment and retention of

specified target groups suffering

discrimination and inequality in

connection with the labour market.

Sub-Objectives

To raise the profile of public libraries as potential partners for other stakeholders in the employment field and to build strong local partnerships.

To provide a model for other public libraries wishing to attain similar objectives.

To utilise the geographical spread and reach of the library service to contact and enthuse the target audience towards take up of learning opportunities offered by libraries, leading to improved basic and ICT skills levels and higher confidence in their ability to participate in the labour market.

To build on existing work and contacts with the target groups and create new contacts by outreach work, i.e. sending trained staff out into the community to deliver awareness and taster sessions and explain the opportunities available.

To deliver in the libraries a range of learning activities, focusing mainly on basic skills and ICT skills, tailored towards further learning and improved employability.

To record and encourage progress by the learners. To offer, in parallel, information, advice and guidance, referring as necessary to

existing IAG partners. To progress learners towards further training or employment by monitored

referrals to Job Centres Plus or other education and training providers.

Target Groups

lone parents/carers with young children; travellers; returners to the labour market with skills needs [especially

workers over 50]; women returners; people in low skilled/low paid work with skills needs local communities with basic skills/ICT needs; rural and isolated communities; unemployed people with skills needs; people with physical and sensory disabilities; adults with learning disabilities; people with mental health problems; people from ethnic minorities with skills needs; and people from deprived/low skills neighbourhoods.

Target Groups: Obstacles

Research has identified a number of

obstacles to learning and employment: physical and sensory; intellectual; cultural; attitudinal; and financial.

Access difficulties are magnified in

remote/isolated communities.

Role of Libraries

The Partnership believes that the public

library is well-placed to overcome many of

these barriers to learning access through: easy accessibility in the community; positive anonymity and neutrality; minimal access threshold (free of cost); environment which fosters creativity; and community and collective identity and

ownership.

The Work

In the UK, the Partnership will: train a selected group of new and existing staff in the principles of

EQUAL, training and support techniques, and the needs of the target groups;

engage with the target groups - initially by ‘outreach’ work, by visiting community centres, meeting places, traveller sites and individual homes to make presentations, talk about learning and employment opportunities, and to demonstrate and offer awareness and ‘taster’ sessions; and

at community meetings, and through planned follow up, learners will be encouraged to visit local libraries, individually or in groups, where they will be assisted in the selection and use of a variety of learning programmes. In the main, the learning programmes will focus on basic skills and ICT and will be selected from existing offerings .

Transnational Work

The Partnership has international partners in Italy and France.

ABSIDE, CARIBAL-EDIST and CO-EAST appear to be the only three

Development Partnerships in Europe planning to deliver ICT-based

learning opportunities in support of employment objectives through

public libraries. All three have a common interest in training library

staff and in developing distributed learning materials and

methodologies in support of this. Together they will undertake: TCA secretariat and internal communication; Design and development of international outcomes; Study visits and exchanges; and Monitoring of international outcomes.

Summary

The Co-East Equal Partnership aims to mobilise the resources of

public libraries in the UK and Europe to support lifelong learning for

employment opportunities by creating a regional case study. A

successful partnership model between libraries at local level and

agencies for employment initiatives/formal education will be

demonstrated. We aim to demonstrate genuine overlap of interest

and genuine impact. We will document the methodologies in a toolkit

for libraries. Libraries will focus their learning and advice services for

specified target groups (employed and unemployed who need basic

ICT training, women returners, the disabled, ethnic minorities and

older workers) to achieve employment-related impact.

Work Packages

Work divided into six work packages,

reflecting the objectives and priorities

set out in the Development Partnership

Agreement (DPA). Inputs and costs for

each are reflected in the project

budget, and expected outcomes and

deliverables are shown in the detailed

work plan.

Work Packages

Transnational Working

Marketing Evaluation Mainstreaming

and Dissemination

Local Services Management

andCo-ordination

Local Services

Training Recruitment of

Staff and Volunteers

Infrastructure and Networks Prepared

Service Delivery in Learning Centres

Service Delivery by Outreach

Information, Advice and Guidance

Empowerment and Equal Opportunities

Results

Potential for mainstreaming - toolkit on the Web;

National and international meetings; Monitoring; Evaluation; and Sustainability.

What Happens Next?