The New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership has been notionally allocated around €46m/£36m of European Social Fund (ESF) money to spend in Norfolk and Suffolk on projects which will enhance the employability of unemployed people, inspire and deliver social inclusion and upskill those in work to enable them to advance their careers.
There are 5 official investment priorities for the funding:
- Access to employment for job-seekers and the inactive
- Supporting those not in employment, giving them a better chance of entering training or a job
- Sustainable Integration of young people into the labour market
- Engaging with young people (16-24), increasing their confidence, skills and understanding of the labour market
- Active inclusion, equal opportunities and participation
- Overcoming complex and multiple barriers to work, bringing those furthest away from the labour market into or nearer to employment or training
- Access to lifelong learning
- Enabling those already in work with or without basic skills to gain higher qualifications and advance their own careers
- Developing labour market relevance
- Creating enhanced links between training providers and businesses, to better define the need of organisations and the education offer in Norfolk and Suffolk
The ESF programme in New Anglia now has 2 dedicated facilitators whose job is to help develop a pipeline of projects looking to bid for this money, and they would like to actively engage with VCSE organisations looking to deliver projects against these priorities.
If you are interested in ESF and would welcome an informal chat, have an idea for a project that you think would fit the ESF priorities, or could provide an analysis of the skills needs of an area or a sector within New Anglia, you can get in touch with the facilitators by emailing [email protected].
