Thinking and sharing diagramDifferent delivery models

Groundwork’s Host Borough Employment Offer project in East London works very closely with longstanding partners in Gothenburg, Sweden. With both partners able to mobilise ESF to support joint working, successful knowledge transfer has influenced a wide range of services including:

  • Adoption in London of the Swedish model of high quality furniture recycling to create a sustainable small business
  • Direct support to Gothenburg City Council in transforming its procurement system to leverage social benefits
  • Joint development of training programmes for young sports leaders and creation of the “Mini Olympix” project with Newham and Gothenburg children coming together in competition.

The Catalyst Pluss project in the South West sets up social enterprises as a way to create pathways to sustainable employment for disabled people with both physical and learning disabilities. Its approach prioritises financial independence for the enterprises it creates, and the project has borrowed many ideas and approaches from its German partner, a long established retail based social enterprise which not only trades successfully but also has experience in franchising its business models. Catalyst sees franchising as the key to expanding its successful businesses and has found the German experience to be an invaluable resource.

The West Midlands based Skills for Climate Change project has developed qualifications and experience up and down the skills ladder to equip the region with the capacity to directly address energy reduction in buildings. With world leading expertise in “passive housing” and energy systems design to be found in Germany and the Czech Republic, the project has organised a programme of study visits and materials exchange to import new skills and create new professional qualifications.

Reaching out to wider audiences

CSV’s Ipswich based SAM project has been particularly successful in sharing its innovative approach to working with people recovering from mental health problems, and mobilising volunteers. Members of project staff have spoken at dozens of events, including presenting to the European Parliament on volunteering and broadcasting to the world through Ipswich Community Radio. The project has also worked with its Danish partner to reach European trade union networks – a constituency seeking to identify new ways to tackle the exclusion arising from mental illness.

Researching the impact

WEA’s Digital Activist Inclusion Network (DAIN) project in the East Midlands research based study visits has produced a mass of material which is being actively embedded in local delivery practice. The project has initiated a Social Return on Investment (SROI) exercise as an experiment to see whether the benefits of transnational exchange can be clearly valued, with promising early results.