EUSDR ESF Network
About the network
The ESF Network of the EUSDR was established following the Meeting of Ministers in charge of EU funds at the margins of the EUSDR Annual Forum in Ulm, Germany in 2015. It aims at fostering transnational cooperation within the ESF Operational Programmes in the Danube Region, to thereby connect cooperation and investment, and serve as a joint knowledge hub for implementation, planning and exchange of experience with social policies.
The network is organised by PAC9 “People and Skills” and PAC10 “Institutional Capacity & Cooperation” together with the ESF Managing Authorities in the Danube Region and other partners. In this respect, the cooperation capitalizes upon an ongoing exchange of experience and mutual learning with the EUSBSR and its ESF MA network, as well as inputs from the EC (DG EMPL). So far, 12 meetings of the network have been held with the participation of the nine EU MS in the Danube Region implementing the ESF.
The network has gradually and systematically gained in maturity, ranging from the discussion of concrete examples/projects and challenges and opportunities in the implementation of transnational cooperation within the ESF up to the identification of common topics and, subsequently, the definition of joint text modules related to the EUSDR/transnational cooperation in the upcoming MFF 2021-27. Joint topics and issues to be addressed are e.g. women in the labour market, social innovation, inclusion of vulnerable groups / Roma Inclusion, administrative capacity, the ageing population, lifelong learning, social entrepreneurship etc.
A joint Vision Paper was adopted to define the scope, the future and next steps of this network. The implementation of social policies within macro-regional strategies presented at the ESF Committee in Vienna in December 2018. Foundation of the network, related to a meeting of ministers in charge of EU funds.
