1. Community of Practice on partnership in the ESF October 2008 Open Days Benedict Wauters Deputy Director Flemish ESF Agency COP partnership coordinator

2. COP origine Initiative came from DG EMPL and ESF Managing Authorities of Czech Republic, Austria, Portugal and Belgium Flanders Flanders is coordinating the COP Response to the new ESF regulation articles on –involvement of stakeholders, including social partners, in the governance mechanisms of the Operational Programmes –the provision of financial support to multi-actor projects …as well as EQUAL lessons learnt

3. Promote partnerships, pacts, networking (ESF Reg., Art. 3) PROJECTS GOVERNANCE Stakeholder engagement in preparation, implementation and monitoring of ESF support (Gen. Reg., Art.11) New Structural Funds Regulations 2007-13 Mainstreaming EQUAL good practice How to practice, and how to support partnerships as ESF Managing Authority / Implementing body? involvement of social partners and NGOs (ESF Reg., Art 3+5)

4. COP definition Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.

5. COP: objectives In the EC grant agreement: –provide a space for members to help them: solve everyday problems in promoting and managing partnership in the programmes disseminate good practice innovate (find better ways of doing things than what already exists) –this is in line with the COP mission statement which was constructed based on members’ input

6. Mission of the COP as defined by its members More and fresh/creative partnership thinking and implementation in structural funds (especially the ESF)

7. How do we achieve this? Convincing programme managers, including from new member states of the importance of partnership Produce/share and provide easy access to: –practical tools, models, guidance notes/fiches, good/poor practice descriptions, contextualised case studies and real life stories… –…anchored in reality (including from EQUAL) Engage in two-way interaction with other networks, initiatives, wider work environment… Mission of the COP as defined by its members

8. Source: E. Wenger

9. Setting up steering group Launching calls, selecting contractors, recruiting first members setting up technology Interviewing members 1st base camp Identification of broad issues 2nd base camp Key success factors to deal with issues identified Interactive website operational December 2006June 2007 September 2007 COP potential stage

10. Continuing work and exchanges on practices 3rd base camp First deliverables presented and online November 2007 January 2008 COP coalescing stage December 2007 Continuing work and exchanges on practices More deliverables online Malta exchange event -Presenting and discussing deliverables with others -Recruiting new members (4th basecamp)

11. Continuing exchanges 5th base camp Continuing exchanges 6th base camp April 2008 COP maturing stage February 2008 Vienna, next to the 4th OECD LEED platform Brussels

12. COP stewardship stage Preparation 7th base -camp Prague Preparation 8th Base- camp Bucharest Preparation Open Days Brussels 18-19 Sep 2008 October 20086-7 November 2008 Preparation 9th Basecamp Budapest Handbook for Managing Authorities draft version Expert field research for handbook ctd Presentation on data and analysis of research 21-22 July 2008 Expert redaction + final research Preparation 10th Basecamp Lissabon Final event Lissabon Expert final redaction December 2008 Final Version Handbook Study visit in Flanders Flanders peer review results Expert panel validation workshop

13. Interactive study visits Study team does research before the visit: –Interviewing a representation of monitoring committee, programme management and partnership project coordinators/partners –Using questionnaire based on the key success factor framework Analyst synthesis results, looking especially at difference between types of actor Workshop with the interviewees is used deepen common understanding and propose actions Action plan is prepared by study team with programme managers

14. Summing up: results from the CoP Validated key success factor framework with good practice descriptions in the structural funds from all over the EU Country fiches describing the understanding and implementation of “partnership” in the ESF around the EU Interactive study visit procedure based on the key success factor framework Handbook for ESF programme managers on supporting partnership in the ESF All available via the interactive website

15. Interested to join? To know what’s going on but: –Go to www.partnership.esflive.euwww.partnership.esflive.eu –Register –Gain access to and read (public) discussion fora, wiki’s, blogs etc. Ready to engage further? Contact the coordinator benedict.wauters@esf-agentschap.be benedict.wauters@esf-agentschap.be