European Community of Practice

Welcome to the Community of Practice on Innovation and Mainstreaming

You may be asking yourself “what is a Community of Practice”? Its a simple concept! CoPs are groups of people who come together to share and to learn from one another either face-to-face or on-line. Everyone who wants to be a part of such a group has several things in common – knowledge and a desire to share. There is also an expectation that members of any CoP interact over a regular period of time. One of the interesting aspects of a Community of Practice can be the ability to make contacts and relationships with a number of people and this then helps to communicate with one another about shared experiences and problems. What better way to find solutions and information! In the case of this CoP, its interaction will be primarily through this internet space.

This Community of Practice has been established to find innovative ways to help ensure that EQUAL and ESF tools and practices are used to help access to the labour market in the new Structural Funds Programming Period 2007-13. It’s through this CoP that people can learn from EQUAL.

If you would like to know more about CoPs and what they are, follow this link: http://www.ewenger.com/theory/index.htm

The context for this community
The EQUAL Community Initiative is a programme funded by the European Social Fund to develop innovative solutions to tackle unemployment and discrimination in the labour market. EQUAL runs from 2000-2008 and then comes to an end. The lessons learned in the first phase of the programme have now to be disseminated. Innovation & mainstreaming are key elements of EQUAL and our purpose is to collect and make available the practices and tools developed in Member States related to innovation and mainstreaming that could be useful for the next programming period of the structural funds.

Potential members
ESF managers, implementing bodies, national support structures, policy makers, project promoters, relevant government departments, other structural fund managers, and anyone interested in innovation mainstreaming practices.

Our invitation
We are offering an opportunity to communicate with each other, to share experiences and learn together about social innovation & mainstreaming.

Resources
Here are some examples of the resources you will find in this community of practice on Innovation and Mainstreaming (CoP IM).

One of the instruments made available by the CoP IM, is the validation methodology of products within the EQUAL network. The process was initiated by the Portuguese Managing Authority (MA). Because of its positive impact on innovation and quality, on its improvement of products, and its potential mainstreaming effect, the validation methodology was rapidly adopted by some other member states, some of whom adapted the tool to their national context. This tool also contributes to the social recognition of the value of the products, helping to clarify a project strategy and the mechanisms for mainstreaming.

Another example of tool offered by the Cop on I&M is the thematic networking methodology used by several member states. In the Equal context, projects were invited to participate in thematic working groups to share their knowledge and practices. The interaction among participants in the thematic networks contributes directly to innovation of projects and policy recommendations.

Other examples of tools are those related to mainstreaming such as guidelines and monitoring mainstreaming practices.

The Cop on innovation and mainstreaming is now collecting several other innovation stimulating instruments that are used by EU managing authorities and will make them available to the public.

How to join us
You can join our community by registering on the site (http://innovation.esflive.eu) where you can complete your profile, look round our resources, and find other members who have similiar interests to you. A good place to begin is by going to "Community", finding the group for new members and introducing yourself. There will be people there who can help orientate you, or who will simply say hello.

You may also be interested in joining a group about Innovation
mainstreaming in a different language. Check the Groups in the online space to find a group in a language you want to participate in.

These are the email contacts for the facilitators of this community. Please contact any one of them for more information or help or to let them know of the ways in which you would like to contribute to the community.

Ana Zubka (Poland)
azubka@copim.eudaimonia.pt

Jean-Pierre Palante (Belgium, France)
jppalante@copim.eudaimonia.pt

João Dias (Portugal)
jdias@copim.eudaimonia.pt

Madalena Estevão (Portugal)
mestevao@copim.eudaimonia.pt

Ronan Lawlor (Ireland, UK)
rlawor@copim.eudaimonia.pt

Willem de Bock (Belgium, Flanders)
wdebock@copim.eudaimonia.pt