European Social Fund in Poland: Best Practices - Europejski ...

» Thanks to the support from the European Social Fund, a great
variety of highly beneficial and valuable projects are put in place.
Their positive effect is often difficult to gauge because they mainly
impact the beneficiaries’ state of mind. On June 23, 2008, during
the official award presentation gala to close the 2 nd edition of the
competition, Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Minister of Regional Development,
stressed the fact that, “Laymen tend to think that within the
framework of ESF training programmes are organized ‘for everyone,
about everything’. And the truth is that it is us who very often
come into contact with small, highly specialized projects that reach
those who really need such assistance. Some idea about the sheer
scale of support is perhaps revealed by the fact that to date the European
Social Fund provided support to some 2 million individuals,
or, in other words, to over 8,000 projects totalling nearly PLN 8.043
billion.”
Naturally, it is the efficient use of the money spent from the ESF funding
that is of paramount importance, and not the number of projects
or the number of individuals that receive training. What is important
is how many people from among all those millions actually find jobs,
how many will improve their professional status within their companies,
improve relations with other employees, find promotion or set
up a business of their own. The success of projects carried out with
the ESF funding is reflected in the number of newly created permanent
jobs.
“Our future is not only about motorways. It is about investing in
people”, said Vladimir Špidla, EU commissioner for social affairs
and equal opportunities who was present at the event. “Poland will
receive the biggest injection of funds form ESF, worth some 10 billion
euros as funding support for the unemployed and other people
who are in a difficult situation. »
Elżbieta Bieńkowska,
Minister Rozwoju Regionalnego:
Niejednokrotnie mamy do czynienia
z małymi projektami docierającymi
do tych, którzy ich naprawdę potrzebują
Elżbieta Bieńkowska,
the Minister of Regional Development:
Many small scale projects can be targeted
precisely at those who really need them
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