CapaCity - Training & Capacity-building for Local Action Planning for Employment

January 2002 to December 2003

Co-financed by the European Commission, DG for Employment and Social Affairs in support of the European Employment Strategy.

 

Project summary

The CapaCity project was launched by ICLEI in Spring 2002 in order to address the problem of unemployment at the local level. The long-term goal of the project was to initiate a multi-stakeholder dialogue, with the local government as the facilitator of this process.

CapaCity achieved this by simultaneously building the capacity of partner training institutions to train local government officials and by training the local government officials directly, via "supported distance training".

ICLEI's Local Agenda 21 planning approach, with its rich experience in this area, provided an excellent source of knowledge and direction, and formed the core material of the course. Course delivery was coordinated by ICLEI's International Training Centre.

 

Training for training institutions

Training partners

CapaCity was a joint undertaking between ICLEI and the following organisations and institutions:

Austrian Institute for Sustainable Development

B.A.U.M. Consult (Germany)

German Environmental Management Association

The Hellenic Agency for Regional Development and Local Government (E.E.T.A.A.) in cooperation with KEDKE, the Central Union of Municipalities and Communities in Greece.

AnciForm - Training Institute of the National Association of Italian Communes (Italy)

BAKEAZ - The Documentation and Study Centre for Peace (Spain)

The Swedish Association for Local Authorities and the Swedish Federation of County Councils, Stockholm (Sweden)

 

Within ICLEI, the International Training Centre (ITC) and the European LA21 Programme collaborated on the development of the content, the training methodology and the training facilities on the Internet. ICLEI provided training to the training institutions for delivery of the current and future courses.

 

Guidance for trainers

During five partner workshops, ICLEI provided training to the partner institutions. This "training of trainers" included guidance and recommendations on how to deliver the course in an optimal way. The project partners reviewed and provided feedback on all concepts and text, adapted them to their national circumstances and translated them into their own languages.

The partners have been enabled to run the course again after the completion of the CapaCity project, when all training material, including the web course, was passed on to them.

 

Becoming a new training partner

The ITC is interested in collaborating with additional training institutions active in the area of local government and public administration, to further build training capacity for local employment planning throughout Europe.

If you are interested in delivering the course in your language to the cities and towns in your country, please contact ICLEI's International Training Centre.

 

Training for local government officials

Course content

 

LA21 approach

CapaCity's approach was based on the understanding that local strategies for employment can be strengthened by initiating a multi-stakeholder dialogue which is facilitated by local government. Here, Local Agenda 21 provided plenty of experience that can be adapted to the requirements of action planning for local employment.

A European Context

CapaCity was a contribution to the implementation of the European Employment Strategy of the European Commission. The Strategy was then based on the four pillars:

• Improving employability
• Developing entrepreneurship
• Encouraging adaptability in enterprises and their employees
• Strengthening the policies for equal opportunities for men and women

Topics that were explored

Combining EU employment policies and LA21, the training consisted of the following main subjects:

• The European Employment Strategy at local level
• Employment and sustainability
• Analysing local employment situations
• Visioning and target setting
• Action planning & project management
• Sustainable employment for tourist destinations
• Implementation, monitoring, evaluation
• Employment pacts & public-private partnerships

The content was partly based on an earlier project, LANE – Local Agenda Network for Employment, in which six European cities took part in setting up Local Action Plans for Employment by using the Local Agenda 21 methodology. 

 

Training concept

Local implementation and target municipalities

The training was tailored to support the practical implementation of the contents to the situation of the participating cities and towns. The training was therefore best suited for the employees of those cities, towns and communities which had already made a political commitment to improve their employment situation. It was also useful for municipalities that want to establish a new Local Agenda 21 process or further steer and develop an existing one.

Supported distance training

The training was delivered via the Internet and included a strong element of electronic communication and feedback between trainer and participants. Additionally, there were three national seminars for direct interaction and networking, experience exchange, and practical skills development.

 

Registration

If you are interested in participating in the course "Local Action Planning for Employment" please contact ICLEI's International Training Centre or the training partner in your country (see contact information below).

A self-paced version of the LAP-E course is also available. Please see ICLEI's Web Learning Centre for more information.

 

Contact information

International

ICLEI's European Local Agenda 21 Programme

Stefan Kuhn, Director

Silke Moschitz, Project Officer

la21(at)iclei.org

www.iclei.org/europe/la21/

 

ICLEI's International Training Centre

Monika Zimmermann, Director

Barbara Anton, Project Coordinator

João Rabaça, Project Officer

Karen Stankunas, Project Officer

training.centre(at)iclei.org

www.iclei.org/itc/

Please use capacity(at)iclei.org for all matters related to the CapaCity project.

 

Austria

 

ÖIN - The Austrian Institute for Sustainable Development, Vienna

Petra Schmutz

www.boku.ac.at/oin  

 

Germany

 

B.A.U.M. Consult - German Environmental Management Association

Munich

Jobst Münderlein

www.baumgroup.de 

 

Greece

       

E.E.T.A.A. – The Hellenic Agency for Local Development and Local Government, Athens (In collaboration with KEDKE - Central Union of Municipalities and Communities of Greece)Contact:Eleni-Tatiana Mandat.manda@solar.eetaa.gr  www.eetaa.gr 

 

Italy

AnciForm - The Training Institute of the National Association of Italian Communes

Rome, Italy

Paola di Capua

www.anciform.it

 

Spain

BAKEAZ - Documentation and Study Centre for Peace

Bilbao, Spain

Efrén Feliu Torres

www.bakeaz.org

 

Sweden

       

SALA - The Swedish Association for Local Authorities and the Swedish Federation of County Councils

Stockholm, Sweden

Karin Forsell

www.lf.svekom.se/tru/Syssel/syssel.htm