Farry launches Northern Ireland European Social Fund Project Directory
Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry has launched the Northern Ireland European Social Fund (ESF) Project Directory.
The Directory was launched by the Minister during a visit to the Ashton Community Trust, lead partner in a Belfast-wide ESF project entitled Lemis+, accompanied by the European Commission’s Deputy Director-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Mr Zoltán Kazatsay. The Northern Ireland ESF Programme 2014-2020 Project Directory provides an overview of the 67 successful ESF initiatives across the region.
Addressing participants and staff at the project, the Minister said: “I am delighted to welcome Deputy Director General Kazatsay from the European Commission, to show him first-hand the quality of ESF training provision that we have to offer.
“ESF has made a significant contribution to improving skills levels and helping people who are economically inactive or facing barriers to employment. This Directory provides an overview of each of the 67 projects funded under the first call of the 2014-2020 ESF Programme. The projects will provide support to over 42,000 participants across Northern Ireland over the next three years.
“Over the duration of the 2014-2020 ESF Programme, the European Commission will provide Northern Ireland with £144m of funding, and I welcome that my Department has been able to provide match funding to a number of ESF projects. By focusing on those most in need of help, ESF contributes to policies to reduce inequality, combat poverty and develop a more competitive workforce.”
Deputy Director General Zoltán Kazatsay, from the Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission, said: “I am grateful for the opportunity to visit Belfast to officially launch the new ESF Programme for the period 2014-2020 and in particular to celebrate the selection and approval of the first 67 projects which will be co-funded by the European Social Fund. I am aware of the great commitment of the Minister and the Department in charge of ESF to ensure that the European money is well spent, that it reaches those most in need of support and provides positive outcomes for participants in the various programmes. I am looking forward to continuing to work with the Northern Irish authorities and to witnessing the positive results of this investment in the near future.”
Ashton Community Trust’s Lemis+ project provides the long-term unemployed, economically inactive and people not in employment, education or training with a suite of services which help them overcome their personal barriers to employment and develop employment related skills, leading to securing employment.
The ESF Project Directory provides an overview of each project and is available at: https://www.delni.gov.uk/publications/esf-project-directory.
