SESK

Social sErviceS helpdesK on EU Funds

The HELPDESK is a 2-years project funded by the European Commission to launch the building blocks for a Social Services Helpdesk. The proposed Helpdesk will have two main priorities:

1. to support social services in accessing and using EU funds (ESF+, ERDF and ReactEU in particular);

2. to help Managing Authorities use EU funds (ESF+, ERDF and ReactEU in particular) to finance quality interventions in the field of social services.

Objectives

The HELPDESK Project will work towards three main objectives:

Promoting capacity building and awareness raising about ESF+, ERDF & React EU (and other relevant EU funds) about how such funds can better support effective social services interventions.
Facilitating and simplifying the use of and access to EU funds for social services.
Facilitating exchange and cooperation between Managing Authorities, social services, and the European Commission (EC) to ensure that funding priorities are based on an assessment of social needs and target effective evidence-based social services interventions.

Main Target Groups

The HELPDESK Project will work towards three main objectives:

Promoting capacity building and awareness raising about ESF+, ERDF & React EU (and other relevant EU funds) about how such funds can better support effective social services interventions.
Facilitating and simplifying the use of and access to EU funds for social services.
Facilitating exchange and cooperation between Managing Authorities, social services, and the European Commission (EC) to ensure that funding priorities are based on an assessment of social needs and target effective evidence-based social services interventions.

Activities

The Helpdesk Project will implement four main activities:

Evidence Collection: around the use of ESF+, ERDF (and other funds) in social services, promising practices, needs and challenges
Knowledge Sharing: to build up capacity of Managing Authorities and Social Services across the EU, including relationship building between civil servants in these fields.
Toolkit: which will facilitate access to ESF+, ERDF (and other funds) for social services and will support both Managing Authorities and social services.
Guidance: to facilitate partnership between Managing Authorities and social services to help identify effective social services interventions. This will help to implement EU social policy, and assess how ESF+, ERDF (and other funds) can be used to fund such interventions.