Published 11 December 2012
Mainstreaming Leader Awards 2012
Pictured: (From left to right) Angus Gray (ESF Division, DWP),
Dimtcho Tourdanov (European Commission), Manjinder Purewal
and Janet Lindsay (AIM Partnership)
The ESF Mainstreaming Leader Awards were presented at one of the ESF seminars at The Skills Show on 16 November at the Birmingham NEC. The awards, which were first launched in 2010, give high profile recognition to those ESF providers and sub-contractors who ‘go the extra mile’ in promoting equal opportunities and sustainable development.
Dimtcho Tourdanov from the European Commission joined Angus Gray (Head of ESF Division, DWP) on the stage at the event to present the awards in front of an audience which included representatives from ESF Co-Financing Organisations, project providers and project participants. After the awards were presented, each award winner gave a short presentation to share the ideas and good practice which embed (or mainstream) the themes of equal opportunities and sustainable development within their projects.
The first award to be presented was the ESF Gender Equality Leader Award, which was won by The Aim Partnership which works with West Mercia Probation Trust. This Innovative, Transnational and Mainstreaming (ITM) project is piloting a number of innovative approaches aimed at improving the employability of offenders. The project promotes gender equality in a number of ways, including the use of one-to-one support and mentoring, practical help towards childcare for female participants, and the use of female only provision.
Pictured: (From left to right) Angus Gray (ESF Division, DWP),
Dimtcho Tourdanov (European Commission), Peter Mawer
and Richard Taylor (VESP)
The ESF Equal Opportunities Specialist Project Leader Award went to The Veteran’s Employment Skills Project (VESP). VESP is a sub-contractor to Pertemps People Development Group, a National Offender Management Service (NOMS) CFO provider. The project aims to support offenders who have served in the armed forces, helping them to adjust to civilian life and employment. Many of their project participants have problems with housing, substance misuse and health. The project was praised for its highly pro-active approach to researching the veterans’ needs, and the good results it has achieved.
The Equal Opportunities Mainstreaming Leader (Policy and Plan) Award was won by Inclusion Cornwall. Inclusion Cornwall is one of Cornwall Council’s Significant Partnerships, and has delivered two stand-alone projects (Cornwall Works 50+ and Cornwall Works 50+ Cares) which aim to find new ways to address the difficulties faced by workless older people as a result of demographic change. The national assessment panel were particularly impressed by their equality and diversity policy, which gives a clear description of how the policy should be implemented, who it applies to, and the arrangments for monitoring results.
Elixir Group’s `Elixir of Life’ Project and Work This Way’s `Waste Works’ project were the JOINT WINNERS of the ESF Sustainable Development Specialist Project Leader Award. Elixir Group has run their project in partnership with Achieve North West (Merseyside Probation Trust) – a NOMS CFO provider. The project was run as a social enterprise with a strong environmental focus (recycling UPVC and reducing landfill) and aimed to help offenders, ex-offenders and other vulnerable adults learn new skills and get back to work. Waste Works is another NOMS CFO project in East Hampshire which provided offenders with on-site work experience placements in skip hire, recycling, waste management and bio-fuels production. Both these projects were praised for the positive impact they have made to their local communities and environment, and for their successes in moving participants into sustainable employment.
The last award to be presented went to Impact Housing Association’s GreenWays to Work project, which won the ESF Sustainable Development Mainstreaming Leader (Policy and Plan) Award. The project is funded under the ITM strand of ESF. Impact Housing Association is the lead partner and they work closely with Cumbria Woodlands, Lakes College West Cumbria, and Cumbria Action for Sustainability “to create the necessary skills base to help deliver environmental technologies and practical environmental projects in Cumbria”. The project was praised as another excellent example of how an ESF project can add value by helping people and protecting the environment at the same time.
More detailed information about each of the award winning projects, including video interviews with the winners, can be found on the ESF-Works website.