History : Local Social Capital

In 1998 the Commission launched a call for proposals on pilot projects on local social capital.
The pilot project tried out a new delivery mechanism to support local employment and social cohesion initiatives. A good deal of the inspiration for the design of the pilot project comes from the experience made in the Special Support Programme for Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties of Ireland, in particular in the social inclusion area. The urgency to see the effects of the Peace programme quickly in the streets favoured the use of non-government organisations as intermediary bodies as managers of part of the programme. They were close to the final beneficiaries and target groups, they knew about their needs and problems, and managed efficiently the moneys entrusted. The EC tested the transferability of the approach to other territories of the European Union.

The mechanism had two main features :

• use of financial support to micro-projects in the form of small grants ;
• use of private non-profit organisations as an intermediary body to deliver financial but also quality advice and participatory supervision.

2000/2006 : the measure 10B

The measure 10b of the objectif 3 programme was, in France, the "heiress" of the experimentation "local social capital" carried out by the European Commission.

The "Mesure 10B" meant an intermediary body, operating at regional or at local level, capable of providing back up for people who pool their resources with a view to carrying out micro-level projects which promote employment and social cohesion".
The intermediary bodies had to provide :

• financial support to micro-projects in the form of small grants to micro-projects, up to EUR 23.000
• quality advice in the form of a tailor-made accompaniment
• participatory supervision through the involvement of local actors in the working of the local social capital operations. Local communities should not be treated as passive recipients of aid, but as independent players with an active part in the local network the intermediary body will set up.

The overriding idea was to design and set up a body which could relate to the experience of people intending to run micro-level projects. This meant that it was essential to develop a scheme that could operate in a way that people locally would understand and find accessible, and which would help to meet the needs of the people involved in the micro-level projects.

The second important factor was that the intermediary body should itself make a real contribution to the social reintegration of the most disadvantaged groups in its area. The "Mesure 10B" did not address unemployment in general but focused on those groups who could not for various reasons profit from the EU employment policies.

The intermediary bodies had to be innovative in order to reach and involve socially excluded people whose specific needs were not addressed and/or met by existing actions. Projects in three areas could be funded.

• Projects aimed at restoring social cohesion by encouraging cooperation and solidarity. Any socially useful activity contributing to this aim could be encouraged, be it in connection with improving the quality of life or the local environment (social and health services, assistance with transport) or strengthening/creating self-help groups or networks for the exchange of products and services at local level.
• Projects aimed at reinforcing local networks and formal and informal groups which seek to facilitate integration of excluded persons into the world of work. In this context, the assistance could be put to use imaginatively, for example to support measures to exploit the latent vocational and social skills of persons in difficulty, or self-training and apprenticeship measures to increase familiarity with new technologies.
• Projects with the immediate objective of providing assistance with the start-up of microbusinesses and cooperatives. The systematic provision of support for these activities, in the form of technical advice/training will be an integral part of these projects.

2007/2013 : the ESF measure 4-2.3

of the Regional competitiveness and Employment

See the slide introduction here

This measure is the continuation of the former measure 10B. The target group includes very small organizations (non profit organizations, cooperatives) with few or no employees.   The ESF support will go to the 5 following operations : entrepreneurship and activities in the frame of social economy (new sources of job like eco-tourism, environment, fair trade…), services as home help and any other initiatives aiming at filling the gaps in the fields of services on a territory, heritage trades to develop the economic value of a territory. For this three above axis, priority will be given to the projects implemented in isolated rural areas or in disadvantaged urban areas. fight against discrimination at work, vocational integration initiatives (innovative and/or experimental one) towards disadvantage people (long term unemployed, handicapped, young and senior people). The amount of the grant is 23000 € (25000 € when the priority “equality between women and men” is specifically taken into consideration and leads to over costs).   During the former programing period the ESF was financing the measure at a 100% rate. In the present progamming period (2007-2013), ESF is co-financing the measure at a 85% rate. Matching funds can be provided by public (Local authorities, State) and/or private funds (self funds, fundations, banks...).