Tackling long-term unemployment in deindustrialised areas

AuthorDirectorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (European Commission)
Pages46-47
SOCIAL INNOVATION: INSPIRATIONAL PRACTICES
SUPPORTING PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THEIR LIVES
46
© European Union, 2015
New employment opportunities: a jobseeker receives
vocational training
Problem addressed
Only 20% of Roma people in Slovakia were found to be
employed or self-employed by a 2016 EU Fundamental
Rights Agency survey. Discrimination, together with the
relatively low education level and labour market experience
of Roma people, as well as limited national and local job
supply, contribute to this situation.
Innovative solution
The WASCO Cooperative adopts an empowering and anti-
stigmatising approach to dealing with the challenge of
Roma long-term unemployment. It was set up in 2015 in
Horehronie, a town in Slovakia, to support Roma integration.
The cooperative provides benef‌iciaries with work in laundry
and ironing services and operates within the 900 m2 space
of a refurbished old factory. It targets Roma people in
Horehronie although other groups in vulnerable situations,
such as single-mothers, people with health and disability
issues and the elderly, are also supported. The employment
is accompanied by training in order to help the benef‌iciaries
to develop their skills and experience. In the longer-term, the
cooperative helps participants to move on to employment
elsewhere by providing tailored guidance on searching for
and securing a job.
To increase its impact, the project cooperates with local
and national institutions, including the Slovakian Ministry of
Labour, Social Af‌fairs and the Family.
Key results and benef‌its
The project employs 24 people and now has 150 clients.
It has provided employees with work experience, hours of
training and networks of contacts for future employment.
Former employees have been able to go on to secure jobs
in hotels, ministries, labour of‌f‌ices and cafeterias. For all of
these reasons, WASCO is considered by its founders as an
incubator – a protective and safe environment for the care
and development of its participants.
Tackling long-term unemployment in
deindustrialised areas
WASCO Cooperative
Slovakia

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