Access to Employment Through Social Economy (SI)

Access to employment through social economy (SI)

Call for project

Type of call: Call for proposals

Number / Short reference: SI/O1

Country: Slovenia (SI)

ESF region: Eastern Slovenia, Western Slovenia

Title in the national language: Dostop do zaposlitev preko socialne ekonomije (SI)

MA or IB involved: Ministry of economic development and technology

Address: Kotnikova ulica 5, 1000 Ljubljana

Eligibility dates: 30/11/2018

Links:

Attachments: Transnational Cooperation Agreement

Submission deadline: 4/12/2017

Total budget: 195.402,00 EUR

Theme:Social economy

CALL FOR PROPOSALS SPECIFICATION

Objectives and subjects of the public call for proposals

With this callfor proposals we aspire to support projects that address challenges of precarious workers and to increase the (social) security of jobsin the sector of social economy.

On the basis of this call for proposalswe will finance projects that will develop and implementspecial business models designed to unite precarious workers in organisations operating on the principles of social economy, preferably cooperatives, as they arelegally recognised as organisational forms of social economy.

Selected projects should revise, analyse and implement good practices, focused on planning, establishing, operating and developing business models that include precarious workers. Solutions that projects will present have to be based on successful models already operating ina partner state or states and have to be adapted to Slovenian business environment and market needs.

Selected project should analyseoperating models of cooperatives with examination of similarities and differences in various environments, e.g. with the comparison oflegal frameworks and administrative and market regulations in Slovenia and other member state or states.

Benefits of transnational partnership

The formation of transnational partnership will benefit all partners; hence it will enable transfer of experiences, knowledge and will encourage formation of social innovative models of cooperation for precarious workers and cooperatives in Slovenia and partner state(s). Transnational partnership will also provide an analysis of various factors concerning cooperatives that will be beneficial for policy makers and other subjects involved in the activities of social economy in Slovenia and partner state(s).

Background

Precarious forms of work are those forms of work that deviate from “an employment contract for an indefinite period” of time in one or more characteristics. Work on the basis of civil contracts (copyright contracts, contractual agreements), part-time work, student work, agency work or self-employed workers can be considered as precarious forms of work. But it is not necessary that all of these forms of work are considered as precarious in negative terms, since some enable a decent life. In general precarious work is considered as work that is uncertain, unstable and does not ensure a decent life due to inadequate work protection and social security.

According to some estimates, precarious forms of work account for 40% of all forms of employment in the Slovenian labour market and are on the rise. Slovenia is ranking first among the EU countries by the scale of atypical jobs among young people. Mostly young people and employees in the field of creative industries (designers, journalists, workers in culture, etc.) are faced with precarious forms of work. The development of digital platforms further accelerates the precarious forms of work and it is therefore necessary to provide such solutions in the labour market that will adequately respond to the challenges that new forms of work are bringing and continue to provide adequate flexibility in the employment market at the same time.

Through this callfor proposals we want to support projects that will develop and establish models through which decent jobs in the sector of social economy could be created (which can beprecarious in terms of legal terms butmust be decently paid).

Cooperatives as legal organizational formsthat are voluntary and autonomous associations of persons, show the potential to tackle the problem of precarious work, since their purpose is to help cooperative members respond to common economic, social and cultural needs together and preferably within a democratically managed and jointly owned company. This type of organisation of individuals into groups and/or legal entities allows them to respond to the market needs more easilyand it also enables them to engage as a group in the search, design and implementation of larger business projects for bigger subscribers, as well as lower administrative and other costs due to the possibility of centralized implementation of tasks and activities.

Expected results and impacts of the projects

Social economy, especially social entrepreneurship and its principles are increasingly recognised in Slovenia as the organisational form of entrepreneurship that could offer the right response to the growing need for social innovations and the development of new, notably social services and products, while being strongly integrated into the regional and local environment.

The expected result and impacts of the projects are:

• a new business model that includesthe principles of social economy in order to contribute to the EU 2020 strategy and to deliver high levels of employment, productivity and social inclusion of precarious workers,
• establishing well-functioning transnational partnerships that will bring precarious workerscloser to the labour market or self-support/empowerment,
• an analysis of demand, potentials and good practices of cooperatives that include precarious workers,
• provision of a support scheme that includes training, education, mentoring and counselling for stakeholders in social economy and for precarious workers on cooperatives and social economy,
• new solutions or products that will be implemented.

The above stated business model must be designed in the way that will include long-term solutions for:

• decent jobs and social security for precarious works,
• better accessibility to labour market and increase in income of precarious workers,
• lowering the administrative burden of business conduct for precarious workers,
• social inclusion and networking of precarious workers within cooperative business models,
• innovative solutions that will address specific needs of precarious workers.

Applicants will be required to demonstrate how they will achieve the deliverables within their proposal.

Horizontal principles stated in the Slovenian Operational Programme for the Implementation of the European Cohesion Policy in the 2014-2020 period will apply to the selection of projects. In addition, priority will be given to projects that:

• provide long-term employment after the end of the eligibility period,
• conduct an analysis of needs and potentials for both supply and demand,
• are appliedby applicants who are themselves representatives of the target group (precarious workers).

Entities eligible to apply

Applicants must be legally constituted at the point of signing theCooperation Agreement so that they will be able to enter into a legally binding Cooperation Agreement. The status of the beneficiary will be given to the applicantwhose application will be selected on the basis of this callfor proposals. Selected applicant will also enter into a contract obligation subjected to the rules that apply to projects subsidised by European social founds (ESF) and Republic of Slovenia, Ministry of economic development and technology.

The selected applicant as beneficiary carries the liability for ensuring that the terms of the ESF Cooperation Agreement are met by them and all other partners. If there is more than one organisation applying for the funds, a lead organisation must be selected to become the applicant. It is this organisation that hasthe responsibility and liability for carrying out the project.

Applicants (the lead organisation) must be registered as non-profit legal entity of private law and must not be registered as public sector organisation or be founded in order to implement state policies.

2 selected applicants will conduct their projects, one in the Cohesion region of Western Sloveniaand one in the Cohesion region of Eastern Slovenia. Hence they will be eligible if their business address is registered in one of thecohesion regionswhich is verifiable in the Business registry of the Republic of Slovenia (AJPES).

Conditions that must be met by the Slovenian applicant are stated in Slovenian callfor proposals, available on:

Transnational partner(s) must be selected from the database of the European commission site for transnational projects.All the costs of transnational partner(s) of the Slovenian beneficiary will be covered by the managing authority of the member state(s) of transnational partner(s). Transnational partner(s) mustcomply with the law of the home country(ies).

Requirements regarding transnational actions

Previously mentioned database is set up in order to help finding partners. It can be found on this address: Regardless if you already have a partner you will have to register as a part of the application process, since it will be used by the member states to monitor the matchmaking. The partnership has to be established and a Transnational cooperation agreement must be signed before applying.

Amount of financingand timeframe

The total amount of funds available for the callfor proposalsis 195.402,00 EUR.Fundingwill be assigned to beneficiaries in the form of subsidy. Eligible costs will be 100 % financed. The maximum amount of funds availableis 87.931,00 EUR in the Cohesion region of Western Slovenia and 107.471,00 EUR in the Cohesion region of Eastern Slovenia.The subsidy will be assigned to the beneficiary from founds of the each programme area /cohesion region based on their business address.

Budget item / Programming area / % / Year 2017 / Year 2018 / TOTAL
160380 – Trans-nationality – 14 – 20 – W Slovenia – EU contribution / West / 80 / 22.500,00 / 47.845,00 / 70.345,00
160382 – Trans-nationality – 14 – 20 – W Slovenia – Slovenian contribution / West / 20 / 5.625,00 / 11.961,00 / 17.586,00
Total / 100 / 28.125,00 / 59.806,00 / 87.931,00
Budget item / Programming area / % / Year 2017 / Year 2018 / TOTAL
160379 – Trans-nationality – 14 – 20 – E Slovenia – EU contribution / East / 80 / 27.500,00 / 58.477,00 / 85.977,00
160381 – Trans-nationality – 14 – 20 – E Slovenia – Slovenian contribution / East / 20 / 6.875,00 / 14.619,00 / 21.494,00
Total / 100 / 34.375,00 / 73.096,00 / 107.471,00

Funding cannot be relocated between the programme areas / cohesion regions.

The change of the programme area / cohesion region after the application is not allowed and the ESF Cooperation agreement could be terminated in case of doing so. EU funds are target used, funding of this call for proposalsis provided by ESF.

Eligibility period of founds of this callfor proposals is confined by 2017 and 2018 state budget;therefore funds will be available till the expenditure of thiscallfor proposalsbudget.

In case of insufficient number of compliant applications, funding of this callfor proposalswill not be distributed fully.

Cooperation Agreement between the Ministry and selected Slovenian applicants as beneficiaries will establish cooperation and founding regulations, based on projects financial plan and availability of state funds. Beneficiaries can take advantage of the possibility of receiving an advance up to 30% of eligible costs.

Eligibility period of costs and expenditures starts on 1.12.2017 and lasts till the day of the submission of the last claim, which must not be later than 30.11.2018. Within a single year 4 claims can be submitted (the last claim for 2018, no later than 30.11.2018).

Funding of projects selected on this callfor proposalswill be submitted to the rules of European cohesion policy and have to be compliant with the Eligible cost manual issued by Slovenian European cohesion policy managing authority for the 2014-2020 programme period (

Eligible costs must be directly linked to the activities of the selected project. Eligible costs are:

-The cost of purchasing tangible assets,

-The cost of purchasing intangible assets,

-Staff costs that are limited to 30 % of all projects costs,

-Communication costs,

-The costs of outsourcing services,

-Flat rate to 15% of direct staff costs.

Beneficiaries are subjected to the public procurement principles.

Founding will be attributed on the basis of eligibility of the costs.

Covering costs for the transnational partners are approved on the conditions of the Managing authority of the member state that partner comes from. Transnational partner will also subject their claims by the rulers of Managing authority that has jurisdiction over ESF founds in the country of origin.

Verification methods and documents for Slovenian applicants are stated in the Manual of the Slovenian European cohesion policy managing authority for the 2014-2020 programme period.Attribution of the eligible costs to projects objectives will be subjected to revision of the project reports hence beneficiaries are obliged to present them together with the claim delivered to the Intermediary body.

Application process

All the applications received under this callfor proposalsshould demonstrate how gender equality,equal opportunities and sustainable development have been addressed in the project design and development.

The application must be signed by the legally authorised representative of the applicant and all the partners and must also include their contact information (name of organisation, address, telephone number, e-mail, website, name and position of legally authorised representative, name, position, e-mail, telephone number and e-mail of the contact person of the applicant, place and date of signature).

Completed applications must be submitted till 4.12.2017, applications not received by the deadline will not be assessed. Applicant can apply for ESF founds subjected to this callfor proposalswith only one application, which must be submitted in printed and electronic format (e.g. USB) via post. The recipient of the application is: Ministry for economic development and technology, Kotnikova 5, 1000 Ljubljana – Slovenia.

Detailed instructions of application process are stated in Slovenian callfor proposals, available on:

For this callfor proposalsapplications will be required to commence delivery/activity on the1.12.2017.

Applications will be subject to the assessment by the Ministry of economic development and technology under the following criteria:

• The fit with the OP and the callfor proposals;
• Applicant’s eligibility;
• Activity and expenditure eligibility;
• Deliverability.

Assessment of the applications will be made by the commission of the Ministry. The application will be assessed by two members of the commission. The final assessment will be calculated on the basis ofthe average score given to the application given by each member of the commission. Applicants with the highest score in each programme area will be selected for ESF subsidy. The commission will inform all applicants about their decision in 30 days after the application opening.

For more information please contact:

Urška Bitenc

Ministry of economic development and technology

+386 1 400 3715

or

Mojca Štepic

Ministry of economic development and technology

+3861 400 33 47

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