The Community Initiative EQUAL

EQUAL was a Community Initiative Programme of the European Union. In the context of the EQUAL programme series, new methods and concepts were being designed and tested to combat discrimination and inequalities in the labour market. The innovative model-projects targeted, on the one, disadvantaged persons whose employability and vocational levels need to be promoted. While on the other hand, the results also served the purpose of stimulating structural changes within the conditions of the framework, thereby, reducing inequalities in the labour market.

Embedded in the European Employment Strategy (EES) and financed by the European Social Fund (ESF), EQUAL was committed to the issues of "asylum seekers" as well as: "employability", "equal opportunities for women and men", "entrepreneurship" and "adaptability". Extending beyond these measures, EQUAL promoted antidiscrimination, combated xenophobia and racism.
An aim of the programme was to implement innovative models within the existing incentive measures and support instruments of (further) education and employment. The implementation of the projects were carried out by networks, so-called Development Partnerships (DPs), and their transnational partners. The DPs joined together in additional networking levels for national thematic networks.

The responsibility for the execution of the programme in Germany lay with the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. In the context of EQUAL, the models were also considered a testing ground for labour market policies. Additionally, their aim - in accordance with the concept of mainstreaming - was to strive towards eliminating existing problems, such as inequality and discrimination in the labour market. This meant that the acquired project experiences and results were processed for application as best practice models (products) for general use to be applied at the national and European levels. Through this, the sustainability of the EQUAL innovations to combat inequality and discrimination should be safeguarded on the labour market. Mainstreaming was applied on two levels in order to ensure an application of the models and dissemination as wide as possible. Once at the operative level, an exchange between the Development Partnerships of the same thematic field was made possible. The other level aimed at transferring the results in political, legal and institutional fields of action.

More information: http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/equal/index_en.cfm

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