1. Cities for Active
Inclusion
Birmingham, 10 July 2013

2. 1. Birmingham in EUROCITIES
2. Introduction to Cities for Active Inclusion
3. Main findings
 Why are cities important and what role do they
play?
 Challenges
 Elements of success
Content of the presentation

3. 1. Birmingham in EUROCITIES
 The network of major European cities
 Founded in 1986
 Birmingham founding member
 More than 130 large cities in over 35 European
countries
 6 Thematic forums: Culture, economic
development, environment, Knowledge society,
transport and social affairs
 Birmingham very active especially in social
affairs, environment and knowledge society
 Platform to share knowledge and ideas and
develop innovative solutions

4. 1 1. Birmingham in EUROCITIES
 Dialogue with the European Institutions
 Connecting over 2000 city officers through
thematic Forums, Working Groups, projects and
events
 ‘Framework Partnership’ with EC to improve the
involvement of cities in EU Social Inclusion
policies

5. 2. Introduction to Cities for Active Inclusion
Partner cities:
Barcelona (ES)
Birmingham (UK)
Bologna (IT)
Brno (CZ)
Copenhagen (DK)
Lille-Roubaix (FR)
Rotterdam (NL)
Sofia (BG)
Stockholm (SE)

6. 2. Introduction to Cities for Active Inclusion
What is Active Inclusion?
2008 EU Recommendation on Active Inclusion
• Inclusive labour markets
• Minimum income support
• Access to quality social services
Focus on an integrated and coordinated
approach
At political level the Active Inclusion strategy
has been included in the Social Investment
Package

7. 2. Introduction to Cities for Active Inclusion
 Informing, disseminating and awareness
raising
Website & high level event
 Researching and analysing policy
Publication of overview report and good
practices on active inclusion of the most
excluded
 Implementing and promoting mutual
learning
National events on active inclusion & study
visits
Cities for Active Inclusion – 2013 Activities

8. 3. Main findings
 Why are cities important and
what role do they play?
• They are best placed to deal with the
urban dimension of poverty
• Responsible for providing and
commissioning social services and
labour market activation
• Use regulatory powers to promote
social inclusion and inclusive labour
markets

9.  Why are cities important and
what role do they play?
• Have access to information and know
actual trends on poverty and social
exclusion
• Can award social services to social
economy organisations
• Can influence national policies

10. 3. Main findings
 Challenges
• Budget cuts and financial constraints
• Increasing number and new profiles of
people at risk of social exclusion and
poverty
• Ineffective governance

11. 3. Main findings
• Ensuring good policy coordination and
integrated approaches
• Area based approaches to urban
regeneration
• Working in partnership with all relevant
stakeholders
• Promoting social innovation
 Elements of success

12. 3. Main findings
 Elements of success
• Bottom-up approaches: involvement
of citizens, users and NGOs in
planning for active inclusion
• Developing framework for improving
and measuring the quality of social
services
• Prevention and early intervention
• Social Return on Investment (SROI)

13. Further information can be found on our website…
www.eurocities-nlao.eu

14. Thank you for your attention!
susana.forjan@eurocities.eu