Across the EU there are divergent policies on people who use or have used drugs and alcohol. In terms of increasing employability and employment opportunities for this group, practice and approaches vary greatly. The European Action for Employment in Recovery (EAER) partnership reflects the divergence across Europe as a whole. People who have a history of drug and alcohol problems, and those who are current problem drug users face significant social and economic inequalities and are marginalised within society particularly in terms of their education, training and employment. Long term drug users can face a cycle of disadvantage where poor school experiences lead to low participation in post-school education and less work experience and so less vocational training. Their employment prospects are greatly reduced as are other factors including confidence and understanding of the labour market. They also face significant stigma from employers and others. The project oobjectives therefore are: - To deliver positive and long lasting effects on policy and participating organisations through building more employability and employment opportunities for people who use or have used substances - To deliver positive and long lasting effects on people participating in the programme through increased knowledge, skills, and motivation to improve services. EAER is a collaborative project of 4 partner organisations in 4 EU member states who are working with problem drug users to increase their employability as part of their rehabilitation and with the ultimate aim that they are employed, are less reliant on the state, contribute to society and, consequently economic and social inequalities are reduced within and between member states. European Action for Employment in Recovery is a partnership that consist of Scottish Drugs Forum, the Dutch Foundation Innovation in Welfare 2 Work, AGENCIA PIAGET PARA O DESENVOLVIMENTO, and Comunità La Tenda Cooperativa Sociale. The concept is to work together to increase capacity to deliver employability work with people who have a history of drug and alcohol problems in each of the partner countries - enhancing the provision of employability interventions within front-line drug and alcohol services. We will look to disseminate good practice beyond the group through regular e-bulletins, two project conferences, and two good practice guides, along with a dedicated website for the project duration and beyond. There will also be a blended mobility aspect and multiple networking opportunities through dedicated EAER Days, with ongoing communication through the duration of the project. to enhance activities and ensure that project objectives are met
Completed results of the project are: A comprehensive good practice guide was created detailing the steps towards setting up and running an employability programme for individuals who use or have used substances and are facing inequality in accessing employment of employability training. - A comprehensive good practice guide was created detailing how to identify and align appropriate training support and qualifications for vulnerable individuals participating in an employment support programme - A ‘Community of Practice’ was created established where organisations and individual workers can access support, advice, guidance and discussion on the development and delivery of employment support programmes. - Twelve EAER e-bulletins were created - ‘One-stop- e-shop’ EAER Platform was created, a long with a dedicated website. In line with the priorities of the project and through the delivery and achievement of the objectives and indicators of the project, there has been clear evidence in all partner countries of: • An increased understanding of barriers to employment as experienced by service users • A reduction in exclusion of indirect beneficiaries from employment, education and training • Increased opportunities for employability for indirect beneficiary population through identification and strengthened partnerships working to enable vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals to access the labour market • Enhanced access to skills training and qualifications of indirect beneficiary population towards increasing employability • All products, reports and supporting documents uploaded on Erasmus + dissemination platform to enable dissemination of experience and resources from the project to organisations and countries across Europe • An established and sustainable Community of Practice through a peer network across the partner countries that will continue to promote the good practice in developing, implementing, and delivering projects which seek to advance and enhance employability for vulnerable and disadvantaged population groups • The learning gleaned from involvement in the project and recommendations made by partners. • people in recovery (aged 18-50) • people in recovery (aged 16-30) in (vocational) education • people in recovery (aged 16–50), also known as NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training) • Teachers/Trainers around the EAER project We were able to achieve this based on the following: 1) We were able to Build EAER Networks among stakeholders and associates. Initially we focused on building our networks locally, based on the establishment of current relationships. Moreover, we were able to federate our own local networks into a European one - a European EAER Network - Europe was deemed as the "right" dimension to be able to share reflections, capitalise on successful experiences, and issue relevant recommendations. Relationships were further fostered and increased during the participating of two Learning Mobilities and a Blended mobility event. 2) We were able to help those in the network who have lived experience of addiction recovery, to gain abilities regarding a better understanding of the key issues: *Creating and managing the EAER IOs. *Valuating the outcomes or non-formal / less formal learning through experiences. *Accompanying NEETs, teachers, trainers, and SMEs along complex employment pathways 3) We were able to help people in recovery/NEETs who are far from employment due to barriers and inequalities, find their place in the EAER process by including them through specific actions: * we invited NEETs, trainers, teachers, SMEs, etc. to special events (EAER Days) they were able to network, work on professional social media branding, and produce scripts for the IOs *we included them in Pilot Actions to trial the prototypes of the IOs *we undertook the follow-ups of such activities along the duration of the project: We were able to implement several key activities during the duration of the project: • Face-to-face activities: Presentations, round tables, workshops, seminars, conferences • Media-based activities: Internet-based, presentations, social media, press releases • Performance activities: Activities closely related to the EAER project work packages such as the implementation of workshops or pilot courses; involvement in evaluation activities, e-bulletins, websites, e-documents, promotional materials, articles, activity reports, etc. Dissemination included our target audience of – Drug treatment and support services • Employability and other support services • Education and training organisations • Those involved in the planning of drug, employability, training and education services • Those involved in the accreditation of training and education • Local / National government • funders and stakeholders. . The EAER platform https://www.eaerproject.eu/ creates a legacy of content which is continually expanding and growing with an extensive library.