EQUAL Community Initiative has been implemented in European Union Member States since 2001. The first selection of projects submitted by initiators of Partnerships (I round of EQUAL) took place then.
The second round of EQUAL Programme included also Poland, as a new Member State.
In Poland, EQUAL will be implemented in 2004 – 2006. Activities will be implemented within the following Themes:
Theme A: Facilitating access and return to the labour market for those who have difficulty in being integrated or reintegrated into a labour market which must be open to all.
Theme D: Strengthening the social economy (the third sector), in particular services of interest to the community, with focus on improving the quality of jobs.
Theme F: Supporting the adaptability of firms and employees to structural economic change and the use of information technology and other new technologies.
Theme G: Reconciling family and professional life, as well as the reintegration of men and women who have left the labour market, by developing more flexible and effective forms of work organisation and support services.
Theme I: Supporting social and vocational integration of asylum-seekers.
Groups most suffering from inequality and discrimination are: long-term unemployed, professionally passive persons, youth, elder persons (45 – 65 years of age), disabled persons (including psychically ill), ethnic minorities (e.g. Roma people), repatriates, refugees, inhabitants of rural and economically disadvantaged areas, employees in restructured sectors, persons addicted from drugs or alcohol, ex-convicts and convicts to leave penitentiary institutions. Activities implemented within Theme I can only be addressed to asylum-seekers and to institutions and organisations acting in favour of those persons.
