HELPDESK – EU funds for social services is a 2-years project funded by the European Commission (May 2022 – April 2024) which aims to launch the building blocks for a Social Services Helpdesk. The proposed Helpdesk will have two main priorities:
- to support social services in accessing and using EU funds (ESF+, ERDF and ReactEU in particular);
- to help Managing Authorities use EU funds (ESF+, ERDF and ReactEU in particular) to finance quality interventions in the field of social services
The project is run by a consortium made up of 16 partners, including 11 European and 5 national organisations, with the European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) as coordinator.
Social services are facing considerate difficulties, such as chronic underfunding, staff shortages and challenges in transitioning to community-based and person-centred forms of services. The COVID-19 pandemic only heightened these problems making it harder and more expensive to meet the increased needs in delivering social services. Receiving adequate funds and making sure that these are easily accessible and used to fund quality interventions in the field is critical to overcome these obstacles.
The consortium represents a large variety of social services and have members located in every EU Member State and beyond. This will make sure that social services and Managing Authorities in all EU Member States will be able to benefit from the newly set up Helpdesk.
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