European Social Fund and the opportunities for NGOs
The tenth festival of NGOs LUPA started on 12 September 2011 at the premises of the City Museum of Ljubljana. The festival is organized by the Centre for Information, Cooperation and Development of NGOs (CNVOS) and the Government Office for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy (GOSP). The festival took place between 12 and 16 September 2011 in Ljubljana. This year's festival focused on the role of the European Social Fund in the promotion of the development of NGOs in Slovenia. The festival events presented the opportunities of co-financing projects, examples of good practices, the implementation of the Operational Programme for Human Resources Development 2007-2013, and other information in the field of drawing on the EU funds.
At the press conference upon the opening of the festival the Director of CNVOS Forbici Goran said that he was pleased that the focus this year's LUPA is of the European structural funds as they represent an important opportunity for Slovenian NGOs. The festival was not only focused on the promotion of non-governmental organizations, but also on their strengthening and training. According to the European Social Fund (ESF) priorities such as social inclusion and equal opportunities, these are also areas in which NGOs primarily operate. The ESF is an important financing source for NGOs. He stressed that NGOs should play an important role in the planning of the programmes related to the structural funds.
This position was also held by the Director-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Integration at the European Commission Peter Stub Jorgensen. He said that NGOs have an important role in the implementation of the European Social Fund. He stressed that the priorities of the ESF enable an adequate response to current challenges. Stub Jorgensen also said that investments in human resources are in the times of economic and social crisis more important than ever.
State secretary of the Government Office for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy Bojan Suvorov said that maintaining a significant investment in the competitiveness of Slovenian companies and their investment in human resources is important in the current economic and social crisis. Since 2007 Slovenia invested 611,311,208 Euros (140 instruments: 69 invitations to tender and 71 directly confirmed operations) in people whose human capital will provide a greater degree of innovation, employment and economic growth and thus higher employment, social inclusion, reduce regional disparities and high living standards. NGOs were successful in the various competitions of the European Social Fund – they were approved more than 45 million Euros for the co-financing of their projects. By the end of the current programming period the NGOS will have the opportunity to draw on more than 10 million of the European funding. The state secretary also said that the non-governmental sector has an extremely important role in promoting employment, particularly disadvantaged unemployed persons and vulnerable groups (young, older than 50 years, Roma and other ethnic minorities, etc.).
