In May NIUSE established its Belfast office within the NICVA Complex; having appointed David Sloan as Project Co-ordinator of the SEA Project. Lorraine Boyd took up post as Project Facilitator in July 2005 and Leeann Turley (Project Administrator) and Cyril Beattie (Finance & Monitoring Officer) completed the team by August 2005.

The SEA Project is a Development Partnership funded by EQUAL NI with the Northern Ireland Union of Supported Employment as the lead partner. The official launch took place on November 3rd 2005 at Belfast Castle. Among the key speakers were Patricia Lewsley (MLA) and Nuala Kerr who was then Director, Finance & European Unit (DEL NI).

The SEA Project aims to:

• strategically review the practices and policies impacting people with disabilities accessing employment
• explore and develop the model of Supported Employment by test bedding/researching the model
• further explore employment policies and practices for people with disabilities and the Supported Employment model in other European countries

Objectives of the Project:

• construct and maintain a long-term partnership capable of surviving the life of the project
• establish a partnership of key stakeholders and policymakers to strategically review current social and economic policies and practices
• identify and communicate policy gaps to relevant policy makers and government departments at local, national and European level
• research the model of Supported Employment, an innovative model of employment for people with disabilities
• promote the model of Supported Employment as a mainstream government programme
• explore and develop the model of Supported Employment for other socially excluded groups
• establish and develop European Transnational Partnerships with other EU states to work in partnership to explore employment policies and practices, model of good practice and exchange information etc.

Under EQUAL, all projects were required to set up a local partnership consisting of who they perceived to be the key stakeholders. NIUSE as lead partner merged a Development Partnership with the following representative bodies:

• Disablement Advisory Service (Department for Employment & Learning)
• Social Security Agency (Department of Social Development)
• Disability Unit (Department of Health and Social Service and Public Safety)
• Homefirst Community Trust
• The Orchardville Society
• Action Mental Health

In order to research the model of Supported Employment and collate both quantitative and qualitative data, the SEA Project deployed two key methodological approaches; firstly establishing 2 research groups and secondly, commissioning an external consultant to carry out a Social Return on Investment (SROI) study.

With the support of NOW, The Cedar Foundation, Disability Action, USEL, Action Mental Health, RNID, RNIB, The Orchardville Society, Stepping Stones, MENCAP, Dr B’s, New Horizons Partnership and Triangle the research groups are meeting every 6 weeks from February 2006 to June 2007 documenting evidence related to their experiences of Supported Employment.

The Practitioner Working Group consists of practitioners working towards/or delivering Supported Employment. The Beneficiary Focus Group consists of people with disabilities.

So far both groups have discussed, recorded and ranked the barriers to employment from their own perceptions as service users and service providers.

The Beneficiary Focus Group have mapped their employability journey and documented what employment means to them using various methods. A sub group from the Beneficiary Focus Group also held a successful workshop at the recent ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’ Conference organised by and for people with learning disabilities.

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In addition to participating in a focus group setting, the Practitioner Working Group assisted with identifying and supporting beneficiaries required for the Social Return on Investment (SROI) Study.

A representative from each of the research groups was nominated and from July 2006 both became members of the Development Partnership. This underpinned the grass-roots approach of the project connecting key policy stakeholders with service users and service providers.

From January 2006 Lodestar has been working with NIUSE to implement a Social Return on Investment (SROI) study to collate monetary investments and costs associated with Supported Employment. At this stage participating organisations have declared their financial expenditure specifically related to individuals being supported into paid employment and questionnaires have been circulated to individuals with disabilities to account for their earnings before entering paid employment and their earnings once in employment. It is anticipated that this study will be completed by late February 2007.

EMPLOYABILITY UNITED TRANSNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP:

The SEA Project transnational partners are from France, Cardiff and Czech Republic.

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The main aims of the Transnational partnership are to:

• Explore the use of the Supported Employment Model for other socially excluded groups
• Explore how other EU Countries have mainstreamed the model of Supported Employment

The Employability United Transnational Partnership has met 3 times from November 2005 with the next meeting scheduled for early December 2006. Partners are collaborating on specific tasks within the duration of this partnership which include; a Comparative Report on Legislation & Practice; a Good Practice Booklet; a Toolkit on Supported Employment; and up to 4 technical exchanges.

NIUSE recently hosted a technical exchange in Belfast to connect the Welsh partners with a representative sample of organisations delivering Supported Employment.

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November 2006 will see the SEA Project heading to Prague for a 3-day technical exchange accompanied by 5 randomly selected participants from the Practitioner Working Group. It is anticipated that in the future the Beneficiary Focus Group will participate on a technical exchange to meet with other beneficiaries.

In 2007 the SEA Project aims to host a Beneficiary Conference which will feed into the agenda of the eagerly awaited 8th EUSE Conference in June 2007.

For further information about the SEA Project contact:

David Sloan,
Project Co-ordinator,
NIUSE - SEA Project,
NICVA Complex,
61 Duncairn Gardens,
Belfast
BT15 2GB
Tel/text: 028 90875014
Fax: 028 90875008
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