D&H-5P

D&H-5P
DIGNITY & HEALTH

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Contact us:

Luigi LEONORI

D&H-5P projects

SMES-EUROPA

Place Albert Leemans 3

B - 1050 Brussels

Tel: 0032 2 538 58 87

smeseu@smes-europa.org

The European Council of Lisbon in March 2000 recognised that the extent of poverty and social exclusion in Europe was unacceptable.
Despite national differences, in both the nature and severity of the problem, exclusion is a structural problem in society and constitutes a political challenge for Europe: the building of the European Community must take place within a framework of citizenship rights and solidarity cohesion.

SMES,Santé Mentale Exclusion sociale - Mental Health Social Exclusion, began in 1992 in Rome as a result of the 1st European seminar on the appalling neglect and abandoned homeless people living in extremely poor health & social conditions and suffering from mental health problems.
SMES operates at the interface, intersection of mental health and social exclusion. Social & Health service providers strongly contribute to ensure social inclusion of people suffering by social exclusion & mental health disturbs. But this contribution is not sufficient without support and efforts of all civil society, beginning by who have political responsibility of more vulnerable citizens.

That’s why SMES would realise with five partners of enlarged Europe the D&H5-P, involving themselves in the process of sustainable inclusion, using of common objectives and the National Action Plans on Social Inclusion (NAPs/inclusion) with the discussion about quality and accessibility of social services and to bring together stakeholders that should be involved in this process such as excluded themselves, social service providers and local and regional authorities.  

SUMMARY

 

 

1. Aim: To promote the right and increase access to health and social services for homeless and socially excluded people in the 5 different accessing countries in EU

2. Target groups: Professionals and non-professionals working directly with homeless and socially excluded people. This would, for example, include social workers, psychologist, G.P. doctors, nurses, and NGO staff.

3. Main activities :

  • 1 workshop in each of the 5 different accessing countries in EU
  • 1 European conference in Prague that gather all 5 countries and representatives from EU
  • Publication and dissemination of discussions and recommendations

Objectives

 

 

1. To present and discuss in each of the 5 countries the daily practice and local dispositions that either interferes with or encourages access to social and healthcare services for homeless and vulnerable people.

2. To present and discuss objectives of national action plans that might be effective in increasing access to health and social services

3. To increase local workers knowledge of EU objectives included in NAP, as it can be applied to problems arising in their daily work

4. To increase awareness of EU action and intiatives with national and regional policy makers.

5. To produce local reports and materials which can both assist local practice and inform local policy and planning

6. To produce a final project report to enable wider dissemination of the local findings and to encourage international benchmarking.

7. To serve as information source for further questions (?)perceived needs and constraints in the target countries.

Justification

 

Contacts were made with Eastern European organisations during previous pan-European SMES seminars. They requested assistance for increased contact between themselves and EU organisations working with the homeless, particularly those with serious mental illness.
 
They identified needs and constraints in the following sectors:
A.    Low public awareness of legal entitlements and the rights of the individual citizen.
B.    Poor access to health and social care for homeless and socially marginalised
       people
C.    Poor integration of social and health services in public, private and NGO sectors.
D.    Lack of knowledge of European models of social work practice.

Beneficiaries







 

 

 

 



 

 


Events & activities

 

 

 

 

 

Direct beneficiaries: most of NGOs invited are organised within self/mutual help system of social support

Indirect beneficiaries: socially and economically marginalised groups and those in extreme poverty

Homeless and disadvantage people often do not use normal or official avenues to gain entitlements or assistance for themselves. Thus mainstream health and social services will often not have any significant or consistent contact with them.

The participants involved will belong to organisations that have a track record of engaging with and fighting to provide services to homeless and socially disadvantaged people. They will therefore have regular contact with these groups and will already possess the necessary background knowledge and experience of working with them. They will be in a position to immediately use knowledge gained in the workshops in their daily work with homeless and disadvantaged people.

Participants will be people who work with inadequate resources to provide care and support for a very deprived group of people. The project will help them to develop knowledge and skills that can be used in their daily work with individual clients and will not generate any direct extra costs for their organisations.


Time/Location

Visits/exchange

Small Seminar & workshops

October 1st

 

Brussels

 

STARTING

 

Preparing programme and

Preliminary activities & webpage

November    03-08

D&H-1P    PRAGUE (CZ)

Small Seminar & workshops

03-06
07-08
  

Visits/exchange    

 


Friday
: Definition of D&H-5P
Saturday
: Prague’s context

December    08-13

D&H-2P  BUCHAREST (RO)

Small Seminar & workshops

08-11
12-13
  
 

Visits/exchange    

 


Friday
:  Prague’s  results        D&H-P1
Saturday
: Bucharest’s context

January

Working in program

Webpage

February      02-07

D&H-3P    SOFIA (BG)

Small Seminar & workshops

02-05
06-07    

 

Visits/exchange 


Friday
:  Bucharest’s results  D&H-P2
Saturday: Sophia context

March           22-27

D&H-4P    WARSAW

Small Seminar & workshops

22-25
26-27    

 

Visits/exchange    

 


Friday
:  Sophia’s results      D&H-P3
Saturday: Warsaw’s context

April

Working in  program

 Monitoring of reports & webpage

Mai               10-15

D&H-5P    RIGA

Small Seminar & workshops

10-13
15-1

Visits/exchange    

 


Friday
:  Warsaw’s results    D&H-P4
Saturday: Riga’s context

17-19 JUNE  PRAGUE  8th EUROPEAN SEMINAR SMES


Relevance of the project to

*   target groups

This project will increase local knowledge of EU human rights legislation, an integral part of membership of the European Community. It is consistent with the “open coordination method” for ensuring the development of common European social policies.
It will strengthen the effectiveness of organisations working for the protection of socially disadvantaged "minorities" (?). It's already possible speaking about "minorities"  when the extension of exclusion, and of the exclusion's risck it's drammatic in Europe ? 


*   objectives of
   the programme
The massive technical progress in all productive sectors and the introduction of the free market into Eastern European countries has had the effect of removing large numbers of uneconomic jobs. These jobs, although economically ineffective, were significant support mechanisms for many people at the lower end of the socio-economic scale, with limited skills and resources. Without this support, it has become apparent that there have been increasing numbers of homeless and socially marginalised people in these societies.
To address their needs will go some way towards reducing the negative impact of the free market in these countries, by building on democratic principles.
N.B.:note that democracy is new for Eastern societies; people need models to create new behaviours and learn to take an active part in the society, for their own and other persons’ benefit.

*   priorities of
  the programme

By focussing on the potential impact of EU law, this project will heighten awareness that legal mechanisms are not merely for societal control but that they can also be used to establish the rights and entitlements of individuals.

The focus will be furthermore on the knowledge and understanding of the Social Exclusion Programme / National Action Plans among welfare organisations and other social service providers. Models of cooperation with administration at national, regional and local level in combating social exclusion will also be debated.

smeseu@smes-europa.org       with the support of
  
   EU Commission
Région Bruxelles Capitale
COCOF - Communauté FR-B
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