The need to develop the Regional Strategies for Combating Poverty and Social Inclusion (PESC) emerged when submitting the Regional Operational Programs (ROP) NSRF 2014-2020, in order to fulfill the conditionality 9.1 related to the thematic objective 9 of the Strategy for Europe 2020. This strategy includes not only the actions funded by the European Social Fund but all the actions of the social inclusion policy as included in the National Strategic Framework for Social Inclusion.
The National Strategic Framework for Social Inclusion, which was drafted in 2014, is a framework that incorporates all existing and new social policy actions in the country and establishes a common framework of principles, priorities and objectives for the coordination, monitoring and evaluation of all interventions combating poverty and social exclusion. The project includes the actions included in Law 4320 (Government Gazette A 29 / 19.03.2015) to address the humanitarian crisis.
The National Framework is based on three Pillars, which outline the main priorities for action of social inclusion policies over the period 2015-2020.
- Pillar 1 “Fighting poverty”
- Pillar 2 “Access to services”
- Pillar 3 “Inclusive labor market”
In pursuance of this national framework, the Special Management Authority of the North Aegean Region instructed the Technical Advisor to develop the Regional Strategy for Combating Poverty and Social Inclusion, based on the principles of the National Strategy, the experience of previous interventions and similar international good practices. In order to capture the current situation, update the available data and identify needs, 70 questionnaires were circulated to Public and Private Law Entities, NGOs. and voluntary groups on all the islands in the region. The questionnaires were answered by almost all actors (31) who have previous experience or have structures in place or develop various forms of social action.
The Operational Plan of the Regional Strategy for Combating Poverty and Social Inclusion was then launched in a public consultation and, after finalization, was approved by the Regional Council of North Aegean by Decision 51/20 May 2015. At the same time, the Ministry of Labor, Social Security and Social Solidarity with its paper 24499/1346 / 2.6.2015 documented the compatibility of the Regional Strategy for Social Inclusion (PESKE) of the Region of North Aegean with the National Strategic Framework for Social Integration and alignment with the ESKE architecture, as reflected in the context. The Operational Plan provides a detailed overview of the European Commission’s guidelines as well as a brief description of the National Strategy for Social Inclusion and the responsibilities of Local Government in the field of social inclusion.
It also records the current situation in the area of combating poverty and social exclusion in the North Aegean Region and identifying the population groups facing these problems. Thereafter, the pillars and measures to tackle the humanitarian crisis are highlighted and priorities are specified with reference to the Region’s existing needs, the demarcation and documentation of the required interventions, the presentation of the proposed actions of the social actors of the Region of the North Aegean.