EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Work Bazaar at multicultural festival

Work Bazaar at multicultural festival - The Hague, the Netherlands

Introduction

Rummaging among vacancies surrounded by the buzz of the casbah. This is exactly what happens every year at the Ha-Schi-Ba (The Artists' Quarter (Schilderswijk) Bazaar in The Hague). This large multicultural festival has grown into an event with national scope. An important element of the Ha-Schi-Ba is the Work Bazaar, a special jobs, training and information market in a casbah atmosphere.

Description

The aim of the project is to highlight vacancies in an accessible way. A job market where employers, training institutes and other interested bodies are represented and where visitors can turn up to find out about work and training as well as related matters such as child care and financial advice.

Approach

The Work Bazaar is aimed at unemployed people living in the Schilderswijk who are at a (large) distance from the employment market. The Work Bazaar is set up in three islands: the Vacancy Bazaar, the Training Bazaar and the Info Bazaar. Consultants from Werkkompas and CWI play an active role in the event, registering people looking for work and referring them to the training, info and/or job market.

Results

Over the years the number of firms participating in the project has increased. At the last festival unemployed people were able to visit around 40 organisations. Of the total number of visitors a minimum of 300 apply for jobs or a training course.

Resources used

European subsidy: € 78.210
Total cost: € 171.420

EU involvement

This project has been partially funded with Objective 2 funds. Since 2000 nine cities have been eligible for the Objective 2 Urban Areas in the Netherlands programme, which forms part of the European Fund for Regional Development (EFRD) of the European Union. EFRD is one of the four Structural Funds of the European Commission. The programme helps cities to carry out projects that benefit disadvantaged areas.

In the Netherlands, total European Objective 2 subsidies concern 192 million euros. 4.25% of the Dutch population lives in the selected areas.

The European Commission prescribes that for every euro from the EFRD, a minimum of one euro must be contributed from the government. The cities must therefore add their own public or private funding to the European subsidy. The European programme is linked to the urban plans agreed within the context of the urban policy of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. For this, the cities can make use of funds that have been allocated to them in the context of the national urban policy.

Contact info

Den Haag Centrum Zuid - local programme management
Phone: +31 70 3534228

Project start date

01/04/2003

Links

City of The Hague

Document type

case

Themes

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment > Urban economy

Keywords

Employment