Good Practices and Innovations in Public Governance 2003-2011

2010 Category 1: Germany
Another network was created at the regional level by setting up transnational partnerships
with the United Kingdom, Slovenia and Poland. Their projects, too, focused
on strengthening employment and educational opportunities for people
with disabilities.
Networks were also established with other organisations, companies, universities,
research institutes and grant funders for further exchange of information and collaboration.
Finally, the project as a whole was integrated into two other thematic
networks—Lifelong Learning, and People and Disabilities—controlled by the Federal
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
The following structures and processes proved useful and successful:
• Training associations working in tandem with private companies provided vocational
training to young people with disabilities. Universities and small and
medium-sized companies were also encouraged to provide training and further
education that way.
• Disabled PhD students were included in an existing Europe-oriented scientific
network.
• National legislation was influenced thanks to network activities.
• Newsletters and brochures showed how disabled scientists can be integrated
into a research project. In addition, the PEI partnership created a website, a
film and an integration award to raise public awareness and encourage the public
to implement steps of its own.
• When the tandem partnerships were introduced, advice was given as part of
training schemes in other research organisations and companies. Training programmes
were put in place to help the staff of personnel departments promote
the employment of disabled people and effectively use their talents.
These activities created multiplier effects which made it possible to transfer the
knowledge obtained to third parties. That way, the opportunities for integrating disabled
people into the workforce were improved considerably.
To manage the different network levels, the following means of administration and
communication were chosen:
• An interactive website was developed to exchange information. The Internet
portal was also used for internal communication.
• To collect and elaborate on information on complex subjects, seminars and
workshops were held for representatives of the partnering organisations, companies
and universities.
• All activities of the PEI project were coordinated by the control group.
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