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COMPLEMENTARITIES BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS IN PROMOTING EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL INCLUSIONSESSION 2Social inclusion in urban and rural areas:some case studiesModerator: Jorma Palola■ IntroductionJorma Palola, Permanent Representative, Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities (AFLRA)The reason for raising the issue of social inclusioninto today’s discussion is that, from a Europeanperspective, the Open Method of Coordinationhas been developed for social inclusionpolicy. New National Action Plans (NAPs/incl)are being prepared for social inclusion measuresat the national level and working groups have, atleast in some of the member states, already beenset up for this purpose. It would be interesting toconsider how well and to what extent regionalauthorities are involved in preparing theseNational Action Plans. The Council of Ministersrecently decided to prepare a guide for goodpractice in facilitating these new NationalAction Plans. The Social Protection Committee,which consists of high officials from memberstates, is also preparing common objectives forNational Action Plan preparations in memberstates. National reports are also expected fromhealthcare services and services providing carefor the elderly. This is a good time to start reflectingon the role of regional and local authoritiesin a social inclusion policy and on the design,implementation and evaluation of such a policy.Mrs Odile Quintin, Director-General of the EuropeanCommission’s DG Employment & SocialAffairs recently stated that the Open Method ofCoordination should be streamlined and shouldbe given an official status. There is a socialdemand for this and a need to strengthen thiskind of welfare policy dimension at the EU level.This is something new for local authorities,especially in the Nordic countries where localgovernment is the level of government responsiblefor healthcare, education and social policy.An extensive approach can be taken with socialinclusion. In the first session, the focus was onemployment policy. It is possible to say that localgovernment has three kinds of roles with regardto employment policy measures: the first of theseis the role of local authorities and local governmentas an employer. The second is local authoritiesacting as supporters or facilitators of businessesby providing the infrastructure necessary to supportthese enterprises. The third is the social responsibilityof local authorities to assist the mostvulnerable in the labour market. This is the linkbetween social inclusion policy and employmentpolicy at the local level. There is also a wholerange of other issues of importance to socialinclusion policy and its measures at the nationaland local level such as the integration of refugees,crime related problems, provision of housing,and access to children’s daycares services.— 16 —
COMPLEMENTARITIES BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS IN PROMOTING EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL INCLUSION■ Combating social inclusion in the City of HelsinkiJussi Merikallio, Director of Social Services Department, City of Helsinki (FIN)Since the beginning of 1990’s, the social problemsthat are typical to urban areas in Europehave increased considerably in Helsinki. Severalfactors have combined to aggravate the situation:economic recession in the early 1990’s whichbrought about funding problems in the publicservices, the rapid spread of drug use and increasingnumbers of immigrants. This has lead to anincrease in the number of the socially excluded.Two case studies were presented: a project forimproving the employability of young homelesspeople in a suburb and a project for improvingthe employability and participation of the longtermunemployed in a single suburb.THE SITUATIONHelsinki is one of the fastest growing urbanareas in Europe. It has a population of about1 million people, 500,000 of whom live inHelsinki and 500,000 who live in the surroundingareas.demand for jobs that require highly skilledlabour. However, while there were many jobs forpeople with a high level of skills, at the same timethere was a large number of long-term unemployedwho were not able to find employment.Combating social exclusion in Helsinki focuseson tackling long-term unemployment and examiningwhat happens in the labour market. Furthermore,the long-term unemployed are in adisadvantaged position in terms of their individualcircumstances and it is extremely difficultfor them to regain employment. The result is thecreation of sub-cultures which further distancethem from the labour market and participationin society. Most social workers in the SocialServices Centre in Helsinki provide help for thehomeless and mentally ill as well as immigrants.Unemployment and social inclusion are mattersof economics as well as of individual well-being.These two dimensions have to be linked in orderto find new ways to help the unemployed.Until the early 1990s, Helsinki was a very sociallyhomogeneous city with a low crime rate andwithout any real segregation. In the early 1900s,however, there was a strong economic declineand unemployment rose to 18% in 1995. Whenthe economy started to improve, the unemploymentrate decreased to 9% with the long-termunemployment rate rising to 3%. The recessiongenerated a large mass of long-term unemployed.At the same time, drug abuse increased.Immigrants from Russia and the Baltic countriescame to Helsinki. This in turn resulted in anincrease in organised crime and drugs becamemore widely available. Mental health problemsalso increased dramatically. As a consequence,social problems increased rapidly. The economybegan to recover again because of the developmentof IT technology and the subsequentMEASURES TAKENWhile classic amenities of social service exist ie.the provision of healthcare and day-care forchildren, these services are insufficient in themselvesto meet the needs of the long-termunemployed.A special programme funded by the EU and theCity of Helsinki is applying new approaches. Thisprogrammes caters for 8,000 people. One of its’sub-projects is designed for the under 25-yearold homeless who have never been employed,have received very little education, are drugaddicts and homeless. Another project that hashad positive results in fighting suburban drugaddiction targets middle-aged men who werelast employed in the early 1990s.— 17 —
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