General information about The Flexible Worker - Partnership Family Project

 The Flexible Worker - Partnership Family is a Project realized at participation from European Social Fund funds within the confines of Initiative Community EQUAL. Project is directed for parents who have children in the age of seven and pregnant woman. He has on purpose the correction of woman situation on the labor market t hrough conditioning enabling reconciliation of home and job duties.

Reconciliation attempts of home and job duties (especially by woman) in present reality, most often they are tied with costs for family and lowered efficiency of work. However, lasting exclusion woman from job causes loss of timeliness of their qualification from professional life. It discriminates women on labor market. Motherhood causes, that women have limited capabilities. Low indicators say everything about that comparing it to men. In 2002 that was 46,7% (woman) against 57% (man). Higher indicators of unemployment (10,9% against 8,6%) and professional inaction (41% against 29%).

Regulatory changes (equation of entitlement for the educational and vacation grant in 1996) in Constitution and Code of Work about anti - discrimination makes no difference in real life. Employer sets up that motherhood forcefully prevents woman, especially wives and mothers, in work.

 When we are taking into consideration elements above, we can see that is a self - powered match. It can make problems during reconciliation of home and job duties. Woman discrimination is a serious problem connected with it also. When we want to break that causally - consecutive match, we have to put the influence on several elements. In the same time. Because in the other way it can make negative practices.

IIn fact, our project The Flexible Worker - Partnership Family, is going to make a complex approach which includes influence on the all elements and key factors. We need cooperation between bosses, work offices, research institutions and training courses. So because of that our Project includes 4 connected with each other operatives:

A. Promotion of flexible forms of employment, e.g. by organizing training sessions and seminars on flexible forms of employment for both employers and employees, creation of an advisory-information point on flexible forms of employment, testing other flexible forms of employment in enterprises e.g. tele-working and organizing a Competition to award the best family-friendly company,

B. Increasing the access to child-care facilities, e.g. by development of a model of cooperation between non-governmental organizations, local authorities and businesses in the realm of creation and operation of day-care facilities, organizing a competition to award a day-care unit which is the most welcoming towards individualized parents' needs,

C. Promotion of higher involvement of men in family functions, e.g. by conducting an awareness-raising campaign on the need for men to become more involved in family life by promoting their ability to take parental leave,

D. Prevention of the process which makes the qualifications of parents (mothers and fathers) obsolete during parental leaves through showing employers the benefits of employees' activity during those absences, arranging child-care facilities during training sessions, professional guidance on planning individual career paths enabling them to reconcile their professional lives with family duties.

The Flexible Worker - Partnership Family Project is in progress since 2004 and till' march 2008 and it is divided on three main operations:

Operation I (in progress)

It relied on creation of Partnership in Favor of Development. National and international. Partners are:

•  The Bia�ystok Foundation for Staff Development (BFKK)
•  The Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Bia�ystok
•  The Institution for Professional Training in Bia�ystok (ZDZ Bia�ystok )

In cause of complex actions, our School, has planned some operations. It will include survey research and consultation with employers and employees, representatives of nursery schools, kindergartens, media, the local government and NGOs. Within the confines of cooperation, agreement ( Transnational Cooperation Agreement TCA ) has been signed between:

•  Palmenia Centre for Continuing Education, University of Helsinki , Vantaa , Finland
•  Instituto Municipal de Formaci�n y Empleo. Ayuntamiento de Granada , Spain

Area of operation and purposes are similar to each other and to The Flexible Worker - Partnership Family Project.

This stage of activity is innovative because it connects institutions which have been never worked with each other before. And now, they want to work and cooperate for complex actions about reconciliation of home and job duties.

First action includes also survey researches and consultations with every institution and mothers of children at the age of 7.

First action budget is 89.000 EUR

Operation II

It has 4 main elements:

•  Elastic ways of employment promotion,
•  Increasing the access to child-care facilities,
•  Promotion of higher involvement of men in family functions,
•  Prevention of the process which makes dequalifications of parents (mothers and fathers) obsolete during parental leaves through showing employers the benefits of employees' activity during those absences.

Operation III

This stage of activity will be focused on dissemination of the innovative approaches, putting them in practice as well as introducing them into the process of policy-making