About the project

JOIN IN – Mainstreaming of Equality and Non-Discrimination –project (VS/2004/0066) is one of the 25 international projects funded by the European Union as a part of the community action programme to combat discrimination 2001-2006 (VP/2003/006).

[Although it is important to have laws that protect people from discrimination and make public authorities more responsible, the legal obligations and penalties per se will not solve the whole problem of discrimination. It must be stressed that essential part of the battle for equality is to implement non-discrimination policy into the daily practices of public officials´ work. Join In –project focuses on mainstreaming the equality to all policies in the fields of social welfare and health, education and employment services.]

The purpose of the project is to create transferable models on how equality and non-discrimination can be mainstreamed in strategic planning, service production and working practices in social welfare and health, education and employment sectors. The idea of the project is to support and enhance the co-operation between authorities and civil society actors. Together they will plan development tasks in order to promote equality and to combat discrimination on the grounds of ethnic origin, disability, age, religion and sexual orientation.

In order to promote mainstreaming of equality and anti-discrimination policy within above mentioned three sectors, different kinds of strategy papers, programmes and guidelines will be analysed towards non-discrimination provisions and norms and concrete steps planned on how to revise them accordingly. This work will be carried out in co-operation between public authorities and civil society actors (including interest groups representing people exposed to discrimination) and by involving decision-makers at different phases of the process. After that, expert groups in each country will carry out the development tasks in order to raise awareness of discrimination issues.

The project partnership consists of partners from Finland , Greece , Hungary , Italy , Spain and Sweden . The partner organisations are public authorities, regional administrations and NGOs. The applicant organisation is the State Provincial Office of Southern Finland. During the six months long preparatory phase (1.3.-31.8.2004) the partners participate on planning development tasks and activities which will be carried out during the implementation phase. The implementation phase begins on 1.12.2004 and will last for two years.