The EQUAL Initiative is a laboratory for new ideas to the European Employment Strategy and the Social inclusion process. It’s mission is to promote a more inclusive work life through fighting discrimination and exclusion based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. EQUAL is implemented in and between Member States and it is funded through the European Social Fund. (Collapse)

EQUAL is part of the European Union's strategy for more and better jobs and for ensuring that no-one is denied access to them. Funded by the European Social Fund, this initiative is testing since 2001 new ways of tackling discrimination and inequality experienced by those in work and those looking for a job.
EQUAL co-finances activities in all EU Member States. The EU contribution to EQUAL of 3.274 billion EUR is matched by national funding. EQUAL differs from the European Social Fund mainstream programmes in its function as a laboratory (principle of innovation) and in its emphasis on active co-operation between Member States. Two calls for proposals for EQUAL projects in the Member States have taken place so far, the first one in 2001, the second one in 2004. Responsibility for the implementation of the Community Initiative programmes in the Member States lies with the national authorities. (Collapse)

• Partnership: to bring together key actors (local and regional authorities, training bodies, public employment services, NGOs, enterprises, social partners) in Development Partnerships (DPs) on a geographical or sectoral level to tackle discrimination and inequality.
• Thematic approach: to concentrate actions on thematic fields in keeping with the European Employment Strategy.
• Innovation: to explore and test innovative approaches in formulating, delivering and implementing employment and training policies.
• Empowerment: to strengthen capacity building by making all relevant actors, including beneficiaries, work together on an equal footing.
• Transnationality: to render it possible for individual DPs and national authorities to learn from each other and co-operate productively across borders.
• Mainstreaming: to develop and test new ways of integrating best practices into employment and social inclusion policies (Collapse)

The process of sharing information and exploiting the results of innovation is at the heart of EQUAL. At project level, via Transnational co-operation partnerships, at regional level and/or at national level via national thematic networks and at European level via several thematic activities.
The EQUAL Initiative, through its objectives and its architecture, puts forward the validation and dissemination of innovative elements.
At national level, many networks are established in order to bring together, discuss and evaluate the most promising practices and outcomes of the Development Partnerships work, and to prepare their dissemination and integration into policies and practice. These networks are gathering Development Partnerships as well as other actors from outside the Initiative (political decision-makers, researchers, associations, social partners) through a variety of means.
At European level the objectives are identical. In order to draw concrete and transferable lessons and to develop new policies and practices, it is essential to benefit from every opportunity to capture the outcomes resulting from the experiences of around 3.300 EQUAL Development Partnerships.
This is being done on the basis of a common work programme for mainstreaming at EU level, agreed and confirmed with the national EQUAL Managing Authorities. This work programme is implemented through Technical Assistance and in close co-operation with all Units of the European Social Fund as well as with the relevant authorities of the Member States. On the basis of the overall objectives, different platforms of common interest to the Member States and the European Commission have been and are still being set up, which allow the validation, exploitation and long-lasting dissemination of EQUAL results: peer reviews, exchange events, learning seminars, communities of practice, policy fora.

The European Thematic Activities are clustered around five fields :
• 1: Employability
• 2: Entrepreneurship
• 3: Adaptability
• 4: Equal Opportunities
• 5: Asylum seekers
Asylum Seekers Thematic Activity
The activities on Asylum Seekers aim to play a role in the identification and dissemination of good practice and policy lessons to help asylum seekers integrate into society. The lessons learned from EQUAL activities will be used to promote horizontal "Mainstreaming" (promoting changes at local or regional level and focusing on good practice) and vertical mainstreaming (promoting changes at political and administrative level).

The asylum seekers theme within EQUAL has specific characteristics. Firstly, it is closely linked to EU policy on the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) being taken forward by DG Freedom, Security and Justice, a policy which goes beyond Employment and Social Affairs. Secondly, activities within the theme address a diverse target group living within changing policy and legislative contexts that vary between Member States. Finally, the number of Development Partnerships (DPs) involved in the theme is much lower than in the other EQUAL themes. (Collapse)