ESF-SI-2023-SKILLS-01-0075

The project aims at increasing employment chances and job quality among young persons with disabilities. We will achieve this goal by developing, testing, evaluating, and popularising Job Crafting, an innovative model of work with unemployed individuals. Job Crafting is an approach that offers extensive support from a job crafter who accompanies unemployed individuals not only during the job search but also during employment. Job crafters enhance the sense of control and agency that allows employees to shape their tasks and relationships in the workplace. We have been using this method for several years. It effectively improved job satisfaction, engagement, and overall well-being among individuals with disabilities. Despite its high effectiveness, this model is not yet popular among service providers in the EU. Within this project, we will tailor the model to the specific needs of young persons with disabilities, accounting also for gender differences. European experts from various countries will co-design the model to increase mutual learning and make the model more universal and possible to replicate in other contexts. We will test and evaluate the effectiveness of Job Crafting in Poland and Slovenia. We will support young, jobless persons with disabilities, including NEETs and inhabitants of rural areas. They have fewer job opportunities and worse access to PES services. We will use our experience and networks to conduct an effective outreach. After the testing phase, we will prepare the final version of the model. To scale up Job Crafting, we will train European NGOs, Public Employment Services and other service providers so that they can use it in their daily work. Thanks to a strong research component, we will reach academics and researchers. To increase the project’s long-term impact, we will engage European policy-makers in our events (workshop, European parliament hearing, conference) to discuss how to mainstream disability in EU policies and services.

Expected results:

• At least 40% people from the group of 55 participants selected for the test will gain employment using the Job Crafting method. 
• At least 50% of people who have been employed will maintain employment with the assistance of job crafter for at least 3 months.
• Job crafting model, which will be designed in a universal way, capable of being replicated in other countries, by other NGOs dealing with the activation of young people, including NEET. 
• At least 30 participants of the dissemination conference, will end and summarise the implementation of the project. 

Funding: 414,487.00 Eur

Social innovation scale-up 

The Job Crafting model, originally implemented by the Aktywizacja Foundation in Poland to support the professional inclusion of individuals with disabilities, represents a scaled social innovation. This person-centered approach, involving a dedicated job crafter who assists job seekers in developing a profile and career plan, preparing for job searches, and even learning to independently craft their own job positions, is now being fully scaled up. The adaptation of this model will specifically address the needs of NEETs with disabilities, considering gender differences and their unique labor market challenges, with the aim of enhancing their employment rates and overall well-being across different countries and organizations.