By Admin from NI Union Of Supported Employment
Published on 08 Feb 2008
The Northern Ireland Union of Supported Employment is a member based organisation representing organisations and individuals promoting employment for people with disabilities to access and stay in employment through the Supported Employment Model.
NIUSE has been involved in European Networks for nearly 15 years and has found them to be very beneficial both at operational level and strategic level.
NIUSE has been an active member of the European Union of Supported Employment (EUSE) since it was established in 1993 to facilitate the development of Supported Employment throughout Europe. This is achieved through the promotion of the Supported Employment model, the exchange of information and the knowledge and good practice in Supported Employment and the development of the model services. (www.euse.org)
At present EUSE represents 17 National Associations of Supported Employment from Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, N Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain and Sweden.
For the last 8 years NIUSE has held the EUSE Presidency (Dr Monica Wilson) and EUSE Secretariat. NIUSE has had a very positive and valued experience through participating in EUSE. This has been at an operational level through information exchange, promoting best practice, sharing knowledge and experience and through developing Quality Standards. Also, at a strategic level EUSE has been able to influence policy at an EU level and at local levels with in each member state.
Through being a member of EUSE NIUSE has been able to engage with other European Networks such as the European Disability Forum (EDF) and European Association of Service Providers for Disabled People as well as other worldwide networks (USA, Australia, and New Zealand National Associations). The benefit and impact of this accumulated in June 2007 when NIUSE hosted the 8th EUSE Conference in Belfast with 650 delegates attending from 36 countries from Europe and beyond.
NIUSE has also been involved with other Transnational Partnerships through the EQUAL II Community Initiative Programme and Peace II Measure 4.1 Outward and Forward Looking Region and has benefited from the opportunities and experiences.
Throughout all NIUSE’s European partnerships they have added value to their local work and services, and broadened NIUSE’s experience and knowledge.
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