Themes

Regions

Employment & Labour

The aim of fuller employment, improved skills and better jobs, especially for socially and economically excluded people, underpins all ECOTEC's research and consultancy work. Through work for major government departments, ECOTEC has helped shape the solution to key policy challenges in this area.  

For example, we have recently reported to DWP on methods to improve  access to Jobcentre Plus services for people with communication barriers – including people with disabilities and people with English as a second language –groups for whom access to work is key. 

ECOTEC has also been supporting DWP in the development of the City Strategy Business Plans, a central element of employment strategy in the pathfinder areas, being rolled out nationally in the near future.  

ECOTEC can help you:

  • Plan your employment initiatives – especially where this involves improving pathways to employment for economically and socially excluded groups;
  • Advise you on best practice with our knowledge of 'what works' from Europe and other parts of the UK;
  • Help you plan practical programmes and projects in place to meet national and regional policy;
  • Carry out research with vulnerable workers and employers in a sensitive but systematic manner;
  • Evaluate your initiatives.

carolyn.hay@ecotec.com
+44 121 616 3600

Case Study: Evaluation of GENESIS Wales

Education

Genesis Wales is an all-Wales initiative supported by ESF through the Wales' Objective 1 and 3 Programme. It is aiming to reduce the barriers faced by parents who wish to learn new skills or return to work, of which childcare is seen as one of the biggest issues. The project is particularly targeting the most hard to reach people.

 

The contract requires:

 

  • An evaluation of the Genesis Wales project across Wales based on the aims and intended outcomes for parents/carers;
  • The impact of the Genesis Wales project on the local community with regards to economic activity and regeneration; and,
  • An examination of the ability of the Genesis Wales project to address the needs of the Structural Fund Programmes under the relevant funding Priorities and Measures, including the Programme themes.

 

The evaluation should address three themes, and within these a series of questions, namely;

 

  • Critique of the design of Genesis Wales,
  • Operational effectiveness, and
  • The attribution of impacts to Genesis Wales.