IMPULS Shortversion
IMPULS, the pilot project aiming to open up and develop effective lasting gateways into the labour market for low-skilled people.
IMPULS is a pilot project, which grew out of the INNOPUNKT initiative created by LASA (The state agency for Restructuring and Employment). IMPULS targets both low-skilled employees and their employers and the low-skilled unemployed. Through this dual approach, and by making use of transnational experience, IMPULS aims to integrate and interact closely with local businesses, lifelong learning and employment policy in the district of Dahme-Spreewald in eastern Germany.
The employment prospects of low-skilled people are usually very bad and these people are often disproportionately affected by unemployment. At the same time, the shortage of skilled workers is already becoming noticeable in the region of Dahme-Spreewald. Both problems are two sides of the same coin. If it is possible to raise the skills, particularly of the low-skilled, it may also be possible to ameliorate the shortage of skilled staff.
What will IMPULS do?
On the one hand, low-skilled employees and their employers should be supported in the identification of their skills requirements and in the organisation of training arrangements. On the other hand, the officially recognised low-skilled unemployed are to be activated. This is to happen in close cooperation with the local Federal Employment Office and through an individual and flexible package of measures. This package contains intensive mentoring, a broad professional training scheme and precisely tailored development plans for the participants.
It is hoped that an “elevator effect” will emerge from the project´s internal goal of creating a connection between the business community and the labour market. This means that vacancies created when an employee is promoted, due to higher skills gained in training, could be filled by unemployed people from the project pool.
The implementation of the project relies on a pooling of transnational experience with the following important European partners:
- The Dublin Employment Pact from Ireland uses a modular and workplace-based approach to raise the skills of low-skilled employees.
- The STIMULANSZ foundation from the Netherlands uses the Work-First- approach to help unemployed people into work. This approach offers tailored programs and qualifications to reintegrate the unemployed into the labour market.
- The Jobcenter Lolland from Denmark has extensive experience in activating and qualifying hard-to-place and long-term unemployed people through intensive mentoring and coaching.
The central contact point for all co-operation partners and participants is the newly opened “IMPULS-office” in Königs Wusterhausen, which has also a branch office in Lübben.