OUR PROJECTS
Our Passion
Developing the Potential and Skills of Vulnerable Persons
EU Funded Project Ref : ESF.02.149
Project Summary :
The aim of this project is to provide assistance through the implementation of a supported employment programme to those persons who would have fallen through the cracks of other Supported Employment programmes.
We have used the European Union of Supported Employment Toolkit - 2010, that can be consulting at side:
MASE ESF funded Supported Employment Programme
Since the introduction of MASE ESF funded project ‘Developing the Potential and Skills of Vulnerable Persons’, the project’s administrators and job coaches have benefitted from professional training delivered by Mr Mike Evans,
Supported Employment Consultant.
31 potential job seekers have already registered with MASE project. A vocational profile was created for each registered job seeker after which they were referred either to the Employability Skills or to Job Club. MASE project has already 9 persons into open employment.
MASE job coaches continue to prepare our job seekers for the open labour market, support them in all stages of Supported Employment and make sure that the job seekers are successful in finding the right job according to their needs and abilities.
Getting a job means a lot to our job seekers. It is a life changing opportunity.
MASE urges employers to give our vulnerable job seekers a chance to show their potential and ability to maintain the job.
Project Closure
The ESF funded project ‘Developing the Potential and Skills of Vulnerable Persons’ came to an end in December 2022.
Throughout this project, 39 potential job seekers registered themselves for support. The project ended with 15 persons successfully finding an employment in the open market.
This pilot project focused on persons with disability and with mental health problems who, for some reason, were falling through the cracks of the services which are already in operation in the market.
This project was an eye opener for MASE. It showed that one of the key reasons as to why persons were falling out of the current systems operating in the market is due to lack of individualised support. In some cases, the needs of the job seekers were not being catered for. This resulted in persons with disability remaining on unemployment lists for a significant length of time and as a result, they turn to MASE services to quicken the process. Persons also turned to MASE after they lost their jobs due to incorrect job matching.
Through this project, MASE targeted this gap in the market. Although this ESF funded pilot project focused on the 5 stages of Supported Employment, specific focus was put on certain stages of Supported Employment. This focus increased these persons’ ability to not only find work, but also to maintain it.
This project provided another option in addition to what already is available to persons with demanding needs – to obtain gainful employment.
MASE internally assessed and evaluated the pilot project and reported the following findings:
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The major part of the project’s beneficiaries, notwithstanding being of a young age, were not ready for work.
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They lacked the skills and competences to find the right job.
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They lacked information about the different types of jobs available and so were unable to decided which jobs they wished for and were fit for them.
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The pandemic changed what jobs were available at the time and in some cases, this affected the project’s job seekers negatively.
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The calls for vacancies were sometimes written in a way that they discriminated against persons with intellectual disabilities.
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The need for such a professional Supported Employment service for persons with intellectual disabilities and with mental health problems.
