EQUAL-EP “Springboard” - Ways to integrate and reconcile family and career

SPRUNGBRETT was a development partnership within the framework of the first round of the European Community Initiative EQUAL and was funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor with resources from the European Social Fund and co-financed by the Ministry of Social Affairs of Baden-Württemberg, the City of Freiburg and the Diakonisches Werk Baden e.V..

The main aim of the EQUAL development partnership SPRUNGBRETT was to make it easier to combine family and career and to support people with parenting responsibilities with innovative approaches. In order to achieve this goal together, five different organizations carried out sub-projects. The aim was to create an integrated offer for the target group consisting of advice, information, further training and innovative working (time) models that would help to reduce or completely avoid the need for social assistance. However, the project did not only focus on the welfare recipients themselves. Advisory staff and companies were also to be sensitized and trained with regard to the issue of reconciliation.

The IAW was responsible for the ongoing process evaluation and scientific monitoring of the project. The evaluation took place at local and transnational level. At the local level, accompanying studies were intended to support the effectiveness of the overall project and contribute to the optimal coordination of the sub-projects. At the transnational level, the aim was to answer the question of whether transnational cooperation can make an independent contribution to the project and the thematic focus “Equal opportunities - reconciliation of family and career”.

The results of the evaluation can be found in the Final Report of the Transnational Cooperation Flex@ction from December 2004 (PDF format: 1 MB). The overall results of the EQUAL-EP “Springboard” can be found in the Compendium: Ways to integrate and reconcile family and work, 2002-2005 (PDF format: 2.2 MB).