Leonardo DEvEA Project
External evaluation form 1
Developing Employability via Environmental Action
Pilot Project Description
Please fill in and send to pilis.dagmara@gmail.com by October 4th, 2013.
Implementing organisation:
Stadsdeel Nieuw- West, Gemeente Amsterdam (City district of Nieuw-West, SANW)
Name and e-mail address of the contact person:
Sarah Pranger, s.pranger@nieuwwest.amsterdam.nl
Title and scope of the pilot project :
Besparen met de Buren Slotermeer (Saving with your Neigbours in the Slotermeer area)
The pilot project will run in the Slotermeer area. This neighbourhood is a deprived area and
the urban regenaration programme in this area is postponed. The pilot will run for one year.
The DEvEA actions will be executed in the first part of the project. From July to december
2013 a group of participants from the target group will be trained and followed in their
activities for the pilot project. After this period, SANW will produce an analysis on the pilot
taking into account the results of an equivalent project in another part of Amsterdam (Van der
Pekbuurt, Amsterdam Noord). The comparative analysis will be used for the transfer of
trainingmaterials to the Spanish and Polish national contexts (WP3).
Partner organisations involved in the pilot project:
- ASW
- Twinstone
- Werkpunt
- Implacement
- Eigenwijks
- Wijksteunpunt Wonen
Number of beneficiaries participating in the pilot project:
10
Short description of the target group and the reason why you focus on that group
Leonardo DEvEA Project
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We aim at unemployed people living in the city-district. These people do not receive welfare
and are not obliged to search actively for a job. This group of people is categorized as NUG.
The pilot project overall aim and objectives (please, list):
General aim of the project
Improvement of 800 dwellings in the Slotermeer-Oost area through the execution of small
improvements by a team of odd-jobbers. By improving the dwellings the residential situation
of the people living in these deprived area will improve and they will be able to save money
by making their homes more sustainable.
Objectives
- The improvement 800 of the dwellings will increase the sustainability of these houses. The
odd- jobbers are trained to offer a couple of simple improvements which will increase energy
savings.
- These savings will lead to a decrease in energy costs for the residents. This will improve
their economic situation to a certain extent.
- The pilot project will facilitate 10-15 employability programmes for Nieuw-West residents.
These programmes will engage the participants into work activities. The materials used by
Groundwork London will be adapted to the Dutch context and tried in these 10 -15
programmes.
- The pilot project will increase the awareness on sustainability and improve behaviour on
energy matters.
The project will increase social cohesion in the Slotermeer area. The communication strategy
of the pilot aims at increasing awareness through community activities
Planned project activities and timetable:
Activity
1
Training of 10 pupils
2
Improvement of 400 dwellings
3
General scope of the training
(a) Employability:
Socia sikkls training:
Planned
delivery dates
Octobernovember
2013
October 2013
– march 2014
Deliverables
- social skills training
- technical skills training
- employability skills training
- odd-jobbers will improve 400
dwellings on 5 small adjustments
Leonardo DEvEA Project
External evaluation form 1
The pupils will learn how to work in other peoples homes and sell their products and
services.
Employabillity skills training:
The pupils will learn about their own skills and talents and how they can use these talents
in finding a suitable job. Furthermore, they will learn about c.v. writing, job interviews,
selling yourself and your skills, and improvement of skills and self- esteam.
(b) Environment:
In the technical training, the pupils will learn about saving water, energy and gas. They
will learn in which ways their job will decrease the use of these resources and how this
will affect the energy bills of their clients.
Main skills and qualifications gained by the participants of the training:
(a) Employability
- acknowledgement of own strenghts and weaknessness and how to use this knowledge
in finding a job
- c.v. writing
- how to do a job interview
- how to work safe and clean
- how to behave when you are in another persons home
- how can you sell your products and services to your client
(b) Environment
- knowledge of the environmental impact of using to much gas, electricity and water
- knowledge on what the products could do for saving electricity, gas and water
- knowledge on what implact this saving can have on the clients energy bill.
Expected results (please, list):

10 – 15 people have engaged in the employability programme on energy coaching.
They gained social and employability skills and gained a better perspective on a
future job.

Around 800 households have received information on energy saving in their home.
400 Households got a visit by one of the trained odd- jobbers. The trainees performed
Leonardo DEvEA Project
External evaluation form 1
small adjustments to the homes in order to save energy and decrease costs in the
energy bills.

The Nieuw-West workpoint worked with the training materials provided by
Groundwork London and adapted these materials to the Dutch context.

The Nieuw-West DEvEA team will make an analysis of the adaptation of the
materials. This analysis will be used for the adaptation of het materials to the Polish
and Spanish national context.
Links with other projects or programmes:
Werkpunt
DEvEA is a project that operates within two inportant policy actions of the city- district of
Nieuw-West. Therefore, there are two SANW departments involved in the implementation of
the project.
On the one hand, the DEvEA project management seeks close cooperation with WerkPunt
(Workpoint).
WerkPunt is a public service established by SANW in order to guide and support residents of
the city-district who are looking for a job or workexperience. Very often, these residents do
not have the right skills, education or experience. Most of the clients are from non- western
origin and lack knowlegdge of the Dutch language.
The city district aims to help these residents in finding work by adressing their strenghts and
opportunities. This is called the ‘Independence approach’.
WerkPunt bridges the gap between supply and demand on the labor market especially for
this target audience. Werkpunt developed special intervention programmes e.g.
(empowerement) trainings, guided work experience placements, job creation, job searching
and finally job matching.
Starting point for the development of these programmes is the demand of the labour market.
WerkPunt thereby focussses on that specific parts of the labour market with an increasing
need for employees: hospitality, security, production, logistics, and greenjobs /sustainability.
Werkpunt will play a key role in the recruitment of the DEvEA pilot participants. Furthermore,
Werkpunt will train the recruitments in employability skills and monitore their progress during
the DEvEA pilot. For the pilot we have chosen an innovative approach in creating
employabillity scheme. Werkpunt believes that the DEvEA approach will produce similar
projects or opportunities for green/ sustainable jobs within Nieuw- West.
SANW sustainability team
Leonardo DEvEA Project
External evaluation form 1
The other important internal partner is the sustainability team. This team is responsible for te
implementation of the sustainabillity agenda of the city- district.
Nieuw-West believes that the district needs a sustainable approach to keep Nieuw-West an
attractive place to live, work and relax. It is important to combine socio, economic and
ecological matters in this approach. Therefore, SANW chooses projects that include these
matters and engage residents in the project execution.
The pilot on energy coaching is a strong example of this approach. We encourage our
residents to take an acctive approach in energy saving and making their households more
sustainable. Awareness and behaviour are very important. On the other hand, the economic
situation of the residents will improve due to the fact that energy costs will lower.
Slotermeer focus approach
The pilot area Slotermeer is one of the most deprived areas of the municipallity of
Amsterdam. Therefore, Slotermeer is one of the areas in Amsterdam which is subject to the
‘focus approach’. Through several lines of action SANW tries to influence and improve the
health, economic, educational, and living conditions of the Slotermeer residents.
The DEvEA pilot fits into this approach to a great extent. It combines several action strands
and delivers necessary outcomes for the ‘focus approach’. The pilot will run in the Slotermeer
area and part of the DEvEA pilot budget will come from the focus approach.