The project brings together partners - mainly local authorities - with a shared vision of employment and equality. They experience COMPLEX STRUCTURAL SHIFTS in local labour markets. Due to economic crisis and financial distress, they lack opportunities to create more effective and inclusive employment strategies. In a meantime, many social groups in these local spaces - MIGRANTS in general, and ROMA in particular - face substantial difficulties to integrate into the labour market. They become relocated on the margins of the local economy, being often stigmatized and socially excluded. Until relatively recently, the local authorities involved in the project have not been able to effectively address this issue. To bridge this gap, our project will create an exchange of policies and strategies to improve the partners labour markets. As the FRONTLINE AGAINST LABOUR EXCLUSION, local authorities have a vital role to play in achieving more equal local employment agendas.The projects global aim is to fully address the INTERREG IVC programme priority Employment, human capital and education. The project will create an INTERREGIONAL TRANSFER OF KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE to stimulate more inclusive and sustainable employment policies. It also enables the partners to tackle discrimination and unemployment by analysing and discussing existing policies, strategies and scenarios. The partners will focus on INNOVATIVE WAYS OF ENHANCING LOCAL LABOUR MARKETS and define strategies to improve the situation of the disadvantaged. The projects objective is to understand the relation between local labour dynamics and patterns of migration, but also to facilitate the CROSS-FERTILISATION of ideas and practice. The innovativeness of the project lies in its topic and methodology, but also in addressing issues on the creation of inclusive work environments and the stimulation of employment.The project consists of 8 SEMINARS and 11 REGIONAL CONSULTATION MEETINGS and develops different TOOLS to stimulate and improve local employment while making it more equal. The seminars correspond to the needs on the ground and are to be organized in various locations, involving different STAKEHOLDERS from diverse institutional backgrounds. The partners develop INNOVATIVE POLICIES towards discriminated groups (migrant and Roma populations, and in a broader context youngsters and long term unemployed) and address the main problems faced by these groups in relation to employment, training and inclusion. By doing so, they will test innovative tools developed by the ILO (International Labour Organization) on promotion of fair employment opportunities. Indeed, Europe needs INCREASED EMPLOYABILITY and INVESTMENT IN HUMAN CAPITAL. Our project strives to put these issues on the interregional agenda, making them more visible, better understood and easier operationalized in local contexts. Achievements: At the 11th of April the project was officially launched in Nieuwegein during a kick off seminar with the project partners and national and international guests.Theme of the seminar was Towards a better participation of Roma in education and employment. During the seminar the central theme has been put in the right (European) context. For the project is it important to acknowledge the great differences of Roma groups and their participation in work and education throughout Europe. Next to that the seminar focused on local best practices in Nieuwegein and Antwerp. The municipality of Nieuwegein presented its integrated approach towards complex families with a Roma background. Through this approach the schooling of Roma children increased greatly in the past 3 years.The Antwerp Centre of Minorities presented several succesful approaches towards improving the participation of Roma: for example the training of mediators of Roma background and training sessions that focus on situation and culture of Roma and intercultural communication. Target groups: teachers, school-assistants and schooldirectors and the local and federal police force. These trainings have proven to be very successful and are in constant demand.During the Nieuwegein seminar two workshops were organised for the project partners. One was faciltated by the Belgian office of the International Labour Organisation about tools of the ILO which could be used to increase participation of minorities at a local level. The second workshop was an interactive workshop of the Dutch training organisation Balans about the contemporary vision on diversity. During the workshops all partners presented the situation they are facing with minorities and unemployment: for example Roma in Sofia, Irish travellers in Newry and Mourne, Migrants from Latin America in Alt Empòrda and migrants from North Africa in Tenerife. Even though there are a variety of targeted groups, they all are minorities who face, for different reasons, a difficult access to the labour market and who often are discriminated. The variety of minorities, with different cultures, history, habits and a variety of political context in the partners country, turn the comparison of best practices into a challenging task. However, the Labour Plus project provides an ideal platform to share ideas and adapt these ideas to each particular situation. On the 15th and 16th of June the second seminar was held in Figueres, Spain. This seminar was a cooperation between the county council of Alt Emporda and the Development Society of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Theme of this seminar was "Integrated approach to migrants; inclusion into the labour market, education, human capital and economy". During the seminar both organizers presented their best practices. Alt Emporda informed the partners about its territorial plan for citizenship and immigration. The county council provides five services towards new immigrants: Service of reception, service of intercultural mediation, service of legal advice, service of training and awareness raising and service of counseling to professionals and administrations The development society of Santa Cruz de Tenerife presented its project Santa Cruz Diversa IV. Within this project a job advisory service and an entrepreneurs advisory service were created. During the seminar the project partners approved of the project action plan, which defines the objectives and methodology in the process of exchanging experiences. Next to this a questionnaire was developed and adopted. This questionnaire will be used to ascertain the situation of vulnerable populations (immigrant and Roma) ant the socio-economic context in each country.