May 2022

4IM Project – 2nd consortium meeting, Miskolc

The members of the 4IM project held their second consortium meeting.

On 25 May, the 4IM project consortium members held their second face-to-face meeting. In the morning, a capacity building training organised by the Hárfa Foundation was held. The first half of the workshop consisted of a short introduction and pair exercises to help the project participants get to know each other better. Every five minutes, the couples had to take turns telling each other about things they were grateful for in life, during which time their partners were not allowed to ask questions or make reflections.

Andrea Varga, Deputy Mayor of Miskolc, responsible for human resources and professional leader of the project, followed the first quarterly reports of the consortium members.

Norbert Képes, the head of the Resource Centre, and Balázs Dernei, the head of the Abaújrakezdés Public Benefit Association, reported on their results. On behalf of the Hárfa Foundation, project manager Annamária Nagy-Kórodi presented their activities in the project, and the partners were given an insight into the organisation of the project's internal communication processes and interfaces.

Dr Hab Kinga Szabó-Tóth spoke about the methodological issues of the questionnaire survey of the stakeholders to be involved in the project. Gábor Osgyáni, the professional coordinator of the Hárfa Foundation, presented the purpose and use of the project monitoring questionnaire. Finally, Márta Márczis assessed the results of the first quarter, outlining the work to be done in the coming months and the expected results.

The first face-to-face meeting of the 4IM project partners took place in Miskolc, Hungary,prior to the 4IM project's kick-off conference in June.

On 24 May 2022, after a welcome speech by Andrea Varga, Deputy Mayor of Miskolc for Human Resources, the content of the 4IM project was presented by Márta Márczis, project leader, and Norbert Képes, head of the Social Innovation Resource Centre, which is responsible for the operational management of the project.

The project leader pointed out that one of the basic objectives of the project is to review the effectiveness of sectoral policies and the various municipal subsidies. The project aims to achieve the result that at least 80 percent of the participants are employed, trainable, or taking part in training or other activating events. This should be tested with at least 300 people in the two target areas.

The aim is also to operate the Social Innovation Resource Centre as a back-up institution, which has both a coordinating and management role as well as an integrative and change-promoting role. It plays a key role in the model, not only in ensuring the integrated nature of the services, but also in the operational maintenance and management of the activities involved. Local service points with permanent staff will be set up in two parts of Miskolc, Bábonyibérc and Tetemvár, to ensure direct contact with the target group. Community coaches have been set up to facilitate the development of community action groups in the local community. The model works from bottom up to help identify the situation of individual households and then, in addition to offering targeted support packages, aims to drive change from within the community.

Dr Hab Kinga Szabó-Tóth, Head of the Institute of Applied Social Sciences, University of Miskolc, presented the project and research methodology, and gave a presentation on the composition of the questionnaire surveys. Participants discussed the difficulties of integration, the functions of segregation and the attempts to abolish it. The survey of the two project areas is planned to be completed in one month, using 9 or 10 students and trainees.

The partners' meeting was the first meeting of the Social Innovation Standing Group (TIÁM). The members of the TIÁM are government institutions, relevant local government organisations, NGOs supporting the local disadvantaged community, educational institutions and members of the Community Action Groups. The Working Group is responsible for the restructuring of the city-wide service system and has the right to propose decisions to the City Council. The fact that the Social Innovation Standing Group also includes representatives of Community Action Groups helps to drive the city-level shift.

Partners were also briefed and the first day of talks was concluded with a round table discussion.