Projects

Support of the institutional and entrepreneurial capacity of GSEVEE

The project aims at supporting and upgrading the intervention role of GSEVEE, in order to generate policy proposals, promote social dialogue and contribute to the development, of a new growth productive model of the country, with the participation and expansion of small enterprises represented thereof.

In this framework, the following actions for supporting and enhancing the efficiency of GSEVEE and its member-federations operational activities (organisational, administrative and coordinating) were designed:

• Preparation of specific critical studies and surveys aiming to strengthen the operational capacity of GSEVEE and establishment of its positions with regard to the main issues that concern small Greek enterprises.
• Operation of thematic study domains and establishment of a Documentation Office, with the view of coordinating all studies and surveys and shaping policy proposals.
• Establishment, expansion and management of a library and enrichment of library collections.
• Identification of needs and implementation of training programmes for the elected, trade unionists of GSEVEE, as well as for the sectoral/local member-federations.
• Development and establishment of networks and partnerships at national and European scale.
• Enhancement of the institutional capacity of GSEVEE's local/sectoral federations, by conducting a sectoral or local study and an action plan for each federation.

Due to the fact that each of these actions/ sub-projects is independent, it is deemed necessary to describe them separately, as follows:

1)Preparation of studies and surveys

The preparation of studies and surveys is a fundamental activity for the establishment of GSEVEE's positions and consequently the enhancement of its institutional and operational capacity. These studies and surveys fall in the following categories, depending on their subject, nature and purpose:

i)Studies on the operational capacity of GSEVEE

These studies lay the foundations of GSEVEE's operational organisation and evolution and include:

• Study on the operational planning and the executive bodies of GSEVEE- (IME GSEVEE and KEK GSEVEE).                                                                                   
• Study on the compilation of a communication plan, regarding all actions undertaken by GSEVEE under the Operational Programme “Human Resources Development”.

ii) Consecutive opinion polls-studies on the economic climate

In the framework of GSEVEE's public intervention in issues concerning small enterprises, the following opinion polls are taking place:

• Economic trends (conducted on biannual basis, in order to collect comparative data).
• Households' revenue-expenses (conducted on annual basis, in order to collect comparative data).
• Special issues (insured persons and pensioners of OAEE-Insurance organisation of self-employed, consumers' behaviour regarding malls, taxi service evaluation etc.).

iii) Thematic studies

In order to optimise the research work of IME GSEVEE, specialised thematic surveys have been designed and implemented, in areas concerning small enterprises. Indicatively, the following topics are covered:

• Shopping malls’ policy in Greece and in Europe.
• How competition works in the Greek market and which are the impacts on the functioning and sustainability of small enterprises.
• Formulation of GSEVEE’s proposals, on training policies for small and micro enterprises' employees and their connection with the actual needs of the labour market.
• Reflecting the current situation and formulation of proposals with regard to vocational qualifications, procedures for the certification of professional competences and the development of sectoral, professional qualifications and specialisations represented by GSEVEE.
• Alternative financing tools and small enterprises.
• Small enterprises' access to finance: recent developments in Europe and Greece.
• Over leveraging European economy and a short description of the European banking sector.
• Deregulating the opening hours for Sundays.
• Manufacturing sector.

 2) Operation of thematic study domains

The action concerns the establishment and operation of thematic domains as well as a documentation office, aiming to strengthen GSEVEE's negotiation position, through the implementation of studies and the exploitation of scientifically processed data. More specifically the thematic offices corresponding to the thematic modules covered, are the following:

• Office of Economic Analysis and Small Enterprises
• Office of Employment and Social Policy
• Office of Education and Lifelong Learning

The various actions for the documentation complement the work on the offices, by collecting scientific data and by conducting studies.

3)Establishment, expansion and management of the library

The action concerns the establishment, expansion and management of IME GSEVEE's library, in order to cover all scientific, informative needs and help the organisation to carry out its research work.

To implement the above objective, a number of tasks have taken place, including purchase of books, subscriptions in scientific magazines, as well as purchase of public/private organisations' papers and publications. The content has been classified according to the principles of Library Science and with the usage of a modern Library Automation Software (ABEKT). The collection of titles covers a broad spectrum of themes within the interest of IME GSEVEE; indicatively the following are mentioned: economic policy, competitiveness, access to finance, taxation, employment policies, labour markets, social insurance, equality and social inclusion policies, educational policy, vocational education and training, lifelong learning, professional competences, certification of knowledge and skills, connecting education-training to employment.

Furthermore, in the framework of this action, the history archives of GSEVEE are being collected, recorded and processed. These archives consist of texts, photographic and other material of major significance for the trade union movement and small enterprises in Greece.

4)  Identification of needs and implementation of training programmes for trade unionists

This action concerns the design, organisation, management and monitoring of activities aimed to inform and train trade unionists of GSEVEE and its member-federations. The thematic modules for the training, are: 1) Economy and small enterprises; 2) Social Policy and Employment; 3) European Union, Greek state and Regions; 4) Education, Lifelong Learning and certification of qualifications; 5) Trade union activity of small enterprises' employers (GSEVEE, federations, trade unions).

The joint objective of all training activities is to inform on new developments, to exchange knowledge and experience on topical issues of the economic and social life which concern small enterprises but at the same time constitute major areas of political decision-making and trade union claims. The training activities are taking place on national scale and feature a dual approach, combining both physical presence of the trainee and distance learning (home study). At a later stage, the complete training programme was updated and became part of the e-learning platform, in order to maximise benefits.

5) Development  and establishment of networks and partnerships between GSEVEE and social partners, trade unions, professional and research organisations at national and European level

The action concerns the formation of networks and partnerships of GSEVEE and its affiliated bodies (KEK GSEVEE and IME GSEVEE) with social partners, trade unions, professional and research organisations in Greece and abroad; this constitutes a prerequisite for the enhancing GSEVEE's institutional and operational capacity.

In a first instance, there was an investigation on the cooperation opportunities, which were mapped, expanded and evaluated; this, led to the planning and implementation of the following tasks: series of working meetings, organisation and/or attendance in conferences/ day- conferences, exchange of policy proposals, bilateral meetings etc.

The overarching objective of this action to develop and strengthen the communication with more players and organisations both at national and international level, to expand thematic areas of mutual interest, to formulate joint positions and proposals, to collaborate for actions and programmes and finally, to impact and contribute on the national and European policies.

6) Enhancement of the institutional capacity of sectoral and local federations of GSEVEE

The action concerns the support of sectoral and local federations of GSEVEE in order to further enhance their institutional role, their active participation in the social dialogue, as well as their operational and institutional status, so that they can effectively represent GSEVEE at local and sectoral level.

In order to achieve the above objectives, first, the current status and the development perspectives of each federation (local or sectoral) were recorded, hence paving the way for a case-specific action plan. Later on, the action plan began to be implemented, which is the basic assistance tool towards sectoral and local GSEVEE federations. It has to be noted that an important part of the action plan's implementation relates to actions aimed to promote and strengthen the public status of federations, in order to turn them more recognisable by local communities and therefore reveal their role and action.