During the period 2017–2021, Forte was cooperating with the Swedish ESF Council, which administers the European Social Fund, in a thematic platform for promoting sustainable working life.

The platform was intended to promote a more efficient implementation of the European Social Fund in Sweden by gathering knowledge from the fund’s development projects and relating to existing knowledge and research. This creates the conditions necessary to strengthen and develop national labour market policy.

For Forte, the thematic platform provided new opportunities for highlighting issues relating to sustainable working life, so that the existing knowledge is put into use. The platform contributed to further knowledge and improved conditions for the activities of the European Social Fund and Forte.

The platform was financed by the European Social Fund and placed within Forte’s operations.

About the ESF Council and the European Social Fund

The European Social Fund has financed projects in Sweden since 1995 and the Swedish ESF Council has been responsible for the Social Fund’s Swedish programmes since 2000. So far, more than 90,000 projects with more than 1 million participants have been carried out. This means that one in six Swedes of working age has been able to develop within the framework of a social fund project. During the previous programme period, 2007–2013, around 2,300 projects were carried out. Between 2014 and 2020, the Social Fund will have a turnover of around SEK 12 billion.

The European Social Fund was created in 1957 and operates in all EU countries. Its goal is the same now as it was then – the difference being that our world has changed. Increased global competition and new technological possibilities require new knowledge and expertise. Sweden must both excel in this competition and face these new challenges.

Read more at www.esf.se