Editorial

Newsletter 2008-3

Publication date : 2008-10-24

Dear reader,

I am pleased to introduce you to the thoroughly restyled newsletter of the Peer Review in Social Protection and Social Inclusion and Assessment in Social Inclusion Programme.

The Peer Review Programme and the Network of Independent Experts on Social Inclusion have been around for a number of years now (the peer reviews since 2004 and the network since 2003). During this time valuable results have been produced in support of the Open Method of Coordination on Social Protection and Social Inclusion (Social OMC). The programme has consistently been positively evaluated.

Nevertheless, together with the Social Protection Committee (SPC), the Commission is currently looking at ways to make the programme even more effective in the future. A reflection on how to improve the strategic use of peer review results is ongoing in the SPC.

Part of this effort to improve the programme’s impact is also to work on a more effective dissemination strategy. Since the start of the year, a fully fledged communication strategy is progressively being developed.

As part of this communication strategy, the programme’s website is currently being revamped in order to make it more accessible and attractive. It should be on line within a few weeks. A more targeted and more active dissemination strategy will be put in place next year. It is the intention to increasingly bring together results over different peer reviews and expert reports in synthesis papers. The new strategy will be evaluated on a regular basis.

This newsletter has been restyled in line with the new lay out of the website. It will continue to provide you with short articles on the programme’s outputs, containing a link to the website where you will be able to download longer reports and papers. The new lay out should ensure more agreeable reading.

Antonia Carparelli

Head of Unit Inclusion, Social Policy Aspects of Migration, Streamlining of Social Policies