The policy level of the IntegrAGE project within the Interreg Danube Region Programme is primarily focused on developing and promoting a macro-regional strategic framework to address the challenges of an aging workforce and skilled labour shortages. The project's policy focus is embedded in Specific Objective 1: "Strengthening the holistic approach of the integration of elderly people to the labour market".
Key Policy-Level Deliverables and Activities
Strategy and Action Plans
- The central output is the IntegrAGE Strategy for the healthy integration of senior employees and holistic age management across the labour market.
- It also develops specific IntegrAGE Action Plans based on identified "country-personas" to provide operative and customizable solutions for the heterogeneous region.
- This joint strategy is intended for adoption by policy actors at various levels, public employment services, and employee associations throughout the macro-region.
Policy Recommendations and Impact Assessment
- The project drafts national policy recommendations (one document for each participating country) based on thorough country analyses of the 55+ employment situation, age management status, and challenges like early retirement.
- It conducts a comprehensive impact assessment of planned integrative measures to validate policy recommendations and inform the joint strategy.
Policy Dialogue and Network
- The project establishes the IntegrAGE Alliance (Output 1.2), a collaborative network of 26 organizations cooperating across borders, dedicated to promoting holistic age management and improving the integration of older people into the labour market.
- It involves policy makers and key national actors (ministries, public bodies, employment services) from the early stages through a need assessment survey and national policy roundtables to ensure their commitment and the uptake of results.
- The partnership includes strategically important organisations and associated partners (e.g., National Employment Service, employers' associations) specifically to help promote outputs and ensure the strategy's adoption at a transnational level.
By focusing on these deliverables, IntegrAGE seeks to influence labour market policies, institutional capacities, and employer behaviour to enhance the participation and well-being of the 55+ workforce.
The project is aligned with the programme-specific objective "3.1: Accessible, inclusive and effective labour markets".