Events and activities

This page lists all events and activities that are planned or have recently taken place for KEEP partners, service users and employers. This includes transnational activities.

Presentations and reports made during events and activities will be stored in the documents and resources page of this website.

Forthcoming events

Recent events

Final KEEP Action 2 conference 'A celebration of innovation'- Friday 14 May 2004

Chris Pond MP with KEEP beneficiaries, Mark Farmer and William Holloway from Tuck by Truck, MCCH

To celebrate the achievements of the KEEP project, a conference was held at Priestfield Stadium, Gillingham on Friday, 14th May 2004. This event featured key learning points from the project as well as workshops to tackle the various aspects of joint learning. Transnational partners from Greece and Italy delivered presentations on the added value of working with KEEP and there were also presentations from employers and project beneficiaries.

Key speakers included Mark Watts, MEP for the South East Region, who opened the event and Chris Pond, Parliamentary Under Secretary for ESF and local MP for Gravesham.

A conference summary by the Chair, Barabara Sturgeon and details of presentations at the conference can be found by visiting the documents and resources page.

Association for Supported Employment conference, 30-31 March 2004

KEEP Action 3 partners delivered messages on the key learning points from the KEEP project to a national audience at the annual conference of the Association for Supported Employment (AfSE) in Newcastle. The presentation also featured a workshop focusing on the development and accreditation of life skills for project beneficiaries.

For more details on the work of Action 3, please contact Ben Gladstone at EISS.

Transnational reflections

Thursday, 22nd January 2004- KAB, Maidstone

Visitors from Kenward Trust, KCA, and FOCUS to Work Trust shared their experiences of recent transnational visits to Greece and Italy. They gave presentations and showed photos from the visits and there was a chance for discussion about what they learnt from the two countries.

To view a copy of the KCA/Focus to Work presentation, you can download their Powerpoint presentation from the documents and resources page.

Joint Equal projects presentation- Brussels Thursday, 2nd October 2003

Linda Pizani Wiliams, EISS delivering key messages on Equal to Commission representatives and others

A joint seminar of five Equal projects from the South East Region of the UK was held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, 2nd October in South East England House, Brussels.

This seminar was designed to highlight the successes of the Equal projects and to bring key messages to policy makers in Brussels. The event was chaired by Pam McHale from the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) and the guest speaker was Caroline Lucas MEP.

The five Equal projects involved were:

SEQUAL, i-WORK, OASES, Solent Community Development Partnership and KEEP.

For details of the event, please contact Linda Pizani Williams at EISS.

Transnational partners visit KEEP project- 15-19th September 2003

Partners from KEEP, FOCUS and IN ACTION with Peter Lake, Cabinet Member for Social Care and Health at a transnational learning event at the University of Kent on Friday, 19th September 2003

The KEEP partnership hosted partners from both Greece and Italy during the week commencing Monday, 15th September. A packed programme of activities was organised for this week which culminated in an interactive learning event for all partners on the Friday, 19th September in Keynes College, University of Kent.

Employment Fair for disadvantaged people

KEEP partners in earnest discussion at the employment fair, Saga Pavilion, Sandgate Left to right: Marion Periton and Gillian Hall (MCCH)

KEEP was exhibited at an employment fair for both employers and potential employees was held at the SAGA Pavilion in Sandgate near Folkestone between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday, 28th June 2003.

This event was designed for anyone with an interest in employment of those who suffer disadvantage in the labour market.

For more information, please contact Tracey Ward at Job Centre Plus or Toni Spain, Shepway Business Centre.

KEEP partners visit Greek projects- May 2003

KEEP partners take time out from a busy schedule in Athens, Greece. Left to right: Linda Williams (Oldborough Manor), Julia Elliot (KCA UK), Toni Spain (Shepway Business Centre), Debbie Bennett (Kent Supported Employment), Simon Simpson (Kenward Trust), Freda Padgett (MCCH)

At the end of May 2003, several KEEP partners visited the project partners in Greece. They worked in thematic groups throughout the week long series of activities with members of the Italian project, FOCUS. There was much to learn from all three countries and several groups will be working on producing common products by the end of the partnership next May.

Transnational Visit to Italy- January 2003

Left to right: Shaun Wood, Dianne Anderson (KAB) and Michael Dempsey (KCA UK) in front of the local authority offices, Reggio Calabria, Italy

KEEP partners from a variety of organisations recently took part in a week long exchange hosted by the KEEP Italian partners in Reggio Calabria.

The exchange also featured delegates from the Greek partners of KEEP, in order to promote a three-way learning event.

They visited a whole host of different partners, working with similar groups of disabled/disadvantaged people, in order to learn about how their working methods differ from the UK.

They will shortly be feeding back to the KEEP partnership and joint reports on their experiences will then be published on this website.

Study tour to Italy- 23-30th October 2002

Staff and service users from Kenward Trust took part in a five-day study tour to Reggio Calabria in Southern Italy. This trip was part of the Transnational partnership between the FOCUS Equal project in Italy and KEEP in the UK.

The participants were hosted by partners of the FOCUS project and learnt about differences in working methods and cultural approaches to the support of employment and training for those with disadvantages in Italy. The group gave a presentation to the partnership at the KEEP development day on the 10th January, 2003.

Dissemination Conference, Skopelos, Greece- 15-16th September 2002

Left to right: Linda Taylor, EISS , Linda Ellis, Ken Mackenzie, Able to do Business Trust, Mayor of Skopelos, Steve Ralf, KCA UK, Jean Park, Kenward Trust, Katerina Kaklammanis, EETAA (Greece), Nick Walters, Evalutor for KEEP, Phil Edwards, Kent County Council

This conference was hosted by the Greek partners of KEEP, EETAA, and was held on the island of Skopelos.

The conference was designed for the three project partners (KEEP, FOCUS and In Action) to exchange ideas and best practice in the areas of supported employment and vocational training.

Presentations were given by several members of KEEP on common themes of working at the conference. Copies of these presentations can be downloaded from the documents and resources section of this site.

EISS, as the co-ordinator of the transnational partnership, produced joint reports on supported employment and a comparative analysis of employment and skills in all three countries. These joint reports can be found in the documents and resources section of this site. The Greek partnership, In Action has also compiled a separate report on the situation in Greece, which can be downloaded from the same page.

The second Transnational Steering Group (TSG) of the Employment Partnership was also held on the Friday, 13th September in the EETAA offices in Larissa, Greece.

For more information on the event, please contact the KEEP Project Support Team at keep@ukc.ac.uk or tel 01227 827307.

Launch of Transnational Employment Partnership, Maidstone, UK- 20 May, 2002

The partnership between the KEEP (UK), FOCUS (Italy) and NPEA (Greece) projects was officially launched by representatives of all three national partners at an event held in the Archbishop's Palace in Maidstone.

Below is a copy of the group photo taken at the event.

The launch event was marked with the signing of the Transnational Co-operation Agreement (TCA).

Left to right: Mr Lambrakakis, Managing Director of the Hellenic Agency for Local Government and Local Development (Greece), Mr Andrew Ireland, Assistant Director of Social Services, Kent County Council (UK), Mr Tommaso Cotronei, Transnational Co-ordinator for the FOCUS project (Italy).

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