The Council is conducting wide-ranging activities aimed at strengthening its role and reach. Meeting at least twice this year, the Council coordinates this work, based on four pillars:
The European Sector Skills Council for Commerce pursues the strategic aim of deeper interaction with other skills, employment and training-related EU initiatives and instruments. To this end, a series of meetings have been organised with the European Commission and sub-sectors representatives, in the context of the ESCO, Skills Panorama and Skills Alliances initiatives.
These meetings led to an Harmonisation Seminar, held on 17th March 2014. Commission Officers in charge of the above initiatives and representatives of the existing Skills Councils joined the seminar and set the groundwork for cooperation and sharing of resources, including sectoral knowledge generated within the Council.
Research and analytical work is currently being carried out, in order to gather and produce consistent, structured and reliable sectoral intelligence in the field of Employment and Training.
Four reports will be released before the end of the year, addressing:
A key objective of the Council is the strengthening of its network to new stakeholders in the countries currently covered and expansion to new Member States, reaching out to organisations with a focused interest in the development of skills in the Commerce sector. Contact-taking and prospection meetings are regularly organised to raise awareness, but also for dissemination and communication purposes.
Key instruments in this realm are of course this very Web Portal, which has been recently revamped to better answer to stakeholders' needs and expectations and offer a more structured access to relevant information to the public, and the Council's Newsletters, regularly distributed to the rich network of contacts of sectorial Social Partners and ISPs.
A large Final Conference, on 21 November 2014, concludes the yearly work programme. It provides an opportunity to showcase the activities carried out and the achievements attained during the year. The conference aims at raising awareness on the issues addressed, presenting the reports produced and putting forward the recommendations to key sectorial stakeholders, including other observatories; EU, national and regional authorities; workers' organisations; Vocational Education and Training providers and institutions; industrial players; the press and the public at large.
2 2 2015 - Our 2014 Report has been presented to Portuguese stakeholders by the National Agency for Qualification and Professional Training (ANQEP), in a piece in their newsletter. [+]
21 11 2014 - On 21st November, the ESSC Commerce partners organised a large final conference in order to celebrate the conclusion of their first year of activities. [+]
21 11 2014 Brussels, Belgium (BE)
Social Partners, Skills Council Partners, European Commission representatives and stakeholders of the Commerce sector gather in Brussels for the presentation of the ESSC Commerce 2014 Report. [+]
29 1 2013 Brussels, Belgium (BE)
The follow up meeting of the project "European Skills Council for Commerce" will take place in Brussels, on 29 January 2012, at UNI Europa Premises, rue Joseph II, 40 Bruxelles from 10am to 4pm. [+]