Regional Skills Partnerships foster collaboration and boost regional skills development

The European Commission is supporting the development of Regional Skills Partnerships (RSPs) through the Pact for Skills.

Regional Skills Partnerships are multi-stakeholder collaborations that work to create upskilling and reskilling opportunities for people of working age. They can take the form of local skills partnerships or cross-border ”Macro regions” or transnational regional partnerships, which bring together several regions that are linked economically or geographically to collaborate.

Support available for RSPs

The Pact for Skills Support Services give direct support to existing or potential RSPs, helping them to develop their activities, engage with stakeholders, and raise awareness of the impact the partnership is having on the ground. 

The Pact tailors its support to the needs of the partnership and its members. Support includes: 

• Advice on developing a common statement of commitments as part of the Pact for Skills. 
• Identifying opportunities for synergies between the partnerships’ activities and funding schemes with a European or regional angle.
• Opportunities to enhance the visibility of the partnership, its activities and members at the European level through the Pact for Skills Support Services. 
• Opportunities to connect with regional European and national policymakers on skills and economic development.
• Opportunities to connect with other Pact members that work in the same region or have related priorities.
• Guidance on how to run the partnership and achieve its objectives.

Cooperation with large-scale partnerships enhances the visibility of their regional work

The Pact for Skills Support Services has been actively supporting the work that large-scale partnerships (LSPs) are doing at a regional level. Examples include:

LSP for textiles, clothing, leather and footwear (TCLF) 

The TCLF LSP aims to create a collaborative platform between regional partnerships and support organisations in the context of the EU textiles, clothing, leather and footwear industries. The LSP also aims to launch RSPs focusing on regions critical to the TCLF sector, working in regions across at least ten Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Romania).

The TCLF LSP has advanced initiatives at a regional level, particularly through its TCLF Skillbridge. This project is managed by EURATEX, COTANCE and the European Footwear Association as part of the Single Market Programme (SMP) and has a budget of EUR 1 million.

Automotive Skills Alliance (ASA)

The Automotive Skills Alliance (ASA) aims to improve cooperation between regions to up and re-skill the European automotive workforce. Their goal is to create a united regional force to promote skills development and organise strategic regional-level projects that are in line with the EU's green and digital policies.

The group coordinates the work of its members via a Regional Implementation Working Group . Regions from nine Member states are participating, including Spain, Italy, Czechia, Romania, Slovakia, Germany, Portugal, France, and Sweden.

Theses large-scale partnership initiatives are key to promoting the Pact for Skills at a regional level. The Pact for Skills Support Services will continue to support these and other initiatives from LSPs.

How to express your interest? 

The Pact Support Services can provide support to existing regional groupings or initiatives or to yet to be established partnerships that wish to:

• Articulate shared commitments to deliver up- and re-skilling opportunities in line with regional skills and economic needs. 
• Bring relevant stakeholders together at a local level, including employers, education and training providers, social partners, chambers of commerce, public bodies and agencies, regional representative forums as well as other relevant organisations.
• Create opportunities for member organisations to maximise their impact by building synergies.

As of 2024, there are 10 RSPs working across six different ecosystems, with more to come this year. The full list of RSPs can be found here!