Horizontal Themes

Horizontal Themes are issues that all projects applying for European Funds support should address during the project development stage.

Among the objectives set for the 2000-2006 Programmes - including increasing regional competitiveness and economic cohesion - mainstreaming the horizontal themes was one of the most challenging. Achieving that objective led to a fundamental change in all our organisations and in economic development in Western Scotland.

The emphasis on the horizontal themes of sustainable development, equal opportunities, innovation and the information society was one of the main changes for 2000-2006.

Sustainable Development	included the three components of long term economic development, a proactive approach to social inclusion, more efficient use of resources and improvements in the physical environment
Equal Opportunities	addressed barriers to participation in the economy faced by different groups on the basis of gender, disability, race or ethnicity
Innovation	incorporated both technical change and a forward looking approach to new ideas, management and working practices
Information Society	increased the use of information and communication technology and tackling issues like digital exclusion

Mainstreaming of the horizontal themes was reflected throughout the European Funds processes in Western Scotland. The Programme Complements supported the Western Scotland Objective 2 and Clyde Waterfront URBAN II Programmes provided information on the way in which the themes were to be built into the Priorities and Measures and are built into appropriate scoring and selection criteria and monitoring indicators.

Practical Examples illustrated the issues to be considered under each horizontal themes. Further specialist information on the process of mainstreaming equal opportunities was available in the Equal Opportunities Toolkit developed for use at a Programme level across Scotland.

Advice was also available from SEP Ltd.