Within the Special Preparatory Programme, the employees of the Employment Service of Slovenia had a chance to get to know the work of the European Social Fund at the conference as well as in workshops organized by the European Training Foundation from Turin and the EU Programmes Agency at the Centre for Vocational Education. A national conference was organized in Ljubljana in October 1999, further regional workshops took place later in three pilot regions – Zasavje, Pomurje and Savinjska in March and April 2000.

The purpose of the workshops was to inform the experts and public about the following topics: the role and importance of structural funds, the integration of European strategy and employment policy with activities co-financed by the European Social Fund, the role and activities of Slovenia in preparations for the time when it will become a full member of the European Union and be able to obtain the sources from the structural funds, the preparation of the most important strategic documents required for planning and obtaining the sources from the European structural funds, the preparation for the structural funds regarding legal, administrative and personnel matters, the establishment of a local network of potential providers, organizers and beneficiaries of the programmes of the structural funds with the emphasis on the European Social Fund.