This document reports on phases 2 and 3 of the Phare Special Preparatory Programme for the European Social Fund (SPP-ESF), which involved national, supplementary, and local seminars to assess the following countries' needs for assistance from the ESF: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia. Sections 1-4 contain a brief overview of the Phare SPP-ESF program and the purposes and key activities of the various seminars. Section 5 reports on the national training institutes, which continued to consolidate their position as promoters of training for the ESF through the following activities: contributing to development of a policy framework for ESF preparations; developing a National Training Plan designed to meet the training needs of the public administration for ESF; developing curricula; and disseminating information on the ESF. The remaining half of the report presents an overview of the main findings arising from the national and local seminars, which concerned the following issues: strategic considerations; the institutional framework of vocational education; the means to effect change; and the place of human resources development. Approximately 70% of this document is devoted to reports on the national and supplementary seminars held in the 10 project countries. (MN)