Lotta Persson, chair of the Association of directors of Swedish Social Welfare Sevices (FSS) and social director of Botkyrka, a municipality near Stockholm, finds her work very inspiring. Her 450-strong workforce provides social services to the people of Botkyrka.

With the other 18 board members of FSS, Lotta is constantly busy networking, discussing local issues in 10 Swedish regions and sharing knowledge. FSS organises an annual national conference where Sweden’s social directors, politicians and private care providers meet for three days to discuss and learn from one another through good practice examples. The most recent conference took place in Västerås and hosted exciting speakers and 330 delegates.

“Currently we have a number of priority issues in FSS: a welfare model with a focus on young people, the housing situation for vulnerable people, evidence-based practice, education for social workers and international issues in social welfare,” Lotta explains.

In Botkyrka, Lotta manages a number of social services provided by the municipality, except elderly care. Same as in many other Swedish municipalities, she works on improving the quality of the services they provide.  “We are working to raise quality, and we are beginning to measure the results on a small scale to see what works and what doesn’t,” she explains.

Talking about quality with Lotta will always bring forth stories about people who have been helped by social services: a young person who received support to get a job; a person with a mental illness who is now more independent; a battered woman who got help to take care of herself and her child. “When I get news from users or staff that our work has made a difference for people, I get even more inspired about possibilities for developing our services further,” she says.

The financial crisis, just as in many countries around Europe, placed an extra burden on service providers in Sweden. The experience in Botkyrka is that more people need financial support and housing. In Sweden they are looking specifically at how the crisis affects young people, older people and the homeless. “We participate in a network about housing where we address aspects of lack of houses for young people, security in their living areas, as well as their social integration,” Lotta explains.

For her, ESN can play an important role to increase the visibility of social work across Europe and to help some member states to avoid mistakes that others have been making over time. “Building institutions – for example – which has proven to be a bad solution over and over again,” Lotta says. During the Swedish Presidency, ESN together with FSS participated in the Round Table on Poverty and Social Exclusion, an annual event always organised by the European Commission and the EU Presidency.

If you are a young social worker just starting your career Lotta’s advice is:  “Focus on the issues that inspire you, find your own strength and excel in doing your job. That will make the best impact on people you want to help.”