Empowering People: Social Services in Europe / Brussels, 30 November 2007
The European Social Network brought together sixty policy-makers, stakeholders and service providers for this event in Brussels on 30 November 2007. This was the final in a series of six social inclusion seminars over two years where ESN has brought together its Members in local public social services to look at key issues for the social welfare sector with a European perspective.
This was the opportunity to review the context in which social services operate (Lerais, Huber), to recall the key role of local public social services (Browne, Jaburková, van de Vrie) and to renew the debate about social services' place as actors in a changing social reality and as stakeholders in Europe.
Closing the conference, Lars-Goran Jansson, ESN president said: "Local social services have a strong independent tradition of protecting the vulnerable and making a difference to people’s lives [and] members of ESN come together precisely because we want to help each other to make services better, to strive for quality."
This would be at the heart of a new programme for 2008-10 to develop policy and practice in key areas, he said, adding that the social inclusion programme 2005-07 had allowed ESN to build "a solid foundation from which to go forward".
You can download the delegate pack here and the presentations opposite.
Presentations
Frédéric Lerais, BEPA, European
Commission: Europe's Social Reality
//
Manfred Huber, Vienna Centre: Social
Services in Europe: financing, roles and responsibility
John Halloran, ESN: Empowering
People //
Aidan Browne, CAAB, Ireland: child
poverty and wellbeing //
Milena Jaburková, SMOCR, Czech Republic: long-term
care for older people //
Nico van de Vrie, City of Rotterdam, Netherlands: Organising
activation within social services