“With so much depressing news about declining growth and rising unemployment I had the very pleasant experience as the new co-chair of the European Expert Group to participate in a very active seminar last week in Riga at which the European Commission, central, local government and NGOs expressed their commitment to a major investment programme announced by the Secretary of State to transfer a thousand persons with intellectual disabilities out of long stay institutions and into community care. Social investment is alive and kicking in Latvia; this is a big issue across Europe but slowly the tide is turning…”  John Halloran, ESN Chief Executive

On 28 June the European Social Network’s (ESN) Chief Executive John Halloran participated in a national training seminar on the use of EU funds for deinstitutionalisation in Riga, Latvia. The training seminar was organised by the Ministry for Welfare in cooperation with the European Expert Group on Transition from Institutional to Community Care (EEG) and the European Commission.

The aim of the seminar was to gather national stakeholders (public authorities, EU fund managing authorities and civil society organisations) in order to take stock of the state of play of de-institutionalisation in Latvia and to look at the way forward for the future. Representing local public social services in Europe, ESN’s contribution to the seminar was to bring the local government perspective into the dialogue with the European Commission and national authorities.

The recent decentralisation process in Latvia has seen the simplification of the two-level municipality system into 110 municipalities and 9 republican cities with their own council. This process has also led to local governments receiving additional responsibilities for running institutions for children aged 3-18, adults including people with disabilities and older persons, as well as the provision of social services for the local community, but not the power of financial and resource allocation, which has remained in the hands of the state.

Martins Moors from Riga City Council outlined some of the challenges faced by local government:

• Ensuring that there is an adequate transition period 
  Most often there is either no transition period or the period is too short, which means that the service user or the social services may not be adequately prepared for the transition.


• Getting national government to invest in the transition process on the long-term
  This includes investment in developing the ICT and administrative systems, the training staff and raising awareness of the transition process in the public eye.


• Ensuring adequate financing for the development of community alternative services 
  There are large differences in the quantity and quality of services offered across different municipalities. Some municipalities receive financial aid from municipalities equalisation found to support the development of new services.

 

The European Expert Group will continue to work with the European Commission and national authorities and stakeholders in organising country-tailored national seminars to support Member States in Central and Eastern Europe to overcome challenges in implementing their deinstitutionalisation agenda.