European Social Network
Who is ESN?
ESN is the independent
network for local public social services in Europe.
The
European Social Network (ESN) brings together people
who are key to the design and delivery of local public
social services across Europe to learn from each other
and contribute their experience and expertise to building
effective social policy and practice.
It
brings together directors of social work and social
care services working at the local level. Directors
have the senior management role in local authorities
for social services: they lead the strategic planning,
design and delivery of social services and are accountable
to elected local councillors.
Member organisations are national
or regional associations of directors of social services,
individual regions, provinces, counties and cities and
research, development and regulatory bodies working
alongside directors of social services in shaping services
for the local community.
ESN’s
mission is to support our members to change the lives
of the most vulnerable in our societies through the
delivery of quality social services.
ESN
is registered in the United Kingdom as a not-for-profit
charitable company and was established in 1998. It
is politically independent and has a board of trustees
comprising a representative from selected member organisations.
ESN is directly supported by the European Commission
in relation to its programme on social inclusion and
has participatory status with the Council of Europe.
What are our aims?
-
To
promote social justice, inclusion, equality and
anti-poverty in Europe through development of quality
public social services.
-
To
work with European national directors associations
and other social partners to share knowledge, information,
experience and expertise on social policy and practice
issues.
-
To
provide a focus and mechanism for social services
representation in Europe.
-
To
provide a framework for personnel exchange, project
experience, joint research and training.
Who are our members?
The Board Members of European Social
Network (ESN) are national and regional associations
of directors of local authority social services, social
protection and social welfare from European countries,
politically independent of national, regional or local
government. In some countries directors also manage
health or other services such as education or housing.
ESN Board Member representatives
hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the European
Social Services Conference each year to review the past
year's activity and to agree the business plan for the
coming year.
Recognising
the important role played by various sectors and professions
in building a social Europe, the
network also welcomes a
wide range of non-board Members.
These include regional and local
authorities and other public social welfare and
health departments, universities and other research
organisations, national ministries, NGOs, consultancies
and private companies.
Please
click here to see a list of our current members >>
Please
click here to visit the main ESN website >>
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