ESN seminar on social planning

 

How to plan services to promote cohesive and inclusive social communities? The question triggered some lively discussions at our seminar on social planning in Vienna. Three parallel sessions focused on different societal groups: children and families, adults with disabilities, and older people, and covered cross-cutting issues such as funding, stakeholders’ cooperation, the need for a multilevel approach, and ways forward.

 

 

Investing in services

 

 

Seminar participants called for investment in services to be considered as long-term rather than short-term expenditure. In times of budgetary constraints, they emphasised how important it is to rethink the way money is being spent. Louise Morpeth from the Social Research Unit at Dartington in the UK suggested that if a bigger share of funds was devoted to evidence-based and prevention activities, the quality of services could improve considerably. Better governance at local level, following a ‘bottom-up approach’, was also identified as key for improving service planning.

 

 

Integrated approaches for social planning

 

 

In France, Marie-Paule Martin-Blachais explained how national and local observatories were created to gather data for planning child protection services. As shown in ESN's research work focusing on the implementation of the European Recommendation ‘Investing in children’, responses in the field of services for children have to be multidimensional. Alfonso Lara Montero, ESN Policy Director, shared some preliminary conclusions from our project Investing in Children’s Services, Improving Outcomes, particularly in regards to childcare reforms taking place in a number of countries seeking an integrated approach to service planning and delivery.

 

 

Planning for individual needs

 

 

Users’ needs and individual choices should be the basis for services for people with disabilities, as highlighted by Harri Jokiranta, Deputy Manager in the Finnish Municipality of Seinäjoki. This is all the more true when it comes to housing and the transition from institutional to community-based care. Moreover, when planning services for people with disabilities, local authorities can exert leadership in reaching out to different sectors such as employment or public transport, in pursuit of available, accessible and affordable integrated services. 

 

 

Planning for an ageing society

 

 

Preparation, prevention and participation were some of the keywords in the discussions on social planning for older people. According to Ricardo Rodrigues from the European Centre for Social Welfare in Vienna, the perception of ageing should shift from dependency to active and healthy ageing through the participation of informal carers alongside professionals and innovative solutions at local and community level.

 

 

Teodora Nemeth, Social Care Deputy Manager in Gyor, Hungary, highlighted good practices in the field, including age-friendly house equipment, training on the use of new technologies and ICT devices, and easy-access to information about available services. All delegates agreed that older people’s needs should be taken into account when designing services for them, be it housing settings, new technologies and devices, or the type of care they receive.

 

 

Resources

 

 

• Video webstreaming of the first day


• Presentations and resources (ESN members only)


• Photos


• A report from the event will be available early 2015