At the invitation of the European Commission, ESN CEO John Halloran addressed the opening day of the High Level Forum in Beijing, which was the venue for launching the EU-China Social Protection Reform Project. This project aims to improve China’s Social Protection system and accordingly aims to promote social equity and economic inclusiveness.

Chinese Minister for Civil Affairs (MoCA) Mr Li Liguo, and his Vice Minister Mr Gong Puguang opened the meeting with a presentation on their upcoming five year strategy, examining the potential strengths and weaknesses of such a strategy. Worth considering in the Chinese context is the fact that they have 20% of the world’s population, a huge inequality gap between rural and urban communities, and an ageing population. With this in mind, speakers from China were paired with representatives from seven EU governments and were invited to share their experiences on a series of issues such as legal frameworks, minimum income, data development and poverty reduction.

In his capacity as ESN’s CEO, John Halloran presented ESN’s unique role as a knowledge sharing forum for social services, both in Europe and globally. In the context of a continent in a period of flux with its own economic and social challenges, he presented an overview of social policy in Europe. This overview included examples of innovation in the fields of social investment, personalisation, evidence and outcome metrics, and public management with implications for central and local government (for practice examples see ESN’s Practice Library).

In conclusion, John Halloran invited delegates to continue these exchanges at the 24th European Social Services Conference at the World Forum (‘The Future is Local!’) in The Hague next June 2016.