This month, we celebrated the ESN Members Forum in Warsaw, Poland, a unique event that takes place every four years for our members to share their views and support us in the preparation of our future strategy.
This year’s Members Forum was entitled ‘Sharing Achievements, Shaping Future Social Services’, as for an organisation like ours, it is vital to celebrate success and to be an active part of shaping the future of social services. This not only showcases the organisation’s position as the sector leader in Europe, but also facilitates collaboration, promotes continuous improvement, and shapes future policy and practice. By sharing the lessons we’ve learned, the solutions, and the knowledge, we help social services organisations navigate their transformation process and attract partners who want to help achieve social change through a common approach and solutions that strengthen social services.
In Warsaw, I had the opportunity to visit the Warsaw Uprising Museum, and I was amazed not only by the tales of armed resistance, but also by the kindness of everyday people — people sharing food, caring for the sick, staying connected with one another, even as fear encircled the city. It made me realise how important social support must have been at that time in the Warsaw Ghetto. In a world that had crumbled around them, it was those networks of care and solidarity that kept people holding on to their humanity.
That insight stayed with me, especially as I think of the world today. During a crisis such as war, displacement, or a pandemic — social services serve the role that informal aid cannot. They are the contemporary infrastructure of compassion: serving food, shelter, care, and assistance at times when people need them most. As mutual aid sustained people in the Warsaw Ghetto, social services serve as lifelines that give people and communities the means to survive hardship and a way to rebuild themselves with dignity and hope.
This is why the work of social services professionals and our commitment to knowledge building and sharing is critical, and together we should celebrate our joint achievements over the last 25 years. We have come from very humble beginnings as a small group of passionate, committed associations directors, to nearly 200 organisations in 33 countries, all with a shared purpose and dedication to making a difference in people’s lives.
This month, we also launched our 2024 Annual Review, which reflects on key highlights aimed at strengthening and transforming social services across Europe. Significant milestones include the focus of the Social Services Transformation and Resilience Working Group on digital innovation and the European Social Services Index, which has been recently endorsed by the European Parliament as a tool the European Commission should look at to improve social services data within European countries.
Through events such as the 2024 European Social Services Awards, which focused on best practice recognition on community engagement, and the 2024 European Social Services Conference, which offered contributions on co-creation, co-production, and co-development, we highlighted the implications for the future of social services management.
Asked about future social services management challenges and solutions to effectively implement community-based models of care and support, Kai Leichsenring, director of the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, challenged policy-makers at our Members Forum: “The future of care is in the community, and this requires adjustments in staffing, training and quality assurance from a regulatory compliance to a collective process involving everyone with responsibility in the sector”. Claire Burns, director of Scotland’s Centre for excellence for Children’s Care and Protection explained that “transformational change in social services is a deep and comprehensive alteration that redefines an organisation's core operations, strategy, and direction at every level including practice, culture and services.”
Given today’s crises, ranging from economic uncertainty and demographic shifts to climate change and global health emergencies, transforming social services has never been more critical. These challenges reveal deep inequalities and place great strain on existing systems of support. Innovating, using digital tools inspired by best practice, and scaling community approaches are all key and within the remit of the European Social Network. All of these ensure social services are responsive, resilient, and inclusive — fit to protect the most vulnerable and to sustain people’s wellbeing in an ever-changing world.
In our current reality of overlapping crises, be it economic, climate, migration, or social inequality, it is vital to embed social services transformation in our future strategy. This should allow for forward-looking, responsive, and creative approaches to the design and delivery of social services that meet current and future needs, so that we build social support services that are sustainable and equitable, benefiting all communities, especially the most disadvantaged.
