As 2022 gets underway, preparations for this year’s European Social Services Conference are now well in hand. Our keynote speakers for our plenary sessions have now been confirmed – meet them here!
This year’s conference theme is Rethinking Recovery - learning together from our experiences of delivering social care during the Covid-19 crisis and sharing how we can use the new tools which have been developed and the new opportunities for funding which have arisen to transform social services to better support vulnerable people in our communities.
Our plenary sessions will focus more closely on three areas linked to conference theme:
Supporting Strategic Change and Decision Making
ESN CEO Alfonso Lara Montero will ask Dorothy Adams from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development; Louis Schweitzer, Chair, of the French Evaluation Committee of the National Strategy against Poverty and Alessandra Marini, from the World Bank to share their approaches to support strategic decision-making. The discussion will examine how data can support decision-makers in the development of effective social inclusion policies; how the World Bank has been supporting national governments to develop tools to integrate benefits and services for some of the most vulnerable populations, and the tools France is using to evaluate its national strategy against poverty and social exclusion.
Promoting Workforce Resilience
How can we better support our social services and social care workforce, a key pillar of our social welfare systems? In a session moderated by Jane Dudman, former Public Leadership Editor of The Guardian, Simon Bottery will share findings from studies by the Kings Fund in the UK on the what training and development is required to enable our workforce to adapt to the new needs of people using social services. Viktoria Stein, Co-founder and Co-CEO of VM Partners Integrating Health and Care will share her experiences of the collaborative approaches, new roles and workforce strategies, needed so that the workforce can improve their competences and move towards a more integrated care model. Finally Professor Dr Stefan Sell will discuss innovations in social care financing to better support and build resilience in the workforce.
Improving Individual and Collective Resilience to Promote Social Inclusion
Our final plenary session, moderated by social policy commentator and former Guardian editor, David Brindle focuses how we can use the experiences of the the last two years to build resilience within ourselves and our communities to better withstand further crises and tackle social inclusion. We will hear from Dr Sinead Kane, who has overcome personal challenges to achieve academic and sporting excellence; Cornelia Walther who will introduce the Poze approach based on her experiences in Haiti; and Antonio Lopez, Professor of Social Work and Social Services at UNED, Spain.
Don’t miss these other opportunities to get involved.
As well as joining as a conference delegate, there are still opportunities for your organisation to join ESN’s Community of Partners which opens up numerous possibilities for brand visibility, including speaking slots, joining a themed session, sponsoring a social event, organising a workshop, and much more .. Or you could participate in our Innovation Zone where you can share your experiences of using IT and digitalisation to develop new tools for managing and delivering social services Find out more here.
This year’s conference programme also offers interactive workshops, themed discussions, and quick-fire presentation pitches at the project forum. We have received over 60 proposals from contributors eager to share their experiences and best practices which are currently being assessed by the Conference Advisory Committee and ESN staff. Check back in February for new programme announcements when the selection process has been completed.