Increasing geopolitical instability, the Covid-19 pandemic, natural disasters and cyberattacks have meant the past few years have been strongly characterised by multiple unexpected crises. In this context, social services have had to adapt while continuing to support vulnerable populations. However, a major gap still exists between the needs such an uncertain world demands and the readiness of social services to effectively address them.
As European Social Network (ESN) CEO Alfonso Lara Montero highlighted in the opening meeting of this year’s ESN Working Group on Transformation and Resilience in Tallinn: “Social Services play a very important role in all types of crises, not only in the immediate, but also in the long term. However, they do not have a framework that serves as a guide of their work in crises”.
Indeed, despite efforts made across Europe, very few Member States’ social services systems have in place a well-established crisis management framework.
This was the impetus for the Working Group, which took place from 10-11 September. The Working Group met with a goal to develop a crisis management framework that will ensure social services are well prepared and ready to address future crises.
Learning from successful social services crisis management
Despite the absence of an all-encompassing crisis management framework, several social services systems across Europe have been working on crisis management, offering clear examples of how, when well-prepared, social services can deliver during times of crisis.
In Madrid (Spain), SAMUR Social, the social emergency service from the Madrid City Council, works 24/7 to respond to any social emergency in the city of Madrid. SAMUR Social assists vulnerable people affected by a crisis, accident or catastrophe, offering immediate assistance, emergency accommodation and coordination with emergency services to ensure a holistic approach.
In Latvia and Estonia, as a result of the war in Ukraine, both the city of Riga and Tallinn had to adapt and transform to address the increase in refugees arriving to their borders.
In Riga, the One Stop Agency was created in 2022. As explained at the Working Group by Ruta Klimkāne from Riga City Council, this support centre integrated state institutions, municipal services, NGOs and volunteers under the same roof, with the aim of providing immediate and coordinated response to the refugees’ needs. As a result, Riga managed to reduce bureaucracy, refugees’ stress and an improved cooperation between public institutions and civil society organisations.
Similarly, Tallinn created an emergency reception centre that involved close cooperation between both public institutions and civil society organisations. The experience led to the foundation of the Tallinn Migration Centre, which now assists people from migrant backgrounds on a regular basis.
In both cases, coordination and reacting fast was key to efficiently addressing the crisis at hand.
During the event in Tallinn, Christine Ramelot, from Service Publique Wallonie (SPW) in Belgium shared how the SPW addressed massive floods in the region of Wallonia in the summer of 2021. Mrs. Ramelot also underscored the importance of interagency coordination as an essential element to address a crisis efficiently.
Ensuring a crisis management framework for more resilient social services
Inspired by these best practices, and guided by the expertise of Ana Rădulescu, CEO of the CFCECAS Romania, participants of the Working Group proposed a structured crisis management framework for social services which included and prioritised:
- Good organisational agility and interagency cooperation
- Well trained workforce and clear leadership roles
- Conducting systematic risk and threat assessment
- Improving communication with users and between services
- Using technology and information systems to predict crises and better manage data
Following this discussion on developing a well-structured crisis management framework for social services, ESN is leading the efforts for change. ESN’s team is preparing a briefing that will incorporate a crisis management framework designed as a guide for all social services around Europe to help them become more resilient and address existing gaps in crisis response.
Meanwhile, ESN is also preparing for the upcoming European Social Services Conference (ESSC) which will take place in Valetta, Malta from 17-20 May 2026, where resilience will also be a focus. ESN encourages all members with exemplary best practices or interest in the topic of resilience to register here.
Photography: all rights are reserved to the Tallinna Strategic Management Office. The author is Ellen Rudi
