TASK2/WG2 - COMPARISON OF CONCRETE PRACTICES - CASE STUDIES - IN THE DOMAIN OF SOCIAL CARE SERVICES (Months 10-36)

Details

Last Updated on Monday, 27 February 2017 11:45

Description

Aim

This was the central Task of the Action, which took place from November 2012 to December 2014. Its aim was to identify, evaluate and compare current experiences and practices – i.e. concrete case studies – in a number of social service domains, in order to assess the features, effects and outcomes of the restructuring of these services over the last twenty years and, especially, as a consequence of the recent financial crisis.

Three main restructuring processes/aspects were esamined:

1. Cuts, rationalization, management reforms, i.e. changes in quantity, quality, access/entitlement to public social services
2. ‘Vertical’ subsidiarity, i.e. the devolution of authority from the national to the regional/local governments (but also instances of ‘re-centralization’)
3. ‘Horizontal’ subsidiarity, i.e. the liberalization, outsourcing and privatization of services, leading to a new division of labour between different providers: state, for profit, non profit, family.

From five perspectives:

1. Cost efficiency in relation to quality: did the restructuring bring the expected improvements in efficiency, users’ choice and satisfaction, as well as quality of services?
2. Democratic governance: did the re-scaling of authority and/or externalisation/privatisation of supply bring about the claimed greater citizen’s participation, increased democracy in decision-making processes, improved subsidiarity and optimized co-operation among actors?
3. Social and territorial cohesion: did the restructuring increase/reduce the right to services, i.e. universal access to basic social services for all, regardless of origin, income, and place, while ensuring diversification and customization of services?
4. Labour market of social work: what are the consequences of the restructuring of social services in terms of professional skills and contractual conditions of social service workers? Is there an increase in the casualisation and deskilling of work?
5. Gender and equal opportunity: how does the restructuring of social services affect gender differences and relations, i.e. access to the labour market, quality of employment, gender divisions of labour in the household? Is it increasing or decreasing discrimination in both access to, and work in, social services for other marginalised groups (eg. etnic minorities, youth, people with disabilities)?

Organization and activities

Task 2 was carried out by Working Group 2, in turn articulated in five WG2 Thematic sub-groups, coordinated by the following people:

Task 2 involved the following activities:

• WG2 Organisational meetings (identification of cases, methodology, preliminary exchanges)
• WG2 Local stakeholders networks and workshops (exchange of knowledge with and among local actors)
• WG2 Workshops (comparison of approaches and  findings about case studies, according to the different perspectives)

Case studies

About 50 case studies were examined and compared. The list of such cases is available in the Repository of case studies.

Methodology

WG2 general guidelines were defined, identifying the main aspects, features and processes addressed in the case studies, as well as a common ‘presentation’ structure, in order to ensure broad comparability. Such general guidelines were then ‘customized’ within each thematic group, according to its specificities.

Output

The following output of WG2 were achieved:

• Local stakeholders networks and workshops involving local actors (social services administrations, private sector, third sector, civil society, users’ associations, etc.), in the cities/regions of participating institutions, with a view to exchange knowledge about trends and practices (‘trans-disciplinary’ approach).
• A special section on the Action website – Repository of case studies – hosting case studies in various stages of advancement
• Working papers –  for internal use – on case studies
• Comparative ‘thematic synthesis’ and/or ‘transversal reading’ reports, based on relevant ‘cross-cutting’ dimensions
• Local publications (newsletters, local press).
• Plans for academic publications (articles, special issue(s) of journals, edited book(s)).