On 15-17 September 2020 the international conference "Quality Social Services for Families with Children" took place. It brought together representatives of the Government of Ukraine, local self-governments, international and non-governmental organisations, and experts. The conference was intended to streamline efforts and identify vectors for further work to build an effective system of social services at the local level.
The dialogue platform was organised by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) with support from the Government of Germany and the German Development Bank (KfW), in partnership with the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, the World Bank, and the Council of Europe.
“Council of Europe promotes development of the social human rights within the framework of the CoE-Ukraine Action Plan for 2018-2021, in particular – within the framework of the Council of Europe Project "Promoting social human rights as a key factor of sustainable democracy in Ukraine". Therefore, such events are of great importance for coordination between partners, implementation of best practices and standards of the Council of Europe, raising awareness on social rights and the European Social Charter. This helps to develop in Ukraine a truly accessible, fair and, most importantly, effective system of social services”, said Olena Lytvynenko, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine.
The conference programme was built around four main topics: the principles and methods of social services, social service budgeting, staffing, and innovations in the social service system. The main target audience of the conference was professionals responsible for provision of social services at the local level: heads of administrations, heads of departments, heads of institutions that provide social services, social workers, and lecturers, who train those specialists.
"Social services are directly related to social rights. It is very important that social service providers take into account absolutely all needs of vulnerable groups of people. There are an incredibly large number of people who do not even know about a particular service that lawfully belongs to them. However, even if they know about it, it should not be a process of demanding it. This should be a normal procedure that is clear to both the recipient and the provider”, said Jan Malinowski, Head of the Department of the European Social Charter of the Council of Europe.
The participants discussed the challenges of coordinating social systems in communities in line with the current reforms, sought creative solutions for the qualitative transformation of the social services system, and exchanged effective practices.
"Certain standards for financing of social services for children and families with children can be found in the three main documents of the Council of Europe: European Social Charter, European Social Security Code and European Convention on Human Rights. Ukraine has not ratified the European Social Security Code, but has already signed it. The basic document remains the European Social Charter, which provides protection of social rights in Europe. The Charter has a number of articles on the social protection of families, children and young persons. The main one with this regard is Article 16 "The right of the family to social, legal and economic protection", which provides for state-implemented assistance to families with children and appropriate fiscal measures. The European Committee of Social Rights analyses the adequacy and sufficiency of state support", said Alla Fedorova, national consultant of the Council of Europe.
The most frequently raised issues were staffing and qualification of specialists, financing of social services, challenges in matters of legal regulation, intersectoral cooperation, and the creation of demand for social services among the population. Community representatives were also interested in where to start building a system of social services and how to develop it.
"Taking into account international experience, for effective needs assessment we must rely on two aspects: the development of methodology and its application in practice. The methodology for assessing the needs of communities consists of identifying segments within a broad research group and segmenting them into groups by specific issues. In addition, the methodology includes finding quality services that meet the needs of a large segment of families with children”, said during the conference Sergei Ostaf, international consultant of the Council of Europe, CReDO Public Policy Analysis Expert.
The video of all three days and agenda of the conference "Quality Social Services for Families with Children" is available here:
Panel discussion "Support for certain categories of vulnerable families"
The presentation of the Council of Europe international and national consultants is available here:
Services for all - decentralization and democratic governance at local level
Economics of social care services: community social services as an engine for growth. Connection between social services and benefits
Alla Fedorova National consultant of Council of Europe
Needs assessment, monitoring and quality evaluation of social services: community dimension
Sergei Ostaf International consultant of the Council of Europe, expert in government policy analysis at CReDO
How to assess needs for social services within the decentralization process?
Good practices of social services provision in member states of the Council of Europe
Family support for children with disabilities
Olena Ivanova National consultant, the Council of Europe, Chairman of the Board of the ProUD | Universal Design Initiative
Challenges faced by families with children with disabilities within the education process
_
The event was organised with the support of the Council of Europe Project "Promoting social human rights as a key factor of sustainable democracy in Ukraine" is being implemented since 1 August, 2019 for two years in sphere of the promotion and protection of social human rights, namely persons with disabilities (Article 15 of the European Social Charter (Charter), older persons (Article 23 of the Charter), children (Articles 7, 15 of the Charter).
Contact us