Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RESPONSIVE (Increasing responsiveness to citizen voice in social services across Europe)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-03-01 al 2024-02-29
The RESPONSIVE project aims to enhance the responsiveness of Europe’s social services to input from diverse citizens. This is important because it is hard to speak of democracy within Europe’s social sector. Youth at risk of exclusion, families involved in the child protection system and citizens using disability services are typically confronted with approaches, programmes and interventions developed within ministries or NGO offices, especially at the stage of decision-making and final approval.
The project will help citizens, social services and EU policy structures to better understand, utilise and innovate with the knowledge, experiences and ideas of citizens through six core objectives:
1. Analyse the normative, legal, policy and practice contexts shaping how social services respond to the perspectives of diverse citizens.
2. Assess citizen experiences of participatory mechanisms in social services (advisory groups, consultations, complaints, evaluation mechanisms).
3. Analyse public actions by citizens to change social services (protests, campaigns, social media, social enterprise, artistic production).
4. Identify the factors shaping changes by social services in response to the input of diverse citizens who use social services.
5. Co-design and test tailored innovations to expand the utilisation of citizen knowledge by social services.
6. Promote uptake of innovations through dissemination of project results.
The project focuses on citizen participation in the organisation and delivery of four types of social service: disability inclusion, mental health, child protection and services for youth at risk.
Social work, sociology, and political science are core disciplines in the project because they illuminate social service delivery, lived experiences and legal-policy structures respectively. Organisational management helps to understand the functioning of social services whilst media analysis provides important perspectives on knowledge generated by citizens.
The project will help citizens, social services and EU policy structures to better understand, utilise and innovate with the knowledge, experiences and ideas of citizens through six core objectives:
1. Analyse the normative, legal, policy and practice contexts shaping how social services respond to the perspectives of diverse citizens.
2. Assess citizen experiences of participatory mechanisms in social services (advisory groups, consultations, complaints, evaluation mechanisms).
3. Analyse public actions by citizens to change social services (protests, campaigns, social media, social enterprise, artistic production).
4. Identify the factors shaping changes by social services in response to the input of diverse citizens who use social services.
5. Co-design and test tailored innovations to expand the utilisation of citizen knowledge by social services.
6. Promote uptake of innovations through dissemination of project results.
The project focuses on citizen participation in the organisation and delivery of four types of social service: disability inclusion, mental health, child protection and services for youth at risk.
Social work, sociology, and political science are core disciplines in the project because they illuminate social service delivery, lived experiences and legal-policy structures respectively. Organisational management helps to understand the functioning of social services whilst media analysis provides important perspectives on knowledge generated by citizens.
Two key research studies were completed during the first year of the project:
1. 105-page research report with a systematic analysis of how participation features in research, laws, social policies and organisational guidance for social services in Austria, Denmark, France, Poland, Portugal and Romania.
2. 90-page report on citizens’ experiences of participatory and co-creation mechanisms in social services (advisory groups, consultations, complaints, evaluation mechanisms). Over 450 people who use social services in Austria, Denmark, France, Poland, Portugal and Romania took part in interviews and workshops to share their experiences and suggestions for improvements. The results were used to create a guidance leaflet for citizens about participation in social services.
1. 105-page research report with a systematic analysis of how participation features in research, laws, social policies and organisational guidance for social services in Austria, Denmark, France, Poland, Portugal and Romania.
2. 90-page report on citizens’ experiences of participatory and co-creation mechanisms in social services (advisory groups, consultations, complaints, evaluation mechanisms). Over 450 people who use social services in Austria, Denmark, France, Poland, Portugal and Romania took part in interviews and workshops to share their experiences and suggestions for improvements. The results were used to create a guidance leaflet for citizens about participation in social services.
The RESPONSIVE project's first research report identified major gaps in legal and policy frameworks for citizen participation in social services. Its main conclusions are that:
• Mechanisms to ensure that social services utilise the input of citizens are underdeveloped and generally absent in laws, policies and organisational frameworks.
• Existing systems and institutional and organisational processes for participation generally limit the role of people who use services to consultation and advice.
• Where structures for citizen involvement have been established for some time, citizens and their associations are voicing frustration about ‘participation fatigue’ and tokenistic participation that does not lead to change.
• Across all countries and sectors, no information could be found about the adjustment of participation activities to conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The report highlights the need for a supportive regulatory and organisational framework for citizen participation within the social sector.
The second RESPONSIVE research report presents citizens’ experiences of different participatory and co-creation mechanisms in social services. It found elements of responsiveness in individual practice of social services staff and in some institutional settings and community-based organizations, but it is experienced as random and seldom built on strong organisational cultures and structures. Citizens' experiences of responsiveness in social services show that they are focused on:
• their individual challenges and cases – making their situation central in their understanding of responsiveness
• the relationship between themselves and the social service professionals.
Citizens’ individual challenges and goals are thus a pivotal starting point for responsiveness in social services. Citizens' experiences of participation and interactions with frontline staff in social services are an important basis for democratic governance processes.
• Mechanisms to ensure that social services utilise the input of citizens are underdeveloped and generally absent in laws, policies and organisational frameworks.
• Existing systems and institutional and organisational processes for participation generally limit the role of people who use services to consultation and advice.
• Where structures for citizen involvement have been established for some time, citizens and their associations are voicing frustration about ‘participation fatigue’ and tokenistic participation that does not lead to change.
• Across all countries and sectors, no information could be found about the adjustment of participation activities to conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The report highlights the need for a supportive regulatory and organisational framework for citizen participation within the social sector.
The second RESPONSIVE research report presents citizens’ experiences of different participatory and co-creation mechanisms in social services. It found elements of responsiveness in individual practice of social services staff and in some institutional settings and community-based organizations, but it is experienced as random and seldom built on strong organisational cultures and structures. Citizens' experiences of responsiveness in social services show that they are focused on:
• their individual challenges and cases – making their situation central in their understanding of responsiveness
• the relationship between themselves and the social service professionals.
Citizens’ individual challenges and goals are thus a pivotal starting point for responsiveness in social services. Citizens' experiences of participation and interactions with frontline staff in social services are an important basis for democratic governance processes.