Community planning of social services in the Czech Republic February 10, 2006 Prague Mgr. Tereza Kloučková Social Services Department, MoLSA

Community planning of social services A procedure that allows to plan social services at the community or regional level in a way that makes them cater to local specifics and the needs of individuals A cyclic process of identifying needs and resources and looking for the best solutions in the field of social services which correspond to the local conditions and the needs of people The process involves representatives of municipalities / regions, providers and users of social services and the general public Ensures an equal approach to social services in the region

Objectives of community planning of social services Promotion of social inclusion Preventing social exclusion of individuals and groups Strengthening community cohesion Harmonsing social services and the needs of their users Individual towns/regions have adequate range, quality and accessibility of social services Support of users in their environment and their integration into the ordinary life of the society

The process of community planning The description and analysis of existing resources and needs, incl. economic evaluation and the strategy for providing and developing social services Obligatory participation of the contracting authorities, providers and users of social services Public participation A way of monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the plan A way of implementing changes of the provision of social services

Troika The Public User ProviderContracting Authority

Community planning structure Regional CPoSS CPoSS of the municipalities – Steering group CPoSS of the municipalities – Steering group Working group 1. Working group 2. Working group 2. Working group 1.

The main principles of community planning Partnership of all parties involved Participation of local community Looking for new human and financial resources Understanding community problems Working with information Taking into account the already existing and well-established co-operations Compromise between wishes and possibilities The progression of the community planning process is just as important as the final documents

Social services planning in the Czech Republic Social services reform 1998 Ústí nad Labem – 1 st and 2 nd social care services plan 1999 – 2003 Czech-UK project - Písek area 6 pilot towns: Třebíč, Havlíčkův Brod, Karviná, Rychnov, Týniště, Týn Consultations in the regions, assistance in the preparation of projects MoLSA grant schemes - OP HRD, JPD 3 Ministry of Regional Development - JROP Other activities of NGOs (CKP, Komunitní plánování o.p.s., CpKp, Agora) Public contract “Ensuring local and typified social services accessibility” Draft Social Services Act

Public procurement “Ensuring local and type social services accessibility” Needs Methodological guidelines and support Common principles and planning procedures System ensuring planning Support for the draft Social Services Act Objectives CPoSS methodologies Good practice examples Training programmes for people processing the CP Training programme for regional trainers Proposal of further methodological support Contractor: Komunitní plánování o.p.s, CpKp o.s., Domov Sv. Anežky o.p.s., ZČU v Plzni

Community planning in the Czech Republic

Community planning of social services - benefit for the regions Involves all the participants/stakeholders of the social services system in the preparation and implementation of the social services plan Increases the participation of the citizens in the decision-making process about the way of social services delivery and increases the degree of participation of the citizens in community affairs Supports dialogue and cooperation among the inhabitants, increases the sense of belonging to a community and makes it possible to look for new human and material resources Increases the accessibility and quality of social services and enhances their offer Ensures that social services correspond to the identified local needs and cater to local differences Increases the efficiency of invested finances, because they are allocated to services which are really needed Enables the municipalities to pool existing resources

Possibilities of using CPoSS in the design of LAPs/RAPs methodology Methodological basis for the process of securing accessibility focused on certain target groups threatened by social exclusion Design of plans on the basis of a comparison of the existing offer with the identified real needs of the people in the regions Experience with involving the public Close link to the identified real needs of people in the regions Political support in the municipalities and regions implementing CP Connection to the Czech draft legislation Link to the use of financial resources

Benefits of LAPs/RAPs for CPoSS Enhancing the scope of community planning to cover other areas of public services Ensuring the inter-connectedness of individual public services preventing social exclusion Supporting communication between individual sectors of public services Supporting social inclusion of all groups threatened by social exclusion

Process development of the CPoSS on the basis of RAPS/LAPS Social services Arrangement of social services (shelters, homes for the elderly, low-threshhold facilities, day care centers, …) Needs of the users of social services Social inclusion Employment Housing Removing barriers Health care Risk of poverty Equality of men and women Education Transport possibilities Prevention of socially negative phenomena

MoLSA, Czech Republic Social Services Department PhDr. Vladana Vasková Mgr. Tereza Kloučková