Images and Concepts of the Third Sector in Europe

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Co-Produção, nova governança pública e serviços sociais no Terceiro Setor na Europa

Many countries in Europe are searching for new ways to engage citizens and involve the third sector in the provision and governance of social services in order to meet major demographical, political and economic challenges facing the welfare state in the 21st century. Co-production provides a model for the mix of public service agents and citizens who contribute to the provision of a public service. New Public Governance (NPG) puts much greater emphasis on citizen participation and third sector provision of social services than either traditional public administration or New Public Management. Co-production is a core element of NPG that promotes the mix of public service agents and citizens who contribute to the provision of a public service. This paper explores the implications of two comparative studies of parent participation in preschool services in Europe. They observe that citizen participation clearly varies between different providers of social services, as too does client and staff influence. This empirical overview concludes that some third sector providers can facilitate greater citizen participation, while a ‘glass ceiling’ for participation exists in municipal and for-profit preschool services. These findings can contribute to a better understanding of the emerging paradigm of New Public Governance.Key words: Participation, co-production, New Public Governance, third sector and socialservices.Muitos países na Europa estão buscando novas maneiras de envolver os cidadãos e o terceiro setor na provisão e gestão dos serviços sociais a fim de atender aos principais desafios demográficos, políticos e econômicos do Estado no século 21. A coprodução fornece um modelo para a combinação de agentes de serviços públicos e cidadãos que contribuem para a prestação de um serviço público. Nova Governança Pública (NPG) coloca muito mais ênfase na participação do cidadão e oferta de serviços sociais do terceiro setor do que a administração pública tradicional ou Nova Gestão Pública. A coprodução é um elemento central da NPG, que promove a mistura de agentes de serviços públicos e cidadãos que contribuem para a prestação de um serviço público. Este artigo explora as implicações de dois estudos comparativos de participação dos pais nos serviços de pré-escola na Europa. Foi observado que a participação do cidadão varia de acordo com os diferentes prestadores de serviços sociais e também de acordo com a influência de clientes e funcionários. Esta visão empírica conclui que alguns provedores do terceiro setor podem facilitar a maior participação dos cidadãos, enquanto uma “barreira invisível” para esta participação existir no município e nos serviços pré-escolares com fins lucrativos. Esses achados podem contribuir para uma melhor compreensão do paradigma emergente da Nova Governança Pública.Palavras-chave: participação, coprodução, Nova Governança Pública, Terceiro Setor, serviços sociais

Images and Concepts of the Third Sector in Europe

peer reviewe

Co-production as a social and governance innovation in public services

The OECD con­sid­ers co-production an impor­tant social inno­va­tion. This paper dis­cusses alter­na­tive def­i­n­i­tions of inno­va­tion, since tra­di­tional def­i­n­i­tions, employed by econ­o­mists for indus­try and man­u­fac­ture, do not fit well with pub­lic ser­vice pro­vi­sion. It then presents some def­i­n­i­tions of co-production, dis­cusses the rela­tion­ship between staff and their clients, and asks whether co-production is based on indi­vid­ual acts, col­lec­tive action or both. It briefly dis­cusses sev­eral fac­tors that can con­tribute to mak­ing co-production more sus­tain­able. This paper con­cludes that gov­ern­ments should develop more flex­i­ble, ser­vice spe­cific and orga­ni­za­tion spe­cific approaches for pro­mot­ing co-production, rather than look­ing for sim­ple “one size fits all” solu­tions to the chal­lenges fac­ing pub­lic ser­vice deliv­ery in the 21st Cen­tury, par­tic­u­larly for endur­ing wel­fare ser­vices. Finally, it rec­om­mends more research to pro­mote sus­tain­able co-production

Democratic Governance: Co-Production, Third Sector and Citizen Participation in the Provision of Social Services

W Europie pojawiła się potrzeba angażowania obywateli i włączenia organizacji trzeciego sektora w świadczenie usług społecznych na poziomie lokalnym i w zarządzanie nimi. Wynika to z konieczności sprostania poważnym wyzwaniom demograficznym, politycznym i ekonomicznym, przed którymi stoi państwo opiekuńcze w XXI w. W niniejszym artykule analizuje się podwójną rolę obywateli jako konsumentów i współproducentów publicznie finansowanych usług społecznych, w szczególności usług opiekuńczych. Wyeksponowano w nim trzeci sektor, który odgrywa rolę promotora interesów jego członków, jako odbiorców takich usług oraz jako podmiotów świadczących te usługi. Gwałtowny rozwój państwa opiekuńczego po drugiej wojnie światowej oraz równoległy wzrost dużych publicznych i prywatnych organizacji biurokratycznych spowodowały, że obywatele zatracili rozumienie istoty usług społecznych oraz poczucie wpływu na ich świadczenie. Świadczenie tych usług przeniosło się ze sfery prywatnej do publicznej, gdy kobiety zaczęły wchodzić na rynek pracy i nie mogły już wykonywać wielu obowiązków, które wcześniej do nich należały. Dzisiaj wielu obywateli chce odzyskać wpływ na świadczenie usług, które obejmują ważny aspekt ich codziennego życia. Obywatele chętnie korzystają z możliwości bezpośredniego udziału w świadczeniu albo wpływu na świadczenie usług socjalnych, od których sami lub ich najbliżsi są zależni. Zjawisko to – któremu towarzyszy rosnący poziom wykształcenia i refleksyjny indywidualizm – często określa się to jako subpolitykę (sub-politics) lub politykę życia ( life politics). Obywatele chcą umocnić swoją „demokratyczną własność” – publicznie finansowane usługi socjalne, bez względu na to, kto je świadczy. Jednak forma świadczenia może też oddziaływać na możliwość uzyskania na nie wpływu.A number of European countries seek new ways of involving citizens and third-sector organisations in the provision and management of social services at the local level. This arises from the necessity to meet serious demographic, political and economic challenges faced by the welfare state in the 21st century. The present article analyses the double role of citizens as consumers and co-providers of publicly financed social services, especially welfare services. It underscores the role of the third sector as a promoter of interests of its members as recipients of these services as well as entities that provide these services. The rapid development of the welfare state in the aftermath of World War 2 and the parallel development of large public and private bureaucratic organisations caused the citizens to lose the understanding of the fundamental nature of social services and their sense of influence on their provision. The provision of such services was transferred from the private to the public sphere when women started to "enter" the job market and could not any longer discharge the duties that they formerly had. At present, a number of citizens wish to regain their influence on the provision of services that embrace an important aspect of their everyday lives. Citizens readily avail themselves of the opportunity to directly participate in or to influence the provision of social services on which they themselves or their relatives, depend. This phenomenon, accompanied by rising education levels and reflective individualism, is often known as sub-politics or life politics. Citizens want to strengthen their "democratic ownership" of publicly financed social services regardless of who provides them. However, the form of provision may also impact the possibilities of influencing them

La co-production des services publics comme innovation sociale

Introduction Cette communication étudie la co-production de services publics comme innovation tant d’un point de vue social qu’en matière de gouvernance. La co-production de services sociaux offre de nouvelles perspectives de solutions collectives face aux problèmes croissants que pose, en Europe, la fourniture de services sociaux par des entités publiques, mais la co-production n’est pas sans présenter des défis. Elle offre aux citoyens une plus grande liberté de choix, davantage de possibil..

Co-production, new public governance and third sector social services in Europe

Many countries in Europe are searching for new ways to engage citizens and involve the third sector in the provision and governance of social services in order to meet major demographical, political and economic challenges facing the welfare state in the 21st century. Co-production provides a model for the mix of public service agents and citizens who contribute to the provision of a public service. New Public Governance (NPG) puts much greater emphasis on citizen participation and third sector provision of social services than either traditional public administration or New Public Management. Co-production is a core element of NPG that promotes the mix of public service agents and citizens who contribute to the provis ionof a public service. This paper explores the implications of two comparative studies of paren tparticipation in preschool services in Europe. They observe that citizen participation clearly varies between different providers of social services, as too does client and staff influence. This empirical overview concludes that some third sector providers can facilitate greater citizen participation, while a 'glass ceiling' for participation exists in municipal and for-profit preschool services. These findings can contribute to a better understanding of the emerging paradigm of New Public Governance

Work environment, governance and service quality in Japanese healthcare

Objectives: This paper explores the contribution of governance to work environment and service quality in Japanese healthcare. Research design: Data for this project was collected by giving questionnaires to the staff at eight cooperative hospitals across Japan in 2016 and compared with similar data from the staff at two public hospitals in Osaka in 2017. The staff sample from these 10 hospitals was a total of 6,859, with a response rate of 72.1%. Findings: Based on the “demand, control, support” model of Karasek & Theorell, we found that more staff control over their daily work life resulted in greater staff satisfaction and promoted better service quality. Governance proved to be an intervening factor of significant importance and this paper considered three differentiated models for governing the provision of healthcare in Japan. They were distinguished in terms of the autonomy given to the staff in their everyday work life as well as patient inclusion in hospital discussions and decision-making. Implications: Greater staff autonomy and more patient inclusion can have a positive effect both on work environment and service quality. Governance models can, therefore, contribute to or detract from goals of achieving greater staff autonomy, better service quality and more patient inclusion. Contribution: This study tapped into Japan’s unique healthcare system, with two user-owned co-operative healthcare providers that manage nearly 200 hospitals with almost 50,000 beds, in order to explore work environment, governance and service quality. Questionnaires given to nearly 7,000 hospital employees allowed us to explore in depth the contribution of governance to work environment and service quality in Japanese healthcare. These results can serve as a best practice for other healthcare providers in Japan and elsewhere

Towards a European Conceptualization of the Third Sector

peer reviewedThis chapter is a result of joint efforts undertaken by members of the EMES European Research Network who made short contributions about approaches of the third sector in their respective countries while Defourny and Pestoff wrote a synthesis and proposed a conceptualization that aims at taking account of such a diversity across the European Union