Event Type 2: 9 June ESSC 2022

Digitalisation of social services by government agencies has been one of the core themes for innovation in recent times as well as during the Covid-19 pandemic. Governments and agencies involved in the development and delivery of social services are increasingly moving digital to reach vast numbers of people with a large variety of needs, better use of resources, better social services management, and better people’s service experience.

How digitalisation impacts on people’s experience of social services is the key question of this session, where we will learn about digital tools to support people experiencing homelessness, children in care, young people in their transition to adulthood and people with disabilities in their social inclusion.

Room: Plenary

This session will focus on international and national approaches to investing and supporting the workforce, as a key pillar of our social welfare systems.

We will hear about the findings from studies by the Kings Fund in the UK and beyond to support the development and training of a workforce that should adapt to the new needs of people using social services.

We will find out about innovative proposals to improve the financing of social care and social services so that the workforce can be supported in the best possible way.

Finally, we will learn about collaborative approaches, new roles and workforce strategies, and improvement in competences to advance towards a more integrated model.

This session will focus on international and national approaches to improve the resilience of individuals looking at both our own and community resilience.

We will hear a personal story of overcoming barriers to become a World Guinness Record-holder and how this personal experience is now a tool to support organisations and individuals to build collective and individual resilience.

We will find out how the experience of working in far remote countries can help develop models of resilience which can be useful for us in the Western world to develop our own, and how as society we can implement these models together.

Finally, we will discuss the role of technology and digital inclusion in social services to improve the experience of people using social services and promote their social inclusion.

Room: Plenary

As we slowly emerged from the Covid-19 crisis, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has lead to a humanitarian crisis which will impact all European countries. In the same way that the Covid-19 crisis tested our social welfare systems, it is expected that the migration crisis caused by Russia’s attack on Ukraine will impact social services across Europe significantly. Having the right tools will be essential to put in place the provision of adequate support while helping with reforms that lead to a long-lasting positive impact.

This session will assess tools available for public authorities and social services to put in place the strategies and programmes that can help them be resilient and prepared to address the negative consequences of overarching crises.